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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.S. Troops Promote Iraqi Elections; MLK D.C. Monument Delayed
Aired January 17, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Remembering Reverend King. Does a memorial in Washington do enough to preserve his spot in history?
Also, snapshot of an era in this defining moment. How did America's president react? New revelations from the Kennedy administration.
And then, he's the force behind the films that capture history. Ken Burns joins me this hour to discuss his latest tribute to an unsung icon.
And the glitter of the Globes -- the red carpet's all rolled up, but the awards season is just kicking off.
It is Monday, January 17.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News," at least 15 Iraqis are dead this morning after attacks at checkpoints in two cities. Insurgents killed seven Iraqi soldiers and a civilian near Ba'qubah. Another attack near Tikrit killed at least seven police officers.
Preparations for Iraq's national election are going far beyond the borders this morning. Iraqis living outside Iraq start signing up to vote in 14 other nations, including the United States, Britain and Australia.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is in Sri Lanka this morning touring tsunami damage. He says the island nation is recovering and the U.S. military might not have to stick around much longer to help in relief efforts.
And in Park City, Utah, searchers get back to work this morning. Officials have said there could be as many as five victims from Friday's avalanche. The body of one man has been found. Searchers today will be using radar.
To the forecast center and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Just under two weeks to go before Iraq's national election. The ballots are being printed and polling places are being set up across the country. But that's only the beginning.
Our Jeff Koinange joins us live from Baghdad with a preview -- hello, Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.
And because of the incessant violence across the country, U.S. troops have had to chip in in the electoral process. They were seen distributing all kinds of leaflets and pamphlets to Iraqis in the streets in order to win hearts and minds.
The Iraqi Electoral Commission, too, is playing its part, printing all kinds of electoral paraphernalia in local newspapers in order to aid Iraqis who do make it to those polling centers on election day.
And across the world, at 36 centers in 14 countries, up to one million Iraqis are expected to cast their votes on election day, in addition to the 14 million Iraqis casting their votes here, in Iraq.
But with all this said and done, Carol, the violence continues across the country. In the town of Buhriz, 10 kilometers south of Ba'qubah in the Sunni Triangle, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle right next to an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint, killing seven Iraqi National Guardsmen, wounding up to four.
In the town of Baiji, 40 kilometers north of Tikrit -- that's right in the Sunni Triangle, as well, in Saddam Hussein's former hometown, another suicide bomber detonated his vehicle, killing up to seven policemen, wounding up to 19.
Here in Baghdad, a drive-by shooting of an Iraqi railways official, he killed him and two of his bodyguards.
And further south near the town of Basra, a town called Al-Mahhal (ph), a school intended to be a voting site was targeted by a rocket propelled grenade and machine gun fire. No one was in the school at that time.
Less than two weeks to go, Carol. The violence continues as Iraqis prepare to go to that crucial poll -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeff Koinange live in Baghdad this morning.
Thank you.
Journalist Seymour Hersh tells CNN the U.S. has been sizing up Iran for a possible attack. Iran has refused to dismantle its nuclear program.
Hersh tells CNN's "LATE EDITION" that secret recon missions are searching for nuclear, chemical and missile sites. The White House says Hersh doesn't have his facts straight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: The planning for Iran is going ahead even though Iraq is a mess and may still be a mess. That's separate and that's very interesting. I think they really think there's a chance to do something in Iran, perhaps by summer, to get the intelligence on the sites. The last thing this government wants to do is to bomb or strafe or missile attack the wrong targets again. We don't want another WMD flap. We want to be sure we have the right information.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: President Bush has set forth a diplomatic initiative that he's made very clear to the entire world. We're working with our European allies to help convince the Iranian government to not pursue weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. We'll continue to work through the IAEA protocol to do just that. It's critical that the entire world focus on this issue. It is a threat that we have to take seriously and we'll continue to work through the diplomatic initiatives that he set forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Bartlett did allow that a military option is always on the table, as he put it.
Hersh's article on Iran is printed in the "New Yorker" magazine. That hits newsstands today.
Also, Hersh will appear on CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING." That will happen during the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour.
In other news across America now, authorities from North Carolina to Tennessee are on the lookout for a couple that abducted their two children at gunpoint from a foster home. An amber alert has been issued for 2-year-old Paul and 11-month-old Breanna Chambers. The couple lost their children after police found a drug lab in their home.
