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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tropical Depression Bonnie Hindering Gulf Cleanup; Viral Marketing Campaign: Is It Selling Old Spice?; Ford's New Technology Could Connect Your Car to Social Media; North Korea Stepping Up Threats Over Military Exercises
Aired July 24, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. Glad you could be right here with us and look who we have with us, always good to have you D.C. folks down. We got Kate Bolduan here with us here this morning.
Good to have you back.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
HOLMES: You'll be back next weekend I believe as well.
BOLDUAN: Barring travel problems.
HOLMES: And the weekend after that.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HOLMES: And the weekend after that we're looking for somebody else.
BOLDUAN: If you're available, give us a call.
HOLMES: In the meantime, glad you're here and hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes, 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in New Orleans, wherever you may be. Glad you're right here.
BOLDUAN: Thanks for joining us. Everybody, we, you, are watching the Gulf this morning. Tropical depression Bonnie making its way across the region after soaking south Florida. Admiral Thad Allen says workers are getting out of the Gulf, getting out of the way, getting out of harm's way. But there may be some good news on the horizon. It may not be hurting (ph) as people thought it was going to be. And drilling on the relief well has been suspended in the meantime.
HOLMES: Also this morning, I want you to take a listen to something. Do you know this song? What you are listening to is the song is "Lift Every Voice and Sing" but it is also known as the black national anthem. A lot of people may not realize there is a black national anthem. Certainly if you went to HBCU you know about it. It is still taught in many of those black colleges and universities. It's been around since the 1900s, folks, the year 1900 specifically.
But some, in particular, one college professor says it is time to do away with any song labeled the black national anthem. He will be here live to explain and also the Reverend Jesse Jackson has a different opinion from this college professor. He'll be along with us live again. That's in our next hour. Stick around for that. But first, want to give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.
BOLDUAN: And checking your top stories, it is already a deadly day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Two separate IED explosions claimed the lives of five American troops. Very little information is out at this point other than both roadside bomb attacks happened in southern Afghanistan.
HOLMES: Listen to this discovery made along the U.S.-Mexican border. Suspected casualties of the ongoing Mexican drug cartel wars. They have found now nine hidden mass graves. At least 38 bodies recovered so far. Local attorney general says he believes some of the dead may have been buried as recently as just a few days ago.
BOLDUAN: And a flurry of pink slips have 241 teachers walking away from D.C.'s public school system. The firings are called quote performance related. The teachers union says a new evaluation process for instructors was flawed.
So let's keep an eye on the weather. We always are. The weather system really churning through the Gulf. It has weakened but tropical depression Bonnie is still hampering clean-up efforts at BP's leak site.
HOLMES: As we bring in (ph) our Jacqui Jeras who is here with us keeping an eye on things. We're always a little nervous to say something has weakened. People think it is getting weaker. It's going to go away. It's not going to be a problem. This thing could still cause fits.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEROLOGIST: Absolutely. It is a problem already because all the vessels had to get out of the way of this storm. And so that's the biggest issue and that's what makes Bonnie such a big story is the impact that it is having on the oil spill. We've had much worse storms across the mid latitude states, right that created a lot more damage than this, but there are concerns and that's bringing the oil onshore and also bringing in some gusty winds.
Things get unstable enough this afternoon, we couldn't even rule out some isolated tornadoes. Whenever you get a lot of spin with some of these systems that's something you have to watch out for. Bonnie has weakened and has really had its main hurrah. It's a tropical depression, winds down even from just a few hours ago at 30 miles per hour with some gusts up to 45 miles per hour.
The forecast track remains the same. It could strengthen a little but right now the National Hurricane Center is saying you know what, this could also just as easily weaken even more and we might start to see some of the warnings drop which are on the coast from Morgan City stretching over towards Destin.
Forecast track does bring it towards the Louisiana-Mississippi coastline. That will probably happen overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning as it makes its landfall. So we'll continue to track Bonnie and watch what it does over the next couple of hours.
