Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Deadly Flash Floods in Kentucky; BP Containment Cap Success, So Far; Nelson Mandela Celebrates 92nd Birthday; Thousands Come Out for New York City Triathalon

Aired July 18, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A critical test period may be ending this hour in the gulf. BP says the new cap is holding back the oil flow. And could stay in place for a lot longer.

And South Carolina's surprise Senate candidate is stumping today. We'll hear from Democrat Alvin Green during his first campaign stop.

And repercussions from a bad joke? Or was it outright racism? Either way, it has caused a big split in the tea party movement today.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Our top story right now. A critical turning point in the gulf. At this hour, BP officials are assessing the results of integrity tests on the recapped oil well. And depending on what they find, the cap could stay sealed on the well until a relief well is drilled.

Joining us right now with the very latest developments from New Orleans, CNN's David Mattingly. David, when will they make the decision about whether to keep it on?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the pattern that we're seeing so far is that after each 24-hour period, they're going to assess what they have and then decide to move on. There's no timetable really with anything right now. And that's what we learned this morning was that BP is now saying that if their test results keep coming back and these tests keep going well.

It's possible that they'll just keep this test going and keep this well closed up all the way up until the time that that relief well intersects this well and fills it up with cement and kills it.

So it's possible we have seen the end of that oil from this well leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. If that scenario plays out. And this is what was told to us in the briefing this morning by Doug Suttles, the spokesman for BP. He said whether "no one associated with this whole activity, whether you're with BP or any one of the government groups or anyone who lives along the gulf coast wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico."

And we're hopeful that if the encouraging signs continue, we'll be able to continue the integrity tests all the way to the point that we get the well killed. Well just a few hours after that, Admiral Thad Allen of the Joint Command put out his own statement. He sounded a lot more cautious. So pay attention to what he says. This is how he worded it. "While we are pleased that no one is, no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico, and want to take all the appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science. Ultimately, we must insure no irreversible damage is done, which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor."

This is a note of caution we've been hearing all along about what the condition of that well might be and what steps they take forward. What risks there might be to open up some kind of leak down there. But so far, Fredricka, no leaks, no problems, no surprises.

WHITFIELD: David Mattingly, thanks so much in New Orleans. Appreciate that.

Meantime, a New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu welcomes the progress being reported at the leak site. But he said the region still has a long way to go before it sees any real recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MITCH LANDRIEU, NEW ORLEANS: We have to make sure that we're moving in the right direction and if we really cap the well, if we begin to capture the oil, if we really aggressively clean the coast up the way it's supposed to be, you make sure that everybody gets paid. We'll begin to pull ourselves out of this. And people down here are not ever asking for a handout. Nobody has ever asked that.

This is our livelihood. This is the place that we live. It's our home and we think it's a very special place and part of America, and so we're going to keep going, one step at a time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Vice President Joe Biden had a cautious response to questions today about the planned draw-down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan next July. He previously predicted a lot of people moving out. Those were his words by then. But says, that's not really a deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: What I was talking about was, you have, we're going to have over 100,000 people there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More, right, if you include -

BIDEN: I'm just talking about Americans, 140,000 people there. And there's going to be a draw-down of forces as we transition. There are 34 districts in Afghanistan. And the plan is, as we train up the Afghanis, we are going to begin in August say OK, now you got this province, we no longer have to have American or NATO forces in that province. There will be a transition.

And really, what I was responding to was the idea that the president had been outmaneuvered. I was saying, make it clear. So it wasn't so much numbers I meant. It could be as few as a couple thousand troops. It could be more. But there will be a transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And as the vice president said, there are around 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan. 39 have been killed there this month alone.

A controversial blog post by a tea party leader triggers a split within the movement. That story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. A split within the tea party movement today. Brought on by a controversial blog post by one of its figureheads, Mark Williams. The man right there.

Well, in his blog, Williams pretends to be the NAACP president, Benjamin Jealous, writing to Abraham Lincoln. And this is how that blog reads. "Dear Mr. Lincoln, we, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves and take consequences, along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us."