Former NFL player Barrett Robbins is in critical but stable condition after being shot several times by police. Police were investigating a reported robbery when they came upon Robbins. He was shot after struggling with them. No charges have been filed, but the former Oakland Raider lineman could face arrest for battery on an officer. It would be his second arrest for battery in the past three weeks.
In North Carolina, cleanup continues on 34 whales that died after beaching themselves along the Outer Banks. Twenty-four pilot whales died. Another seven were euthanized after they came ashore together. Three other whales died elsewhere along the coast. Scientists will try to determine what, if anything, led to the beachings.
And throughout the country today, there will be events marking the life and contributions of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.. There's one public memorial of note that's been in the works for decades in the nation's capital that just can't seem to get off the ground.
Let's head live to CNN's Lindsey Arent.
She's in Washington this morning -- good morning.
LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Now, I am standing right here in the middle of what will one day be a plot of land devoted to Martin Luther King's memory. The problem is, this project got started some 10 years ago and so far they're finding it's harder than anyone imagined to bring it to life.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: Live from the dark and desolate...
ARENT (voice-over): August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King shares his vision of racial equality in America in his history "I Have A Dream" speech.
KING: Now is the time...
ARENT: Nearly 42 years later, Harry Johnson's organization wants to build on that dream by constructing a monument to Dr. King here, on the banks of the National Mall's Tidal Basin.
HARRY JOHNSON, MLK MEMORIAL PROJECT: Visitors come and read Dr. King's works and be reflective of what he stood for as a man of peace.
ARENT: But nearly nine years after law makers authorized the memorial, there's only this small plaque in the ground to show for it. Why? For one thing, altering one of the nation's most coveted and protected parcels of land is never easy.
JOHN PARSONS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: People are very emotional about this space and very careful about it.
ARENT: Raising awareness has been tough, and money is an issue. Johnson's group has raised just a third of the $100 million needed to finish the project.
JOHNSON: There's no blueprint on how to build a memorial. So you basically follow everybody else's lead.
ARENT: At the foundation's request, Congress gave them an extension until November, 2006, to collect $66 million needed to break ground. So far, the group says it has $32.5 million in the bank. Now all they need is luck, speed and enough donations to make the dream come true.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ARENT: Now, Carol, they expect to finish this memorial, if all goes according to plan, by late 2008 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A couple of questions for you.
What will the memorial look like?
ARENT: Well, I've seen a model of it off the Web site of this organization and it looks like it's going to be very reflective, very pensive, very beautiful. They're going to have Martin Luther King's words from his speeches, sermons and writings inscribed in these walls all around the monument. They're also going to have a giant stone of hope, they're calling it, with Martin Luther King's likeness inscribed and Xed into it, facing the Jefferson Memorial, which should be a pretty beautiful way to pay tribute to Martin Luther King -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Lindsey Arent reporting live from Washington today.
Thank you.
Here's a look at some of today's King events.
Thousands of people are expected to gather in King's hometown of Atlanta for the 19th annual march and rally honoring the civil rights leader.
President Bush plans to attend an MLK "Let Freedom Ring" celebration sponsored by Georgetown University in Washington.
And tune into CNN for a special airing of King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That will air on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" in its entirety. It is at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
The Kennedy Library has released a new tape to coincide with King's birthday. The recording is of a meeting between President Kennedy and members of a liberal political group who wanted him to take a stronger stand on civil rights. JFK got a little snippy, saying there was nothing the government could do to prevent the violence shown in this newspaper photo. There it is. It shows a police dog lunging at an African-American teenager in Birmingham, Alabama during a 1963 civil rights protest. On the tape, Kennedy says his administration had shoved and pushed for civil rights. But about a month after that meeting, Kennedy announced he was sending new civil rights legislation to Congress, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed right after his death.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, how secure is Social Security? You, the people, seem to be split on that question.
Also, he fought in the ring, but those weren't the only battles he faced. A pioneering boxer is spotlighted by a pioneering documentary filmmaker.
And were the stars out last night? Oh, you bet they were. We'll wrap up the Golden Globes for you and take you back stage.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, January 17. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Seven Iraqi Army soldiers and one civilian were killed by insurgents at a checkpoint south of Ba'qubah. Four other Iraqi soldiers were wounded in that attack. Insurgents also killed seven Iraqi police officers during a suicide bomb attack near Tikrit.
Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang is dead at the age of 85. Zhao was removed as head of China's Communist Party after he opposed the use of force during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.
In money news, Allstate Insurance is getting into the basketball business. The company will host a national three on three tournament featuring former college stars. Allstate is hoping the tournament and corresponding ad campaign will help sell insurance to younger men.
In culture, Jamie Foxx won a best actor Golden Globe for his portrayal of the late Ray Charles. Foxx had been nominated for three awards. The award for best dramatic actress went to Hilary Swank. She plays a female boxer in the movie "Million Dollar Baby."
In sports, Freddy Mitchell of the Philadelphia Eagles filled in for the injured Terrell Owens and he scored two touchdowns on Sunday. Eagles 27, the Minnesota Vikings in Randy Moss's hair, 14. Philly hosts Atlanta next Sunday.
To the forecast center and Chad.
MYERS: You wonder how big that can get sometimes.
COSTELLO: Are you talking about Randy Moss' hair?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: How does he fit it under his helmet?
MYERS: Yes, I know, it gets bigger every week. I don't know if he's getting extensions or what.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Let's move on now.
Democrats accuse the Bush administration of trying to cook up a Social Security crisis. They say the purpose is to push the president's plan to let workers divert payroll taxes to the stock market. A "Time" magazine poll shows the public evenly divided on the urgency of the situation. Forty-five percent agree with the president that the system will go broke without an overhaul. Forty-four percent consider that to be a scare tactic. Forty-seven percent are against the Bush plan to allow investing part of payroll taxes in stocks and bonds. Forty-four percent support the Bush plan.
Joining us now just in time is Eric Roston, "Time" magazine correspondent in Washington.
Good morning.
ERIC ROSTON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, your article in "Time" is titled, "Is There Really A Crisis?"
So is there?
ROSTON: Probably not. But there is a problem. One thing that's interesting is if you go back and look at either the transcripts or the tapes to events that were held last week, the president's town hall meeting and the vice president's speech the day after that, they don't really use the word crisis as aggressively as they had been, say, a month ago. The president doesn't really use it at all. He says, he sort of ridicules people who say there isn't a crisis, but he doesn't positively state there is one. The next day the vice president says there's a coming crisis. So it's possible that even the administration, compared with statements from the last month, has stepped away a little bit from that language.
COSTELLO: Yes, but Eric, they keep saying the word bankrupt.
ROSTON: If you look at the context when they use that, they talk about it as a future contingency. And all of this sort of obscures a couple things, that Social Security is a highly technical program. And that means that the people who run it really know a lot about it and they can project things into the future. As you've said, we know, for example, that in 2018, if things are unchanged, then the amount of money going into the program every year will not be enough to cover the amount of retirees who receive benefits, in which case the program will have to dip into its sort of surplus, called the trust fund. And that will keep the program solvent until 2042.
But as it stands, Social Security cannot maintain its current form forever. There will have to be, even if it's not the president's specific plan, which, of course, we haven't seen yet, it'll need some tweaks.
COSTELLO: Taking all of what you said into consideration, you know, "Time" talks about something I've been wondering about. Why this issue? Why has President Bush latched on to Social Security?
ROSTON: This is an issue that the president has had a great interest for a long time. Several people who went to visit Governor Bush when he was in Texas before the presidential election in 2000 came back recalling very vividly that he had a very strong interest in personal accounts as a means for retirement savings. And part of it is ideological. Part of it is just the belief that people shouldn't be dependent -- as dependent on the state as they are for help in retirement, and also a strong sense that historically, market returns are much, much stronger than the benefits that people would receive in Social Security vis-a-vis a situation where if those payroll taxes they'd contributed their whole life had been invested in the stock market.
COSTELLO: It's an interesting article and it appears in this week's "Time."
Eric Roston with "Time" magazine joining DAYBREAK this morning.
Thank you.
Sometimes the truth is even more interesting than fiction. Such is the case with many of the stories Ken Burns tells in his award winning documentaries. I'll speak with the filmmaker about his latest work on a controversial boxer many have forgotten.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the morning of July 4, 1910, 15 special trains pulled into the little desert town of Reno, Nevada. Aboard were thousands of white men who had paid their way across the country to see a prize fight unlike any that had ever taken place before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We've all heard about Jackie Robinson and the color barriers he broke in baseball. But long before that, there was a boxer named Jack Johnson. For those who don't know, he was the first African-American heavyweight champion and really the first recognized black athlete in America.
