Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Herman Cain Endorses Gingrich; 19 Oakland Occupiers Arrested; Teen Medical Mystery; Defying the Syrian Crackdown; Siege in Syria; Suze Orman's Money Advice

Aired January 28, 2012 - 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: At last, remembering Etta James. The legendary lady with the voice to match. Honored in song by the world's biggest singers and stars.

That and more right here, right now on CNN.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us. If you joined us tonight at the top of the hour, you're about to get an exclusive. I'm going to tell you why, because there is a major political boost tonight for Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. A surprise announcement by his former rival, Herman Cain.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States!

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEMON: That was just last hour in Palm Beach, Florida. The scene of Tuesday's Republican primary and a new poll shows that Newt Gingrich could use the help right now, because Mitt Romney leads Gingrich 38 percent to 29 percent in a new poll. In a new survey, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum lag far behind.

I want to go now to a CNN exclusive. You're looking at now of what happened to Romney. But before we go there, let's go to Herman Cain. He joins us now on the phone.

Herman Cain, an exclusive.

Mr. Cain, you are endorsing Newt Gingrich. Tell us why you made that choice.

CAIN (via telephone): I'm endorsing Newt Gingrich tonight for several reasons, but the two biggest reasons is, number one, he and I talked about him being open to 9-9-9, which you know I happen to believe is a critical solution that we need to embrace. And as a result of that, he has asked me to co-chair his economic growth and jobs advisory council.

The second reason that I'm endorsing him is when you look at replacement tax code, energy independence, regulatory reform, sound money, all of the things that I've talked about, he and I are 100 percent in lock step in terms of what we need to do.

So when you find a candidate that basically is running still on the ideas and the ideologies that I was running on, along with him embracing 9-9-9, then it was a no-brainer and I thought that the timing was right.

Listen, I have to ask you this, I've read the polls just before we got to you and it shows that the person you endorse, Newt Gingrich is behind, is trailing Romney now by some eight points and in some polls even further. It has been said that endorsements don't really make that much of a difference, but do you think that this is going to help Newt Gingrich through your endorsement?

CAIN: You know, in some instances, endorsements may not make a difference. But I don't endorse based upon where somebody stands in the polls. I make my endorsements based upon my beliefs and this individual, as long as the people stilled in the primary process that I happen to believe embraced most of the ideas and most of the ideologies that I represented. So I don't care about where he stands in the polls. And whether my endorsement helps him or not, that's not the point. It's to let my supporters know that he is the closest to what I represented when I was still a candidate.

LEMON: Mr. Cain, Newt Gingrich has been deflecting some poor reviews. People have said that he didn't -- he hasn't done well in the last two debates, and there have been reports that he's tired. What do you make of his performance and for people saying that he was tired during the last couple of debates?

CAIN: I think in the last debate he may have been a little bit exhausted. I've been on the campaign trail for president, so I know what that is like and I know what it looks like. I believe that he might have been. So he might not have been on his A-game.

But that one debate isn't enough to basically turn people off. And in the previous debate before that, he was on his A plus game. So you can't really draw a conclusion based upon one debate performance, because there are a lot of factors that go into how a person would come across, given the pressure and tense situation that you're in.

So I don't think a lot of people is going to focus on that. I think people are going to focus on where he stands on the critical crises that we face relative to replacing the tax code, energy and regulatory reform, as well as stopping the increase in the national debt.

LEMON: I have to ask you this, as well, because Mr. Gingrich has gotten some criticism as well as of late about blaming the media in debates and blaming the media when he's out in public. And you certainly had -- and you know about strategy because you've done this. You certainly had your bouts with the media where you said it was the media's fault for bringing up certain things.

What do you make of that? Do you think that Mr. Gingrich should change that strategy by not blaming the media? Do you even think that that is a factor? CAIN: I think that Mr. Gingrich, pushing back on some of the media spin, has been a plus, and I applaud that. Because the American people, they don't care about all of that. The American people are waking up that the dirty gutter politics of how things work in some campaigns. So I applaud the way he has been addressing the accusations by the media. I really do.

