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CNN Live Today

Thousands in Attendance at Rosa Parks' Funeral; Charles and Camilla Visit the States

Aired November 02, 2005 - 11:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A live picture from Andrews Air Force Base, you can see the arrival of Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla, as they come down off the plane, making it to the car. The car will take them to the White House, lunch with president and Mrs. Bush, and then later tonight a social black tie dinner. This is Camilla's big debut, first international trip and trip abroad since marrying Prince Charles.
(NEWSBREAK)

KAGAN: And we continue to look at the live pictures and hear the wonderful gospel music from the Greater Grace Church in Detroit, Michigan. Four-thousand people will pack this large church, all to pay their respects to Rosa Parks, the civil rights pioneer, almost 50 years ago refusing to give up her spot on a Montgomery bus, a move that sparked a boycott, a bus boycott, and a civil rights movement.

With me, Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor, former Congressman, former U.N. ambassador and longtime friend of Rosa Parks.

Welcome back. Thanks for being here with us.

You were telling us before we went to break how Rosa Parks was such a quiet woman, one of the quietest people you ever met.

ANDREW YOUNG, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: She really was. And she was very profound. In fact, I remember we spent almost two days listening to her at Michigan State.

KAGAN: When was this?

YOUNG: This was in about 1979 or '80, between my time at U.N. and before I was mayor, and I was a visiting professor there, and we thought it would be good to get civil rights people together and just let her talk and reminisce, because there is so many versions of what happened.

KAGAN: Uh-huh.

YOUNG: It was largely a spontaneous action on her part that was related more to her work with the youth of the NAACP.

KAGAN: How so?

YOUNG: Well, a few months before, one of her young people had refused to move to the back of the bus and had been dragged off the bus, and really roughed up, a young woman by the name of Claudette Colvin. She was protesting because her classmate, she felt, had been jailed unfairly. There were instances where you had to get on the bus, pay your money, and if you were black, you had to get off and go around to the back door, and Rosa Parks never did that, and so the bus driver, whenever he saw her on his route, he went on past her, but she never went to the back of the bus. I mean got off and got on the back of the bus.

KAGAN: She wouldn't do it that way.

YOUNG: Because sometimes once you didn't get off, the bus drivers -- if you decided to get off and go to the back, they'd drive off and leave you after you paid your money, and there was really a general kind of harassment and disrespect for the entire black population, so there had been incidents off and on for years.

KAGAN: Well, you make a good point, that she's not only one who protested in this way, and others had done it before her. So what is it about her and her story that makes her the one we remember and celebrate?

YOUNG: It was her life, it was her life as a person that everybody in town respected. She was so quiet. She was so sweet, and so innocent and so loving. Nobody could think of any reason that Rosa Parks should be arrested. Claudette Colvin, they said she was a teenager, she was sassy, she probably deserved it, she should have stayed in her place, but they knew that Rosa Parks was not in any way trying to do trouble.

KAGAN: So would you say that makes her an unlikely heroine?

YOUNG: No, I think that's what heroines are. And I think that the message that Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King is that history creates these opportunities, and being too anxious to stir up something seldom works the way you intend it to work. As a religious person, I think there's an element of God in the timing of social change. It's not an accident, it seems to me, that Martin Luther King ended up there, instead of in Atlanta or Dillard University in New Orleans, where he was offered positions, or he could have stayed in Boston. But why would a young preacher with a ph.d. degree in 1955 go to a little-bitty town like Montgomery? You know?

KAGAN: Because it was all happening like it was supposed to be happening, and those paths, Martin Luther King...

YOUNG: And Rosa Parks.

KAGAN: ... they were meant to meet.

YOUNG: And they were meant to be in that place at that time.

KAGAN: And isn't it an amazing story of what comes from that.

YOUNG: Well, I think it's influenced what we saw in China, what we saw in Poland, what we saw -- the nonviolent changes that have occurred around the world have been more significant than the violent changes, and I think we forget that the quiet, sweet way of a Rosa Parks or a Nelson Mandela brings lasting change.

KAGAN: Well, we don't forget today.

YOUNG: No.

KAGAN: We watch and we remember.

Andrew Young, thank you for your comment. You'll stay with us. Our coverage of the funeral of Rosa Parks continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: To our "Daily Dose" of health news now.