But we've got some other huge weather stories today and that's all of the heat. Twenty two states are under heat advisories and warnings. We'll tell you more about that and some flood issues we're concerned coming up about later in the hour.
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much Bonnie. We'll be watching it all and keeping an eye on that heat as well as you were saying.
HOLMES: Bonnie (INAUDIBLE) Jacqui.
BOLDUAN: Jacqui's the meteorologist. (INAUDIBLE) I am blushing and I'm embarrassed. (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: Even though (ph) it's hurricane Jacqui sometimes anyway. But let's turn to our Reynolds Wolf who's in New Orleans for us, keeping an eye on things. I see you there in the monitor here shaking your head like what's going on now that you've left the studio. But we're going to get it together.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I heard. I heard. I'm not Bonnie. I am not Bonnie. I'm waiting to be called Bonnie next, you never know. I mean just to be fair here, we have to dole out the abuse in even proportions here. That's what we're doing. Guys, busy time on the Gulf of Mexico, no question about it, as Bonnie has been approaching or the remnants of Bonnie, it has been really just a crazy drill that they've employed here.
They've been bringing obviously a lot of the ships, just a skeleton of a flotilla will remain out over the former site of the deepwater Horizon above the oil well that has been capped. I can tell you that retired Admiral Thad Allen has every confidence in the world that the cap is going to be fine.
Plus, if the seas were to get extremely rough, it really would have minimal impact whatsoever on the cap right on the surface. We're talking about nearly a mile below on the ocean floor all the way to the surface itself. There will still be just a small crew out there.
The boats there are going to be basically monitoring the cap itself using seismic technology. They're also going to be using sonar. But they're also going to be able to still use the robotic ways of watching it. We've got the two underwater robots. They are amazing to watch. They kind of skim around the cap itself, taking shots of it from all angles, using all kinds of sensors to keep a sharp eye on it.
Plus, if they need to, in case of any kind of spill, they can monitor that with the help of satellites. However, if you have a lot of cloud cover, the satellite's effectiveness will be minimized completely. We have some video showing some of the many ships that have been seeking safe harbor as this storm comes closer, again even if it dissipates there could be heavier seas.
They're bringing those in. This is a measure not really having to do with the oil, but rather for just to protect the men and women that have been out there tirelessly working on the water, on the skimmers. A lot of your bigger container vessels all moving inland.
I can also tell you guys there have been all kinds of stuff taking place along the coast. Many people putting in more of the absorbent boom. Some of it that has already been contaminated by oil has been taken in, putting in airtight containers and pushed away from the shore. But they are putting out some of the additional boom just in case this thing does intensify, referring to Bonnie and that oil comes closer.
Plus I can tell you in places like Grand Isle, they are going to be having a big event, a big concert that's going to take place starting at 10:00 today through 8:00 this evening. It's called "Island Aid." They have actually an event that's every year called the tarpon (ph) rodeo. They've been holding it since 1928. This year it is called "Island Aid." All proceeds are going to go to tourism, of course tourism a multi-billion dollar money maker here along the Gulf coast, damaged in many ways of course by the spill.
Back to you.
HOLMES: Reynolds, one thing for me quickly if you can. We've been talking so much about this storm and what it is doing to the oil efforts and how it is going to stir things up possibly out there, but what about just the fact that there is a storm out there? Are people preparing for the possibility of these -- of rains and winds or is everybody just kind of focused on what it is going to do to the oil?
WOLF: Well, we actually have a photographer (INAUDIBLE) that's actually down yesterday in parts of Grand Isle. He said the people are just kind of taking it in stride. They're being prepared for it. But you have to remember, even yesterday as this thing was actually getting closer to shore, they were thinking maybe a two to three-foot storm surge.
These are veterans, the people that live along the Gulf coast when it comes to these kind of storms. They have dealt with Katrina. They had Gustav recently. They had Ike. They've had so many countless storms and this is just one of those. They're going to take those preparations, they're going to be prepared, but at the same time, they've dealt with so much. These people can persevere.
