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Two American Soldiers Missing in Afghanistan; Storm Weakens, Ships Returning; Is the Internet is the Great Equalizer?; Damn Breaks in Iowa; Canadian Pilot Ejects Prior to Crash; Asian-American Makes the NBA; Shirley Sherrod Talks About Her Youth

Aired July 24, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this hour from Afghanistan. Two American soldiers are missing, and intelligent sources are telling CNN, they were abducted.

Severe weather bringing parts of Chicago to a standstill up to a half of foot of rain has fallen. And tens of thousand are still without power.

And a nearby Iowa, a town evacuated after a major dam break. Crash and burn, a spectacular dead crash in Canada. The pilot barely escaped with his life.

And a phenomenon witness in many cities for decades could it also be present on the internet? We look at the new study about white flight online.

Hello, everyone. The search is on at this hour for two American soldiers missing and possibly kidnapped in Afghanistan. NATO says, they were last seen around Kabul. And an Afghan intelligence source says, both have been abducted. We'll go straight now to our Atia Abawi, she's standing by of course in Kabul with the very latest. What do you know, Atia?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, not very good news coming out today. NATO saying, the two U.S. service members left their compound here in the capital of Kabul Friday afternoon, and then they went missing, and all of the information that they can give is that an investigation was under way, but as you said, an Afghan intelligence official stating that they were actually abducted in Logar province, Logar borders, the capital of Kabul just to the south. And you know, for the past several months, Don, we've been talking about southern Afghanistan, particularly Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Talking about how volatile they are, how the Taliban have an influence there.

But what hasn't been mentioned is the Taliban control in eastern Afghanistan, including the province of Logar. Logar province is permeated with Taliban fighters. The question that remains, many questions actually remain. And some of them include, why these two service members actually left this compound of Kabul by themselves and what is said to be nonmilitary vehicles, in fact SUVs armored SUVs and what they were doing in Logar province by themselves. And it has been obviously a very deadly day here in Afghanistan. A very rough day for American service members. Earlier Saturday morning, we got word that five U.S. service members were killed in southern Afghanistan in two separate IED attacks, improvised explosive devices. That is the number one killer for NATO forces in the country -- Don.

LEMON: Atia Abawi, thank you very much, Atia.

You know, this comes as five other U.S. troops were killed in two separate bombings in Afghanistan today. Both attacks happened in the southern part of the country. More than 50 Americans have died in Afghanistan so far this year. Sixty were killed just last month.

We have a breaking news story to tell you about this hour in Iowa, where a dam on lake Delhi has failed, snowing a wall of water into nearby communities. Huge amount of water are flowing through the area this hour. The result of massive rains. Governor Chet Culver told CNN just moments ago that the region has seen record flooding and so far there are no reports of injuries. The lake Delhi dam is about 45 miles north of Cedar Rapids.

There's also flooding near Chicago. Record heat in much of the country and whatever happened to tropical storm Bonnie? What did happen? A lot going on. So, let's get to our Bonnie Schneider, our meteorologist here. Bonnie, what the heck is going on? It's a busy day for you.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's a busy day, absolutely. We're going to start off though, first with a tornado warning, actually two of them. And they're in upstate New York. Now, this is for Chautauqua County. I'm sorry if I'm not pronouncing it correctly. But it's just north of Jamestown. It is the same thunderstorms that rolled through the Erie area just earlier this afternoon. Doppler radar has indicated rotation with these storms and that means we could see a tornado touch down at anytime. There's also been a severe thunderstorm watch listed in advance of it.

The thunderstorms are actually an indication that the heat is breaking but not quite yet. And taking a look at Chicago area. We have severe weather breaking out in central Illinois. Chicago, itself, at least the southern half of the city is under a severe thunderstorm watch right now. And we saw tremendous flooding overnight, particularly late last night when we had nine inches of rain at midway airport. A lot of flights that were headed to Milwaukee had to be rerouted because they had flooding there as well. You can see the pictures of people wandering through the floodwaters. There were so many cars stalled. People had to just abandon their vehicles and push and hope for the best because the rain came fast and it's not over yet. We have the threat for severe weather as I mentioned.