And here's how the national tea party federation now responded today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WEBB, NATIONAL TEA PARTY FEDERATION: We in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation. Because of the letter that he wrote, which he, I guess, may have considered satire, but which was clearly offensive. And that is what we do. Self-policing is the right and the responsibility of any movement or organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So earlier today I spoke with the NAACP President Ben Jealous and here's what he had to say about Williams' expulsion.

((BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN TODD JEALOUS, NAACP PRESIDENT & CEO: This is a very good start. On Friday, Mark Williams doubled down on dumbness. And on Saturday, and Sunday, now they've begun to show some signs of common sense. We need them to go further. And to keep this up. David Webb, who is in New York has a small group. They've put him out front on this. He is very coherent. He is very clear, we appreciate him very much. But we hope that the, that the household names, Dick Armey, Sarah Palin, you know and so forth will come forward and say the same thing and push on with the folks who are still out there.

WHITFIELD: OK. So when you say, you know, David Webb, he's been the one who has been put out there. They put him out there. Why do you suppose that he is the face that is now representing the tea party movement to respond to the actions of Mr. Mark Williams?

JEALOUS: You know, I don't know. You know, the, we would like to see tea party reps of all colors out there. We've heard from one of their black leaders. You know, until now he was identified with a very small group that the New Yorker had called, threadbare and said, you know, could only turn out five people to a rally.

Now he's on national TV for them. The, but you know, look, if he's getting moved up the ranks, that's great. We would just hope to see tea party leaders of all colors come out. So far, you know, we've seen them, you know, say lies about us, claim that we're calling them racist when we haven't. You know, we would like you know, to see them actually point to their own folks who are acting in racist ways, speak up and say that there's no room for you.

WHITFIELD: Well, see, I wonder though with Mark Williams being expelled, is it your feeling that his expulsion means that also being removed are the things that you and the organization of NAACP have described as being those behaviors and words with racial undertones? A hateful messages, that those things have now been removed from association with the tea party movement as a result of Mark Williams being expelled.

JEALOUS: Mark is a good start. They need to go further. This is a, you know, they have groups all over the country. In down in the show me state where we just had our convention. They have the Council of Conservative Citizens who are out there actively recruiting. This is a white - a group that says black people are not equipped for democracy. You know, they need to break from them. Have that be clear.

You know, at the same time you have David Duke, who is thoroughly excited about the tea party. He's been blogging about how he thinks that this is going to revive him in politics. They need to say that look, there's no space for David Duke in the tea party. They just got to go further. They have somebody running down south for governor as a write-in candidate claiming broad tea party support, saying that there's no place for people of color in his country.

And all of these horrible signs that you can see at naacp.org and they need to push those out of the event. This is a very good start. They've got to go further.

WHITFIELD: So what in your view does the tea party movement represent?

JEALOUS: Well you would hope that the tea party would simply represent what's at its core. People are concerned about tax policy, who have you know a conservative set of values. Unfortunately, the signs and the speeches and the statements like that made by Mark Williams in which he you know, had me calling President Lincoln, the biggest racist ever and saying slavery was a good gig, you know, divert people.

So as a movement grows up, you've got to act responsibly and they got to keep doing what they just did to Mark Williams and make it clear, there's no space for bigots here, period.

WHITFIELD: So those sentiments, those behaviors that you believe are representative of bigotry, is that an anomaly within the group? Or do you believe that that is fairly pervasive within the tea party movement?

JEALOUS: You know, again, when David Duke thinks that the tea party will revive him in politics, when the Council of Conservative Citizens literally the descendant of the old White Citizens' Council is saying "look, we're having great success and this is how we can go further inside the tea party" - when stormfront.org, a big white supremacist web site started by former KKK leader Don Black is bragging about their reach and influence into the tea party, then it isn't just Mark Williams.

