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Israeli Defense Forces Orders Evacuation Of Parts Of Gazan City Of Rafah As Military Operations In Region Intensify; Israeli Invasion Of Gaza Creating Humanitarian Crisis; Recent Aurora Borealis Visible To Regions Further South Than Usual; Biden Administration Report States Israeli Forces Likely Used American Weapons In Ways Inconsistent With Humanitarian Law; Michigan College Students' Support Of President Biden Wavering Due To Israel-Gaza War; Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Nigeria; Author Promotes Her Book On Learning Empathy To Reduce Levels Of Divisiveness In Current U.S. Society; Workshop In Ohio Features Art By Creative People With Special Needs. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired May 11, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:15]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, new today, Israel's military says it is intensifying operations in central Gaza and ordering the immediate evacuation of severe -- several more neighborhoods in the southern city of Rafah where millions of displaced Palestinians are seeking refuge. The IDF says about 300,000 people have already fled. These evacuations follow a new deadly round of air strikes across Gaza.

CNN's Scott McLean has more.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, new airstrikes in northern and central Gaza have flooded hospitals with a new round of victims. Included amongst them, a journalist, his wife, and 12-year-old son. And the death toll may yet still rise as people search through the rubble of those airstrikes with little more than their bare hands searching, at this point, for bodies.

And the video of the aftermath and the chaotic hospitals that have taken in those victims is pretty hard to watch. Many of the victims are children, some of them are very tiny infants. The IDF declined to comment on the strikes other than to say that it was working to dismantle Hamas and insisting that it follows international law and takes measures to mitigate civilian harm. That is notable only because the U.S. State Department released a report yesterday saying that it is reasonable to assess that Israel has not always followed international law.

The IDF just this morning has told people in parts of northern Gaza to evacuate to safe for areas and in several districts of Rafah, as well, to move to a humanitarian zone along the coastline, a zone where people have pitched tents along the roadway and along the coast. And there's very little in the way of infrastructure to support that volume of people. The IDF says that there are now 300,000 people there. That is double the estimate that they gave on Thursday.

There are also people in Rafah who are struggling to leave at all. Some are unwilling to go, some are struggling with the logistics of moving around this active war zone, or the cost of moving around. One person told CNN that the situation there is beyond bad.

It also seems like Israel is undeterred by the U.S. pausing shipments of weapons to Israel because of it's continued to advance in Rafah. The IDF says that it has enough weaponry to go this alone. The Israeli security cabinet has approved an expansion of the operating area. All of this just as aid into southern Gaza slows to a trickle, if that. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Scott McLean.

All right, very few non-government agencies or aid groups are able to get into Gaza to provide basic needs and food. Among the few which are able to help, the non-profit organization International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance. The president and co-founder is a familiar face to many of our viewers over the years, Arwa Damon. She's joining us right now.

Arwa, great to see you. You are very familiar with conflict locations. As a reporter, you've covered so many from Afghanistan to Iraq and Syria. And you've also been a humanitarian aid worker along the way. What have been your observations there in Gaza? It's great to see you again, by the way, but I know you're now full-time with your organization. What have you been able to see firsthand in Gaza that strikes you, given the familiarity that you've had with so many conflict zones?

ARWA DAMON, PRESIDENT, INTERVIEW NETWORK FOR AID, RELIEF, AND ASSISTANCE: I was in Gaza last month, and a lot of us within both the journalism sector and the humanitarian sector have been having this conversation about exactly what is it about Gaza that makes it so different.

[14:05:09]

And it actually good goes beyond the scale and scope and intensity and severity of the physical destruction and just the countless deaths and injuries. It's when you get there and you realize the real psychological obliteration that has taken place. When you are moving through a place like Rafah, and this is just to show how densely populated it is, a road that would take you normally, say, 10 minutes to drive can take you about two hours to navigate because every single building that could be converted into a shelter is a shelter. And then the tents just spill out of these areas and they cover the sidewalks. And in front of them, you have small stalls that are selling this and that. And then you have the human traffic just moving through all of this, navigating its way in between the handful of vehicles that are on the road, the donkey carts, because donkey carts right now are a substitution for public transport, because there is no fuel. And when you look at people's faces, Fredricka, you don't see life.