But I remember, there's so much water on the ground that the flood watches will persist straight through the evening hours because of runoff on the rivers and streams and lakes that we definitely will see that. Now, another huge story we're watching is the heat. I know we've been talking about this pretty much every week this summer but you have to realize the temperature is getting up to 100 degrees right now in Washington, 104 in Richmond. So excessive heat warnings will persist and for today and tomorrow. The thunderstorms that are rolling through this part of the country will help to break the heat but it's not going to happen today or tomorrow.

So, that's why it's highly advised even if you're in Atlanta and you're used to the hot weather, this is dangerous heat. We have air quality alerts, and once again the heat index will climb up to 110 degrees, maybe even hotter than that. We'll be watching for that as well. You know, looking at gulf coast, I wanted to mention the latest update on Bonnie, the storm. It is now remnant area of low pressure. Meaning, that it's no longer a depression. It's just a little bit of thunderstorm activity kind of rolling through the gulf right now.

LEMON: All right. Bonnie, thank you very much. I'm glad that you mentioned the Gulf of Mexico, because down in the Gulf of Mexico, about a dozen chips are working on the BP oil disaster. They're expected back on site by tomorrow. They had retreated from the area due to a large storm named Bonnie, but now that threat has diminished.

We want to go to CNN's David Mattingly, he's in St. Tammany Parish down in Louisiana. David, when will we see the first ship back, I should say.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're already seeing some of the first vessels back. The drilling platform that's handling that relief well is back on site at this hour. Out in the Gulf of Mexico. They're going on have to reconnect that drilling pipe and resume those drilling operations. That's going to take about 48 hours. But this whole storm threat that did not materialize here, that storm now setting this operation back probably about a week, if you could look at all of the days that it took to get everything out of there, everything disconnected and now everything to reconnect and get going again and that happens not just out at the spill site, that's also happening all along the coast of Louisiana, when they thought this was going to be a tropical storm they started bringing in all sorts of protection measures that they had taken.

Like this boom. They were retrieving boom because the boom wouldn't be able to stay in place during a tropical storm. Here, where I'm standing in St. Tammany Parish, this waterway is actually very important. Because this feeds Lake Pontchartrain, which is back here behind me. Every time a tropical system comes through it, it pushes tar balls through this area and into Lake Pontchartrain. Well, they had a system of barges setup to capture that oil as it comes into this area. But because the barges can't withstand winds of 40 miles an hour, if it got up to that high, they'd start breaking apart and drifting away, so they didn't want that to happen. But they started disconnecting them, bringing them inland and now this area and much of the areas along the coast are pretty much defenseless right now as what's left of that storm continues to push that oil around. So they're hoping they'll be able to get all of these protective measures back out on the water, and back where they belong as quickly as possible -- Don.

LEMON: So, David, what about the status of those relief wells?

MATTINGLY: What we're looking at with the relief well, as soon as they get it going again, they're going to the next step, they're going to take is to cement the final casing, that final bit of drill pipe that they need to put in before they intercept the well. We're looking at this as a matter of days, maybe into the middle of next, and that, after they get back on, that's when they're going to try this static kill. And that static kill's going to render that well harmless. Essentially killing it, eliminating the threat of it, at least temporarily. And assisting those efforts to, sort of accelerate the so-called bottom kill, where they're going to drive that relief well and intercept that BP well and fill it up with cement, so a lot of things could happen later this week, they'd be happening right now if that storm hadn't come in forcing everything to dissipate.

LEMON: Yes, thank you. David Mattingly, I appreciate it.

