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Katrina: Five Years Later; End of U.S. Combat Ops in Iraq; Stealing from the Poor; Fear of Many More Dead in Pakistan; U.S. Economy Sputters; Who Own the Dream?; Teens Who Survived Katrina; Saints Rally the City

Aired August 29, 2010 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, everything you need to know for your week ahead, including Mr. Obama goes to New Orleans. On this, the fifth anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped the city off the map. Live in-depth coverage of a day filled with sadness and hope.

We're also live around the world tonight. First in Pakistan with Dr. Sanjay Gupta where people are suffering much like they did during Katrina.

And in Iraq where America's combat mission will officially be over. Are Iraqi forces up to the challenge?

And we kick off a special week ahead here on CNN. We're devoting the power of this network to explore what's right and what's wrong with America's school system. Tonight, a special investigation on the abuse of a federal program meant to help young students. Billions of your tax dollars are paying for it.

Hello. I'm Don Lemon reporting to you live tonight from the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. We're here to chronicle a comeback of a neighborhood, a city and the entire gulf region. It was five years ago tonight that Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and blasted the coast with devastating results. This is an aerial photo of the area where I'm standing right now. This is how it looked five years ago when the levees broke and a barge floated right into this neighborhood from the industrial canal. This is what it looks like right now.

Starting from the bridge over that industrial canal into the lower ninth ward. A neighborhood decimated by wind and water. These modern energy efficient homes are going up throughout the area and on Tennessee Street where we are. All part of actor Brad Pitt's Make It Happen Foundation.

People here in New Orleans are remembering the Katrina anniversary in many ways. Tonight, at the city's official commemoration event, there were speeches, music and the kind of rollicking performances you would expect from New Orleans by Mardi Gras Indian chiefs.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That ceremony happening just moments ago. President Obama was also here today marking the anniversary with a message for the city about the past and the future. CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President Obama had one main message for the people of New Orleans and the gulf coast region. That the federal government will not abandon them. Now this is not the first time President Obama has been here to Xavier University. In fact, he came here as then Senator Obama in 2006 to give the commencement address. Talking to the graduating students about the neglect and failures of government. Well, President Obama again was critical of the Bush administration saying that there was a shameful breakdown in the government that left a lot of people alone. President Obama promising that his administration will not do that. But he also pointed out that there are some major, major hurdles ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have to tell you that there's still too many vacant and overgrown lots. There are still too many students attending classes in trailers. There are still too many people unable to find work. And there's still too many New Orleans folks who haven't been able to come home. So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly, my administration is going to stand with you and fight alongside you until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back. All the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: President Obama did get a chance to meet some local residents. He stopped off with the first family at a restaurant where he ordered some shrimp and then after his speech he went to a local housing development. A new development in an area that was heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Sat down with the resident Maude Smith who told her personal story. How she was displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Went to Memphis, Tennessee, and did not return to New Orleans for more than a year and a half.

That's the very latest from New Orleans. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Back to our Katrina coverage in a moment. But first, a major milestone for the U.S. military. In less than 48 hours, the formal end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. On Tuesday, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, midnight in Baghdad, the U.S. combat role officially comes to an end. President Obama says it's an opportunity for the Iraqi government to chart its own course and the fulfillment of a campaign promise he made back in 2008.

Our Chris Lawrence is in Iraq. And I asked him if this is a real milestone or, as some say a publicity stunt. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I asked that very same question to the troops that I've been embedded with. And they say you know what, it does matter to them. They told me that -- it -- it means that I've worked myself out of a job. It means that I am one step closer to going home. It means that the -- some of the men that I saw died back in 2006 and '07 and '08, it means those men didn't die for no reason.

Now, the publicity stunt may have been the somewhat of a portrayal of that last combat brigade leaving Iraq, sort of gave the impression that the fight is over, everybody is going home, and it really led to some interesting phone calls from some of the soldiers' families that are still left here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. ARMY: I got numerous e-mails. You know, hey, when you coming home? What's going on? I was able to explain, you know, where our mission changed. Just because the combat brigades are gone doesn't mean that all the -- and all the soldiers are out of here yet. We still have a mission here to continue to help the -- the Iraqis and partner with their security forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Sergeant Roberts is on his third tour here in Iraq. A lot of really intense combat veterans are the ones who are going to be implementing this new -- this new strategy. And really it's been going on for several months now. The only difference is same soldiers, same weapons, same body armor, a lot of the same patrols.