Peoples' movements are lethargic, mechanical, deadened. And add to all of that now this increased wave of fear and panic and anxiety because people don't know where to go. Humanitarian aid has not gotten into Gaza through Rafah or Kerem Shalom since May 5th.

WHITFIELD: Right, because routes are closed. As you just mentioned, a lot of the roads are impassible. And when we talk about today's news involving Israel, that now says immediately evacuate from Rafah, people don't have anywhere to go because the threat of this ground offensive is very real. Where are people expected to go if they leave or are asked to immediately evacuate Rafah?

DAMON: Look, Israel has this delusional notion of, oh, move to Mawasi, which is basically a beach front area. It's sand dunes, and people have been moving there. It's absolutely packed. And it's not a safe zone. It's not a humanitarian zone. Theres zero sanitation. There's very little access to humanitarian assistance there.

And they're also expecting people to move to Khan Yunis, which is little more than a pile of rubble. But people don't have a choice. And so they get shepherded around the Gaza Strip, and they themselves will say it's this sick, twisted, cruel game, because we'll all remember that originally Israel told people to move to the south. The south was supposed to be a safe zone. Rafah was supposed to be a safe zone, except it never was. And now they're being forced or told to move to move from there and face the consequences.

And you really end up with this situation where people are almost paralyzed to a certain degree because they don't know where to go. They don't know how to stay safe, and yet they kind of have to keep moving, because what choice do they have at this stage? But the fundamentals on the ground are that nowhere in Gaza is safe, and these humanitarian zones, these safe zones that Israel keeps talking about, they do not exist, have never existed, and Israel is not and has not coordinated with humanitarian organizations to establish something viable.

WHITFIELD: Yours it is a small team comparatively, and you write on CNN.com, "My small INARA," the acronym for your group, "team provides services across 13 shelters and makeshift camps. We distribute everything from hot meals to washable sanitary underwear. But the crux of our activities centers around running mental health and psychosocial activities for children. These include group play, games, art, and other creative outlets."

I mean, how do you see that your teams are making an impact and filling the gap where others cannot?

DAMON: When you're there, and this is sort of a part of the tragedy of all of it, you realize that what you do actually it feels small, because the need is so great, it's so vast, it's so overwhelming. But we have to keep reminding ourselves that just because were only able to serve a small portion of the population, that does not negate the impact that were able to have on them. And especially if we're talking about the mental health space for children in this kind of an emergency where the trauma is still ongoing and the trauma is still constant and triggers are happening constantly, every single day.

[14:10:07]

It's really just about creating a small distraction for children. It's about bringing that spark back into their eye, even if it's just for a little bit of time. And we do things like we set solar panels up at one shelter that was basically pitch dark once the sun went down. But we're also in a very sort of difficult situation right now because we have children's clothing, we have diapers, we have baby powder, we have food parcels, we have all of this aid that right now is stuck in Egypt and can't actually get inside to the population that needs it. And supplies that are inside, they are going to finish very, very soon. And we're going to just see an extra added layer to this complete and total nightmare.

WHITFIELD: Arwa Damon, so glad you're being with us. I mean, you've always done extraordinary work as a journalist and now extraordinary work providing this humanitarian aid and assistance. Thanks so much. All the best to you, too.

All right, the new report from the Biden administration about the possible misuse of American weapons by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Plus, it's not too late to see northern lights as a rare solar storm hits earth this weekend. How you can witness this historic space event next.