We have a special programming note that I want to tell you about, an in-depth look at Shirley Sherrod. She's the African-American woman who lost her job this week because of a phony allegation of racism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I want -- I want the first hug. This means a lot to us.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It means so much to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: To me, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, if you look at that, those are the farmers who is accused of being biased against. Clearly, we're not told the whole story, so coming up at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN, we're going to take you behind the scenes of Shirley Sherrod's life. Talk about her remarkable upbringing and her remarkable story. What got her to this point? It's coming up in two hours here on CNN, followed by a panel of discussion on race relations in America. Make sure you join us.

A new twist on the concept of white flight, no, not white flight in the cities and suburbs, my next guest says she is seeing it on the internet.

Plus, amazing pictures from Canada. You'll see how this incredible crash ends. Wow and don't just sit there. Make sure that you become part of the conversation. Send me a message on Twitter or Facebook, or check out my blog at cnn.com/don and look for me on Foursquare as well. Want to hear from you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of white flight. It is a trend where whites leave urban areas while minority population goes up. It's a phenomenon that's been observed in cities for decades, but could aversion of white flight actually be happening online?

Dana Boyd, a researcher for both Microsoft and Harvard University, she certainly thinks so. She's writing a book and a chapter on this idea is getting a whole lot of attention. Dana explains how she came up with this theory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANAH BOYD, RESEARCHER, MICROSOFT AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY: During the 2006 to 2007 school year, I was driving around the United States talking to teenagers about their use of course MySpace and Facebook and I started hearing a set of language that struck me as odd and it really hit me when a young woman said that you know, you know, she was sort apologetic and uncomfortable and she said well, I don't really, you know, I'm not on MySpace because well, you know MySpace is ghetto and I was like, wow, what does that mean? And I started asking her about it and she said, well, it's where the black people are.

LEMON: Really?

BOYD: And that took me back and like OK, what does this mean, what does this look like? So, I started going through a lot of my data and I realized that kids of color were primarily going to MySpace, white kids and Asian kids are primarily going to Facebook. So, this is the thing. Their language is like, well, it's where my friends are, right? Or it's because of the aesthetics that I like? They will talk about, you know, MySpace as bling. Or they talk about Facebook as minimal as, you know, as minimalism as elegant and I'd hear this language and it was like, huh, this is strange. So, I posted my observations online and in a very, you know, discomforted blog post and what I heard from people is like well, it's not just about the division between those two sites but it was about a movement. A movement from MySpace to Facebook with a lot of young users.

LEMON: So, what is this say about the internet, about online, you're saying, there is sarcasm or a racial divide online that plays out just as in society or is it more defined online?

BOYD: Well, I think that we've all assumed that the internet is the great equalizer. That it brings together people without question and we won't have any racial issues online. And I think, what we're really seeing is that we're reproducing the same social divisions that we have offline, in the online spaces. And part of it is that people go online to interact with their friends and people do actually choose friends who are much more like them. So when we see these divisions offline, it's not surprising that we see them online as well. Yet when people go to these sites and assume that everyone is there, who is the everyone? You know, who is being included, who is being excluded? How do we think about those distinctions? And I mean that's really important when you think about politicians coming online, when you think about educators, when you think about all these people paying attention to these massive online spaces.

LEMON: And when they're online, they may think they're reaching a certain demographical, everyone, I should say, they may think they're reaching everyone but only they're reaching, maybe a specific demographic and may not be aware of it.

BOYD: Right. I mean, I think, that's also true generally, you know, when online you're online, you just reach out to your friends. You think you see the world and I think this is what's really interesting is that if you go online with different users, you see that their experience of the online world is also very different.

LEMON: What's the issue here then with it? If it reflects a larger society.

BOYD: Right, so the thing is that it allows us to get insight into what's going on with society at large. I think, you know, we often hear things about oh, we're post-racial, we're post-civil rights, the world is greatly equalized, we no longer have these problems and I think that the internet reminds us that there are huge social divisions, huge structural inequalities by being able to see it. We have a new opportunity to figure out how we can actually, you know, shape it and rethink about what we want our society to look like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Thanks to Danah Boyd. We will post a link to her chapter about this subject on our blog.