And you got to go further and you got to make it clear, so this can be a group of folks who might don the old revolutionary cap and talk about tax issues. I mean, that's great. And we, we welcome the tea party. We don't think the tea party is racist. But we don't think that they've gone enough just yet. That they've gone far enough just yet, either.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: We also invited political consultant Jordan Lieberman to join us in a conversation after talking with Ben Jealous earlier today. And we asked him about the claim that the tea party leaders are tolerating racism within their ranks and here's what Lieberman had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JORDAN LIEBERMAN, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: The tea party is not racist. As a matter of fact, there isn't really a thing as the tea party, it's a group of loosely-affiliated organization who came together under a federation, which, of course, has some members that are, you know, who are somewhat racist. However the reality is that -

WHITFIELD: But if the argument, Jordan, if the argument is that whether it's the entire group or whether there are members who are carrying the message of this movement, and if their behavior is such or it's been classified as such as being that of bigotry or hateful or racist or those are the charges, I mean that the party or the movement as a whole has been Jealous was saying is not condemning the actions of this one person who has quite the platform. Then what does that say? Does that say that the movement is embracing the behavior of someone who has insulted people in large part?

LIEBERMAN: No, they've kicked him out and they've done actually most members, most tea party leaders have done a pretty good job of trying to excise members who are, who are racist or otherwise kind of off the mainstream. But the fact is, now we're entering August pretty soon and we're still talking about whether the tea party federation is racist. And that's exactly what Ben Jealous wants.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And so far, Mark Williams, who is the one who was expelled from this tea party movement, well, he has not responded yet too to the expulsion, but he was to be on the air this evening. He was scheduled to be interviewed by our Don Lemon at 7:00 Eastern time. But he has since canceled on his 7:00 appearance. And we'll see if he's going to be working us into his schedule at some other point. We'll let you know.

For the first time, meantime, South Carolina surprise U.S. Senate candidate is finally campaigning. Alvin Greene will speak shortly at the NAACP branch in his hometown of Manning. The unemployed Army veteran stunned many when he beat a long-time politician to win the Democratic nomination in June's primary.

And CNN's national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin, is in Manning right now for that speech. What's taking place?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka, well Alvin Greene is on the stage behind me. The event has gotten under way. We expect him to speak here in about 15, 20 minutes. A lot of people have gathered here. They've come from across the state to hear Alvin Greene. Because the folks we talked to say he's as much a mystery to them as he is to the rest of the nation.

Some folks we interviewed here from Manning say they did know him. One woman said he was her substitute teacher one day in high school. And everybody who knows him describes him as quiet. But they did not have much more than that to, much more light than that to shed on who he is and what he believes in and what he would stand for as a U.S. senator.

And they said they're all excited to hear about it, just like the rest of us. I did speak to Alvin Greene just before he came here. He said he had written his speech himself. It was hand-written on double- lined notebook paper. He showed it to us, he said it will get into jobs, education and all of his platforms for the Senate run. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And so Jessica, the people who have come out to hear him have people been really forthright with you and said that, you know, this is why they believe in him as a candidate? Or are they there because they're curious to hear what he represents as a candidate?

YELLIN: Everyone I spoke with came because they're curious about him as a candidate. I did not encounter any people who say that they're part of the Alvin Greene campaign team. As far as we know, he doesn't really have a campaign team. Nor did I find any Alvin Greene necessarily supporters per se. More people who want to know what he stands for so they can decide whether they want to support him or not. And a lot of open minds in this audience.

WHITFIELD: OK. Jessica Yellin, thanks so much. I know you're going to be letting us know when Alvin Greene takes to the stage, what he says. And we'll rejoin you when that happens, thanks so much. In Manning, South Carolina.

YELLIN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, you know how tough it is - to eat healthy. In a moment I'll talk to a 10-year-old chef who has come up with a plan and he says, it's not a diet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. Everyone can agree with this, eating right isn't always easy. But don't tell that to 10-year-old Marshall Reid, the budding chef started a one-month challenge called - portion size me, where he cooked healthy meals for his whole family. And he sent us an i-report of one of his recipes. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHALL REID, 10-YEAR-OLD CHEF: We challenged Mexican restaurants to make their taco salad healthier. Taco salad, they have a fried bowl that is edible. And they put beef, lettuce and tomato in it and sour cream.