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[14:16:06]

WHITFIELD: All right, you need to look to the sky tonight and get your camera ready, because solar activity is creating a colorful display of auroras here on earth. It's the strongest solar storm to hit earth since 2003 and has the potential to disrupt the power grid and electronic communication throughout the country as well. Despite those risks, the northern lights are expected to last through Sunday morning. So if you missed Friday's aurora, you just may get another chance to see them tonight, depending on where you are, of course.

Allison Chinchar and I plan to look to the sky this evening. We've got a schedule, don't we? It will be something.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, and quite a treat, because typically speaking, when you see the auroras, green is the most common color. But on these types of events, when they are such strong solar storms, you actually tend to get more of the pinks and the red colors, which is not as common.

Take a look at this image behind me. This is from Seattle. You can actually see all of those colors we just mentioned. Youve got the greens, the blues, purples, reds, pinks, all of it all mixed in one. Now, granted, they are a little bit farther north, but even areas farther south are seeing it. This is actually the southern lights. This image taken from New Zealand. Again, you can see that very deep pink, red color. Now, we can still see these. These are more rare to see this

particular kind of color, especially here in the U.S. So take, for example, this one. This is seen just south of Jacksonville, Florida. Yes, even that far south, they were able to see the lights. But notice too that it's more of those red and pink colors. And again, it's because of the latitude, those lower latitudes tend to see more of this color on the spectrum than they do some of the others.

But as we mentioned, if you missed it all last night and you're feeling upset about it, you'd like another chance, you will get that opportunity tonight. Now, in terms of timing, the earlier in the evening is going to be the better timeline, especially up until about 11:00. You can still see them after that, but it really starts to diminish pretty quickly.

The where, obviously the farther north you are, the better odds you're going to have. But even areas farther south -- Georgia, Florida, southern California, the only thing that really may limit it, Fred, is going to be a lot of these clouds you see here near the Gulf coast and up and areas of the northeast as well.

WHITFIELD: OK, fingers crossed. Hoping no cloud cover, or, you know, my eyes are working. Let's hope.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

For more on this global light show, I'm joined now by Paul D. Maley, expedition leader for the NASA Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society. Great to see you.

PAUL D. MALEY, EXPEDITION LEADER, NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY: Same here. Glad to talk about auroras with you.

WHITFIELD: It's so exciting. So Paul, you've also been leading public outreach tours to view the northern lights since 2012. So if you're on a tour, if I were on a tour with you this weekend, how would you explain what is happening?

MALEY: Well, what's amazing about this is that the sun every once in a while suffers explosions in the atmosphere and generates high-energy particles that propagate toward the earth sometimes, in other directions at other times. And we just were lucky enough to be hit by a big burst of very high energy particles that hit us at the right time and created what might be called one of the great storms that have occurred over the last 500 years. It's been about 16 of those that have been logged, and we were just lucky enough to be in the middle of one.

I'm here in the lower edge of Arizona, and we never we have auroras here that are visible to the naked eye. But last time I took my camera, went out and took some photos and really had a hard time not looking, just continually wanted to stay out later and later regardless with what happened with the aurora. It was really cool.

WHITFIELD: Oh, so feeling a little sleep deprived this morning, but it was well worth it, it sounds.

MALEY: Absolutely.

But what I was going to say is that the tours that I lead are to Alaska generally.

[14:20:01]

I've seen auroras by airplane, by ship, and of course on land in Alaska. But that's where you really get the best auroras because they are directly underneath what's called the aurora oval. And so there are auroras there mostly all the time, except, of course, in the summer when there's not enough darkness to see them like were getting into now.

So this is kind of a rarity. The lower latitudes, meaning from lower Canada all the way south towards the Gulf coast got an a exceptional treat last night. I don't think it's going to be strong tonight, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

WHITFIELD: OK. I mean, so often people make big plans to travel abroad, particularly going to Iceland to see something like these, the aurora borealis. So how would you compare what you saw last to what people spend big money to go see?

