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Protesting Illegal Immigrant Crackdown, President Obama's Promises, Tornado Warnings, Gulf Coast Frustrated Fishermen

Aired May 01, 2010 - 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: Arizona's new immigration law has added new fuel and passion to the annual May Day workers protest, more on that in just a quick minute.

And a quick look at what else is happening. President Obama will head to the Gulf coast tomorrow as an economic and environmental disaster oozes closer to the shore. We'll show you where the oil slick is now. And what emergency crews are actually doing to try to protect the shore line.

Then we will also have the latest weather watches and warnings out there right now particularly hitting the southeast portions in parts of the Midwest, as well. We'll have more on the storm system that did pound Arkansas last night and left one person dead.

Now back to this fiery issue of immigration now and May 1st or May Day is the date people turn out to demand usually better working conditions. This time Arizona's controversial new immigration law is actually adding fuel to this year's events. Thousands of protestors across the country are sending a message to Arizona. We are seeing rallies in New York, Washington, Dallas, Phoenix and a huge one in Los Angeles. We'll have more on those rallies a little bit later.

So it's one thing to protest with a sign, it is another to protest with the pocketbook. We've seen calls from different states to boycott Arizona. Government officials being told not to go there, people urged not to spend money there, as you saw in Thelma Gutierrez's piece.

Let's talk more about the economic effect of Arizona's immigration law. Clarissa Martinez DeCastro joins me now; she is with the National Council of La Raza. That is the biggest Hispanic organization in the U.S.

Good to see you Clarissa.

CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO, NCLR: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. First before we talk to the economics of it all, where are you and where is the organization on this Arizona law? Are you completely not supporting this or is there some area that you do support this law?

DE CASTRO: We are very disappointed with this law. We completely identify with the legitimate frustrations for the people in Arizona about the broken immigration system and we believe that we need solutions. Unfortunately, the law in Arizona only adds greater chaos to the problem without solving it and it is also going to cause the taxpayers of the state. It was simply a bad move by the governor.

WHITFIELD: OK. Now let's talk about the economics and so many organizations, city organizations, governments who are also saying or discouraging contracts between Arizona, how might you see this as helping or potentially hurting the situation?

DE CASTRO: I think folks were calling for boycotts are not taking this lightly. We definitely don't. We are consulting with many community-based organizations in Arizona because we know it's going to affect the community. This is not about hating people in Arizona. This is about protesting a bad law. However, when a state the legislature there the governor take action that is so beyond the pale that seeks a racially profiles at least 1/3 of the population of their state it requires decisive action.

WHITFIELD: But when you hear the argument being poised by some of the people in Thelma Gutierrez's piece where they talk about tourism should not take a hit because of a political situation, and that hundreds of families who are working for any one of these companies in Arizona who would lose their source of income if no one comes to the state to do business, what do you say about that argument that it is going to hurt the people on the wrong end of the totem pole?

DE CASTRO: That's why I said we don't take these things lightly. We know that they have an impact. The governor has the responsibility.

WHITFIELD: But you are encouraging it and you do support the boycott notion, even that being said?

DE CASTRO: We haven't joined yet. We are analyzing that with many Civil Rights organizations across the country. It is likely that we will do it. Again, this is about a governor and a legislature that decided to impose something that is going to discriminate the population of their very state. How can you guarantee that people who are coming from outside the state are not going to be caught in this dragnet? Decisive action needs to be done when something radical and unjust is happening.

WHITFIELD: Is it enough to that the legislature did make some changes? The governor still approved some of those changes on that law, being that law enforcement could stop suspected illegal immigrants only while enforcing some other law or ordinance and they also wanted to remove the word "solely as they talk about they may not solely consider race, color or natural origin. Are those changes in any way an appeasement, in your view?

DE CASTRO: No. Because they are cosmetic on the one hand and on the other hand when the governor said that racial profiling is not going to be tolerated, why is it that it has been tolerated so far? For those who know the reality in Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio (ph) is prime example that racial profiling has already been happening. WHITFIELD: And in your view as we close it out, just taking a look at some of the demonstrations taking place across the country, Los Angeles with a huge very sizable turnout, New York, Phoenix, people who have come out in large numbers to say they do not necessarily like what they are seeing in terms of this law in Arizona, how do you suppose this will translate in any kind of change or enforcement or lack thereof of this new law?