What's different now is that it's the Iraqis in the lead, coming up with the plans, first in through the door, leading the patrols. The U.S. is sort of now in the role that the Iraqis were a few years ago, sitting back, watching, observing and helping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was CNN's Chris Lawrence. And President Barack Obama will deliver a major address on Iraq from the Oval Office on Tuesday night. He will also discuss Afghanistan and the broader war on terrorism. You can see it live right here on CNN. That's Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Make sure you tune in.

Much like the gulf coast five years ago, a humanitarian disaster is happening right now in Pakistan.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live from the scene where millions are struggling after devastating floods there.

Headstart, the program is designed to provide pre-K education to children of low-income families. But an undercover investigation found fraud in the system. And, they are the children of the storm. Director, producer, Spike Lee gave young Katrina survivors cameras to document their lives. We look at how they turned out.

And this hour, we're enjoying the music of Cajun fiddle player Amanda Shaw live in the Lower Ninth Ward.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: "Fix Our Schools." Those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week. As America's children return to school, CNN has a mission. We have sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis in America. More importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children so much more than they are getting right now.

Tonight you'll see how the government accountability office is working to fix our schools. It investigated "Head Start," the program to educate young low-income children. What "Head Start" workers were doing, the GAO says, was stealing from the poor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAMONT BUTLER, FATHER: Yea, for the baby.

LEMON (voice-over): Lamont Butler tried to enroll his 3-year- old, Somaya, in Head Start.

BUTLER: You can do it. Keep going.

LEMON: Unemployed for more than a year, his family qualified for the free federal pre-K program for the poor. But they have been on a waiting list for a year. Since he has to stay home with his daughter, he can't work.

BUTLER: And I had opportunities lined up. And when it never happened, I was really bummed out.

LEMON (on camera): Thousands of qualified applicants like Lamont Butler and his daughter might be on the waiting list a whole lot longer if not for a whistleblower who called to the Government Accountability Office here in Washington.

GREG KUTZ, GAO INVESTIGATOR: Taxpayers are being ripped off.

LEMON (voice-over): Greg Kutz at the Government Accountability Office got that whistle-blower call.

KUTZ: We had first of all the allegations we received on our hotline that management was pressuring employees to adjust incomes from applicants. In other words, the whistleblower was complaining that Head Start workers were deliberately letting families into the poverty program they knew made too much money to be eligible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's my turn. LEMON: So Kutz and his staff with a hidden camera to test Head Start's enrollment practices. The GAO distorted these images since it's an ongoing investigation. But listen to what happens when they try to enroll a child who isn't poor enough to qualify. A Head Start worker deliberately encourages an unqualified parent to lie on their application.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what do I need to do on the application then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't need to put an income on there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I'm not supposed to say that. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you see it. Now you don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now you see it. Now you don't.

LEMON (on camera): On this videotape, what does it show?

KUTZ: It shows individuals working with our bogus parents to help them commit fraud.

LEMON (voice-over): In fact, the GAO says at 8 of the 15 centers it randomly checked, workers deliberately admitted children whose parents made too much money. On this video, a Head Start worker makes this tester family document disappear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are these OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, yeah. We're fine. I just picked out an income. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who won? Grandma or me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grandma because she has the lower income.

KUTZ: You wanted to go in and say you were unemployed. You could get benefits even if you were making $100,000 because they weren't validating anything.

LEMON: The GAO investigation found more than one child in Texas whose parents made more than $110,000. Nothing in Head Start's rules requires centers to keep parents' proof of income. There's no verification system to make sure the right families are getting in.

(on camera): Do you believe the system is set up to fail?

KUTZ: Yes, I believe that the system is very open to fraud.

LEMON: Did you see the tapes?

YVETTE SANCHEZ-FUENTES, HEAD START, NATIONAL DIRECTOR: We have seen the tapes.

LEMON (voice-over): Yvette Sanchez Fuentes is Head Start's national director.