MALEY: I would say it was somewhat disappointing in the sense that where we are, we saw the reddish color in the aurora, and that was pretty cool, but we didn't see it that well. There was not any action like are showing right now where the lights are moving around. It was a fairly stable type of appearance. It came and went, mostly one color, reddish.

But up north, just got some photos from friends of mine at Boston. They had a lot of action. And so depending upon where you're located, it might have looked a whole lot better as the farther north in latitude that you were.

WHITFIELD: Wow. I mean, it's hard to believe, but seeing these beautiful pictures, so many folks saw some amazing things such as yourself last night. I'm looking forward to it tonight, even if it's just one singular color. I'm OK with that. Blue, green, pink --

MALEY: Well, just be sure to get away from the lights.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Wonderful. All right, Paul D. Maley, thank you so much.

MALEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: The Biden administration is questioning how Israel is using American weapons in Gaza as the IDF intensifies it's attacks. How Biden's handling of the war is weighing on young voters in Michigan as well.

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WHITFIELD: All right, back now to the war in Gaza. The Biden administration now says it's, quote, reasonable to assess that Israeli forces have used American weapons inconsistent with humanitarian law. But the report stopped short of saying Israel violated the law. It comes just days after President Biden told CNN that he would restrict more weapons for Israel if they move forward with a planned ground operation in Rafah.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is traveling with the president in Seattle. Priscilla, good to see you. So what is the White House saying about this new report now?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, this was a high- stakes report and a highly anticipated one, marking yet another stark moment in U.S.-Israeli relations. The Biden administration put together this report which found, quote, "It's reasonable to assess that U.S. weapons have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza in," quote, "inconsistent with international humanitarian law." But as you mentioned, there, it stopped short of saying that Israel violated the law.

Now, of course, this stems from that February national security memorandum which required a determination on this matter, but also whether Israel withheld humanitarian aid from Gaza in violation of U.S. law. While this report is critical, it does not mandate any actions by the Israeli government or mark any type of U.S. policy changes toward Israel. And that has received some pushback from allies of the president who say that the contents just still don't amount to policy changes by the U.S., which is what they want to see.

But, as you mentioned, Fred, this too comes against the backdrop of the president issuing a pretty stark warning in an interview with CNN that he would withhold some weapons from Israel if it goes into that major ground operation in Rafah. So a big question mark, but there is no doubt that there are still underlying tensions between the two countries as Israel continues to wage its war against Hamas in Gaza. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Priscilla Alvarez in Seattle, thanks so much.

Young Michigan voters are revealing major warning signs for the Biden campaign. CNN's John King travel to the critical battleground state for his "All Over the Map" series to find out how the war in Gaza is eroding Michigan college students' support of the Biden administration and how it may impact their vote this fall.

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JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Protests amid the commencement celebration, a time honored tradition on campus. But this one is complicated.

Jade Gray and Anushka Jalisatgi are now University of Michigan graduates and now former co-presidents of the College Democrats. Proud their school is part of a global statement.

JADE GRAY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CLASS OF 2024: It was in my application letter that this was a campus of, like, a history of protests, a rich history of social justice movements.

KING (voice-over): Worried, though, about months of war and death, months of student anger at a president who can't afford to lose Michigan.

KING: How much is it going to hurt the president?

GRAY: However much he decides.

ANUSHKA JALISATGI, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN CLASS OF 2024: Yes. That starts with calling for a ceasefire, for listening to the student voters across the country.

KING (voice-over): This is from our first visit five months ago. Protests against Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict were just beginning.

KING: Is it fair to say you're glad the election is not tomorrow?

JALISATGI: Yes.

KING (voice-over): The election was nearly a year away then, six months away now.

[14:30:00]

GRAY: Michigan is up for grabs. And I did not think I'd be saying this right now. And I wish I wasn't saying this right now. But I am -- I am genuinely concerned about which way Michigan will go.

KING (voice-over): Both hope a summer away from campus protests helps younger voters see a bigger picture.