Now we're going to put the health spin on it. So what we're going to do is we're going to use iceberg lettuce, lite sour cream, low-fat cheese, turkey and ground beef, and tomatoes of course. Cilantro, all those good stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. All the good stuff. Healthy stuff. And here they are right now. Marshall Reid, the creator of that good stuff and his mother, Alexandria. They're joining me right now from Raleigh, North Carolina. Good to see both of you.

MARSHALL REID: Thank you very much for having us.

WHITFIELD: So, Marshall, let me begin with you. I just want to know, so what did you replace the taco shell with? In that taco salad?

MARSHALL REID: We just replaced it with the normal bowl.

WHITFIELD: OK. Yes, you don't need to eat the bowl after all, anyway, right? Okay. So where did this kit come from, this challenge of portion size me. Why did you decide to try and get everybody on board to eat healthier?

MARSHALL REID: Well we were having a lot of trouble at times, we were getting, we were actually we didn't even care, but we were actually finding out that we were getting bigger and bigger.

WHITFIELD: We, meaning, who is we? Just everybody.

MARSHALL REID: Yes, we, me, my mom and my dad.

WHITFIELD: OK. So you, you know, you took charge of the family business here, didn't you?

MARSHALL REID: Yes. WHITFIELD: OK. So wait a minute, mom. How did he know all this about cooking and you know, food and what's nutritious and all that? Did you teach him this? Or is he the one teaching you all?

ALEXANDREA REID, MARSHALL'S MOTHER: We, we all have been learning about it ourselves. But he's the sponge. I mean he just - he retains everything. And if we forget something one day, he'll bring it right back to us and remind us what we're, what we're supposed to be doing.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ALEXANDREA REID: He's very intuitive.

WHITFIELD: That's fantastic. So Marshall, in this 31 days, it was kind of a challenge to the family, right. 31 days, OK, of everybody being on board with my menu and let's cook and eat healthy. What did you discover along the way? Was it easy for everyone to kind of change the foods that they were eating? Get on board?

MARSHALL REID: Well, at first it was actually pretty hard. But then once you sort of get into a roll of eating healthier and every once in a while you can have a little treat. But to help you tide through.

WHITFIELD: So do you feel better? Do you feel healthier? Stronger, more fit? What's happened to you in that 31 days of eating better?

MARSHALL REID: Well, I've lost 11 pounds and I've had a lot more energy. People like five people who haven't even known about it, have already said, wow, Marshall, you look a lot slimmer.

WHITFIELD: That's fantastic. So do you tell them what the secret ingredient has been?

MARSHALL REID: We just, every time they ask us, we just say really we just changed our eating habits. And once we changed it, it really kicked in.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So give me an example. We saw in that i-report that you submitted and that's why you got our attention, because you were so astute and you put this together on videotape and sent it to us. I could hear that you were using low-fat cheese, low-fat sour cream, et cetera. But what were some of the other things or what are some of the other things that have become kind of staple to your diet?

MARSHALL REID: Well, like you heard in the video of the taco salad, we used ground turkey and the really, really lean ground beef. And we found out that when you mix them together, that they're really, really good. But you're actually less fattening. And the turkey is leaner than the beef. And so those are really the main things.

WHITFIELD: So have you been doing a lot of reading on all this that you've become such an expert? I'm learning so much now, from you.

(LAUGHTER)

MARSHALL REID: Not really. We did get a book called "Eat This, Not That" and that has been quite useful.

WHITFIELD: This is cool. So Andrea, you know, when Marshall came to you and said, you know, we all know about the "Supersize Me" movie. I've got a new approach. And we'll call it, you know, portion size me. Did you think that your son had this in him to be so astute, to know so much about nutrition, to get everybody to do what he's doing now?