Marrying someone from another country is tricky enough for straight couples. But for same sex couples, like this one. It is next to impossible. Meet one couple kept apart by immigration rules. And the congressman trying to help them out.

And this North Korea's heated rhetoric against the U.S. is getting even hotter. I'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time to check your top stories here on CNN. Fifteen people are dead after a stampede at a music festival in Germany. At least 15 others were hurt. The victims were caught in a tunnel trying to get into a techno music event called "The Love Parade 2010" in Duisburg. Police were trying to block anyone else from entering the panic when it started. More than one million people had jammed into that festival.

North Korea is threatening to use nuclear deterrence if the U.S. and South Korea go ahead with joint military exercises but it may be all talk. There's been no troop movement in the north. The drills could start the next few hours. South Korea accuses North Korea of sinking one of its warships in March, killing 46 soldiers. U.S. defense officials say, these drills are a response to that incident.

And in Northern Mexico, authorities have found at least 38 bodies in a series of mass graves. The site is on about seven acres of land outside of Monterrey. The victims are mostly males between the ages of 20 and 50. They have linked other graves like these to Mexico's drug wars.

We want to turn now to the debate over immigration reform. Marrying an American citizen can be a shortcut to a green card. We all know that. But yet that's not an option for gay and lesbian couples but as our Adriana Hauser tells us you a new proposal is giving them hope. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADRIANA HAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Enzo Siri and Andres Fagundez met three years ago.

ENZO SIRI, FAGUNDEZ'S PARTNER: I liked him from the minute I saw him.

HAUSER: They're seemingly blissful relationship faces a major hurdle. Born in Argentina, Siri has lived in New York for 12 years and is a U.S. citizen. But Fagundez is not.

ANDRES FAGUNDEZ, SIRI'S PARTNER: Whenever I see a plane, I get sad because I know that I have a date that I have to take that plane and leave -- leave my life in here.

HAUSER: That's because his visa only allows him to be here six months at a time.

SIRI: There are no hard rules of when he can come back. We know, we have to wait for a few months. But we don't know if we have to wait for six months or a year of whatever, maybe the person at the airport in immigration, you know, the agent at the airport was having a bad day and he could be sent back.

HAUSER: If they were a straight couple, the pair say they would marry and Fagundez would be protected.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Mandating that partners that lovers be apart. That is simply cruel.

HAUSER: Congressman Jerrold Nadler supports a provision in the proposed immigration reform law that would give homosexual couples the same immigration protections as heterosexual couples.

NADLER: I think, it is very important that if we're going to have a Comprehensive Immigration Reform, it could be comprehensive.

HAUSER (on camera): Groups that advocate for this provision estimate that about 36,000 couples would benefits from it. Although some states allow same-sex unions, federal law does not allow these individuals to offer immigration sponsorship to their partners.

(voice-over) Opponents say this is a political effort to gin up the base.

MAGGIE GALLAGHER, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: Immigration is a privilege, not a right. And I think there are millions of Americans who would love the right or the privilege of bringing a loved one into the country. But that's not the way our immigration laws are written.

HAUSER: As for city and Fagundez, Fagundez's visa runs out December 22nd. So, they know unless the new provision passes Christmas will either be spent alone or together outside the United States.