And now documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has put his award winning touch on Johnson's story of fame, fortune and incredible controversy.
It debuts tonight on PBS.
And Ken Burns joins me now to talk about this project.
Thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
KEN BURNS, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: It's my pleasure.
Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: Jack Johnson, I mean really, he becomes the heavyweight champion of the world, but his story really begins there, doesn't it?
BURNS: It just starts there. I mean this is 50 years before Muhammad Ali. You have a great, famous, some would say notorious African-American striding the scene and behaving the way he's not supposed to be behave in that time. You know, this is the first two decades of the 20th century. More African-Americans were lynched than in any other two decades of our history and here he is not only beating up white men, he's wearing the finest clothes, he's driving the fastest cars and he's going out with and marrying white women. I mean just the fact that he wasn't killed would make this story remarkable. But it's an intersection of athletic accomplishment -- many still believe him to be the greatest boxer of all times; of race -- one of the great sub themes of our culture and appropriate today as we remember Dr. King. It gives our film its title, "Unforgivable Blackness," the great black scholar WEB Dubois says he's unforgivably black and that's his problem.
COSTELLO: Well, let's get into more of that and what happened when Jack Johnson defeated this white heavyweight champion of the world. Race riots actually broke out.
BURNS: That's right. He had -- originally there was a ceiling. No African-American could compete for the highest heavyweight rank. Jack Johnson dogged the champion, went literally around the world, finally got a chance, won and then they asked that there be -- a great white hope could be found to beat him. And nobody could. And finally they brought some guy out of retirement, Jim Jeffries. Jack Johnson demolished him and there were race riots we didn't see the likes of which until Dr. King was assassinated. But this was white-on-black race riots in every corner of the United States where groups of whites unhappy that Jeffries had lost went into black neighborhoods to kill African-Americans simply because of the color of their skin, simply because Jack Johnson was unforgivably black.
COSTELLO: We so revere our athletes now, it's just difficult to believe that actually happened in our own history.
How is this story relevant to today?
BURNS: Well, we see the echoes, you know, in O.J. and in Kobe and in Terrell Owens and other things, and that's a sorry thing, that we just sort of have that, just the superficial glitz of somebody living his life out loud. The real lesson of Jack Johnson and race in America is that it's about courage. It's about forbearance. Fifty years before Muhammad Ali had the dark night of his soul when he had to think about his own government going after him, you had Jack Johnson, who had suffered even worse from the hands of his government. And that must have given Muhammad Ali, whose birthday it is today, some sort of comfort, as well.
I mean I just we're constantly dealing with the question of race and Jack Johnson opens up the door and asks us to deal with it. Plus, he's one of the most handsome guys on Earth. If you brought him to the present, he'd be on "People" as the sexiest man alive.
COSTELLO: Oh, I bet he would.
I want to read a quote from a newspaper article about your documentary. You said, "Johnson is, in many ways, an embodiment of the African-American struggle to be truly free in this country economically, socially and politically." And that's some of what you just said before. But, again, if you compare black athletes today to Jack Johnson's time, they seem to have achieved all of that and more and yet you just mentioned they really haven't.
BURNS: Well, I think that they have. We've made extraordinary progress. But Jack Johnson reminds us that there's still progress to be made and that sometimes when we see the sort of luxury of misbehaving and connect it with Jack Johnson, we forget that 100 years ago, Jack Johnson was doing it and he was the only person doing it, living his life out loud, wearing these clothes just in the face of the man in a way that we've never seen before.
Now it's kind of a luxury to pull that off and to do that. But in his time, it was real courage, real forbearance. And he's not just ahead of his time, he's outside of his time. And I think that's what makes him so interesting and valuable to us. Because history isn't just the past, it's the set of questions we in the present ask of the past. So we find out as much about ourselves exploring someone like Jack Johnson as we do someone so extraordinarily interesting.
COSTELLO: Well, that sounds like a fascinating documentary and it airs tonight and tomorrow night, as well.
BURNS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: Ken Burns, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
We appreciate it.
BURNS: It's my pleasure.
COSTELLO: The exhausted search for survival victims continues today near Park City, Utah. Searchers find evidence that more people than they thought may be trapped under tons of snow. We'll have a report for you just ahead.
And a long prison term for their soldier son only steels the parents' opinion of who is really to blame.