DE CASTRO: This is about action on Arizona, but it's also to demand of the president and Congress greater leadership. At the end of the day, it is the inaction at the Congressional level that leaves states like Arizona to grapple with these things. We need a bigger engagement from the president. We haven't seen it so far. We hope Republicans come to the table to work in a bipartisan way with Democratic Senators and fix this problem.

WHITFIELD: Clarissa Martinez DeCastro, with the National Council of La Raza, thanks so much for joining us, appreciate it.

DE CASTRO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: The sea is normally a source of inspiration and relaxation. Right now it's a source of danger to livelihoods. Wildlife and the environment along the Gulf coast in the wake of that catastrophic oil spill. The latest on where the slick is and where it is headed and what is being done to try to lessen the damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We are tracking major story along the Gulf coast. A massive oil spill from the BP oil rig that exploded and sank 11 days ago. The company plans to dump chemical disperses around the uncapped wellhead which will bond with the oil supposedly, that is what they are saying and it will cause it to sink to the bottom.

President Obama plans to visit the Gulf coast tomorrow to see how bad the damage is and concern is growing about how catastrophic the oil spill will be to the fragile eco system along the gulf. Trace amounts are washing ashore the Mississippi River Delta today. Birds and marine life have also been coated in oil and are being found. If they can get to them soon enough, they are scrubbing them down to try and clean the oil off.

Our crews are covering all angles of this story across the Gulf coast region. Let's begin with Brian Todd; he is in Venice, Louisiana. Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fred. Yes, there is a frantic effort to prevent some of this oil from getting to the shoreline going on right now, a lot of tactics being tried. We are going to up date you on that right now.

As you mentioned, traces of the oil from the leading edges of the oil slick have kind of snaked through some of the barrier islands, the barrier patches. That is the first initial contact with landfall that has been made. According to BP and some of the Parrish leaders we have spoken to in this region, no significant accumulations of oil have made their way on to shore yet. And as far as the tactics that they are trying, a new one is the use of underwater disperses. I spoke with a BP official not long ago and she told me that they tested this out last night, the test went very well. So they are going to deploying this in large amounts today, under water disperses, they can essentially attach themselves to huge clumps of oil and when they do that the clumps sink to the bottom.

There have been questions about whether these disperse themselves are too chemically toxic and might themselves harm the environment. BP says that they've gotten clearance from U.S. Environmental Agencies to use this stuff. So they are going to be trying it in massive amounts today. They hope that will work and really disperse these clumps of oil under water before they can make their way on to the shoreline.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And so they tested them yesterday, and they would be doing it today. That's with EPA approval, as far as know?

TODD: They say that they've gotten approval to do this. There have been questions as to whether these chemicals themselves are fairly highly toxic. That one environmentalist said that they've been associated with headaches and vomiting and they've been in contact with humans. So I ran that by a BP official who said we've been through all the processes of the U.S. government to try and get clearance to use this material, including some U.S. environmental agencies that weigh in on the effects of marine life. And we have gotten clearance to use it. We are going to be digging more into these chemicals, how they are used, what some of their effects are. But BP says they've gotten the clearance and they work under water to disperse some of this oil so they have got to try it.

WHITFIELD: It is fascinating stuff. That would be an incredible deterrent if that would help save some of the industries and the wild life. Brian Todd, thank you so much.

We are going to talk a little bit later to a marine toxicologist who will be sounding on that dispersing as well during the 4:00 Eastern Hour for that.

Meantime, along the Gulf coast, it is a waiting game. Residents are watching to see what the sea actually brings in. Our Richard Liu is in Dauphin Island, Alabama, with more from there.

Richard.

RICHARD LIU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Fred. Yes, we are talking; 24 hours ago we were at the same spot. I want to take you back to some of the pictures that we had from yesterday. What we saw were four or five boats around 2:00, 3:00 local time feverishly trying to get out those booms and anchor both sides and get out what was probably 500, 600 yards of these booms to prevent any oil slicks from hitting the coast.

But as we come back to today it's much different, 24 hours later, right behind me you can see those very same booms are now up against the break water on the right hand side here. On the left hand side, we pan to the left. Where there were booms yesterday, after they installed them completely gone. So after 24 hours we have seen what the efforts were done yesterday will have to be redone if they are going to try to protect this estuary.