GRAY: I'm certainly not voting for the guy who is in court right now and who incited an insurrection and put three extremists on the Supreme Court, who therefore took away rights for the first time in history, who has demonized the LGBTQ community, of which I'm a part of.

KING (voice-over): But right now, things are raw. Some friends talk about staying home or voting third party.

JALISATGI: Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza and across Palestine have been displaced, have been starved, have been killed. So I think it really does come down to people's own judgments on the motivations of the president.

SUMMER MATKIN, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Oh, what a cute boy.

KING (voice-over): Summer Matkin is home in suburban Detroit, processing freshman year at Wayne State. MATKIN: Can you talk about politics for me?

KING (voice-over): Back in November, big reservations about the president's age, but zero doubt if the choice was Biden or Trump.

MATKIN: I'd go Biden.

KING (voice-over): Now not so sure.

MATKIN: No matter how many Taylor Swift references you make, you'll never understand us. My thing is, I think he has handled everything with Israel and Palestine terribly.

KING (voice-over): Still leaning Biden but part of a consequential debate with friends.

MATKIN: A lot of our generation is also considering going third party, but I kind of fear it's going to split up the votes and end up having it fall back on Trump, which I wouldn't want to happen.

KING (voice-over): Maya Siegmann began the school year likely Biden, ends it definitely Biden. Happy with her grades, even more happy it is over.

MAYA SIEGMANN, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It was terrifying. It was terrifying. The escalation of other campuses has made me fear for my campus.

KING (voice-over): Siegmann offers nuance often missing when politicians discuss the campus protests. No problem with calls to end the killing or to speed up humanitarian aid, but fear when she sees banners like this. The Intifada was a violent armed uprising targeting Jews.

KING: You're wearing your star, David. You ever think of taking it off?

SIEGMANN: I did. I took it off actually for about a week or two. And then I put it on four or five months ago and never took it off.

KING (voice-over): A fierce supporter of Israel but a fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

SIEGMANN: I personally don't agree with how he is operating. I think that he is trying to prolong the war.

KING (voice-over): Ibrahim Ghazal also speaks with nuance. He is no fan of Hamas and acknowledges Israel's right to respond to terrorism.

IBRAHIM GHAZAL, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL STUDENT: We don't want human rights violations. If you're going to conduct war, conduct it within the rule of law, international law. That's all people are asking for. Nothing more.

KING (voice-over): Ghazal is in two groups critical to Biden's Michigan math, a younger voter and an Arab American. He just wrapped his first year at Wayne State Law School.

GHAZAL: It's been stressful just seeing people that look like me and just human beings, seeing human beings on my on my phone screen being killed day in, day out. And what's worse is, as an American, I have to see my government funding. So stressful.

KING (voice-over): A Biden voter in 2020 who says the president is in deep trouble in Detroit, Dearborn, and other Michigan communities where Arab and Muslim Americans number in the tens of thousands.

GHAZAL: With older people, I would definitely say they're not voting for Biden. For younger voters, we're stuck in the sense that, you know, it's Biden or Trump. The only reason I haven't closed the door is because I think he still has an ability to change course and set a precedent for the future.

KING (voice-over): Ghazal's summer goals -- take a break. Then study the third party candidates and watch to see if the president truly does change course or if the encampments are still a thing when classes resume in the fall.

John King, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thank you, John King.

All right, next, a special trip for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Details next.

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[14:38:31]

WHITFIELD: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were greeted by cheers as they attended a volleyball match in Nigeria's capital city. The stop is part of the couple's three-day visit to the West African nation, and as CNN's Stephanie Busari reports, they are set to meet with wounded soldiers and local charities.

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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have continued their three-day private visit to Nigeria with an event on Saturday held by the country's defense chief of staff, and Nigeria unconquered, the local equivalent to the Duke of Sussex Invictus Games Foundation.