You are watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 17, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Remembering Reverend King. Does a memorial in Washington do enough to preserve his spot in history?
Also, snapshot of an era in this defining moment. How did America's president react? New revelations from the Kennedy administration.
And then, he's the force behind the films that capture history. Ken Burns joins me this hour to discuss his latest tribute to an unsung icon.
And the glitter of the Globes -- the red carpet's all rolled up, but the awards season is just kicking off.
It is Monday, January 17.
You are watching DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News," at least 15 Iraqis are dead this morning after attacks at checkpoints in two cities. Insurgents killed seven Iraqi soldiers and a civilian near Ba'qubah. Another attack near Tikrit killed at least seven police officers.
Preparations for Iraq's national election are going far beyond the borders this morning. Iraqis living outside Iraq start signing up to vote in 14 other nations, including the United States, Britain and Australia.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is in Sri Lanka this morning touring tsunami damage. He says the island nation is recovering and the U.S. military might not have to stick around much longer to help in relief efforts.
And in Park City, Utah, searchers get back to work this morning. Officials have said there could be as many as five victims from Friday's avalanche. The body of one man has been found. Searchers today will be using radar.
To the forecast center and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Just under two weeks to go before Iraq's national election. The ballots are being printed and polling places are being set up across the country. But that's only the beginning.
Our Jeff Koinange joins us live from Baghdad with a preview -- hello, Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.
And because of the incessant violence across the country, U.S. troops have had to chip in in the electoral process. They were seen distributing all kinds of leaflets and pamphlets to Iraqis in the streets in order to win hearts and minds.
The Iraqi Electoral Commission, too, is playing its part, printing all kinds of electoral paraphernalia in local newspapers in order to aid Iraqis who do make it to those polling centers on election day.
And across the world, at 36 centers in 14 countries, up to one million Iraqis are expected to cast their votes on election day, in addition to the 14 million Iraqis casting their votes here, in Iraq.
But with all this said and done, Carol, the violence continues across the country. In the town of Buhriz, 10 kilometers south of Ba'qubah in the Sunni Triangle, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle right next to an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint, killing seven Iraqi National Guardsmen, wounding up to four.
In the town of Baiji, 40 kilometers north of Tikrit -- that's right in the Sunni Triangle, as well, in Saddam Hussein's former hometown, another suicide bomber detonated his vehicle, killing up to seven policemen, wounding up to 19.
Here in Baghdad, a drive-by shooting of an Iraqi railways official, he killed him and two of his bodyguards.
And further south near the town of Basra, a town called Al-Mahhal (ph), a school intended to be a voting site was targeted by a rocket propelled grenade and machine gun fire. No one was in the school at that time.
Less than two weeks to go, Carol. The violence continues as Iraqis prepare to go to that crucial poll -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeff Koinange live in Baghdad this morning.
Thank you.
Journalist Seymour Hersh tells CNN the U.S. has been sizing up Iran for a possible attack. Iran has refused to dismantle its nuclear program.
Hersh tells CNN's "LATE EDITION" that secret recon missions are searching for nuclear, chemical and missile sites. The White House says Hersh doesn't have his facts straight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: The planning for Iran is going ahead even though Iraq is a mess and may still be a mess. That's separate and that's very interesting. I think they really think there's a chance to do something in Iran, perhaps by summer, to get the intelligence on the sites. The last thing this government wants to do is to bomb or strafe or missile attack the wrong targets again. We don't want another WMD flap. We want to be sure we have the right information.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: President Bush has set forth a diplomatic initiative that he's made very clear to the entire world. We're working with our European allies to help convince the Iranian government to not pursue weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. We'll continue to work through the IAEA protocol to do just that. It's critical that the entire world focus on this issue. It is a threat that we have to take seriously and we'll continue to work through the diplomatic initiatives that he set forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Bartlett did allow that a military option is always on the table, as he put it.
Hersh's article on Iran is printed in the "New Yorker" magazine. That hits newsstands today.
Also, Hersh will appear on CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING." That will happen during the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour.
In other news across America now, authorities from North Carolina to Tennessee are on the lookout for a couple that abducted their two children at gunpoint from a foster home. An amber alert has been issued for 2-year-old Paul and 11-month-old Breanna Chambers. The couple lost their children after police found a drug lab in their home.