(on camera): What did you think?

SANCHEZ-FUENTES: We know that what went on in the tapes engaged in some fraudulent behavior.

LEMON: When you see a worker making something -- one parent's income disappear saying, now you see it, now you don't. You can imagine what these taxpayers at home are saying when they see those tapes.

SANCHEZ-FUENTES: I think that what's important to note is that those are individuals within those programs. And at the administration level, we need to make sure that every staff person really understands that these slots are for eligible low-income vulnerable families.

LEMON (voice-over): Lamont Butler hopes for his daughter's sake his family will be one of them.

BUTLER: Hopefully this year when she's enrolled in this school, I'll be working again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And the CNN Special Series "Fix Our Schools," has more than twenty of our news-gathering teams on a mission as families head back to school. It's a mission to witness the best education in action, solutions for a public school system in crisis, and our hope that what we've uncovered helps empower our nation to fix our schools. Our special series will continue tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

We have been reporting about the devastation that Hurricane Katrina caused five years ago. But Pakistan is in the middle of similar devastation. Thousands have died. At least 1,400 people have died and millions are wondering where their next meal will come from. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us live from the scene where millions are struggling after devastating floods.

And two rallies, one dream. But who can claim ownership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. And do conservatives care about African-Americans?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Relief mixed with grief in Pakistan tonight from receding floodwaters. It will give survivors a break but government officials say the death toll could rise substantially as more bodies surface from beneath the waters.

More than 1,600 people have died from the worst natural disaster in that country's history. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live with the latest from Razaq Abad, Pakistan.

And Sanjay, I've seen some of your reports from there. The only way to describe it is devastating.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no question. I think what's also important, Don, to remember is that this is ongoing. And this has been going on for a month. The U.N. characterized it as a slow burn. But the flooding still -- is still happening.

Don, about 36 hours ago, we were in this town called Bala near Fatah City. While we were over there, it was completely dry. And officials were telling us, look, the floods are coming. The water is going to come here and this entire town is going to be flooding. And this entire area really going to be flooded. And I tell you, it was hard to believe. We ran that report yesterday, talk bodies that.

Don, I don't know if you are looking at some of the video now of what that same area looks like. But really to get around those same areas now, we require boats. Many areas, 10 to 15 deep -- feet deep of water. So it's just incredible how much water it takes to flood an entire area like that. And how quickly it happened as well. Keeping in mind again, Don, it is devastating because this is still happening more than a month later. More and more of this country is just getting under water, Don, as you can see there.

LEMON: And Sanjay, we've been talking a lot about Hurricane Katrina. It's really tough to compare disasters. But is there some way -- I know it's tough -- to put this into perspective for our viewers who are watching all of this?

GUPTA: The scope is hard to describe. You know, when you had something like Hurricane Katrina, obviously, an incredibly large disaster. But confined to a small geographical area. Relatively speaking. Here you have 20 percent of the country that's been affected.

Also, the infrastructure here in Pakistan, just certainly not that good to begin with. You had a lot of people sort of living on the edge. Getting by, but just barely. And then this flood comes in and just completely knocks people over the edge.

You know, the numbers of people dead, I think, don't reflect any sort of reality. I don't know where these numbers come from. There are so many people who simply have gone missing who -- so many people who are in hospitals right now who are barely hanging on.

We're at this refugee camp now. The reason we're here, Don, is this is one of the best organized camps that we have seen. This is as good as it gets. About 3700 people living here for the foreseeable future. Who knows how long before they can possibly go back.

This is a young country, as you know, Don, as well. So many of the people in these refugee camps are children and they are small children. Many of them don't even have their adults or parents to look after them anymore. So it is tragic. And hard to know when this ends, Don.

LEMON: Sanjay, as a dad, I would imagine it is really tough. It's tough for anyone to see those kids. We see the kids behind you. Any help getting to the kids? Even the adults that we see standing around you in those camps?

GUPTA: You know, I covered so many disasters over the years. And when you talk about aid, for example, in Haiti most recently, you come to a camp like this and you'll see Belgians, United States, Canada. You know, all sorts of different countries tents and aid stations set up.