And here's the other thing that a lot of people don't understand or appreciate. Most of the American people feel exactly the same way. So I don't have a problem with the way he is addressing the media and some of the things that they want to make the center of attention and the American people are saying we want to know how we're going to fix things, how we're going to solve problems.

LEMON: I've got to ask you this question because you got out a little while ago. You said you were suspending your campaign. But as we have been looking at this particular GOP race, one moment you're up, one moment you're down. Every single candidate. Do you ever think at times like may believe I should have stuck it out a little bit longer? Do you have any regrets?

CAIN: No, I don't have any regrets. And the reason is, I got out of the race because I put family first, and I don't have any regrets of that. That's just the way it goes. I expect some things in this campaign, but there were some things that happened that I didn't expect. I didn't expect the degree to which dirty gutter politics to come into play. But I was not going to continue to put my family through those constant spin and re-spin of false accusations, and as a result, I got out. And I have no regrets, because now I've decided to have an impact another way in terms of supporting a candidate who is still in the race, as well as promoting my ideas and solutions at CainConnections.com, that's CainConnections.com, in order for people to be a part of the movement that I'm creating.

LEMON: And you got to plug in, so very good job. You mentioned your family, and I'm glad you mentioned your family because last we saw you and your family, your wife spoke out. We saw your children. How is your family doing now that you're out of the race? Are things better with your family? Is the pressure off?

CAIN: Things have been great with my family for a long, long, long time. It's only the perception of people in the media who think that things have not been great. My family, my wife and I, we're doing just great. And that's the way I want to keep it.

LEMON: Yes. I just meant is the pressure off because you're not in the spotlight, so much scrutiny anymore. That's where that question is going?

CAIN: Oh, yes, absolutely. When you are running for president, you are on a microscope. And everything that you say and do is splice spec. But it turns out, not being as much under the microscope and splice spec, absolutely, it lifts some of the pressure off. But that does not mean that I'm not still focused on the ultimate mission which is getting some of these solutions, you know, pass in Congress and the ultimate mission is to ultimately defeat Barack Obama. LEMON: Herman Cain, best of luck to you. Thank you very much for joining us tonight here on CNN. The news is that Herman Cain is endorsing Newt Gingrich tonight and an exclusive at the top of the hour here on CNN. Again, our thanks to Herman Cain.

There's also news tonight involving Republican hopeful Rick Santorum. He spent the day off the campaign trail at home in Pennsylvania, and just minutes ago, his campaign announced he was canceling events Sunday morning in Florida because his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, has been hospitalized. Little Bella Santorum suffers from a genetic disorder and Santorum speaks about her often on the campaign trail. We wish her and we wish Mr. Santorum's family well.

And a programming reminder for you, keep it right here on CNN for the Florida primary. It's on Tuesday night. Our special coverage will begin at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

In Oakland, California, tonight, we haven't seen this kind of ruckus at an occupied protest in weeks. Tear gas, smoke, and protesters on the ground. We're going to look at some live pictures. There they are. They are a little dark. That's from our affiliate KGO.

There are police who have been corralling hundreds of occupiers at a YMCA building. This standoff has been going on for hours.

(VIDEOCLIP)

LEMON: And the protestors were calling this move-in day. They planned to take over a vacant building, but police declared it unlawful assembly and moved to contain them, arresting at least 19 people. The police claim the protesters hit them with bottles, metal pipes, rocks, spray cans, even improvise explosive devices and burning flares.

Officers threw tear gas and smoke grenades to try and disperse that crowd. Three officers are reportedly hurt so far.

Now I want to bring in Tim Ryan. He's a reporter from KCBS Radio. He's at the scene now. Tim, describe what is happening on the streets right now.

TIM RYAN, KCBS RADIO (via telephone): Well, Don, the arrest total now is at 40 plus, and likely to go higher. These protesters have been moving around the streets of Oakland after days ago promising to take over a vacant building. The building that they attempted to take over hours ago was the vacant convention center, a massive building, probably the largest vacant building in all of Oakland.