One day after President Bush unveiled a massive program to protect against a flu pandemic, the Senate Appropriations Committee is holding a hearing on how to pay for that. The program, proposed by President Bush, includes developing a new vaccine against a pandemic strain of influenza and stockpiling essential medicines. The nation's top health officials are on hand for the hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECRETARY: The good news is, we have a vaccine. The scientists at NIH have developed a vaccine with sufficient immune response that it can protect the human being when given in proper dosage. The bad news is we fundamentally lack the capacity to manufacture it in sufficient volumes in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: In his plan to protect Americans against a possible flu pandemic, President Bush is calling for more than $7 billion in funding.

More than ten million people suffer from eating disorders. Tonight on a special "PAULA ZAHN NOW," Paula examines how it affects all kinds of people, from celebrities to teenagers.

One of those is Jamie-Lynn DiScala from the Emmy Award-winning program "The Sopranos." DiScala spoke to Paula about her form of bulimia, called exercise bulimia. Jamie-Lynn DiScala would excessively exercise every day to make sure she burned off calories -- all the calories that she ate and more. And on some days, that would even mean waking up at 3:00 a.m. to exercise for four hours before she went to school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE-LYNN DISCALA, ACTRESS: I truly lost a will to live. I seriously contemplated suicide because I felt that no one in this world would ever understand the constant battle I had in my head every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: More on Jamie-Lynn's remarkable story tonight on "PAULA ZAHN." It's a special, "Walking the Thin Line: Dramatic Stories of a Secret Obsession."

In London, British lawmakers are asking some tough questions about a controversial monument to the late Princess Diana. The public fountain is in Hyde Park. It's been plagued by problems. It was shut down for four months, shortly after it opened in 2004, because of faulty pumps and other problems and blockages as well. Today members of parliament are questioning officials responsible for its construction. Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are visiting the U.S. It's a whirlwind tour, first of New York City. Today's agenda includes a visit to the White House. They will have lunch a short time from now with President and Mrs. Bush. Tonight, the royals are honored guests at a lavish White House dinner.

For more now on the visit, we are joined by Deborah Strober, co- author of "The Monarchy: An Oral History of Elizabeth II." Hello. Thanks for being with us.

DEBORAH STROBER, CO-AUTHOR, "THE MONARCHY": Good to be here.

KAGAN: Why is this visit so important, especially for Camilla?

STROBER: Because Charles is trying to bring her forward as, if you will, his consort and possibly the future queen of England.

KAGAN: And, of course, she has among the toughest acts to follow, and that is Princess Diana. And she might be a lovely woman and a wonderful wife for Charles, but she's no Diana.

STROBER: Well, exactly. I mean, Diana was a young girl. She was 20 years old when the public became aware of her, and Camilla is a mature woman. And it is very difficult, because Camilla -- Diana is still very much with us, even in the person of Prince William. You just look at him and you see his mother.

KAGAN: And -- but she's slowly -- Camilla is slowly kind of inching her way into the hearts, not just of the public, but of the British royal family there. There was just that event the other night where she actually wore a tiara. That was a big deal.

STROBER: Yes, well, the queen actually is very fond of Camilla, always was. And the queen and Camilla have a lot in common. They're both countrywoman, love horses. And you know, if you wanted to get Freudian about it, you could say that Charles was marrying his mother now.

KAGAN: OK, that would be a whole other segment if we get into that. The stops that the royal couple is making on this trip: New York, now Washington, D.C., onto New Orleans and then San Francisco. I think the first two, pretty obvious. New Orleans you throw in because of the hurricane. How do they end up in San Francisco? STROBER: I think, you know, they -- well, the queen had gone to California many years ago during the Reagan presidency, and I think they just want to kind of, you know, remind the public of that a little bit and bring a little glamour aura of the royalty to San Francisco. And it's appropriate geographically to spread them out.

KAGAN: And, finally, do you think that Camilla will one day be queen of England?

STROBER: Oh, well, that depends on the present queen's longevity. You know, she's going to be 80 next spring and the women in that family live a long time. Her own mother lived to be 101. So that's a big question.

KAGAN: Well, I mean, I guess the first question is will Prince Charles be king? But, let's just say, for the sake of conversation, he does become king. Do you think Camilla would ultimately become queen as well?