Here it is the government of Pakistan that is basically running this camp. There has been no other international aid, at least at this particular camp, that's come in. And the World Food Program is in the area. UNICEF is in the area. Red Cross. But the majority of aid here is from the government of Pakistan.

You know, so it's -- it's unclear as to exactly why that is or if it's still coming in slowly, or people are now recognizing the huge demand over here. But hundreds of thousands of people displaced in this particular area. Millions across the country. And they'll tell you, when you come to lots of different camps, they haven't received water for several days. They haven't received food for many days longer than that. So, you know, they need it. And there's so much water around here. It's just contaminated. Being able to turn that bad water into good water, into drinkable water in some way is, I think, really going to help here. And that's what people are sort of focusing on.

LEMON: Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta live Razaq Abad, Pakistan. We appreciate your reporting, Sanjay. And we're going to continue to devote our resources to this story so make sure viewers, you tune in for Sanjay's reports, as well as our other correspondents.

You know, it seems to be a case two of steps forward, one step back. Mixed messages with the economy have many concerned we may be facing a double-dip recession. We're taking a closer look with CNN's chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi and CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.

And make sure you stay with us here on CNN. We're live in New Orleans on this fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Amanda Shaw who is a Cajun fiddle player, 20 years old. She's been playing since she was 16. This is her fourth album. Talk about overachieving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We've been showing you some of it here. But there's a lot of home building right now in New Orleans. But nationwide, the housing market is the worst it's been in a decade. Home sales fell 27 percent in July. And to prop it up, the Obama administration might revive an $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. The credit expired at the end of April but housing and urban development secretary Shaun Donovan spoke today with CNN's Ed Henry on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Is that housing credit now dead or does the administration think you should try to revive it to try to prop this industry up?

SHAUN DONOVAN, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: Look. Ed, I think it's too early to say. After one month of numbers, whether the tax credit will be revived or not. All I can tell you is that we are watching very carefully. I talked earlier about new tools that we will be launching in the coming weeks. And we are going to be focused like a laser on where the housing market is moving going forward. And we're going to do everything we can to make sure that this market stabilizes and recovers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know what a slew of economic numbers are due out this week. But it is the August unemployment figures on Friday that everyone is waiting for. CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi and CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser are with me to talk about where this economy is headed and how it will play out in the midterm elections.

So, Paul, thanks to all of you. Good to see both of you.

Paul, we're going to start with you. If the economy continues to falter, what will that mean for the president and for Democrats, as a matter of fact?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Now very troubling news. You know, Don, listen. The economy has been issue number one for nearly three years now. Need more proof? Check this out. This is our most recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation National Poll conducted earlier this month.

We asked, which issue is extremely important for your vote for Congress this November? Look what's number one. No surprise. The economy. What's right below it? Unemployment and the deficit tied directly to the economy. So it is the overwhelming issue for the midterms.

How do people feel about how things are going? Check this out. Seven out of 10 people in our most recent poll say they are angry. They're angry about the way things are going in the country right now. And, Don, when you break those numbers down, you know what, Republicans are a lot angrier than Democrats about the way things are going. And angry people are much more voted, much more energized to vote.

But our poll also indicates that overall people are -- people think that the Republicans' ideas for the economy pretty much the same as Democrats. So it's not like people while they are mad at the Democrats, they don't think that Republicans have any better solutions, I guess you could say, for the economy, Don. LEMON: OK, listen. I was going to save this question and you brought it up. And don't worry, Ali, I'm going to get to you. I know you have a lot to say. You are our economic guru.

But, Paul, when will people start to blame the president for the economy because the president keeps saying, oh you know, when we came in, we had a record deficit. We had to come back from the ditch. So when do people start to say, you know what? This is President Obama's economy?

STEINHAUSER: When polls ask, who is to blame for getting the country into this mess, well, yes, still, President Bush much more than Barack Obama though his numbers are on the rise. When we , do you approve or disapprove of how the president is handling the economy, his numbers have slipped. Most polling organizations have him at around 40 percent.