The focus of the visit so far has been on wounded soldiers and also on mental health, with Harry telling students at a school the previous that it's, quote, "OK not to be OK." During Saturday's visit, Harry caused a lot of excitement when he joined a sitting volleyball game, the Invictus team on one side and other led by the Nigerian defense staff. And they narrowly won by 25 to 21. Meghan watched and cheered from the sidelines and sat next to a nine-year Nigerian girl Tiwa Akanbi, who told CNN after that she was, quote, so happy that she met Meghan today, and I will never forget it all my life, she said.

The Sussexes have been well received in Nigeria's capital Abuja, and wounded Nigerian service members have been speaking about what a visit means to them. One flight sergeant told CNN she didn't know amputees could swim until after she lost her leg in a line of service.

[14:40:08]

She added that her life has changed completely since getting involved in the Invictus games. Nigeria took part for the first time in Invictus games last year, September, the first African country to do so.

Ahead of their visit, Meghan had previously talked about discovering that she was 43 percent Nigerian through a genetic test, and during her visit to the country's defense HQ on Friday, she wrote in a guest book that she felt welcome and at home. Nigerians have also been very vocal about receiving her. A group of women on Saturday approached Meghan and called themselves the Sussex squad Nigeria, surrounding her after the volleyball game and chanting, quote, "We love you. Nigerian loves you. Welcome home."

Stephanie Busari, CNN, Abuja.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Nice. Thank you, Stephanie.

All right, coming up, it's time to give a FECK. We'll explain next.

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[14:45:43]

WHITFIELD: All right, all of this has probably happened to you, when you're driving to work and someone cuts you off, or worse, or terrible customer service. And even on social media, acrimony, rudeness, or unkindness. Divisions and a lack of empathy seems to be everywhere these days. What is going on?

Well, now a new book is hoping to pave the way to some behavioral improvements. It's called, "It's Time to Give a FECK, Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness," FECK. Joining us right now is the author, Chaz Ebert. She's also the widow of late film critic Roger Ebert. Chaz, great to see you.

CHAZ EBERT, AUTHOR, "IT'S TIME TO GIVE A FECK": Thank you. It's good to be with you, although, I can't see you. I'm not quite sure why, but --

WHITFIELD: OK, well, I can see you and hear you, and I love the beautiful, radiant pink. So it goes along with this very --

EBERT: Early Mother's Day celebration. Yes, that's right. Of course. Of course. Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there, including us.

OK, so I love that you're exuding this positivity. Your book is emanating a very positive message. What inspired you to write it, to essentially tell everybody, you know, get your act together, start being kinder, nicer, gentler, to one another?

EBERT: Well, I have to -- the first thing, the "E" in "FECK" started with empathy. Roger, my late husband Roger Ebert said that movies are a machine that generates empathy, allowing us to put ourselves in the shoes of another person, of a different race or gender, socioeconomic status or ethnicity, religion, and helping to teach us to respect those differences.

And so at the end of his life, I was called upon to do a lot of speeches at cancer centers and hospitals. And I developed a speech called "Sometimes Hope is a Strategy." And it was doing that time that I actually started the idea for the book. And then the pandemic happened, and I stopped.

But I live in Chicago. So when the world stopped, I walked, I looked out. I was standing in the street and Chicago. Coyotes were there. No people, no cars. Coyotes. And I thought, if an actual virus could shut down the whole world and insinuate itself into our consciousness, why not principles like compassion or kindness or empathy or forgiveness?

WHITFIELD: I love that. And so isn't it interesting that you are kind of talking about a full circle moment with this book, and you're talking about your late husband. After all, I mean, it was all about opposing views between, you know, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. So how was it they were able to do it there without animosity, right? I mean, people would tune in to see their opposing views on things. They could -- they could differ on so many things, yet walk away with, wow, this is a team effort, and here is an interesting set of perspectives on one singular thing. I mean, what has happened. What happened in between all that?