They met a line of Oakland riot cops. They were not able to get inside. They regrouped, and then an hour or two ago, they set out again. Oakland police attempting to corral them. There were some bricks thrown at the officers. There were a couple of loud blasts that I, mean, just scares all of us. What they ended up doing is rushing into a YMCA. Not a vacant building at all.

Many people inside working out and they say that there's crowds that just bum rushed them. They were not violent but were very provocative. The police move in and they have arrested about 20 or so inside the YMCA. And those arrests were continuing, Don.

LEMON: We're talking about improvised explosive devices and all of those things that protestors have said that police have hit them with. Have you observed any of that?

RYAN: Well, yes. I've seen the tear gas on the side of the police, and I've seen smoke bombs tossed at police. I've seen rocks tossed at police. So the violence is coming from both sides. One guy was really pummelled by an Oakland police officer with a baton. I didn't see what it was that allegedly provoked that attack. There are going to be a lot of people waking up tomorrow with sore eyes, a lot of tear gas and, you know, there's been some blows traded down here on the streets of Oakland, as well, Don.

LEMON: How has this response, if it has, how's it been different than the one in October? Remember, it was very violent back in October. Is this one different?

RYAN: Well, you know, the main difference right now, and you know, the arrest totals, maybe similar. A few dozen, but what I haven't seen, although here on the West Coast, it is still early. I haven't seen the vandalism that was just so profound months ago.

I mean, just dozens upon dozens upon dozens of buildings with their windows broken. I don't think that's the case here tonight, Don. I mean, I've seen some graffiti, but if Oakland can survive this with just a few dozen arrests and some graffiti, I think the city that is going to call this quite a successful night for the City of Oakland. But, again, a lot of times it's a little later at night when this crowd, frustrated, gets out of hand and starts breaking things.

LEMON: All right, Tim Ryan with KCBS, thank you so much. We really appreciate you joining us this evening.

And coming up here on CNN, the medical mystery that's gotten a lot of people talking and has attracted the famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich. Our Wendy Walsh is here with us. She has been sitting by patiently in the studio with us to talk about this story. What exactly is going on with these 15 students? We're back in a moment live here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to a medical mystery that has gotten a lot of people talking, and now famous environmentalist Erin Brockovich is even getting involved. In Leroy, New York, at least 15 high school students are suffering from a strange illness that causes them to have uncontrollable twitching and verbal outbursts.

HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky has been all over the story, and last night he talked with Brockovich about her investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) ERIN BROCKOVICH, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: There was a very serious train derailment that caused one ton of cyanide to spill and 45,000 gallons of TCE.

DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN: OK. TCE is trichloroethylene.

BROCKOVICH: Trichloroethylene.

PINSKY: Is that the same thing that was in your story that we saw in the movie?

BROCKOVICH: No. Hinkley was hexavalent chromium.

PINSKY: Trichloroethylene is a well-known carcinogen. Can it also cause these sorts of neurological problems?

BROCKOVICH: I have read and been involved in cases that we have that TCE can be associated with neurological disorder.

PINSKY: OK. So --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So Brockovich believes bed rock and ground water could be contaminated. But aside from the contamination fears, could there be another story here? I'm joined by human behavior expert Dr. Wendy Walsh.

Dr. Wendy, Drew, also spoke with the teens so let's listen real quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIDYA PARKER, STUDENT: I was in school for a little while after it started. But I ended up leaving the last week of October because I didn't feel I could handle school anymore.

THERA SANCHEZ, STUDENT: It's hard not be able to do what you love, even going to school. I love going to school. But it's -- it's -- it's hard that -- I think it's even harder knowing that I don't know it's going on. I'd like to be able to answer people if they ask what's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: But, Wendy, we've been talking about this a little bit, mass hysteria, there are cases of it. Could this be a case of mass hysteria?

WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: It certainly looks a lot like it. Not that we shouldn't exhaust any biological, chemical possibilities. But this is very common in adolescent girls. And when I say mass hysteric -- I mean, mass hysteria of a conversion disorder. Meaning the body converts its anxiety into real physical symptoms. They're not faking.

LEMON: Really?

WALSH: These are real physical symptoms.

LEMON: So then what do we know about cases like this? You say it's real physical symptoms? But what do we know?

WALSH: Throughout history, we have seen many, many incidences of this happening, predominantly in adolescent girls because at this stage of social development, Don, you know, how they conform. They have to wear the same jeans, have the same hairstyle and be in love with the same Justin Bieber. So they start to adopt the same symptoms unconsciously.

So for instance, In 1962 in Tanzania, some schoolgirls had a laughing epidemic. Some of them laugh for hours, weeks, other, months. In 1983, in Palestine, there was the West Bank fainting epidemic. And, of course, the country thought it was chemical warfare. But it lasted a number of months and it faded away. In 2006, in Portugal, there was something called The Strawberries with Sugar epidemic. That's the name of the famous soap opera there, and the girls watched a character get a strange virus and they all started to get the same virus.

LEMON: Is that how society contributes to this, by people watching or buying into certain things, I've got to do this, I've got to wear the jeans. Oh, this is on television or in the movie. Is that how society is?

WALSH: Well, society has a piece, but I think the piece really is repressing and putting stress and anxiety on young girls. So, you know, if it were me, I would go to that school and find out what's changed lately in their testing procedures. What kinds of academic stresses are these girls under?

If because of the media, are they being highly sexualized? Are they supposed to be, you know, thin and beautiful and is there a lot of pressure? That's what I would for is the source of the anxiety.

LEMON: OK. You said it's adolescent girls?

WALSH: Tends to be most often.

LEMON: But it's not unheard of in men or boys?

WALSH: No. You know, one of the most common kinds of conversion disorder in mass hysteria in men is actually fears that their genitalia are shrinking. I'm not joking. It tends to be in societies where there is less scientific knowledge, and it spreads like a big fear that their penis is going to disappear.

LEMON: All right. Dr. Wendy, thank you very much.

Moving on to other news now, the Syrian government isn't ending its crackdown on pro-democracy protestors. The regime is showing it will stop at nothing to keep its grip on power. But activists, well, they aren't backing down either.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, everyone at home, I've got to warn you now that we're about to show you some very disturbing video. It is not, I repeat, it is not appropriate for children. So if you have children in the room, please get them out.

And I also want you to imagine this. Living in Syria, defying the crackdown on pro-democracy protests, then being shot and escaping to safety in Cairo. And then smuggling yourself back across the border, returning to the mayhem.

Our next guest did just that, and we will only use the name Danny. Danny returns to Homs City where this atrocity was captured on tape. Here are those troubling images now that we're going to show you.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Children brutally murdered allegedly by thugs supporting the Syrian government. It is just another tragedy in the City of Homs.

And the person I told you about, Danny, he joins us now from there. So, Danny, I want to start with your story. Tell us why you returned to Homs.

DANNY, PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: Well, it's quite easy, isn't it? I left here because I got shot. I tried to get the news out from outside of Syria, and now watch our friends die here, so we started this revolution. We're going to finish it. I'm not going to run away from it. So when I come back, I'll finish it.

LEMON: What can you tell us about that family, that poor family in the video we just showed killed in (INAUDIBLE) in that neighborhood?

DANNY: Right. That's something normally you see every day. They try to put fear in people's heart. They're thugs. They go into a house, they kill a whole family to see in the whole neighborhood, so the whole neighborhood doesn't ask for freedom, for the whole neighborhood doesn't talk about this regime.

If you talk about this regime, or you say you want freedom, you're a traitor. You get killed. You get shot. They have been stabbed to death. In that area in (INAUDIBLE), people can't get the bodies out their houses. They've been breaking from wall to wall, from house to house, to get the people out from house to house. They can't take them out into the streets. It's bombardment on that neighborhood and this neighborhood, (INAUDIBLE), it's being bombarded from 6:00 a.m. until like two or three hours ago.