You know some of the challenges here; they have to anchor both sides strongly. In this case you can see one side is loose. They also have to calculate. If it's sitting like this when they anchor them down which was the case yesterday, it also has the potentiality of swinging the opposite way. That is what happened here. It swung the other way and is now hitting the coast. Those are some dynamics we are seeing here over the last 24 hours.

WHITFIELD: So, Richard again I mean that was a great explanation. But I am wondering when you panned over and you showed us kind of the one loose boom, might it have broken off? Is that because of the tides? I'm looking at the water behind you, looks like the sea is pretty rough there in the Gulf. Did it break off? Is that also an issue they are having?

LUI: You hit it right on the head there, Fred. That's what happened to the left hand side of this boom right here, it has broken off. The right hand side is fine. But you also have that dynamic that is switching that arc that I was showing you. To the father left it has completely lost its moorings and is gone. I don't even see it against the coast and you can't see it in eyesight and those are some of the dynamics. If you see some of that moose attached to the booms, that moose being of course the tar from the oil as well as the feathers, and the other particulate that might be floating, that stuck to some of the booms that we have seen so far.

WHITFIELD: Any idea what kind of wildlife or marine life, bird life that they are most concerned about there in Dauphin Island they want to protect?

LIU: Well they are concerned about from end to end here when we talk about the eco system. We talked with the sea lab right down, about 300 feet from where I'm at right now there isn't anything that they are not talking about, what I think also needs to be brought up, I heard you talking about earlier about dispersants. Is that when I worked in the cleanup about fifteen years ago it buys you some time, but after they pull those little clumps together and the oil falls to the bottom, what happens to that clump?

Does it get eaten up by Mother Nature or do you have to go and harvest it? That was the debate 15 years ago. I can tell today it continues to be something that where the question is not quite answered when it comes to some of the solutions. But it does buy them some time.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I can't imagine harvesting actually taking place when you talk about the scale of this, 5,000 gallons per day that is being leaked. Who would have the time or money to harvest it? We'll talk to a toxicologist a bit later on about maybe answering some those questions for us. Richard Lui, thank you so much.

Meantime, that has been a lot of the main course that we have been giving you this afternoon. We are just minutes away now from the dessert, you know what that means, "Viral Video Rewind." That's where Josh Levs comes in and he brings a little fun into the picture Josh.

JOSH LEVS: Yes, we can use a little bit of that today. Every week I deliver relaxation video for you. The one this week is entrancing. Is it real?

WHITFIELD: Creepy.

LEVS: Who does that exactly match what we are seeing? Plus the greatest birthday cake candle of all time. And how to frolic with a baby kangaroo. They don't have to do anything.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Of course we are going to have more news ahead including the oil slick, immigration, May Day protest demonstrations and all that. First, Josh Levs is here with this week's top "Viral Videos." Everybody looks forward to this.

LEVS: Yes and you know what, I'm so psyched for the first one. It's so impressive. Its gymnastics, athletics and it is a mascot. Take a look here; I'm blown away by what happens here. This is the NBA Milwaukee Bucks. He goes all the way on top of that ladder. There he is. He is about to do a back flip and dunk it. Listen to the crowd. Listen to this. They go wild. He goes into his happy dance. I've never seen a mascot do anything like that. I put it in there again. Take a look. Watch what he does. He is going to do the jump and dunk it on the fall. Boom!

WHITFIELD: Banjo is the bomb.

LEVS: He's got it going on. Coolest birthday candle of all time, take a look at this. You've got a cake. Boom. It opens up into one weird candle. There you go, starts off as a candle, then opens up. Then you hear the birthday song along with it.

WHITFIELD: I want that for my birthday.

LEVS: Hope someone is watching. I'll give him a call. There is this birthday theme online this week. People are going crazy over this dog that likes every song in the world except the birthday song. His owners don't know why. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can sing anything and he won't react. The itsy bitsy spider, happy birthday to you

LEVS: They swear they didn't train this.

WHITFIELD: Is this a rescue dog? You wonder if this was trauma before it joined this family.

LEVS: I'll find out. I hope it's not that sad. I was thinking like me it doesn't like getting older.

WHITFIELD: Maybe that's it; it is as simple as that.

LEVS: Baby animals always happy online. Take a look. This week it's a baby kangaroo.