Former NFL player Barrett Robbins is in critical but stable condition after being shot several times by police. Police were investigating a reported robbery when they came upon Robbins. He was shot after struggling with them. No charges have been filed, but the former Oakland Raider lineman could face arrest for battery on an officer. It would be his second arrest for battery in the past three weeks.
In North Carolina, cleanup continues on 34 whales that died after beaching themselves along the Outer Banks. Twenty-four pilot whales died. Another seven were euthanized after they came ashore together. Three other whales died elsewhere along the coast. Scientists will try to determine what, if anything, led to the beachings.
And throughout the country today, there will be events marking the life and contributions of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.. There's one public memorial of note that's been in the works for decades in the nation's capital that just can't seem to get off the ground.
Let's head live to CNN's Lindsey Arent.
She's in Washington this morning -- good morning.
LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Now, I am standing right here in the middle of what will one day be a plot of land devoted to Martin Luther King's memory. The problem is, this project got started some 10 years ago and so far they're finding it's harder than anyone imagined to bring it to life.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: Live from the dark and desolate...
ARENT (voice-over): August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King shares his vision of racial equality in America in his history "I Have A Dream" speech.
KING: Now is the time...
ARENT: Nearly 42 years later, Harry Johnson's organization wants to build on that dream by constructing a monument to Dr. King here, on the banks of the National Mall's Tidal Basin.
HARRY JOHNSON, MLK MEMORIAL PROJECT: Visitors come and read Dr. King's works and be reflective of what he stood for as a man of peace.
ARENT: But nearly nine years after law makers authorized the memorial, there's only this small plaque in the ground to show for it. Why? For one thing, altering one of the nation's most coveted and protected parcels of land is never easy.
JOHN PARSONS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: People are very emotional about this space and very careful about it.
ARENT: Raising awareness has been tough, and money is an issue. Johnson's group has raised just a third of the $100 million needed to finish the project.
JOHNSON: There's no blueprint on how to build a memorial. So you basically follow everybody else's lead.
ARENT: At the foundation's request, Congress gave them an extension until November, 2006, to collect $66 million needed to break ground. So far, the group says it has $32.5 million in the bank. Now all they need is luck, speed and enough donations to make the dream come true.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ARENT: Now, Carol, they expect to finish this memorial, if all goes according to plan, by late 2008 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A couple of questions for you.
What will the memorial look like?
ARENT: Well, I've seen a model of it off the Web site of this organization and it looks like it's going to be very reflective, very pensive, very beautiful. They're going to have Martin Luther King's words from his speeches, sermons and writings inscribed in these walls all around the monument. They're also going to have a giant stone of hope, they're calling it, with Martin Luther King's likeness inscribed and Xed into it, facing the Jefferson Memorial, which should be a pretty beautiful way to pay tribute to Martin Luther King -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Lindsey Arent reporting live from Washington today.
Thank you.
Here's a look at some of today's King events.
Thousands of people are expected to gather in King's hometown of Atlanta for the 19th annual march and rally honoring the civil rights leader.
President Bush plans to attend an MLK "Let Freedom Ring" celebration sponsored by Georgetown University in Washington.
And tune into CNN for a special airing of King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That will air on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" in its entirety. It is at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
The Kennedy Library has released a new tape to coincide with King's birthday. The recording is of a meeting between President Kennedy and members of a liberal political group who wanted him to take a stronger stand on civil rights. JFK got a little snippy, saying there was nothing the government could do to prevent the violence shown in this newspaper photo. There it is. It shows a police dog lunging at an African-American teenager in Birmingham, Alabama during a 1963 civil rights protest. On the tape, Kennedy says his administration had shoved and pushed for civil rights. But about a month after that meeting, Kennedy announced he was sending new civil rights legislation to Congress, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed right after his death.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, how secure is Social Security? You, the people, seem to be split on that question.
Also, he fought in the ring, but those weren't the only battles he faced. A pioneering boxer is spotlighted by a pioneering documentary filmmaker.
And were the stars out last night? Oh, you bet they were. We'll wrap up the Golden Globes for you and take you back stage.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, January 17. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Seven Iraqi Army soldiers and one civilian were killed by insurgents at a checkpoint south of Ba'qubah. Four other Iraqi soldiers were wounded in that attack. Insurgents also killed seven Iraqi police officers during a suicide bomb attack near Tikrit.
Chinese reformer Zhao Ziyang is dead at the age of 85. Zhao was removed as head of China's Communist Party after he opposed the use of force during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.