But I can tell you in terms of the other efforts, obviously we've seen the ships coming closer to shore. That is something that's a move they definitely made to protect people that are out there.
But you also remember T.J. the good effects this has. A lot of that wave action, breaking up some of that oil. That's certainly some good news to help it dissolve. That's some great news. But also just the idea of going through these preparations for a busy season that's still yet to come. We're about to hit the months where things are going to get really active out in the Gulf of Mexico and certainly Atlantic.
So although Bonnie may fall apart, we have got a long alphabet to go and we've got a lot of other storms that are going to form. So this is just a actually very useful drill for what may lie ahead.
HOLMES: A useful test run, that's a good way to put it. Reynolds Wolf for us in New Orleans, buddy we appreciate it. Talk to you soon.
BOLDUAN: First lady Michelle Obama told the people in the Gulf yesterday that the Obama administration is going to stand with them and in her words, make them whole again. In Mississippi she singled out the Coast Guard for its work in really trying to clean up the oil disaster. Many she said, worked 12 to 16-hour days to get the job done.
You see her getting a round of applause right there. The first lady also took the time and christened a new Coast Guard cutter as part of her visit. Some time this summer the first family will head to Florida's Gulf coast for a weekend get-away. They just announced that.
HOLMES: A lot of people have been criticizing the president. He's made I think three family trips since the Gulf disaster and asking him, well take your family down to the Gulf.
BOLDUAN: He was just in Maine last weekend.
HOLMES: Last weekend -- he was in Chicago for Memorial Day weekend. But now he is going so we will look forward to that.
Coming up, something a lot of people not looking forward to next week on the 29th in particular, Arizona's contentious immigration law is going to go into effect. This weekend the protests continue and they are getting louder and louder.
BOLDUAN: Rage Against the Machine making a statement.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this here is the most watched viral campaign to sell a product in years in this country. But here's the big question -- is it working? Is it selling Old Spice? We have brand-new numbers that have just come out. We're about to tell you the effect this is having.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: So it's the marketing campaign that everyone's been talking about. We could do this. I'm sure you've heard this a million times. Look at your man. Look at T.J. Look at your man. Look at T.J. Anyway, it is the Old Spice ad. I'm sorry. It introduced this guy, Old Spice introduced this guy now known as "the Old Spice guy."
HOLMES: He's been everywhere. It has increased in popularity but are people out there really wanting to smell like this guy? Do we really want to wear Old Spice? Is this working out? Josh is checking into this. Josh, yes, everybody knows about it, hears about it and loves it, but are people actually going out and buying the stuff?
LEVS: I'm still recovering from Kate's really good imitation there.
HOLMES: We'll be recovering all morning.
LEVS: That was impressive. This says a lot about business, about America, about the Internet and about Super Bowl advertising because this whole phenomenon started before it took off on the Internet and exploded into the biggest viral campaign I've ever seen online. It started right after -- in one of the ads during the Super Bowl.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me. But if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he's me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: All right, so it's taken off since then. Now they've made more videos. Everyone's sent them to everyone else. They talk about how they do the visual tricks and stuff. He started tweeting with celebrities and then doing videos in response to them, getting a ton of attention. So the big question became is it working from a business perspective? Lots of businesses are watching because they want to know.
Well, here's what happened. In recent days there were all these reports saying the exact opposite happened, saying that in fact the sales of the product that he's holding have dropped 7 percent. So I started looking into this. I said is that true? Is it false?
It turns out that's actually not the right way to see it. What had happened was one person had looked at sales of that exact product he's holding one day a year ago versus one day recently. They found a slight drop.
The real figure to look at to figure out the effect it's having business wise is this right here. When you're looking at Old Spice body wash, the featured line that he's talking about has gone up 55 percent in three months and it's gone up 107 percent in just the last month alone. So when you look at it from that perspective, overall, it seems to be playing out positively. You can do a little more of the video here. I know people like to see that.