FAGUNDEZ: And the thing for me is we have everything we need in here. HAUSER: A middle-class life, a dog and a loving relationship but for now, no guarantee they can all stay together. Adriana Hauser, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: With Bonnie's threat dwindling, cleanup crews are heading back to the Gulf of Mexico. CNN's Rob Marciano will join us live with an update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This is day 96 of the BP oil disaster. Ships that evacuated the well site due to a large storm had been ordered to return now that the storm has weakened, and National Incident Commander Thad Allen says, about a dozen ships should be back on site within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, gulf coast residents who lost income due to the massive spill well they have been meeting with Kenneth Feinberg. He is the man in charge of hung out claims from the BP compensation fund. Today, he was in Bayou La Batre, where fishing and boat building are a way of life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH FEINBERG, CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR: I'm one person. I'm determined to make this program work. I am not BP. I'm trying to get this program that I'm going to inherit up and running as fast as I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Over the past three months of this oil disaster, we've heard a lot about the so-called skimmer ships. Their job is to extract millions of gallons of oil that gush from BP's broken well. Well, you'll learn much more about how those ships operate tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN with the Special Report, it's called "Rescue: Saving the Gulf." Here's CNN Rob Marciano with a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow. So this is the first taste I've got of a skimming vessel. All of the equipment that they're pulling out right now is completely caked and thick-heavy crude. This is just a mess. You can smell the oil, it's hot. Dirty. And the sun's not even up. I can't imagine these guys doing this for ten-12 hour shifts in the heat of the day. These guys are busting it, trying to clean up the gulf.

What is that thing up there?

SEVILLE RASMUSSEN, USCG YEOMAN: We're bringing down the skimmer right now. We're bringing out the hose. We're bringing out the hose. He's going to drop the skimmer right there, to wrap it up another in plastic to contain the oil because tomorrow morning, it will heat up. And it will go everywhere. Make a big mess. MARCIANO: So, that's the main vacuum, that's been sucking up the oil all day?

RASMUSSEN: Yes, that's the skimmer.

MARCIANO: Look at the size of that boom they're pulling out of water right now. The crane, it's all much, much birth than I ever imagined. It's amazing. This is where I'm going to be working tomorrow. And it's an intimidating, messy thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Rob Marciano joins us now from Gulfport, Mississippi. Rob, I mean, as you said, it is tough work, you were right in the thick of it. I bet you had no idea what they were up against.

MARCIANO: No. It's far greater task than I ever imagined. And just the equipment coming out of water, as you saw it at night, I mean it looked like they were just harnessing some sea creature from the deep. And then all of that heavy crude, which by the way, most of it was pretty weathered so there wasn't a need to wear respirators while I was on that vessel, but we -- they were just wrapping up very long day. If they get a big patch of oil and they're able to skim it -- they just skim it for as long as they can, but as the patches get a little bit smaller, they have to be a little bit more nimble and days might be short, one day may be shorter than others but that particular night, they went well into the evening and they were up at the crack of dawn the next morning going at it again. So, these are the tireless people that are cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico that we're highlighting tonight.

LEMON: I'm assuming that it did. That it may have changed your perspective because we hear people all the time going, we just want to clean-up, can't they just get it cleaned up? What's taking them so long? Changed your perspective in what you're observing?

MARCIANO: Absolutely. I mean, a complete eye-opening experience. Everything that you thought was easy and quick is difficult and takes a long time. Painstakingly slow. Skimming, cleaning up the beach, even going out to try to rescue wildlife. Every facet of this operation has given me a whole new perspective. The enormity of the effort down here is beyond words and once you're in it, you understand. And I hope that we glean the public tonight as they join me on this journey with the hard working men and women that are doing their part to save the Gulf of Mexico. It's a fascinating look on what's going on down here.

LEMON: Hey, Rob. It looks fascinating. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. And that was only just a small part of Rob's special tonight. ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I hope that we glean the public tonight as they join me on this journey with the hard working men and women in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a fascinating look at what's going on down here.

DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Rob, it looks fascinating. We appreciate it very much.

And that just a small part of Rob's special tonight, so make sure that you tune into Rob Marciano's special "Rescue: Saving the Gulf," coming up at right here at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here from CNN.

Also reporting this weekend from beneath the water of the gulf. Get a look at this. CNN's Amber Lyon headed out into the gulf. Today, in this small research submarine, scientists want to examine water quality, hundreds of feet below the surface, and she'll be filing reports of what they found, starting tomorrow morning right here on CNN.