Don, the Democrats are going to say, you know what? The Republicans got us into this mess. If you vote them back into Congress, they'll going to return to those failed policies. The republicans are going to try to make these midterms a referendum on Barack Obama for what they call his failed policies.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Don?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: That's what they are going to do. But I was wondering if what the voters, when will the voters see it that way. We know what the politicians will do when it comes now for the midterm elections. But Ali, sorry to cut you off. Go ahead now.

VELSHI: No problem. You know, this is the interesting thing. Do you remember my book I wrote, it was called "Give Me My Money Back," because the feeling over a year ago was that I lost my money, not because of anything I did. People are not mad that housing prices are low. They're not mad about the stock market. Even -- because the stock market had a hell of a run in 2009. They are mad about one thing. Not enough work.

At 9.5 percent unemployment, if we had half of that, it was 4.75, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now. People just want work. Americans want to be -- like everybody else in the world, they want to work. Now the problem is that the administration is not tapping into that anger. So the president is out on his main street tour touting a factory here and a technology there. The vice president talked about $100 billion out of stimulus and what it did for high technology.

There's no visceral sense that something is really wrong here, and we spent a lot of money trying to fix it. I think the Democrats can get somewhere if they touch that anger.

Paul has been showing us this polls that look similar as he said for three years. This is not new. I don't think it's a double-dip recession. It's an exhaustion recession. LEMON: And Ali, and everything that shows us it's -- every poll, every single poll that is taken, it's the economy, the economy, the economy. And Ali, you have been showing that sort of "W" thing that you've been having. We've been talking about a double-dip recession. You just touch on a little bit.

Are we heading towards a double-dip recession?

VELSHI: I don't know that the evidence is overwhelming. That we are. The bottom line is there are good things happening that don't get reported. But there are factories that are actually opening. There are companies with lots of money that are buying other companies. Mergers and acquisitions.

Home prices are actually higher, not by much, than they were a year ago, but they are actually higher, and the stock market has not done terribly. It's been wishy-washy. The bottom line here is that in the absence of something that looks like recovery, that looks like what it's supposed to feel like after a recession, people are starting to say, huh, I wonder if things are getting worse again? And there is some evidence that things are. We're definitely not past the point of no return. But we've got to bring confidence back into this economy, and that is sorely lacking, and that is something the administration can have a bigger role in.

LEMON: Ali Velshi, Paul Steinhauser, thank you very much. Good information from both of you. Have a good night, guys.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Thanks.

VELSHI: Thanks.

LEMON: Two competing rallies in Washington this weekend. Both of which claimed ownership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights dream. Tonight, we're asking the question, do conservatives care about African-Americans?

Plus this for you --

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh, we're talking about how the "Who Dat" nation got its groove back as we are live here tonight in New Orleans on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We're actually live in the lower ninth ward. And there you see her right there. Amanda Shaw. She has been playing for 16 years. Now I'll say it again. Talk about overachievers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As you all know, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck held a large rally this weekend at the Lincoln Memorial. That would not have been remarkable except it was the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on that very same spot. Beck said he would use the rally to, quote, reclaim civil rights. Which raise the question, "Who owns the dream?" I put it to Robert Traynham, the Washington Bureau chief of Comcast network and CNN contributor John Avlon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT TRAYNHAM, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, COMCAST NETWORK: What would Dr. King want to do? He obviously said he want a dream or he had a dream. And that dream was for all people of all colors to come together as one and to be able to confront some of the problems that the country was facing back in 1963 and 1964.

Fast forward to 2010. That's Glenn Beck. Does he understand what African-Americans are going through? Of course not, because he's not African-American. Can he certainly empathize to a certain degree? Of course, he can. So you know, it's very easy for someone to armchair quarterback and say, well, you know, this person can feel this way or this person can't feel this way because of x, y, or z.

I think the point is whether or not he's sincere in what he says where he thinks that he can transcend race and bring two sides together, both black and white or brown people and white people together and to try to move this country forward. So I commend him for that. So you know, I think it's OK for him to be at the Lincoln Memorial. I think it's OK for him to say what he thinks. I mean, after all, it is a free country.

LEMON: Right. And I don't think anyone - I don't think anyone is saying that he doesn't have the right to do it, but it is the same question has been posed over and over with this Islamic center and mosque down near Ground Zero, whether or not -- no one is saying that people don't have the right to do it, but the question is, what about the wisdom, as the president said, of doing it. What about the sensitivity, Robert?