STROBER: Well, I think that's what he's pushing for. And I think that's one of the reasons they're here now. He's trying to bring her forward, make it more acceptable for the public to regard her in that way.

KAGAN: Royal watcher Deborah Strober, thank you for your insight on Charles and Camilla.

STROBER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Let's show you some live pictures now of the White House. That's where the royal couple is expected to arrive in just a few minutes. CNN will bring you live coverage when that happens.

We also have live coverage from Rosa Parks' funeral continuing throughout the morning in Detroit, Michigan. More of that, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New video from Capitol Hill. Judge Samuel Alito making the rounds, meeting with various senators. The Supreme Court nominee trying to get to know especially those who will be on the Senate Judiciary Committee who will be having the chance first to question him.

Senator Mitch McConnell having a chance to talk with Judge Alito. And up next, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas.

All right, now let's back to our coverage, live from Detroit, Michigan, the funeral for Rosa Parks. Four-thousand people have packed into the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit to pay their last respects to Rosa Parks, to the civil rights pioneer, this has been basically a tour that started in Montgomery, Alabama, went to Washington D.C., and then to Detroit, Michigan. Each service with a little bit of a different flair, and this one, of course, being the biggest.

Right now I'm joined by former congressman, former U.N. ambassador, former mayor, Atlanta mayor, Andrew Young, who knew Rosa Parks for many years and paid his last respects at the Montgomery service in Alabama. Four-thousand people, you say Rosa Parks being a quiet and humble woman might be somewhat amused that this is what she has and garnered. And yet, do you think it's a appropriate to have a funeral like this?

YOUNG: I think it is, because what it does is it gives people who have quite often not stopped to realize that they are where they are. We wouldn't have a president -- there wouldn't have been Southern presidents, not Lyndon Johnson, not Jimmy Carter, not Bill Clinton, if it hadn't been for the changes that started with Rosa Parks. The progress that...

KAGAN: Those are all white men, so how does that tie into the civil rights movement and somebody...

YOUNG: Well, the civil rights movement really, according to Frederick Douglas, was to save black men's bodies and white men's souls. So that we've always been much more together here in the South, and Martin Luther King used to say that we wanted to elect people of goodwill, and they could be black, or white or brown, male or female. It was about allowing the best to come to the top. And as long as we had segregation, it denied that. Rosa Parks breaking down that barrier without hurting anybody, without getting anybody angry, really. You couldn't get mad at Rosa Parks.

KAGAN: And yet some people clearly did, because within a few years of her boycott, she felt she had to leave Montgomery, Alabama and move to Detroit, Michigan.

YOUNG: Well, I think that was because, one, Congressman Conyers offered her a position there. I don't think she was ever in any danger there. But there wasn't much for her to do, there wasn't anybody to take care of her, and Detroit did reach tout her, and Detroit gave her a home, and Detroit took care of her.

KAGAN: And became her adopted hometown.

YOUNG: It was her adopted hometown. But that, I guess, a good percentage of the people in Detroit moved up from Alabama.

YOUNG: So there were plenty of (INAUDIBLE) people up there. So do you think it was almost a case of what she was in the South do, what she was meant the do in Montgomery, Alabama, her work there was done. There was more work, more quiet work as you would point out, but she was meant to go somewhere else?

YOUNG: Well, you know, I think that Rosa Parks was put here on this Earth for that one moment, and we are celebrating that moment because it helped to change the world. But it's why I tell young people all the time to be patient. Sometimes your one moment comes when you're young, or when your Rosa Parks, by 40. Sometimes it doesn't come in the life of Moses until he was 80, and so, by and large, you want to focus on the life that she lived, because if she hadn't been pure in heart. The Bible tells us the meek shall inherit the earth. Well, every day, we don't normally see that. In this case, we see the meek, one of the most meek and mild persons I've ever known, really the whole world reaching out to her.

KAGAN: And her moment came, and she was ready, a great lesson for all of us.

Andrew Young, thank you. You'll stay with us as we continue to watch portions of the service from Detroit, Michigan.

Also want to tell you, coming up live this hour, a royal welcome at the White House. Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, are being greeted by President and Mrs. Bush. Later today, the royals will have lunch with the president and first lady, and then tonight, a black-tie dinner in the White House state dining room.

I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll be back in the next hour for more coverage of Rosa Parks' funeral, as well as a royal visit to the White House, as the news continues here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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