ALEXANDREA REID: I had complete confidence that, that he could do it. I wasn't sure that I had the confidence that our family could do it, for an entire month. And sustain with it. And actually, you know, we're already looking at additional challenges starting tomorrow to kind of keep us rolling forward.

WHITFIELD: Really, like what?

MARSHALL REID: We're going to start - since we're out of school, we did this 31 days. But we've noticed that a lot of kids who have been bringing their lunch to school have been eating all kinds of crazy stuff. Like fake Kraft macaroni and cheese, and it's all fake.

And so, we're going to start tomorrow, 10 days of 100 percent healthy and real school lunches that you can, that are affordable and you can still be healthy with.

WHITFIELD: So you're approaching the school system about this plan?

MARSHALL REID: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ALEXANDREA REID: Well, I just want to clarify that our 10 days is the lunches that you bring to school. You know, I often when I was packing lunches for him, I would throw in, you know, the 100-calorie packs of cookies for a treat or something like that. But one of the things that we're learning is about reading the ingredients on these things. And although it's very enticing that it says it's only 100 calories, there's nothing real in that.

WHITFIELD: Where's the nutrition.

ALEXANDREA REID: Exactly. So we're going to look at 10 days of healthy packed school lunches. And then we've asked, been asked by his principal to go ahead -

MARSHALL REID: My principal asked me to talk to the cafeteria manager about healthy lunches at the school.

WHITFIELD: That's going to be interesting to see how receptive they are to that, right? You're going to be teaching them a thing or two about the right things to be eating and the right thing to be putting on the menu.

Thanks so much, Marshall Reid and Alexandrea Reid, appreciate that. So fantastic. You're a great inspiration, Marshall.

MARSHALL REID: Thank you.

ALEXANDREA REID: Thank you for having us, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely. Glad you could be with us.

All right. A special celebration for Nelson Mandela today. It is his 92nd birthday. Coming up, we'll tell you how people are using his day as inspiration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear grand dad...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tragedy in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, at least two people were swept to their deaths in flash flooding in Pike County. Roads and bridges were simply washed away and people had to be plucked from their rooftops. As many as 5,000 people are affected by this disaster.

Bonnie Schneider in the Weather Center now. These flash floods have to be taken seriously all the time.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And what's interesting to note is there's no more advisories for Kentucky in terms of flash flooding. That particular part of Kentucky only received less than three-quarters of an inch of rain, whereas others saw more, so it doesn't take a lot of water to cause substantial damage and destruction.

Our other huge story today of course is the heat. I want to show you, let's take a look at the current temperature in New York City, its 92 degrees, wow. It feels like its 98 degrees because of the heat index. We can show you a live picture of New York. Let's go outside and check out the Statue of Liberty, a hazy, hot and humid day. The heat advisories in New York City will actually stick around straight through tomorrow. So it's not even going to cool down to start off your work week.

It's also super-hot, scorching through areas of the plains states, like Oklahoma into Arkansas, Kansas, all of these places have heat advisories. So many states at least 12 across the country, yesterday we had 17, so the heat index in some of these areas like Tulsa into Oklahoma. Well it will feel like its 115 degrees it is just unimaginable. Because you're not talking about the dry heat and speaking of the dry heat. Some people will say that it's more comfortable in places like Las Vegas or Phoenix, because you have the dry heat. What happens when the humidity creeps up a little bit higher than normal? Well then you have a serious situation much more serious than typical temperatures about 100 degrees. Like 105 in Phoenix.

The current number in Las Vegas is 109. It could get up to 115 before the day is over. And remember, the heat index today will also be in the triple digits, so if you don't have to be outside for any long period of time, I would recommend finding a nice air-conditioned spot across areas into the desert southwest because of the heat. Now looking at the country as a whole, we're seeing this front that's kind of blocking all the heat across the country. It will bring about severe weather and we're watching for that through the Great Lakes, some storms rolled through Chicago earlier, they are working eastward right now. We'll talk more about that later on.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Bonnie. Appreciate that.