TRAYNHAM: Well, there's no question about it that you need to be sensitive to other people's thoughts and feelings. You certainly have to be sensitive to people's cultures and so forth. So, yes, I mean, should he have been a little more sensitive to African-American's thinking, particularly those who are still -- had harbor memories of the civil rights movement? Yes, I would concur that he probably should have been a little bit more sensitive to that.

LEMON: John, I hear you want to get in on this. Go ahead.

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let's talk about this in real- time. I mean, you know, President Obama is in many ways the result of the embodiment of Dr. King's dream. I mean, we are in a fundamentally different place of a nation than could have been conceived 47 years ago. But this is also a president who Glenn Beck has repeatedly called racist, with a deep seated hatred of white people.

That hurts your credibility a little bit when you're talking about being a uniter rather than a divider. And that's at the crux of a lot of this difficulty. And we can get into the history of conservative populism as well, and the unfortunate fact of still this diversity deficit that exists between the two parties. We need to be working to bridge that. We need a lot more work at bridging that. And Glenn Beck is not the best symbol of that striving for unity.

LEMON: But listen, Glenn Beck, for the most part, does not appeal to the majority of African-Americans, so where might this end up? Is this -- can this backfire and people become upset because of the venue, because of the date, or might he win over some African- Americans by saying he's going to reclaim the civil rights movement?

AVLON: I don't think that's the goal, and I don't think that's going to happen. But there is a real need. Republicans and conservatives need to understand how they got this diversity deficit. The Republican Party was the party of Lincoln. African-Americans voted overwhelmingly Republican for over 100 years, and in 1964, there was total realignment, based on the civil rights act.

That effort, Michael Steele recruited over 30 African-American candidate to step on the right direction but conservatives and Republicans need to understand how they ended up on the wrong side of history with civil rights. And really, really deal with that and then we can get to a place as a nation where we get over the fact that our political parties are polarized along racial lines too often, and that is a real problem in our democracy. It's something we need to transcend and we're going to do it by genuinely reaching out, not trying to play political football with the legacy of Martin Luther King.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: John Avlon and Robert Traynham.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders head to Washington for another attempt at peace. That is just one of the stories that will be making news this week. And in Chile, those miners trapped underground for three weeks get their first chance to speak with their loved ones on the surface.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to take you a live shot -- show you a live shot right where we are. People have gathered in this neighborhood on Tennessee Street to watch these beautiful images. It's a traveling exhibit. It was in Houston. Now it's here. It's going to go across the country. It's called Katrina Five Years Later and these images are courtesy of Noor Images. They've gathered at this house just to watch these images of the devastation and really to remember what happened here five years ago.

We're going to continue our coverage here in New Orleans. In just a moment. We want to get to our top stories, and Mr. Ali Velshi who is live in Atlanta.

Those images really are haunting to see. Ali, I said good night to you earlier, but you are the hardest working man in news. And I should have known that you would be back.

VELSHI: I'm like a cockroach, man. Saying good-bye to me is not going to do the job. Hang on there, Don, I'm going to give you an update on what's going on in the news we're following right now.

It has been a deadly weekend for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Ten U.S. service members have been killed in separate incidents since Friday. Two were killed today in attacks in southern Afghanistan. Five were killed Saturday and three U.S. troops died Friday in insurgent bombings.

In Chile, as Don was saying, those 33 trapped miners spoke directly with family members for the first time today. A communication line was set up and one person per family was given about 20 seconds to talk to their trapped loved ones. Not sure why so little time because they're going to be there for a while. Tomorrow, Chilean officials plan to start drilling a rescue shaft to reach the traps miners but they say it could take up to four months to rescue them.

In Lake Havasu City, Arizona, a custody dispute may have sparked the fatal shootings today of six people. That's according to reports from our affiliate KTNV. Police say 27-year-old Brian Diaz entered the home shortly before midnight last night and killed five people, including the mother of his two children. One other person was also shot and wounded. Diaz then took the children ages 4 and 1 and dropped them off at a relative's house. Diaz was found dead in California a few hours later. An apparent suicide.