LEMON: This conflict has ranged for 10 months now. Some say that President Peshwar al-Assad can't keep his grip on power for another year. What do you think will be the tipping point here?

DANNY: This president, he won't stop. He's going to keep killing the people, but the people will never stop. He kills someone, he kills a member of a family, the whole family is going to come out. He kills a friend. All his friends are going to start coming out. There's more than 40 percent of the population going out in demonstrations right now.

How are they going to stop? They'll never going to stop. He's done so many crimes in this city, and no one is going to stop. No one is going to live under -- he's raped women. He's sent security to rape women, to kidnap women, kidnap children. Today, we just got three bodies that had been tortured to death.

LEMON: Danny, I have to ask you this because we have seen in these protests, unfortunately, people we have spoken to not survive and we end up doing stories on them not surviving. They've come on like you are, like you are now. Do you think that you're going to survive the fighting, survive fighting the al-Assad regime?

DANNY: I hope I do. I'm just one of the people. Nothing else. I'm just one of these people who is asking for freedom. I hope I survive to see the end of it, but if I don't see the end of it, I mean, I got my friends. I've lost more than 30 of my friends now.

So if I don't survive it, it's just my luck. But I'm not going to stop fighting for it. We started this revolution and we will end this revolution. The crimes that he's done, believe me, we as civilians, we don't know what he's done yet. His crimes, we haven't seen anything yet. Half of his crimes are hidden yet. We don't know half of what he's done or what his security forces have done.

LEMON: Danny, thank you and we hope you do survive. Thank you so much for joining us. Best of luck, OK.

DANNY: I hope too. Thank you. Thank you very much.

LEMON: Coming up next on CNN, we take you inside the devastated neighborhood surrounding Japan's infamous Fukushima nuclear power plant. It is a CNN exclusive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Again, more disturbing video we're about to show you here on CNN. Fair warning to you.

There was hardly any time to spare when residents near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant were forced to evacuate. People scrambled to leave, but the animals they left behind, pets, live stock, are still there. At least the ones that survive are still there.

Kyung Lah travelled to the so called exclusion zone to see for herself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are heading into the exclusion zone. This is the 20 kilometer mile radius around the Fukushima nuclear plant. And this is the area that the government has said the radiation is too high for people to live in. Some 70,000 people have evacuated out of the area. Now we wanted to see it for ourselves. What strikes you first is what you can't see, the people, gone almost an entire year.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, guys.

So, what will Monday's weather bring as you head into work? Wet roads? Icy roads? Jacqui Jeras in the severe weather center with, as we call it, "Tomorrow's Commute Tonight," Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, but a holiday tomorrow so a lot of people are not going in. So, we will kind of talk about the day part and in the week ahead, Don, because we've got some big changes and it's all about the West tomorrow because our jet stream pattern has changed.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: All right. Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.

Next, a CNN exclusive. A Syrian town is under siege as anti- government protests grow. Right after the break, we take you to the battleground in a story you will only see on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's called a crackdown, but what's happening in Syria feels like a war. That's what CNN's Nic Robertson discovered when he traveled to the city of Zabadani for an exclusive look at the violence. The Syrian government has tried to keep a lid on the unrest and now we know why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the road to Zabadani, it feels like we are entering a war. We see only army check posts. Then this -- civilians, the first we meet.

(on camera): What these people down here have just told us is that they are fleeing. They are running away. They haven't got any possessions with them. They don't have a car either. They're just getting out of town as fast as they can.

(voice over): Further on at the frontline, more people fleeing. We cross to the anti-government side, follow Arab League monitors through twisting streets into the town's center. Little can prepare them or us for the welcome we receive.

(PEOPLE CHANTING)

ROBERTSON: Thousands of anti-Assad protesters.

(on camera): The crowd has gone absolutely wild as the monitors have arrived even carrying them on their shoulders here. They are treating the monitors as if they are gods. They have been sent here to save them.