In money news, Allstate Insurance is getting into the basketball business. The company will host a national three on three tournament featuring former college stars. Allstate is hoping the tournament and corresponding ad campaign will help sell insurance to younger men.
In culture, Jamie Foxx won a best actor Golden Globe for his portrayal of the late Ray Charles. Foxx had been nominated for three awards. The award for best dramatic actress went to Hilary Swank. She plays a female boxer in the movie "Million Dollar Baby."
In sports, Freddy Mitchell of the Philadelphia Eagles filled in for the injured Terrell Owens and he scored two touchdowns on Sunday. Eagles 27, the Minnesota Vikings in Randy Moss's hair, 14. Philly hosts Atlanta next Sunday.
To the forecast center and Chad.
MYERS: You wonder how big that can get sometimes.
COSTELLO: Are you talking about Randy Moss' hair?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: How does he fit it under his helmet?
MYERS: Yes, I know, it gets bigger every week. I don't know if he's getting extensions or what.
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COSTELLO: Let's move on now.
Democrats accuse the Bush administration of trying to cook up a Social Security crisis. They say the purpose is to push the president's plan to let workers divert payroll taxes to the stock market. A "Time" magazine poll shows the public evenly divided on the urgency of the situation. Forty-five percent agree with the president that the system will go broke without an overhaul. Forty-four percent consider that to be a scare tactic. Forty-seven percent are against the Bush plan to allow investing part of payroll taxes in stocks and bonds. Forty-four percent support the Bush plan.
Joining us now just in time is Eric Roston, "Time" magazine correspondent in Washington.
Good morning.
ERIC ROSTON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So, your article in "Time" is titled, "Is There Really A Crisis?"
So is there?
ROSTON: Probably not. But there is a problem. One thing that's interesting is if you go back and look at either the transcripts or the tapes to events that were held last week, the president's town hall meeting and the vice president's speech the day after that, they don't really use the word crisis as aggressively as they had been, say, a month ago. The president doesn't really use it at all. He says, he sort of ridicules people who say there isn't a crisis, but he doesn't positively state there is one. The next day the vice president says there's a coming crisis. So it's possible that even the administration, compared with statements from the last month, has stepped away a little bit from that language.
COSTELLO: Yes, but Eric, they keep saying the word bankrupt.
ROSTON: If you look at the context when they use that, they talk about it as a future contingency. And all of this sort of obscures a couple things, that Social Security is a highly technical program. And that means that the people who run it really know a lot about it and they can project things into the future. As you've said, we know, for example, that in 2018, if things are unchanged, then the amount of money going into the program every year will not be enough to cover the amount of retirees who receive benefits, in which case the program will have to dip into its sort of surplus, called the trust fund. And that will keep the program solvent until 2042.
But as it stands, Social Security cannot maintain its current form forever. There will have to be, even if it's not the president's specific plan, which, of course, we haven't seen yet, it'll need some tweaks.
COSTELLO: Taking all of what you said into consideration, you know, "Time" talks about something I've been wondering about. Why this issue? Why has President Bush latched on to Social Security?
ROSTON: This is an issue that the president has had a great interest for a long time. Several people who went to visit Governor Bush when he was in Texas before the presidential election in 2000 came back recalling very vividly that he had a very strong interest in personal accounts as a means for retirement savings. And part of it is ideological. Part of it is just the belief that people shouldn't be dependent -- as dependent on the state as they are for help in retirement, and also a strong sense that historically, market returns are much, much stronger than the benefits that people would receive in Social Security vis-a-vis a situation where if those payroll taxes they'd contributed their whole life had been invested in the stock market.
COSTELLO: It's an interesting article and it appears in this week's "Time."
Eric Roston with "Time" magazine joining DAYBREAK this morning.
Thank you.
Sometimes the truth is even more interesting than fiction. Such is the case with many of the stories Ken Burns tells in his award winning documentaries. I'll speak with the filmmaker about his latest work on a controversial boxer many have forgotten.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the morning of July 4, 1910, 15 special trains pulled into the little desert town of Reno, Nevada. Aboard were thousands of white men who had paid their way across the country to see a prize fight unlike any that had ever taken place before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We've all heard about Jackie Robinson and the color barriers he broke in baseball. But long before that, there was a boxer named Jack Johnson. For those who don't know, he was the first African-American heavyweight champion and really the first recognized black athlete in America.