In the meantime, emergencies workers trying to locate those stranded at the torrential downpours in Illinois. We'll have the very latest for you.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN HALL-TRUJILLO, CNN HERO: In every city in the United States, African-American babies die two to four times the rate of other babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: How our "CNN Hero" of the week is saving babies, by providing big sisters for pregnant young women.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news is our top story today a dam in eastern Iowa has failed, sending a wall of water into nearby communities. Water is gushing through the dam on Lake Delhi this hour. Iowa Governor Chet Culver tells CNN there's been record flooding in this part of the state. So far, there are no reports of injuries. The Lake Delhi dam is about 45 miles north of Cedar Rapids.

And joining me now on the phone is CNN iReporter Amanda Duck. She is a trained weather-spotter in Monticello, Iowa, which is under a flood warning.

What are you seeing there?

AMANDA DUCK, CNN IREPORTER & TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER: I'm currently -- right now, I am standing in my backyard and I am watching the water go up across the road that we call Lover's Lane. And it's coming into my neighbor's yard.

LEMON: It is?

DUCK: Yes.

LEMON: Listen, the governor said that this area is prone to flooding. When was the last time that you remember seeing anything like this, Amanda?

DUCK: Back in 2008. There were -- I was living in Cedar Rapids at the time of the floods back then. And it flooded -- and it flooded in this area back then.

LEMON: So we're looking at some pictures, and I believe -- well, this is from our affiliate there.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I'm sorry?

DUCK: I'm sorry. I'm talking to my cat. She's trying to go fish.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: OK. So, you have spoken to any of your neighbors or anyone there? How are folks dealing with this?

DUCK: We helped our neighbors evacuate about an hour and a half ago. We allowed them to use our yard to drag their trucks up and down on get things out and we helped them take their most valuable possessions to higher ground. So everybody's just basically staying calm and waiting it out. So I've got -- I've got pretty much a bird's-eye view from where I'm at here. Luckily, we're on a hill.

LEMON: Not always does the loss of electricity come with flooding. Are there people without power?

DUCK: As far as we know, we haven't heard any reports of anybody being without power yet. But we are prepared for just in case that would happen.

LEMON: Uh-huh. Does it look like this water's going to be going anywhere soon?

DUCK: I don't know if it's going to go down soon or not. It's just arriving in Monticello.

LEMON: Yes.

DUCK: I mean, we've been following this all day since about 8:00 this morning.

LEMON: Listen, Amanda, we appreciate you and, of course, we appreciate our iReporters here on CNN. And good luck to you, OK?

DUCK: You too. And we will be submitting some pictures here shortly as soon as everything crests.

LEMON: Amanda, thanks again.

DUCK: All right, thank you.

LEMON: African-American babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as Caucasian babies. In week's "CNN Hero," to ensure they get proper prenatal care. Take a look.

(CNN HEROES)

LEMON: And Kathryn's project has welcomed more than 12,000 babies into 94 communities across five countries. There are only a few days left to nominate someone that you think is a hero. Nominations for 2010 close on August 1st. So make a nomination at CNN heroes.com.

Amazing and terrifying video from Canada. A pilot ejects from his jet seconds before it explodes in a ball of flames. This incredible story, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Six months ago, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta picked six CNN viewers to compete with him in the New York City Triathlon, as part of our series, "Fit Nation." Well, we followed their training extensively over the past few weeks. And now the highlights of their big day, which involved swimming, biking, running, all in stifling heat.

(FIT NATION)

LEMON: Congratulations to them.

"The Situation Room" is straight ahead.

Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Don, thanks very much.

Lots coming up right at the top of the hour in "The Situation Room." My interview with Shirley Sherrod, the woman at the controversy here in the United States. And analysis from Donna Brazile. She's passionate on this very subject as you well know.

Also, much more on that investigative series in "Washington Post" on the U.S. intelligence community. We'll speak to about that and more with Valerie Plame Wilson, the outted CIA operative.