But here's the thing. Even with this going on, I don't want to be too rosy about the effect viral videos have on sales, because we won't know long term yet and we won't know for a while. Right now you have this phenom going on. You have some people are buying the product more probably because they are talking about it.
Long term, will they make enough to make up for all the expense that Super Bowl ad, the expense of everything they put together. This is what we don't know, but if it keeps going in this direction, if these ads and the viral component that goes with them keeps leading more and more people to buy the product, we can expect more and more companies to focus their ads on turning into viral video sensations and that could be, guys, the future that this whole thing is head. Meantime ...
BOLDUAN: I'm stunned into silence. At least I'm being told to be quiet.
HOLMES: I'm not the one that told you.
BOLDUAN: I just want to see T.J. sitting like that guy. (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: That guy is absolutely great. We were debating, can he ever get another gig?
BOLDUAN: Right. When you are so one character.
LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) He just signed a talent deal with NBC. Apparently he wants to be on "The Office" and there is some talk about what might be next. But the one thing I like about this...
BOLDUAN: That is a good thing.
LEVS: He was saying that a year ago he was sitting on his couch having no idea how he would pay his rent. One of those stories you love to see where someone you like, legitimately funny, clearly a good actor, fairly clever. It's nice to see them get a little love from the industry.
HOLMES: We will see him down the road. Josh thank you.
BOLDUAN: Cars aren't quite ready to start speaking to you, but apparently they can tweet for you. We're not kidding. Our tech expert breaks that one down and you can bet it will take more than 140 characters.
HOLMES: Also, a 30-year military career now has come to an end. A farewell to General Stanley McChrystal. Seventeen minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: So texting while driving. We all know that it is dangerous and illegal in many states. In fact, 30 states and D.C. have made it illegal. Police say it is a huge distraction, a huge distraction, but Ford says it has new technology to connect your car to social media. What does this all mean? I promise I am not making this up. Joining us is our tech guru, Mario Armstrong.
Good morning, Mario. So we aren't talking about people tweeting. We are talking about cars tweeting. Right?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Oh, my gosh, if you read anything online, you would think, what are we talking about? We have people are tweeting while driving and the world has been going crazy and everyone needs to calm down, take a chill pill. You are absolutely right, we are talking about the car itself doing the tweeting, not the driver. So Ford has come out with this idea they had their engineers test a Ford Fiesta, a 2011 Ford Fiesta called AJ, the Ford Fiesta on Twitter. And this vehicle taps into an on-board computer which is typical in most cars now. So it can check things that are already available to the computer of the car.
But what's different here, Kate, is they also modified this car to put in a separate computer in the back, a wi-fi router which is a technical router to make Internet connectivity and a high-speed cellular data connection. So in other words it made the car connect to the Internet all the time and that's the real big news here.
BOLDUAN: What is it tweeting? I mean there is no way it is tweeting like "Kate is going to restaurant such and such." I mean what's the car actually going to tweet?
ARMSTRONG: It can't read your mind, right but what it can do is because it is connected to car controls, it can tell if Kate is tapping the brakes consistently. That might indicate that Kate is in stop-and-go traffic.
Or better yet, if Kate is tapping her brakes and her windshield wipers are on, that means Kate is in maybe rush hour traffic or stop- and-go traffic and it is raining so it can tap into location, your GPS, your speed and all of these things to then send out a tweet that would say, hey, I'm heading east on U.S. 40, stuck in traffic but sunny skies are ahead.
BOLDUAN: So while it may be kind of fun and unique and one of those kind of techie anomalies that would be really fun to have, is there actually a benefit? Does the Twitter universe need more...
ARMSTRONG: We just don't need more clutter. Please, stop it, people. We don't need more clutter and now add cars to the clutter. So here's the thing. It is an experiment. So us techie experts, we are trying to figure this out as well, what's the practical benefit to someone? So a couple of things.