These baby animals don't have to do anything and get millions of views.

WHITFIELD: Babies, animals, they trump everybody and everything.

LEVS: That's true. Time for your Zen. Every week you get your relaxation video. Ready? This week is funky. Let's hear this music. This is called "Animusic." It's a computer program that lets you design an instrument and along with it, it is actually playing the music that you tell the program.

WHITFIELD: There's a little futuristic thing going on there, crabby fingers. They look like crab claws.

LEVS: They do look a little bit freaky, but they are playing such nice music.

WHITFIELD: I'll close my eyes and listen to the music. I'm not sold on the image.

LEVS: Imagine a lawn mower that you don't have to touch. Laziness is the father of invention. Somebody tethered a self- propelled mower that cuts a perfect inward spiral.

WHITFIELD: That is perfect.

LEVS: I would have done that as a teen.

WHITFIELD: Everybody in the neighborhood is talking because when they see the circular formation they are thinking UFO landed here. Remember the whole circular formation you see around the world?

LEVS: If you walk by that house and see that happening, that's what you might think. All our videos are posted online. It's all up there on Facebook for you. Not only do you check out facebook.com/joshlevscnn.

WHITFIELD: Love that. OK, thanks so much. Of course Josh there's been a lot of severe weather throughout the southeast and even part of the Midwest, as well. Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center. We've got reports of a tornado on the ground.

Right.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEROLOGIST: Train spotters reporting that tornado now near Hinkle. This is in Tennessee, where a watch is in effect at this time, the tornado that we're talking about is right around this area, it is north of Booneville and it is moving eastward about 40 miles per hour. So Hinkle you need to seek shelter right now. Jumperton and Farmington both also in the line of fire. So this is a confirmed tornado, a couple of different sources reporting this on the ground, no reports on damage or injuries just yet. But as we continue to get information, we'll bring that along to you. This is a high-risk day of tornados across parts of the mid south. We'll keep you updated on the stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we are taking a look at May Day protests around the country -- thousands of demonstrators from Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Dallas and other cities. You're looking at live pictures, right now of Dallas, New York and Los Angeles. Many folks who are demonstrating, turning out in big numbers, because they're protesting Arizona's new immigration law.

It requires officers to question people about their immigration status if they think those people are not in the country legally. Supporters say the law is necessary because the federal government has not secured the border, but critics say the law encourages racial profiling.

There's also a rally shaping up in Phoenix, Arizona, where that bill was actually passed and signed into law. Our Casey Wian is there.

Casey, last we spoke there were about 200 people who turned out. What does the number look like now?

CASEY WIAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it got up to about 300, maybe a few more and folks have now started to drift away from the state capitol where protests are going on despite the fact that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed changes into law yesterday that seeked to clarify that Arizona's tough crackdown on illegal immigration does not give police the authority to pull people over just because of the way they look or the color of their skin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): From the moment she signed Arizona's new law targeting illegal immigrants, Governor Jan Brewer did little to calm the fear and anger felt by opponents, with a stumbling answer to a simple, but loaded, question.

QUESTION: What does an illegal immigrant look like?

Does it look like me?

GOV JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: I do not know. I do not know what an illegal immigrant looks like. But, I know if AZ Post gets their selves together, works on this law, puts down the description, that the law will be enforced civilly, fairly and without discriminatory points to it.

WIAN: AZ Post is the agency that trains police officers, a description of an illegal immigrant or racial profiling was never part of the original law, yet President Obama apparently didn't see it that way.

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Now suddenly, if you don't have your papers and took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed. That's something that could potentially happen.

WIAN: State senator Russell Pearce authored the law.

SEN RUSSELL PEARCE (R), ARIZONA: Shame on President Obama and others who spoke before they read the bill. In Washington they have a habit of not reading their bills. Actually, in Arizona we read them, we know what's in them.

WIAN: Still, legislators have now changed the law seeking to clarify what they call misinformation that has stoked the fears of Latinos in Arizona. The original law stated police can conduct an immigration status check during any "lawful contact," if they have reasonable suspicion a person is an illegal immigrant. It replaces "lawful contact" with "lawful stop, detention or arrest," clarifying police may not stop people without cause.

The revised law also removes the word "solely" from the phrase, the attorney general or a county attorney "shall not investigate complaints that are based solely on race, color or national origin." That's intended to remove fears about racial profiling.