(PEOPLE CHANTING)

ROBERTSON (voice over): Bitter anger against the government is everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day, every morning, --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooting.

ROBERTSON: Two or three people have been killed, she says. More than 60 wounded. And now, for the last three days, she adds, water, electricity and phones have been cut off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They striking anything! In the street. Kill people. Isolation people. Can you understand me?

ROBERTSON (on camera): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't need this regime. Can you understand me? They are killing us!

ROBERTSON (voice over): Inside the nearby mosque, Arab League monitors use the calm to take down more details.

This man tells us he was shot going out to get bread. He has lost a finger. His brother, he says, killed.

In this mountain town close to the border with Lebanon, military defectors now with the Free Syrian Army say they have 70 lightly armed fighters. We don't see them, but the monitors do.

After more than an hour, these monitors inch their vehicles through the crowds. More and more press forward. They don't want the monitors from the Arab League to go, telling them soldiers will use their tanks to fire on the town as soon as they leave.

In apparent desperation, the crowd turns on the monitors, beats their car, begins to throw rocks, forcing them to drive a dangerous road towards frontline troops, not expecting them. Gunshots fired. Monitors stop, wave their orange jacket to show who they are.

Half mile, 800 meters ahead, the road is blocked. It is the Syrian government frontline. We are forced to stop. It is not a safe place to be.

(on camera): The monitors are trying to shout out to the soldiers on the other side of the frontline there to clear the road, to clear the barricade. It's clearly a road that is not used often now. The soldiers over there seem to be very nervous.

(voice over): They won't let the monitors cross. As we wait, soldiers bring out one of the dead, saying he has just been shot. They shout at the camera - "Film, film. Is this the freedom you want? Is this what the world wants? Is this the Syria you are looking for?"

Around us, the soldiers are edgy. Occasional shots ring out.

Finally, after an hour and a half in the danger zone, a digger is brought forward. Two soldiers riding shotgun. They begin clearing the barricade.

Gunfire erupts.

(SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE)

ROBERTSON: Not clear who is shooting. Soldiers run for cover. The monitors race for safety, pass plenty of armored vehicles with heavy machine guns.

Twenty seconds later, they stop at the frontline army base. Soldiers cheer the president. Then this -- an unprovoked attack on the monitors. As they drive out, they leave behind a city under siege.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Zabadani, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nic, thank you very much.

Remember that Russian fuel tanker we have been telling you about heading to Nome, Alaska? Now it's reached its destination, but the work is far from over. That story right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Russian fuel tanker bound for the snowed-in town of Nome, Alaska has finally arrived. A U.S. Coast Guard ship led the way, breaking through 300 miles of ice. We're joined on the phone now by Mayor Denise Michels.

So, Mayor, how does it feel to finally have the fuel tanker in Nome where you were running low on fuel?

MAYOR DENISE MICHELS, NOME, ALASKA: It's a good feeling. We are halfway there. Our main concern, of course, was to have the delivery and the transfer done safely. So now they are in the process of laying the hose down, working with the state and federal compliance officials and they have a meeting tonight and hopefully tomorrow is when the -- hopefully, they'll start going through the lines. So, we are pretty excited.

LEMON: Yes. You mentioned the hose. I understand they are using it to get the fuel into the town. Is whether a factor with that?

MICHELS: Yes, whether is always a factor. Right now, we are finally above 0 for the first time in a long time and so -- and the winds are calm. So, it looks pretty good.

LEMON: Yes. Good, good. This is the first ever attempt to bring fuel to an Arctic Alaska settlement through sea ice. Were you confident that it will even get through? MICHELS: You know, you're right. We had a little concern it was never done. There was no policy. We had to create (INAUDIBLE), work with different entities and experts to get it here. We are just very happy. You know, it's halfway here and the remaining other half is, of course, to get to Renda and the Healy crew back home once the fuel is transferred successfully.

LEMON: We wish you the best of luck. Thank you for joining us, Mayor Denise Michels of Nome, Alaska. We appreciate it.

