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American Morning
Kentucky Family Taking Part in Ten Commandments Protest
Aired August 27, 2003 - 07:16 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It will be today or possibly tomorrow when Alabama officials plan to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the state's judicial building there. The entire country is watching this clash unfold, and there are some outside of the state of Alabama who wish to be a bit more than just a witness there.
Brian Cabell live in Montgomery this morning. He joins us for an update on that ever-ending tale there.
Brian -- good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Today is perhaps the last chance for protesters to keep the monument inside the judicial building here in Montgomery, Alabama. There will be a court hearing in a district court down in Mobile, Alabama, to do just that -- to keep the monument inside the building.
It's been seven days now since the deadline to remove it. I can tell you this morning the monument has not been moved. There is no hint of any movement inside the building at all.
And overnight, as has been the case for the last several nights, at least a couple of dozen people have been spending the night here, keeping watch -- people sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, people sleeping in chairs, people not sleeping at all -- a couple of dozen last night, maybe 500 early last evening. Among them, a family we met from Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): They drove eight long hours from Kentucky to the courthouse steps here in Montgomery. This is no vacation for the Nunn family. Call it a real-life lesson for their two homeschooled children, Clayton and Candice (ph).
WANDA NUNN, MOTHER: I hope that they understand that they need to speak up and take a stand. You know, I mean, you can't just sit down and be quiet. You need to speak up for what you believe in.
CABELL: It's not particularly comfortable here, especially not with the stifling heat and humidity, and it's not fun. This isn't Disney World after all. But mom and dad say the kids haven't complained much.
PHILLIP NUNN, FATHER: I hope that the experience later on down the road, they will reflect back and say to themselves, you know, we're glad that our parents brought us out here and taught us these lessons.
CABELL: The big courthouse certainly has to impress the children, and the monument inside for however long it would stay here, the free buffet, the people sleeping outside. It's another fascinating chapter in this nation's history.
CLAYTON NUNN, SON OF PROTESTORS: We came over to this country, and we explored it and we fought battles and wars so we could have freedom to worship, the freedom of the press and the freedom to do stuff.
CABELL: Stuff like protests and prayer and fellowship on a late summer's evening in Montgomery, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Rumors persist that the monument will be moved, again, today, but we've been hearing that Monday, Tuesday and again this morning. As I say, so far, no indication of that. Alabama's attorney general has assured us that, in fact, it will be moved by Friday.
Now, whether it will be moved actually outside the building itself or to some other less-prominent place inside the building, we don't know. But we've been told that there are plans that if and when this does happen, there will be some sort of prayer vigil, there may be some sort of obstruction, there may be some sort of civil disobedience. You might recall, last week, 22 people were arrested here -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brian, thanks -- Brian Cabell there in Montgomery.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 27, 2003 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It will be today or possibly tomorrow when Alabama officials plan to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the state's judicial building there. The entire country is watching this clash unfold, and there are some outside of the state of Alabama who wish to be a bit more than just a witness there.
Brian Cabell live in Montgomery this morning. He joins us for an update on that ever-ending tale there.
Brian -- good morning.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Today is perhaps the last chance for protesters to keep the monument inside the judicial building here in Montgomery, Alabama. There will be a court hearing in a district court down in Mobile, Alabama, to do just that -- to keep the monument inside the building.
It's been seven days now since the deadline to remove it. I can tell you this morning the monument has not been moved. There is no hint of any movement inside the building at all.
And overnight, as has been the case for the last several nights, at least a couple of dozen people have been spending the night here, keeping watch -- people sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, people sleeping in chairs, people not sleeping at all -- a couple of dozen last night, maybe 500 early last evening. Among them, a family we met from Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CABELL (voice-over): They drove eight long hours from Kentucky to the courthouse steps here in Montgomery. This is no vacation for the Nunn family. Call it a real-life lesson for their two homeschooled children, Clayton and Candice (ph).
WANDA NUNN, MOTHER: I hope that they understand that they need to speak up and take a stand. You know, I mean, you can't just sit down and be quiet. You need to speak up for what you believe in.
CABELL: It's not particularly comfortable here, especially not with the stifling heat and humidity, and it's not fun. This isn't Disney World after all. But mom and dad say the kids haven't complained much.
PHILLIP NUNN, FATHER: I hope that the experience later on down the road, they will reflect back and say to themselves, you know, we're glad that our parents brought us out here and taught us these lessons.
CABELL: The big courthouse certainly has to impress the children, and the monument inside for however long it would stay here, the free buffet, the people sleeping outside. It's another fascinating chapter in this nation's history.
CLAYTON NUNN, SON OF PROTESTORS: We came over to this country, and we explored it and we fought battles and wars so we could have freedom to worship, the freedom of the press and the freedom to do stuff.
CABELL: Stuff like protests and prayer and fellowship on a late summer's evening in Montgomery, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Rumors persist that the monument will be moved, again, today, but we've been hearing that Monday, Tuesday and again this morning. As I say, so far, no indication of that. Alabama's attorney general has assured us that, in fact, it will be moved by Friday.
Now, whether it will be moved actually outside the building itself or to some other less-prominent place inside the building, we don't know. But we've been told that there are plans that if and when this does happen, there will be some sort of prayer vigil, there may be some sort of obstruction, there may be some sort of civil disobedience. You might recall, last week, 22 people were arrested here -- Bill.
HEMMER: Brian, thanks -- Brian Cabell there in Montgomery.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