Meantime, he's 92 and he continues to be a global inspiration. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at the top stories right now. The tests have been a success so far on the new containment cap in the Gulf of Mexico. You can see that there is still no oil flowing. Officials are assessing results from the last 24-hour test right now. And a BP executive says the cap could stay on until the release wells are actually finished.

And Alvin Green is hitting the campaign trail in South Carolina for the first time since he became the surprise winner of the Democratic Senate primary just last month. He is facing Republican incumbent, Jim Demint in the November race and Green is speaking at a NAACP event in Manning, South Carolina momentarily. That's him sitting in the background.

All right more than 3,000 people participated in today's New York City Triathlon. Phillip Ossele of the Czech Republic won the men's division and Rebecca Wasner of the United States won the women's division. But there were some casualties as well. A 31-year-old man is in critical condition after collapsing a quarter-mile from the finish line, 11 other people were hospitalized. The race director told "The New York Times" that the number of hospitalizations was less than expected, given the 90-degree heat.

President Obama is joining leaders around the world in praising Nelson Mandela. Today is the former South African president's 92nd birthday and it's the first annual Nelson Mandela International Day proclaimed by the United Nations. In a White House statement, the president said quote, "We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation."

So the president of the United States is calling on Americans to honor Nelson Mandela by participating in a public service project. Mandela spent 27 years in prison before the end of apartheid.

And CNN editorial producer Nadia Bilchik was news anchor on a South African television station when Mandela was president. So she's kind of gotten to know him well, so to speak.

Tell us more about him.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: I had the pleasure of introducing Mandela in two events. One was the opening of the SOS Children's Villages and another one was the Greek businessman of the year, because George Beezup (ph) had been Mandela's lawyer and he was Greek. Mandela grew up in the rural area of Africa, he had a circumcision, 16 years old, he goes, I am now a man and at that point he enters manhood and one of the chiefs says to him, but you haven't because you are a black man in a country that is occupied by other people.

And at that point he realizes that maybe there's inequality in the country. So he is 16, then he goes to British schools, they call him Nelson because of course his real name is African and means one who shakes the tree. He goes to Johannesburg he leaves to escape an arranged marriage. So already you see the courage that is Nelson Mandela. He goes to Johannesburg, joins a Jewish law firm where he works as a clerk and then studies law part time. Here is a man that earns so little money; he has to save his pennies so he can have candles to study by. He had one suit in five years.

WHITFIELD: He was a born leader.

BILCHIK: A born leader and courageous. There are such superb books; his own book "Long Walk to Freedom" is so remarkable. And Richard Stengel, who collaborated with Mandela on "Long Walk to Freedom" wrote "Mandela's Way: Lessons in Life and Leadership." And his ability to forgive isn't that extraordinary?

WHITFIELD: He is extraordinary. So that helps one understand that 27 years being held and to be released. And not be a bitter man.

BILCHIK: Not be a bitter man. He was asked; don't you feel bitter towards whites? And he said, no. He said because bitterness really doesn't free me. And I want to be free. And if you think about that, he is sentenced to life in prison in 1964, which is really the year that Martin Luther King Jr. gets the Nobel Peace Prize. The year of 1964 when there's Civil Rights Acts is passed. And all of those years, 46 years old, you go into prison and you come out in your 70s. And he speaks about how prison taught him conciliation. He was a leader in prison; he leaves prison in 1990, in 1994 becomes the president of this country, astounding, isn't it?

WHITFIELD: Yes. And now here he is, 92. And he is revered around the world. He has inspired so many. Whether it be right in his back yard, right in his own country. Everywhere, obviously we're hearing the president of the United States who is commenting about him. The United Nations designates it a day for him.

BILCHIK: 67 minutes.

WHITFIELD: What do we suppose Nelson Mandela feels about this kind of power that is attached to his name, his image, his legacy?