Next, a report that could make you question your racial identity. It deals with the term "passing," something thousands of African- Americans did during the Jim Crow days. It will also explain the meaning of the so-called "one drop rule" right after the break.

But first this. Whether you have a little extra -- a little bit extra cash or absolutely no savings at all. There are steps you can take to make your money work for you in 2012 and you don't have to be a risk taker to get a good return. CNN's Ali Velshi talks with Suze Orman in this week's "Mastering Your Money."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZE ORMAN, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: If you really don't want to take risk, you might want to look into tips, treasury inflation protection security. You also might just want to, if you have a home that you have a mortgage on, that you're going to stay in for the rest of your life, you are 45 years of age or older, take that money and pay down your mortgage, because when your mortgage goes away, you don't need as much income to generate for that expense.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right. Let's talk about credit ratings, your credit score. How do you get your credit score up? How do you fix credit right now in a tough time? What should your priorities be?

ORMAN: Now, you know, you can fix credit very simple by always if you have credit cards, not everybody does, but if you have credit cards, pay your credit cards on time. Never go over your credit limit. Just really be there with them and pay down your credit, because the thing that counts most on FICO scores, 30-35 percent, is your debt, what you owe to your credit limit ratio. So if you pay down your debt, your credit limit ratio goes down, your FICO score goes up.

VELSHI: We have been working down the ladder of people and their financial situations. Now we're going to talk about those probably almost one in two Americans who have virtually no money, if none at all, can't get access to credit. They've lost a lot of stuff. They can't get a credit card. They can't even get a secured credit card.

ORMAN: Yes. They can get a secured credit card obviously. But here is the problem with secured credit cards that people aren't just understanding about them.

To get a secured card, you have to put a sum of money -- $100, $500, $ 1000 to secure the card. Now you have a card and you can go on and charge. You charge $200 on it. They don't take the money from what you put down. They say now you owe me $200. And the person goes, I don't have $200, I'm in poverty. And they go, OK, you pay me $20 a month at 19 percent interest.

So now here we have this person, again, getting themselves into trouble on a secure card.

VELSHI: Right.

ORMAN: So I don't like secure cards. However, if it is your only alternative to build a credit score right here and right now because there are not any other alternative, if you can't get a regular credit card, it's one way for you to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In the years following the abolition of slavery, some Americans feared a rise in interracial relationships. So states began passing laws to make sure that any child with a Negro and a white parent could be considered black and denied the rights of white people. In other words, a child with even one drop of Negro blood would be classified as Negro.

This became known as the "one drop" rule, a standard ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967. This and the hardships of racism also caused the African-Americans to pass, pretend they were white without ever telling their families, leaving a lot of whites not knowing they had black blood.

But some experts on race relations say the legacy of the "one drop" rule still exists in today's culture. One such expert is Yaba Blane (ph), an African Studies scholar who does research on skin color politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Explain what the "one drop" rule is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The "one drop" rule historically also known as the rule of hypodescent was really instituted to protect whiteness. It was a way for the white majority to be able to name and cite who was white.

LEMON: So it was one drop, which is 1/32nd?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1/32nd of Negron or African blood would make that person Negro or African, whatever the classification they used at the time.

LEMON: Why do this project? I mean, what's the purpose?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my father.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a way for us to think about identity, a way for people to define their blackness, if you will, above and beyond legality. So we see blackness as a richer identity than just one drop of blood. How do you quantify blood?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, maybe black is my cultural, ethnic, racial background.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so what happens is when you read these contributors' narratives, you come to understand how they see themselves as black or African-American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am black and I am proud of it. I'm black and I'm proud.

LEMON: Why is that important, doctor?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's important for us to be able to see how people themselves identify. What's interesting is most people in the project say they have this experience of people walking up and saying, what are you?

So you can look, let's say you look at the website, some of the contributors you might say, they are black? She could pass. Right. This idea of passing. But it's not that they are trying to be anything other than who they are.