A construction site in Murfreesboro, Tennessee is now a crime scene. Someone set fire to heavy equipment to be use to build a mosque. Muslims say they have lived in the area for 20 years, but now are afraid to leave their homes because of a threat of violence. A sign on the property has already been destroyed twice. Federal officials are investigating the fire, but have not yet called it a hate crime.

Now let's check the stories that will be grabbing the headlines in the week ahead. From the world of politics to Wall Street to showbiz. We start tonight in Washington.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry in Washington. A big week for the president because on Tuesday night, he'll deliver what will just be his second primetime address from the Oval Office. The first was on the oil spill. Now he'll be talking about all combat troops coming out of Iraq. Then the president turns his attention to Mid-East peace talks here in Washington.

STEINHAUSER: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. Vote counting resumes Tuesday in Alaska where the Republican Senate primaries going into overtime. Incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski trails Joe Miller by just over 1500 votes with thousands of absentee ballots still to be counted. Miller was once a long shot but got a huge boost from endorsement from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and lots of help from the Tea Party Express.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Wall Street is gearing up for another crucial week. There are more and more questions about the economic recovery. Housing remains a key concern. And we will get the latest home prices report on Tuesday, as well as the look at construction spending on Wednesday. We'll see if there's any recovery for the housing sector.

Also ahead, the latest gauge of consumer confidence will be released this week. And then later in the week, auto sales and manufacturing numbers are due out. And then on Friday, we will get that all- important August jobs report. Stubbornly high unemployment. Still the main concern when it comes to this economic recovery. We'll track it all for you on CNN Money.

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: I'm "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer. And, of course, there's going to be big news breaking tonight at the Emmy Awards. "Showbiz Tonight," of course, will be right there with the biggest surprises and all of the shockers.

Also, Sandra Bullock's first big post-divorce TV interview happens this week. And the new cast of "Dancing with the Stars" will be officially revealed finally. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" is live at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on HLN. And we are still TV's most provocative entertainment news show at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

VELSHI: And that is the week ahead. Now back to Don in New Orleans.

Don, I love that. I feel like I know exactly what I got to look out for this week.

LEMON: Of course you do. That's -- we do that every weekend on this show.

VELSHI: You are like my cheat sheet.

LEMON: Thank you. I don't know if I've ever been called a cheat sheet. But I guess it's a compliment, Ali.

Up next, sir, the children of the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senseless acts of violence are murdering our teenagers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to be dead at 15 when I have a whole life to live. I have dreams. I want to be this huge entertainer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Director Spike Lee gave young children, young Katrina survivors cameras to document their lives. It's been good news for many, but not all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Experiencing one of the nation's worst natural disasters through the eyes of teenagers. That is what CNN's Soledad O'Brien and filmmaker Spike Lee set out to do when they gathered their children of the storm. Today, we revisit some of these young adults. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SPIKE LEE, FILMMAKER: Now, you see we have a very diverse group here, and you've each been given a camera.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three years ago, we gave kids in New Orleans a chance to document their lives in the aftermath of Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

DESHAWN DABNEY, CHILDREN OF THE STORM: Hello. My name is Deshawn.

AMANDA HILL, CHILDREN OF THE STORM: My name is Amanda.

O'BRIEN: Our children of the storm pointed their cameras at friends, family members and themselves to capture the long road to recovery. Amanda Hill lived in one of the worst-hit areas.

HILL: I live in St. Paul Parish. I live in a FEMA trailer with my grandma. I live with my grandma because my mom died when I was 11.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm opening a letter from FEMA, saying that we can, we have to try to move out of this trailer. They're trying to get us out of here to be put in that house and the house is not even livable. It's not even ready to live in.

O'BRIEN: The effects of the storm were taking a toll on her grandmother's health.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.

HILL: I love you, too.

I'm scared that I'm going to lose her. And she's all I have. All I can say was, it's going to be OK, but no matter what I don't think it is.

If God's willing and the creek doesn't rise again, May 2012, I'll graduate from LSU HSC School of Nursing. I'm pretty excited about that. My grandma is still working and she'll -- I'll let her retire when I graduate. I'll take care of her now.