BILCHIK: I think an extraordinary peace about it. His own life has not been easy. I mean if you look at as a very young man, he has a son when he's first in prison who dies; he then has a 9-month-old child in his first marriage who dies. He has a second child who dies of aids and now his great granddaughter gets killed the night before the World Cup, the opening of the World Cup. So I think there's a sense that I've been through suffering. But there must be and hopefully is this tremendous sense of peace of seeing your vision realized.

The way I look at it is here's a man who turned a nightmare into a dream, a dream into a vision and a vision into a reality. So when you saw his face at the closing ceremony of the World Cup. If that face reflects how he's feeling, it's a sense of peace, ease; I have certainly largely had my dream come true. That's extraordinary.

WHITFIELD: Particularly in South Africa, have people ever felt a level of freedom or hope when he was president, since that time? Even though he represents a new South Africa. Do, do people in that country feel --

BILCHIK: I think there's a sense --

WHITFIELD: That it's still there.

BILCHIK: The World Cup is extraordinary. Just the feeling of Ubuntu, humanity towards others, hospitality, it's been an extraordinary time. But one must remember, that there's still poverty, there's still crime, there is still huge discrepancy between have's and have not's. There are also people who feel that Mandela was too conciliatory. But today we celebrate the extraordinary miracle that is South Africa.

I mean if you think about in 1993 before Nelson Mandela became president, there was Chris Harney. Chris Harney who was assassinated spoke about revenge and retribution. Mandela spoke about let us reconcile and let us forgive. That's what's so remarkable about the country. It's only 1994, the year is 2010. Look what's happened. There's a great sense of unity in South Africa. And let's not you know, say that it's perfect because it certainly isn't. And there are still lots of problems. And you have, you know, Jacob Izuma (ph), and a young man called Julius Malema, who worries a lot of people. But let's hope on his birthday in this period of time, he is joyful and peaceful.

WHITFIELD: Excellent. Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela, 92.

BILCHIK: Nelson Mandela.

WHITFIELD: The one who shakes the tree.

BILCHIK: Or pulls the branch from the tree, either.

WHITFIELD: Making things grow. He could go on and on.

BILCHIK: And I have one little gift this is his 90th birthday coin for you. That's a Mandela 90th birthday coin with his face on it. I keep mine with me as a reminder of this extraordinary inspirational human being.

WHITFIELD: And you feel like you keep a little bit of South Africa in your pocket.

BILCHIK: And a true statesman.

WHITFIELD: Besides it being in your blood. Nadia Bilchik, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. They were dads who weren't around for their kids because of crime or drugs. But now these men are cleaning up their acts. We'll introduce you to them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today is the perfect day for a very cool treat because it's so hot everywhere. It's national Ice Cream Day. Our Josh Levs is on the lookout.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you excited for this holiday, Fred?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: You plan on celebrating a little bit?

WHITFIELD: I didn't know it was a holiday until it fell upon us.

LEVS: But you know what? This holiday is actually been around for a couple of decades now. I didn't know about this. Look at this, proclaimed by President Reagan --

WHITFIELD: Of course, Mr. Jelly Bean man. Clearly, he liked sweets.

LEVS: He was a fan. You're going to go eat the two together, right now. It's the third Sunday of every July.

WHITFIELD: That wouldn't be good to eat both together.

LEVS: Get this, it was proclaimed by a president, right? How appropriate is it that the number one photo op in the world of President Obama right now is this -- take a look. This is what everyone's looking at all day.

He takes his family on vacation up there in Maine. And they all get ice cream and that's what everyone is looking at, the Obama family eating ice cream. So a couple of things, first of all I, we have some nice pictures of people all over the world eating ice cream. Let's take a look at that and why not. I'm going to tell you some statistics surrounding this.

This is amazing to me, the U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and about 9 percent of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream. According to the International Dairy Food Association. To be fair here, we have to keep in mind, you can't eat too much. We do have an obesity epidemic in the country. The U.S. enjoys 48 pint per person per year, according to Ice cream.com. It might be a little too much by far. It takes 12 pounds of milk to make one gallon of ice cream and this is the best. They actually know the average number of lick it is takes an average of 50 licks to get through a single scoop cone.

