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Coretta Scott King's History with Jackie Kennedy; Trailer Troubles in Louisiana
Aired February 07, 2006 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Our live coverage of Coretta Scott King's funeral continues right here in Georgia, just outside of Atlanta at her daughter's church, where she's an associate pastor.
And we're watching the live events. Right now Judge William Sessions, former member of the King Federal Holiday Commission is speaking. We're expecting Bishop T.D. Jakes to speak soon and we're also expecting Stevie Wonder to perform. A number of high-profile guests yet to speak and remember Coretta Scott King.
Someone who also knew Coretta Scott King, Marianne Williamson, author and I want to say, spiritual guru is what I want to say, but I want to stay away from that word guru, right, Marianne?
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON, AUTHOR: Please, do me a favor.
PHILLIPS: Someone who has written a lot about spirituality, respected by Coretta Scott King, also Jacqueline Kennedy. You met both of them. You wrote about both of them. Interesting correlations?
WILLIAMSON: Well obviously as the widows of both President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, we know how they carried the legacy, carried the banner of what these two men stood for. And what you and I were talking about before the break, has to do with what now, it really is the end of an era, with all four of them having passed.
And I think that all of us can look not only to what President Kennedy and Martin Luther King accomplished, but also to what Jacqueline Onassis and Coretta Scott King not only accomplished, but stood for as women. I think as women, particularly in my generation, you know, they were women of another generation.
And so as the woman's movement exploded onto the scene, there was such an emphasis for us in knowing that we too could go out and have an effect on society, on politics, in business, be out in the world and do great things such as a President Kennedy or Martin Luther King accomplished.
But I think that there's also a realization now that in some ways we threw away the baby with the bathwater and we in this drive towards great embodiment of our own masculine, in a positive way, I think in some ways, we minimized some feminine powers.
And so I think we look at people like Jacqueline Onassis and Coretta Scott King a little differently. Their grace, their serenity, their power to endure, things that we thought, oh yes yes yes, that's very nice, they were lovely women as well.
But I think what women, what many of us feel now is we want both, because the idea of that balance is not really a gender issue anyway, it's what men and women want. We want to feel that we yes, can have an effect on the world, we can display externalized powers and effect the society in which we live, but we also want to feel that we cultivate internal powers as well. Internal powers such as Coretta Scott King displayed so magnificently. Those forces of the spirit really, of an inner stillness as we were saying before, that has a subtle effect on the people around them.
And so it's fascinating to me to think about how someone like a Martin Luther King himself would have been affected by Coretta Scott King. I know when I was in her presence, I felt this way being around her and I also felt this way being around Jacqueline Onassis.
When I was with them, and it's not like I spent that much time with either one, but in the time that I did have, I felt taken to a deeper place within myself, just because they stayed within such a deep space within themselves, I was taken to that place within myself.
And so I think about the effect that that kind of character would have had on a President Kennedy, on a Martin Luther King, and I know in my own life, when I can be in that deeper still place, I can achieve a lot more in the world.
PHILLIPS: Well, you may not have spent a lot of time with them, but I know they both had a tremendous amount of respect for you.
WILLIAMSON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: It's the end of an era, Marianne, isn't it?
WILLIAMSON: And the beginning of a new one, now it's your time, my time, all of our time.
PHILLIPS: We ought to all carry the torch, we've got to all move on.
WILLIAMSON: Well, they have earned their rest where they are and hopefully that which was most powerful within them while they were on the earth, can live in us in a reborn way.
PHILLIPS: Marianne Williamson, thank you very much for your time today. We're going to take a break and continue our coverage of Coretta Scott King and her life and legacy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Guilty of inciting to kill, a British jury convicts a radical Muslim cleric of 11 terror-related charges. The judge gives him seven years in prison. Abu Hamza al-Masri used to preach at Finsbury Park Mosque in London. Among his followers, the so-called Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with 9/11. The U.S. wants to try al-Masri as well, while his lawyers vow to appeal the verdict in London.
The Western Hemisphere's poorest nation is choosing a president. Haiti is holding its first presidential election in six years. Turnout looks to be high. Thousands of people lined up at polling stations before dawn. The vote comes two years after a bloody revolt and the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. U.S. led forces went in to restore order. U.N. Peacekeepers have since taken over the job.
Now back to the coverage of Coretta Scott King's funeral. Stevie Wonder, about to perform.
STEVIE WONDER, SINGER: (SINGING)
PHILLIPS: The great Stevie Wonder, "His Eyes on the Sparrow."
Stevie Wonder had a pretty incredible relationship with Coretta Scott King. He flew to Washington a number of times to support her in various marches and her efforts to promote peace and nonviolent action in the United States and abroad.
Also, they shared a deep love for Africa and fighting AIDS. We're going to take a quick break and continue our coverage of the Coretta Scott King funeral.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A guilty plea today in connection with a notorious night club fire three years ago. Daniel Biechele, former tour manager for the rock group Great White, pled guilty to 120 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Great White was performing at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, when the fire broke out, killing 100 people. Biechele set off the pyrotechnic display blamed for that fire and under a plea agreement with prosecutors, he'll serve no more than ten years in prison.