Even so, some in law enforcement say confusion will persist.

CHIEF JACK HARRIS, PHOENIX POLICE: It puts my officers in a very difficult position, if they enforce the law or if they don't enforce the law. So they're being put in place where if they enforce state law they are going to be sued because they are violating federal law. If they abide by federal statute, they're going to be sued because they're not enforcing the state law.

WIAN: Friday Brewer signed the revised version of the law.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, the protestors here seem to have changed their focus from the specifics of this controversial new law to the fact they want deportations of illegal immigrants stopped, period -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Casey Wian, thanks so much from Phoenix. Appreciate that.

So, as the administration turns to immigration reform, here's a key question: What exactly did President Obama promise he would do about it when he was a candidate? As always, our Josh Levs keeping an eye on the president's promises.

So Josh, what did candidate Obama, nominee Obama, say on the campaign trail?

JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, he made a series of promises about immigration and fortunate for us here, he actually summed up probably the three biggest ones in one sound bite. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'll work with Bill Richardson to secure our borders. We'll crack down on employers who exploit undocumented workers and undercut American workers and we will put those 12 million people living in the shadows on a path to earn citizenship, get them out of the shadows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Government now saying it's more like 11 million. But you're seeing here is the Web site, PolitiFact.com. What they do is they track all the president's promises on what they call the "Obameter." PolitiFact is nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize winning site from the "St. Petersburg Times."

They're pointing to three big promises that I'm showing you here, about immigration. Secure the borders, crack down on employer who hire undocumented immigrants and then provide a path to citizenship for these illegal immigrants -- undocumented immigrants.

And what you see next to it is PolitiFact's ruling how well he's doing. Now, the first one, secure the borders. And PolitiFact gives him "in the works" on that. This administration has indeed announced steps to beef up security on the border, and to help Mexico fight drug cartels. He had made a pretty general promise as a candidate. So they say, he is on his way to achieving that one.

Now, when it comes down to employers who hire illegal immigrants and cracking down on them? That's where PolitiFact say so far, you can just say he's compromised.

President Bush had had an executive order in place that made it mandatory for government contractors to use something called E-Verify. It's this database to ensure that new hires were legal.

President Obama does have that rule as well, but President Bush had also established something else called a no-match rule and it required companies to fire employees with suspect social security numbers or else they'd be fined. President Obama's not holding on to that.

And the third one there, Fred, we saw, is providing a path to citizenship. Obviously, that has not happened so far. President Obama wants it to, but PolitiFact is saying at this point, that one, they're saying is a stalled promise from the campaign -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so that's the clarity on immigration, but as a whole, how as the president on all those promises?

LEVS: Yes, this is why we like to look at the Obameter, right? Here's his track record, so far according to the Obameter, there. Promises kept, there's really two figures to look at, the first is the promises kept, which is 110, and then the other one is promises broken. That's the one I always look at, because, I've said this before, I'll say it again, politicians shouldn't get lollipops for keeping their promises, they should have to be called out when they don't keep their promises. So, says 19 promises broken, you can see a complete breakdown of all of that up at the Web site, PolitiFact.com. And now you know. See what you think for yourself -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating stuff. Thanks for compiling those, brining those to us. Thank you, Josh.

All right, some popular children's drugs are being pulled off the store shelves. You want to know what they are, we'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking our top stories right now, crews are turning to chemicals in their latest bid to disperse the huge oil spill along the Gulf Coast. The chemicals are supposed to attach themselves to the oil, cause the oil to sink to the bottom of the gulf. And President Obama actually plans to visit the gulf tomorrow.

Some popular children's drugs are being pulled off store shelves because they may not meet quality standards. The voluntary recall covers dozens of over-the-counter children's medication including children's versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, as you see there. The maker, McNeil Consumer Healthcare says there are no reports of any medical problems. It says the recall is just a precaution.

And President Barack Obama is urging Americans to turn away from overheated political rants. He spoke to 80,000 people today during commencement ceremonies at the University of Michigan. The president warned against extreme rhetoric, either from the left or from the right. He says name-calling and insults may incite extreme elements to violence.