Now while we're at this, we've got a little piece of news on ice cream for you, too, which is Baskin-Robbins. Let's go to the nice video of that. They're dropping five flavors of their 31. What really surprises me and so many other people is that one of the five that they're dropping? French vanilla. What's that about?

WHITFIELD: Isn't that a basic?

LEVS: I think they just want people like me to freak out about it. Who gives up French vanilla?

WHITFIELD: I don't understand. An ice cream connoisseur told me just because you like the French vanilla which is creamier and sweater, it doesn't mean you let go of the vanilla. I didn't know there was a difference; I thought it was all the same it is just a fancy new name. So apparently there's a difference.

LEVS: All of this talk makes me hungry.

WHITFIELD: Josh thanks so much. We're going to digest on that one.

Meantime, we're going to take you straight to Manning, South Carolina. This is the Senate candidate Democrat Alvin Greene.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN COVERAGE)

ALVIN GREENE, (D), S.C. SENATOR CANDIDATES: Just last month, in June, we saw a net loss of 125,000 jobs across the country. Let me repeat that. Just last month in the month of June, we saw a net loss of 125,000 jobs across the country. Just last month, we lost 125,000 jobs across the country. We have more unemployed now in South Carolina than any other time in our state's history.

We see record high cuts in education spending. Even though South Carolina is ranked 49th in education. South Carolina ranks 49th in standardized test scores and we have the highest high school dropout rate in the country. We spend more than two times of our tax paying dollar on inmates than students. Let's get South Carolina and America back to work and let's move South Carolina and America forward. Let's pick up

(APPLAUSE)

Let's pick up some of the projects that were put on hold after 9/11. Such as improving transportation and infrastructure in South Carolina and America. We can build Interstate 73 from Michigan to the South Carolina coast. And widen major highways across the state. Especially evacuation routes leading from the coast.

(END COVERAGE)

WHITFIELD: Out of Manning, South Carolina you're listening to U.S. Senate candidate, and Alvin Greene there who wants to be taken very seriously. Even though many said he kind of came out of obscurity to win the primary last month for the U.S. Senate seat. This is his first public appearance. We're going to have a live report at 5:30 Eastern to analyze what's taking place here. To give you a little bit more of what he is saying. This is his first public event since winning that primary in South Carolina last month.

All right. Meantime a chance at redemption for absent fathers when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Some were street thugs; others drug addicts or prison inmates. All were absent fathers. A New Jersey organization is offering these men redemption not judgment.

CNN's Debra Ferig has our "Building up America" report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA FERIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Fifty seven -year-old Dawud Ward is the first to admit he wasted 30 years of his life on drugs and in jail. Two years ago, he hit bottom. At that moment, if somebody had come to you and leaned over and said, you're going to be a teacher, a couple of years, you're going to be a teacher, what would you have said at that moment?

DAWUD WARD, PARTICIPANT, FATHERS NOW: I wouldn't have believed it.

FERIG: And now, you light up when you talk about being a teacher.

WARD: It's possible, yes; I'm able to dream again.

FERIG: He saw a sign for Fathers Now, a nonprofit group in New Jersey helping men turn around their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Jason Murphy; he is one of our best graduates in fact.

FERIG: Program case manager John Leslie can relate to his students, drugs, the prison, the hope of redemption. Is this about giving people another chance? Is this about giving people a first chance, or is this about what the sign says, we want our men back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's basically that, basically about family reunification.

FERIG: 90 percent of those in the Fathers Now program are ex-cons, not a requirement, just a reality.

At what point does a man decide enough, I want to start living my life in a positive way. The way you did, the way these other men are doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a different point for every person.

FERIG: For Keith Harrow, it was after 30 years as a self-described street thug. He now has a part time job and is trying to be more of a dad to his six kids.

KEITH HARROW, FATHER: They are my reason for wanting to do better. FERIG: Debra Ferig, CNN, Newark, New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)