All of that, coming up in "The Situation Room."

Don, back to you.

LEMON: Wolf, thanks very much.

We're looking forward to Wolf Blitzer's interview with Shirley Sherrod. Make sure that you watch our special report tonight at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern, "The Woman Behind the Controversy, Who is Shirley Sherrod"? Again, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN. Meantime, fewer than one in 100 players in the NBA -- in NBA history have been Asian-Americans. You're about to meet one of them who beat the odds. There he is right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jeremy Lin is a curious combination of labels that's drawing attention really from around the world. He's an Asian-American who just graduated from Harvard University and is now in the NBA. I know. Most people said, say what! The 6'3" guard was an undrafted free agent. And this week, he signed a deal to play with the Golden State Warriors, his hometown team, the team he grew up rooting for. That must be amazing. The team was impressed with Lin's performance on the Dallas Mavericks, the summer league team, and so they signed him.

And now Jeremy joins us live from Mountain View, California.

Congratulations to you. How do you feel at this exact moment, at the exact moment when you learned that you were going to your hometown team?

JEREMY LIN, NBA PLAYER: I couldn't believe it. I was extremely happy, obviously. And I mean, it still hasn't even sunk in to be honest and it's been a few days. So I'm still super excited. And I still don't even know what to think.

LEMON: Yes. You know what most people say when we heard about this story, people were like, what, what are you talking about? Really? Because I said there are fewer than one in 100 NBA players -- in NBA history, fewer than one in 100 where Asian -- have been Asian- American. So you know, in many ways, you're a first. So you understand people's reaction?

LIN: I understand it because my story's so unique. You know, not only in being Asian-American but coming from Harvard and, at the same time, growing up in the bay area. So there's different parts of my story that make it hard to believe, but you know I understand the reaction.

LEMON: Uh-huh. You know last December, "Time" did a story about you, and they heard of racial slurs, slurs while traveling with Harvard's team. Did you expect how you heard that? Did you expect any of that?

LIN: I didn't expect it coming in as a freshman. But the next three years, I was obviously prepared for that. I didn't experience much of that in high school, you know, playing in the bay area. But when I went out to the east coast, I definitely didn't expect that at first. But, you know, by the end, I embraced it. And I just accepted it. And fans are going to try to get in the other players' heads. That's just part of the game.

LEMON: That's sad when people have to resort to that. But as you said, it's part of the strategy. It may not be right. Do you think you're ready for the NBA?

LIN: Yes, I think I'm ready. And I think I'm ready to play. And my confidence has been growing since the end of the season and throughout the pre-draft process and the mini camp in Dallas and the summer league. My confidence has been growing. I don't think I'm where I want to be, not even close. And I think I have a ton of adjustments and improvements to make. But, at this point, I think I'm ready to play in the NBA.

LEMON: We did some research here, a little bit of homework, we talked about the Ivy League, people who are Ivy League players who went to -- went to the Ivy League and became NBA players. Bill Bradley, from Princeton, the U.S. Senator from New Jersey; Craig Robinson, of course, who is the president's -- the first lady's brother. And who else do we have there? And he went to Princeton as well. And then Jonathan Hummer (ph) as well. What do you think? Do you think like you are part of this so-called, I guess, a Princeton ministry after this.

LIN: I'm a Harvard guy. I'm proud to represent the Ivy League.

LEMON: I should say Ivy League ministry after this?

LIN: Yeah, I'm definitely part of that. And, you know, Coach Amaker (ph) and Coach Blakely (ph) and the rest of the coaching staff at Harvard have done a great job of building up that -- that program. And the Ivy League is growing in terms of basketball, especially, look at what Cornell did last year. So I'm definitely proud to representing the Ivy League.

LEMON: Before I let you go, I want to talk about, your faith plays a lot in who you are.