And hundreds of thousands of young girls, some only six years old, deceived when they were sold as sex slaves. It happens all of the time in Nepal. And this week's CNN hero made it her life's mission to stop this exploitation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANURADHA KOIRALA, CNN HERO: In the West, America, Europe, if someone comes and says, "I want to make your child a prostitute," they would give them one slap or shoot them. But here, families, they are tricked all the time.

Girls are brought from the villages by people who can lure them and tell them that they're getting a nice job.

The border between India and Nepal is the conduit point of trafficking. Once they are here, there is no way to escape.

I am Anuradha Koirala. And it is my strong hope to stop every Nepali girl from being trafficked.

When we go to the border at this point, we are intercepting four girls to five girls per day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see you papers again.

After the rescue, the girl is taken to Maiti Nepal.

We started this we take rape survivors, trafficking survivors. We take everybody.

Oh, good girl.

The girls who come back from brothels, they are totally psychologically broken. We give them whatever work they want to do, whatever training they want to do.

One day we will really stop it. The trafficking will end. These are all convicted. There is always a small scar that, yes, one day I was trafficked, but today I'm something new in my life.

They are my strength.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, she is amazing. The woman called Nepal's Mother Teresa has rescued and helped rehabilitate more than 12,000 girls. To nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNN.com/heroes.

All right, Arkansas is cleaning up from a deadly storm. We'll hear a chilling first-hand account from a man who got too close to the wind and we'll find out whether more storms are actually on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tornados that hit central Arkansas last night are blamed for at least one death and dozens of injuries. Homes were destroyed, trees were uprooted and vehicles were overturned. David Lawson sat in his badly-damaged truck as he described what he experienced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LAWSON, SURVIVOR: I was heading home back to my cousin's house and my truck left the ground and a tree brought me back down to the ground.

I went airborne and the tree brought me back to the ground. It was (INAUDIBLE), you'll back up, you can see all the dents in the hood. Well, that's where the truck, you know the tree was.

My cousin told me not to leave. You ain't got time and I should have listened, but I didn't. I got what I got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, but he's lucky to be alive. Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center.

Where are storms headed now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, they are moving across parts of the Mississippi valley and the deep south and I'm worried, Fredricka, that we're going to see more pictures just like that taking place this evening and possibly even into the overnight. We do have confirmed reports now out of Tennessee that we've got some tornado damage, some roofs being peeled off houses near the town of Ripley along highway 15. It's from this cell right here. So, under the tornado warning is Alcorn, Prentice, and Seshamingo (ph) counties. And this is a confirmed tornado. It has a history of producing damage pushing off to the east right now.

And to put it into perspective for you, here's Memphis way over here. So, this is moving right across northern parts of Mississippi on into Alabama, as well. We've got a confirmed tornado in Alabama, as well.

This is for Colbert and Lauderdale counties. Train weather spotters now just reported a tornado near Leedy, Mississippi, and that storm moving east at 40 miles-per-hour. And in addition to the threat of tornados, flash flood risk is very high, Fredricka. We've had as much as 10 inches of rain just outside of Memphis. So, all of this green that you see here is where we have flash flood warnings. And dozens of cars have been stalled today because of that and people have had to be rescued. So, use a lot of caution traveling around and be very aware of your surroundings with severe weather today.

WHITFIELD: And then much further south from your map there, let's talk about how the weather might be impacting the whole oil spill, trying to control the flow of that water. We've seen the booms (ph), but we are seeing the booms are breaking and sometimes they are sinking because the water is very choppy.

JERAS: Yes, absolutely. Conditions certainly not favorable. The map that you see behind me, to kind of put it in perspective for you, here is Louisiana, there's Mississippi and this is the big area of the Gulf of Mexico. And this is from RightWeather.com and these are the wind vectors and so this is what the winds are doing today, bringing everything onshore. And those winds are pushing the waves so we have six to eight foot seas. And things are very choppy. Winds are gusting as much as 35, 40 plus miles-per-hour, at times. We expect that onshore flow to continue through Monday, likely. Then Monday night into Tuesday we'll start to see those winds push offshore and that will help to keep it away, but in the meantime we are looking through the weekend, likely through Monday, that things are going to be pushing closer towards the coast.

WHITFIELD: Oh, terrible. All right, thanks so much, Jacqui. Appreciate that.