Cash, check or credit card? Starting today, about Hurricane Katrina still living in hotels have to pay their own way. The federal government is no longer picking up the tab. Only those who registered in time will get free rooms another week or so. Other hurricane survivors are tired of dealing with the government, so they borrowed a page from the Robin Hood, taking what was promised and giving to those in need.
Our Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen has the latest on the trailer troubles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In St. Bernard Parish, it has come to this. Fed up with waiting for FEMA to pay for trailers the parish ordered just days after the hurricane, the St. Bernard Parish Council says enough is enough.
JOEY DI FATTA, ST. BERNARD COUNCIL CHMN: I don't want our citizenry to have to wait for some paper pusher in Washington to get it right. We got right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifty-Nine Packingham (ph) Avenue, which is going to be me.
ROESGEN: Armed with the addresses of some of the people in the parish who seem to need a trailer most, Councilman Joey Di Fatta led his fellow council members in liberating five trailers that were supposed to stay on this lot. They didn't call it stealing, but FEMA has not paid for these trailers, so the parish doesn't have the right to take them. The contractor who brought the trailers to St. Bernard let the council member on the lot and even helped them haul the trailers away.
JIM MCGUIRE, TRAILER CONTRACTOR: Somebody's going to have to see sooner or later, somebody is willing to do something. I'm willing to get the ball going by giving then the trailers.
ROESGEN: The parish order 6,000 trailers from Jim McGuire's company, and McGuire wants FEMA to pay $16,500 for each. But FEMA is balking at the price. The FEMA housing offer is for the state of Louisiana, Steve DeBlasio says FEMA usually pays just $10,500, although he could not provide documentation to support that figure .
DeBlasio told CNN, "It's not a matter of another million dollars. We can't get involved with some middleman. We generally deal with the manufacturers." And he says, "By taking trailers without authorization, the council will further complicate the issue," saying, "if FEMA can't put a bar code on the trailers, FEMA won't pay for trailers that leave the lot without one."
DI FATTA: I would imagine they want the door facing their house.
ROESGEN: But that didn't stop the council members from commandeering the trailers, giving them to people who had just about given up on ever seeing one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carry me over, Louis (ph)! Wait, don't throw me over, carry me. Oh, wow, praise God, huh?
ROESGEN: In St. Bernard Parish, five new trailers are now five people's homes. But thousands of other people are still waiting. And if this act of civil disobedience got FEMA's attention, that's just what they want.
JUDY HOFFMEISTER, ST. BERNARD PARISH COUNCIL: I'd like the people of America to look at me, my face. We are God fearing, patriotic, flag-waving, tax-paying Americans. My face could be your face in the next disaster. So we need the help of all America.
ROESGEN: Susan Roesgen, CNN, Chalmette, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Louisiana's governor feels neglected, too, opening a special legislative session in hurricane-devastated New Orleans yesterday. Kathleen Blanco vowed to keep pressuring Congress for help, but she warned against expecting too much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: The harsh reality is that for many people in Washington, Katrina is yesterday's problem and Rita never happened. We're asking Congress to understand that Rita did to southwest Louisiana what Katrina did to Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The president's new budget includes more money for FEMA to prepare and respond to future disasters. It doesn't include any new money for Hurricane Katrina victims. The administration announced an $18 billion aid package for the Gulf Coast last week.
What might have been the world's longest non-stop flight didn't even start today. Moments before he hoped to launch an almost 27,000 mile journey, adventurer Steve Fossett abruptly stood down. He said his experimental flyer airplane was leaking fuel. He plans to try again later this week.
The steel city is the Steelers city. Pittsburgh football fans -- and that's just about everyone in western Pennsylvania today -- held a huge parade to celebrate their Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Despite snow and temperatures, though, in the mid-20s, thousands of people turned out to greet their returning heroes with cheers, black and gold face paint, and of course, those ubiquitous terrible towels.
Now what maybe but probably won't be the final word on that infamous touchdown. Remember Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He carried the ball into a pile-up and supposedly, according to officials, the ball crossed into the end zone. But in an interview last night with David Letterman, even he had his doubts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, "LATE NIGHT" HOST: Did you think it had gone in?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER, PITTSBURGH STEELERS: To tell the truth, no. I mean, the guy came low.
LETTERMAN: Wait a minute.
ROETHLISBERGER: But I told Coach, I said, Coach, I don't think I got it in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: I thought he was supposed to shave. I heard that he wouldn't do it until he won. What's up with that?
All right, by the way, that may be the last time you ever see him in a beard. Oh, here we go. For the luck of the season -- he kept it for the luck of the season, but now that the Steelers have won it all, we -- well, he let Letterman shave it off, I guess, after the show. There we go. We'll get the later pictures.
Well, remembering Coretta Scott King. Our live coverage continues straight ahead. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Legendary blues man B.B. King is looking for Lucille. We're not talking about one of his legendary Lucille guitars, we're talking about his dog Lucille. She's a two-year-old Maltese who disappeared from the West Hollywood home of King's co-manager about ten days ago. That's left King singing the blues, in more ways than one. He's so anxious to get her back, he's offering one of Lucille guitars, autographed, as a reward.
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