EBERT: You said the word "team", and that's the -- that's the secret sauce. Even though they had opposing views, and they really were serious sometimes, they'd have knockdown, drag out fights, but they knew at the end it was a team effort. And that's what "Give a FECK" is all about. We are a team. We are not here alone. We can do this together.

And I have a big idea. I want to take this book and give it to every person in Congress and every senator. So I guess there would be about 650 people. I will five these books away because I want them to do the exercise in empathy journal to see finding the right words for how to speak, finding the right way to reach across the aisle and actually get something done. And I think my book is an answer for them.

WHITFIELD: It sounds like it's a book full of goodness. And it seems like you felt really good putting it together wow.

[14:50:05]

EBERT: There are some parts of it that are really hard and sad because there are also some incidents in here where people, especially in forgiveness, where people lost family members to some things, and then they still found that deep well, profound well of divinity to forgive.

But overall, I really do believe in goodness in this world. I do. I think people want to be good, and I think that if you call upon them to be good, they will answer the call. I think that goodness and kindness is contagious.

WHITFIELD: I agree wholeheartedly. I'm a big believer that good must prevail, and usually does. So good to talk to you, Chaz Ebert. And, of course, everyone, you can pick up a copy of "It's Time to Give a FECK" wherever books are sold. Thanks so much.

All right, and this very sad note here, a legend of the Hollywood entertainment scene has died. Longtime anchor for KTLA in Los Angeles Sam Rubin is dead at the age of 64. Rubin was a mainstay for celebrity interviews and covered all things Hollywood for decades. His colleague, anchor Frank Buckley, made the tearful announcement on air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK BUCKLEY, KTLA ANCHOR: His life, his charm, his caring personality to all of us he shared his morning on television, and to those he worked with behind the scenes at KTLA. We will not forget it. The role that he cherished most was husband and father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's hard to do. Rubin started at KTLA in 1991, going on to win multiple Emmys. No cause of death has been announced. Our hearts go out to he and his family, his television family, and his family at home.

We'll be right back.

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[14:56:48]

WHITFIELD: All this week, "Champions for Change," a look at the unsung people whose ideas and innovations are dramatically improving lives, business, and society. Today's champion is an artist named Patty Mitchell who has crafted a vibrant workshop for creative people with special needs in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PATTY MITCHELL, PASSION WORKS FOUNDER: A lot of the people that we worked with are deemed nonviable citizens, which just blows my mind. We all are amazing creatures given the right circumstances. Passion Works is turning upside down the expectations and the perceived reality of people with developmental differences.

Our passion flowers are made from upcycled newspaper printing plates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love the passion flower, yes.

MITCHELL: Every single step of that product is a job. We are paying people minimum wage to manufacture those items. We want to infuse opportunity for our community. The worker is number one, and our product development and everything that we do is centered around the worker.

MICHELLE CONROY, PASSION WORKS ARTIST: This is a miracle to come and work here. There's nothing but happiness here. There's nothing but positivity here.

MITCHELL: I had a brother who was institutionalized. And as I grew up, I realized that often these spaces were excluded from community. They were almost prison like in their culture and their control. And I thought, why does it have to be that way? So he passed when he was 12, I was 10. And since that time, I have been obsessed asked with the idea of creating space for people to be their best selves.

MARGARET DEMKO, MOTHER OF PASSION WORKS ARTIST EMILY DEMKO: Her good days or her Passion Works days. She talks more, she communicates more. She wants to be part of things more. I've seen her be able to open her mind to different things, and I've seen her art absolutely explode.

JERRY JOHNSON, PASSION WORKS ARTIST: My outlook on life has changed so much. I feel more competent in what I do, and I refract it outside this place. I feel more happier.

MITCHELL: At one time, I was told years ago that these people would never make anything anybody would want to buy. We have generated over $3 million in sales. We have sold over 35,000 passion flowers. Every product that goes out into the world helps tell our story and makes people think differently about materials, about people, about regions. Passion Works is moving society forward.

Part of our structure is to create the opportunities for volunteers to come in.