Well, of course this means that the fishermen in that area are very frustrated, they're on edge and they are certainly playing a waiting game. A massive oil spill threatens the fishing in the Gulf Coast. The impact that it could have on the jobs and on your budget, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Farewell to a warrior, Dorothy Height didn't just live through America's civil rights struggles, she fought for it. For decades she worked for racial equality and for women's rights and was a powerful figure in Washington. President Barack Obama delivered her eulogy on Thursday, and it is this week's "What Matters."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Year after year, decade in, decade out, Dr. Height went about her work quietly, without fanfare, without self-promotion. She never cared about who got the credit. She didn't need to see her picture in the papers. She understood that the movement gathered strength from the bottom up. Those unheralded men and women who don't always make it into the history books, but who steadily insisted on their dignity, on their manhood, and womanhood.

(APPLAUSE)

She wasn't interested in credit. What she cared about was the cause, the cause of justice, the cause of equality, the cause of opportunity -- freedom's cause, and that willingness to subsume herself, that humility, and that grace is why we honor Dr. Dorothy Height.

As it is written in the gospel of Matthew: "For whoever exalts himself will be humble, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." I don't think the author of the gospel would mind me rephrasing whoever humbles herself will be exalted.

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WHITFIELD: All right, now back to our top story. Oil gushing from a ruptured BP oil rig that caught fire, exploded and sank 11 days ago. Frustrated fishermen are keeping their boats idle, but they're worried what the growing oil slick will actually do to wildlife, sea life and other livelihoods.

Captain David Boola is one of them. He joins us from Venice, Louisiana.

All right, Captain, give me an idea how concerned are you? Have you essentially parked your boats, docked your boats and feel like there is no opportunity for fishing, oystering, shellfishing, nothing?

CAPTAIN DAVID BOOLA, FISHERMAN: I'm pretty much on pause right now. It is a big waiting game. We don't know what to do yet. We don't have no word, you know, from anybody. It is just a big waiting game. At the moment I'm extremely worried because I have customers that's already canceled trips, you know, customers wanting to cancel trips and people that may not call to book trips. So, I'm just on hold right now. It is a big waiting game.

WHITFIELD: And this is really, you know, a one-two punch isn't it? I mean, this area is starting to recover from back-to-back hurricanes, that certainly means docking the boats that suspends a good bit of your business. How much of an impact is this making on you and your business, especially as you're trying to rebound from the weather-related setbacks?

BOOLA: Well, I mean, yeah, we just now kind of getting back on our feet from the storms, you know, Katrina and, you know, Rita and all that and we just now kind of getting things going again and now we have this to worry about, you know. So, it's kind of -- it is every time you get back up you get knocked back down. And I mean, what else can we do? I mean, we just -- this whole community is a real hard working community. We're ready to do what we got to do. We're just not happy about the situation.

WHITFIELD: And so who is actually keeping you informed? Who do you go to, what agency do you go to do say, hey, give us the latest update on how the oil is being contained?

BOOLA: Really, you know, if there is a meeting to attend, we attend meetings, we talk around, word of mouth is a big way of communicating down here. You know, but what's true you don't know. You kind of talk around to find out what's going on, you know?

WHITFIELD: How encouraging, does it make a difference to you that the president will be touring the region, that Homeland Security secretary has already said that she is doing all she can to make sure that there are federal reinforcements in the area?

BOOLA: Well, the big thing is is that, you know, I'm standing here talking to you, and not working, I should be out taking people fishing today and I'm not. And, you know, that's encouraging that there's going to be help, but, you know, I'm not making money today, you know, or tomorrow. You know, I mean, I'm worried about the now factor, you know?

WHITFIELD: And are you -- you can't help but think about what happens after tomorrow, and the next week, because we're talking oil spill on this kind of scale, 5,000 gallons a day. It would seem this would take maybe months, perhaps even years, for this region to fully recover. Are you looking at it in terms of that?

BOOLA: Yes. That's correct. The big thing is, is if we woke up tomorrow, and everything was fine, I still have trips that cancel, you know, I have people that's going to be worried about coming fishing down here even if that was the best case scenario. But, right now we're looking at the worst case scenario. We got this strong wind, you can see it behind me. It is not making things good for us, you know? The harder that wind blows and the direction it's coming from, the worse things are going to get.

WHITFIELD: Captain David Boola, all the best to you. Keep us posted if you can, joining us from Venice, Louisiana.