And now documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has put his award winning touch on Johnson's story of fame, fortune and incredible controversy.
It debuts tonight on PBS.
And Ken Burns joins me now to talk about this project.
Thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
KEN BURNS, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: It's my pleasure.
Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: Jack Johnson, I mean really, he becomes the heavyweight champion of the world, but his story really begins there, doesn't it?
BURNS: It just starts there. I mean this is 50 years before Muhammad Ali. You have a great, famous, some would say notorious African-American striding the scene and behaving the way he's not supposed to be behave in that time. You know, this is the first two decades of the 20th century. More African-Americans were lynched than in any other two decades of our history and here he is not only beating up white men, he's wearing the finest clothes, he's driving the fastest cars and he's going out with and marrying white women. I mean just the fact that he wasn't killed would make this story remarkable. But it's an intersection of athletic accomplishment -- many still believe him to be the greatest boxer of all times; of race -- one of the great sub themes of our culture and appropriate today as we remember Dr. King. It gives our film its title, "Unforgivable Blackness," the great black scholar WEB Dubois says he's unforgivably black and that's his problem.
COSTELLO: Well, let's get into more of that and what happened when Jack Johnson defeated this white heavyweight champion of the world. Race riots actually broke out.
BURNS: That's right. He had -- originally there was a ceiling. No African-American could compete for the highest heavyweight rank. Jack Johnson dogged the champion, went literally around the world, finally got a chance, won and then they asked that there be -- a great white hope could be found to beat him. And nobody could. And finally they brought some guy out of retirement, Jim Jeffries. Jack Johnson demolished him and there were race riots we didn't see the likes of which until Dr. King was assassinated. But this was white-on-black race riots in every corner of the United States where groups of whites unhappy that Jeffries had lost went into black neighborhoods to kill African-Americans simply because of the color of their skin, simply because Jack Johnson was unforgivably black.
COSTELLO: We so revere our athletes now, it's just difficult to believe that actually happened in our own history.
How is this story relevant to today?
BURNS: Well, we see the echoes, you know, in O.J. and in Kobe and in Terrell Owens and other things, and that's a sorry thing, that we just sort of have that, just the superficial glitz of somebody living his life out loud. The real lesson of Jack Johnson and race in America is that it's about courage. It's about forbearance. Fifty years before Muhammad Ali had the dark night of his soul when he had to think about his own government going after him, you had Jack Johnson, who had suffered even worse from the hands of his government. And that must have given Muhammad Ali, whose birthday it is today, some sort of comfort, as well.
I mean I just we're constantly dealing with the question of race and Jack Johnson opens up the door and asks us to deal with it. Plus, he's one of the most handsome guys on Earth. If you brought him to the present, he'd be on "People" as the sexiest man alive.
COSTELLO: Oh, I bet he would.
I want to read a quote from a newspaper article about your documentary. You said, "Johnson is, in many ways, an embodiment of the African-American struggle to be truly free in this country economically, socially and politically." And that's some of what you just said before. But, again, if you compare black athletes today to Jack Johnson's time, they seem to have achieved all of that and more and yet you just mentioned they really haven't.
BURNS: Well, I think that they have. We've made extraordinary progress. But Jack Johnson reminds us that there's still progress to be made and that sometimes when we see the sort of luxury of misbehaving and connect it with Jack Johnson, we forget that 100 years ago, Jack Johnson was doing it and he was the only person doing it, living his life out loud, wearing these clothes just in the face of the man in a way that we've never seen before.
Now it's kind of a luxury to pull that off and to do that. But in his time, it was real courage, real forbearance. And he's not just ahead of his time, he's outside of his time. And I think that's what makes him so interesting and valuable to us. Because history isn't just the past, it's the set of questions we in the present ask of the past. So we find out as much about ourselves exploring someone like Jack Johnson as we do someone so extraordinarily interesting.
COSTELLO: Well, that sounds like a fascinating documentary and it airs tonight and tomorrow night, as well.
BURNS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: Ken Burns, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
We appreciate it.
BURNS: It's my pleasure.
COSTELLO: The exhausted search for survival victims continues today near Park City, Utah. Searchers find evidence that more people than they thought may be trapped under tons of snow. We'll have a report for you just ahead.
And a long prison term for their soldier son only steels the parents' opinion of who is really to blame.
You are watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.
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