DABNEY: You, sir, if you can hear me, we are marching because the violence has gone too far.

O'BRIEN: When we met Deshawn Dabney, he was a high school senior fighting against the crime and violence infecting his city.

DABNEY: Senseless acts of violence are murdering our teenagers.

I don't want to be dead at 15 when I have a whole life to live. I have dreams. I want to be this huge entertainer.

TEXT: Deshawn was able to rise above the danger in his neighborhood and pursue his dreams...

DABNEY: This is my high school diploma. My grandmother actually died a few months right before my graduation. So, when I walked across the stage and received this, it was pretty much in honor of her.

So Grandma, this is for you.

I've been trying to live out my dream with the whole theater thing. I'm actually a theater arts major here at Dillard University. And I've been pushing to get that big role. Still haven't gotten a big huge one yet. But the train is going to keep going up, up, and up, like some stairs. So hopefully, that will happen.

BRANDON FRANKLIN, TEEN KATRINA SURVIVOR: You wouldn't believe the man looks just like his daddy. I'm too proud.

O'BRIEN: And then there was Brandon Franklin, our 19-year-old father, trying to get his music career off the ground.

FRANKLIN: Now who we have here? This is my -- I'm going to say my second daddy. I can't even call him a band director. My second daddy, named Mr. Willbert Rawlins.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was training since the eighth grade, he wanted to be a band director, he told me that.

TEXT: Earlier this year, Brandon became the assistant band director at his old high school.

FRANKLIN: How you think life going to turn out now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Good.

FRANKLIN: How good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: Very good.

FRANKLIN: Yes.

TEXT: In May 2010, while visiting the mother of his 3-year-old child, Brandon was murdered by her ex-boyfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, there's so many people that are missing Brandon Franklin right now, it's ridiculous.

Brandon came into our lives, he not only touched my life, he touched so many other people's lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earth to earth, ashes to ashes.

DABNEY: This nice guy lost his life, due to same violence that I was fighting and still am fighting today. You know, it's just terrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You know it has been five years since the levees broke and drowned New Orleans. But one group helped the city keep the faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, to actually see football players put hammers and saws in their hand and go rebuild houses, that, you know, that's amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This season, the New Orleans Saints Rose from the ashes to the top of the NFL. Now the city is trying to emulate them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who dat!

LEMON (voice-over): This is Saints' country. The "Who Dat" nation, as in -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who dat! Who dat!

LEMON: An unusual way of speaking, befitting an unorthodox group of fans, who for years stood by their perpetually losing football team, the New Orleans Saints. In the 1980s, the team was so bad, fans donned paper bags to cover their faces, but Saints die-hard Lionel Alphonso Sr. turned to divine intervention for help.

LIONEL ALPHONSO, "DE POPE": I'm wearing this outfit now but back then the brown paper bag (INAUDIBLE) I can't lie. I'm the pope. I wore a bag.

LEMON: Alphonso is now known worldwide as "De Pope" of the Saints, and in 1999, was one of the first fans ever to be inducted into the football Hall of Fame. The first fan in the hall of fame?

ALPHONSO: Right

LEMON: What do you think of that?

ALPHONSO: I loved it.

LEMON: Then in 2005, all hell broke loose on the city and the team's home. The Superdome. Even the Pope was powerless against Hurricane Katrina's destruction but the entire "Who Dat Nation" stuck by their team and prayed the boys in black and gold would stay in the Big Easy. And they did, in a big way.

ALPHONSO: You know, to actually see football players put hammers and saws in their hand to go rebuild houses, that's amazing.

LEMON: Then came the 2009 season. The team once known as the "Ain't" won the Super Bowl. World champions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still in shock to hear you say world champions, New Orleans Saints. It picks me up every time what to Saints and carry us through again this year and keep our spirits up.

LEMON: Faith, a recurring theme here in Louisiana, and every Sunday, their miracle team, a statewide call to worship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who dat!

LEMON: We will is no doubt the chant for the rest of the NFL.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon live in New Orleans. We leave you tonight with the sweet sounds of Amanda Shaw, Cajun fiddle player, and she's good. Thanks for watching. Good night.