LIN: People want to talk about me being Asian. First and foremost of my identity is me being a Christian. I'm a nondenominational Christian and I grew up in the bay area and I've been going to church since my whole life, so I've been blessed by God to be in this situation. And, you know, it's -- it really is a miracle. And there's so many different parts of my story that I never could have seen coming. And there's so many tough situations and what I thought were bad situations that God turned into great situations. And, so, I'm very, very thankful to him.

LEMON: Jeremy Lin, we thank you for coming on. We wish you the very best, OK? Go get them!

LIN: All right, thank you.

LEMON: You have seen the still pictures. A whale dives onto a boat -- well, now, there is video. And we have it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, just hearing about this story made our jaws drop. Now we can see in action when a whale crashed on top of a sailboat off of the coast of South Africa this weekend. I'm trying to look at this as I'm reading it. It was a right whale that smashed the sail and rigging. Two sailors were onboard. Miraculously, they were OK. That's amazing. A chilling sight, frightened fans at an air show in Canada today. The Canadian air force jet crash in spectacular fashion. But the pilot survived.

And CNN's Natalie Allen has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All eyes were in the sky in the Lethbridge International Air Show in Canada. Out of all of the maneuvers, witnesses can't stop talking about the one that had the most spectacular finish. The pilot was on a practice run for a low- speed maneuver when spectators noticed something odd.

PAUL DUMOUCHEL, WITNESS: I see him coming around the hangar as he was doing his maneuver. And then, I said, well, I got to look on the other end. He might turn it on and get it. I looked around.

MIRANDA TURIK, WITNESS: He lost speed and started going down.

UNIDENTIFIED TURK, WITNESS: All of a sudden, hear pop, pop, pop -- sparks came out of the engine.

ALLEN: This is what they witnessed -- the CF-18 bursting into flames. The pilot barely escaped, shooting out with his parachute just moments before the jet dove nose-first into the ground. The pilot is lucky to be alive. But he had a rough landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's probably less than 100 meters off of the ground, parallel to the ground. Chute did open. But being so low, he hit the ground full force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot hit the ground and was dragged several hundred feet on his parachute, unconscious, before he managed to collect himself.

ALLEN: The pilot is recovering from his injuries. And Canadian authorities are investigating the cause of the crash. Despite this big explosive distraction, organizers say the final day of the air show will continue on schedule.

Natalie Allen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Boy, he waited until the last second, huh, to eject. Amazing.

All right, make sure you join us in one hour for a very special and revealing look at Shirley Sherrod. She is a woman thrust unfairly to media firestorm that cost her her job through no fault of her own.

I had the privilege of spending a few days with her. I want you to listen to us when we talk about growing up on a farm in rural Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Talk to me about being -- about working out in those fields. What was the day like? Did it seem like it was forever?

SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER U.S. AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT WORKER: Oh, my goodness. It was. And you had to get up before daylight and get food and try to be in the field as the sun was coming up. When you picked cotton -- when we picked cotton, you know, the cotton weighed the most with the morning dew on it.

(LAUGHTER)

SHERROD: So you tried to get to the field. My goal was to try to pick 200 pounds of cotton in one day. There was a lady on the farm with us who could do that and more. I tried to work beside her every day, trying to pick as much cotton as she could. So getting to the field early to get that cotton that was still damp with the morning dew was important to help your cotton away a little more.

LEMON: Oh, my god.

SHERROD: Yes.

LEMON: You have to carry the cotton? Do you think that's why --

SHERROD: You'd have a sack, you know, that you'd put on. And the sack went over this shoulder. You know? And the opening was here. So you're bending over picking cotton and putting it in the -- in the sack. And when it gets full, you got to take it over to a burlap sheet and pour it on there. You did it all day long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You just saw her after the controversy and the speech that she made at the NAACP. That's what you heard. We're going to show you her life. We're going to have a panel to talk about some of the things that have been discuss in the last week here, a no-holds-barred panel, a no-holds-barred discussion.

We'll see you back here in one hour. I'm Don Lemon.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins now.