LEMON: Yes. I could still relate to that because everyone in my family is lighter than me. Most people in my family, I should say, on my family especially on my mother's side. And the people would mistake my mother for white when I was a kid and say, no, your mom wasn't in here. And I'd say, yes, that's my mom. I thought she was white.

So people want to categorize that. What is it inside of people that makes them want to put everyone in a category? So they know what to do with it? Like what difference does it make?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the reality is, is that America was founded on race and racial difference. And still race absolutely defines our experience.

LEMON: But I hear people say we're in a post-racial society.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reality is in order to get beyond something, you have to understand it, right? And where in your education -- where have you been required to learn about race?

LEMON: They don't reach it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. It is the foundation of this country. We have to talk about race. We have to talk about racial difference. It is just a flat-out lie for us to believe that we've moved beyond race.

LEMON: Let's talk about colorism because I write about -- I have a book and I write about colorism, about the difference between having light skin and dark skin. Light skin was -- you were a bit more privileged. And still in society people think that way. But it used to be worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

LEMON: Let's talk about the privileges of having light skin even if you are a person of color.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whiteness is normative. So what does means is that whiteness has come to define what is human, what is valuable, what is beautiful. So when we look at women, the ways in which you determine a woman's beauty is based upon her proximity to the white ideal -- aquiline features, straight hair, perhaps colored eyes, different complexion. And the same holds true for men.

So again, I think, subconscious or otherwise historically what that has said or communicated is that if you have lighter skin, we can assume that you have white in your blood. And to have white in your blood makes you less African, makes you less barbaric, makes you more civilized.

LEMON: So the "one drop" project, it's just a catalyst that names -- it's a catalyst to have a discussion about race. What's so hard about it? Why do you think people find it so hard to have a conversation about race?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To discuss race is uncomfortable. You know, historically, white people have been associated with the oppressor. Historically, black people have been associated with being the oppressed. Some people don't want to deal with that reality. I don't want to be associated with that. I'm not that kind of person. I'm not racist. But to talk about race is not to name someone racist. It's to say let's deal with the reality we are in.

LEMON: Well, the issues I think I know because I get it every time there is a discussion about race. People say racism will be over if you guys on TV stop talking about it and I go, come on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But where in history do we have an example where silence changed anything? You don't have that example. So silence doesn't make stuff go away. It just makes it silent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: The conversation continues online. Just log on to cnn.com/inamerica. You can always -- you can go there and also read my personal story on the "one drop" rule, passing for white and colorism while growing up in Louisiana in the 1960s and 1970s. So come here on CNN.

As the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Junior's birthday, change is on its way for his new memorial in Washington, D.C. We're going to explain that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We are going to get caught up right now on your headlines. Jon Huntsman dropping out of the Republican race for president. A senior campaign official tells CNN's Pete Hamby that the announcement will happen on Monday. We've also learned that Huntsman will endorse Mitt Romney. Huntsman was hoping for a boost after New Hampshire, but his third place finish just was not enough.

Two Americans are among the missing in the Concordia cruise ship disaster along the Italian coast according to the State Department. 120 Americans were reportedly on the ship, but only 118 are accounted for now. The owner of the ship, Costa Cruises, is blaming the captain, saying that significant human error on his part led to the ship running aground. The captain is under arrest. He could be charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship. Death toll now stands at five.

The FBI is asking residents in two states to help find the body of a missing Montana teacher, 43-year-old Cheri Arnold (ph) who was last seen January 7th during an early morning jog. Two men are being held in connection with her disappearance. And authorities say evidence gathered indicates she may be dead. Property owners in western North Dakota and northeastern Montana have been asked to look along tree lines for signs of a grave.

Crowds gathered today to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time at his memorial on the National Mall. Many were thrilled to hear that the National Park Service will change a phrase quote on that memorial. Critics felt the quote made the civil rights icon appear arrogant. King would have been 83 years old on Sunday. He was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.

That's it for us this evening. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you have a great week. I'll see you back here next weekend. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Good night.