Number one, if it could give us real-time data. For example, if I'm following my wife's car, for example, she can't tweet while she's driving but if she's stuck if traffic, that could maybe alert me that I need to take a different route to go another way. There are some potential applications that may be useful to the general public based around those things, but it is an experiment.
And that's what I think we need to really think about here, is the fact that these Ford engineers said what if we did Internet connectivity in the car all the time? Twitter is hot. Four square (ph) is hot. I wonder if there is any connection there. Let's try it out and see.
BOLDUAN: And I know that GM is doing kind of an Onstar mobile app but we can't really get into that because we are so tight on time. But real quick, you talk about there is a trend of people that are customizing their cars with mobile devices and more technology, even including the iPad? Real quickly, what's that all about?
ARMSTRONG: So the iPad in dash, we actually have a little video clip that you might be able to see some of this. But if you are big into technology in the car which is a growing trend, you want go to a website like mp3car.com. These are all enthusiasts that are integrating technology like the iPad into the vehicle.
The bottom line here Kate is we are now in a situation where we have newer technologies like wi-max, 3G and 4G wireless technologies. What the big deal is, what happens when our cars can be always connected to the Internet. That's the growing trend.
BOLDUAN: When you think of it, it is inevitable. It is going to make it into your car because people spend so much time in their car and they love their car so much. It is coming.
ARMSTRONG: I know, it is. It is actually here.
BOLDUAN: It's here. It's just not in my car. Thank you so much, Mario.
ARMSTRONG: Some of the 2011 cars will have more of this technology integrated.
BOLDUAN: OK, we'll watch. I need a new car anyway. So join us every Saturday at this time as digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, our tech guru is giving us the scoop on the latest technology.
HOLMES: A bit of video we need to show you here. Take a look. This was supposed to be a simple traffic stop. You can see it was anything but. We'll tell you exactly what was going on here and what was the result.
And also a warning from North Korea just a day before the U.S. is scheduled to begin joint military exercises with South Korea. Twenty five minutes past the hour. Stay here with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well coming up on bottom of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Welcome back to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BOLDUAN: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks so much for joining us today.
HOLMES: We turn to North Korea. They are stepping up their threats and potential fire power in response to joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. Pyongyang suggesting it may use a nuclear deterrent.
CNN's Kyung Lah monitoring North Korea's latest saber rattling. She's with us from Tokyo. Tell us, it seems like we've been through this before, the back and forth. We call it the saber rattling. Any reason to believe the north should be taken a little more seriously with this particular saber rattling? KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, any time North Korea ramps up its rhetoric, it is something to pay attention to. Here is exactly what they are saying T.J.. In response to tomorrow's U.S.- South Korea joint military exercises, North Korea is saying, quote, we will legitimately counter with its powerful nuclear deterrent.
OK, so what does nuclear deterrent mean? We don't really know. How serious is this threat? We also don't exactly know. But when the rhetoric steps up, and it is something that's definitely stepped up since just yesterday. North Korea yesterday was saying if these joint military exercises are executed, we will respond in some sort of physical manner.
Well, here's what we're paying attention to. Two U.S. military officials are telling CNN that there is yet no sign of significant troop movement within North Korea. That's what everyone pays attention to. That's what the White House watches. That's what South Korea watches.
If there is military movement within North Korea, that is much more important right now. This may just be more war of words coming from North Korea. But tomorrow this exercise, which is being called Invincible Spirit. It is a joint military exercise; 8,000 military personnel, U.S. and South Korea, staging these exercises.
This is all in response to what happened earlier this year when the South Korean warship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, according to an international investigation. Tensions have been running high. This is yet another ratchet up in the escalating tensions on the peninsula -- T.J.
HOLMES: And it sounds like from North Korea more mouths moving versus military movement. But explain -- you were kind of hitting on the exercises here. Again these aren't just routines. Specifically, these exercises were done to send a direct message to North Korea.
LAH: You're absolutely right. Robert Gates, the U.S. Defense Secretary, said that this is being done absolutely on purpose to send a very clear message to North Korea to stop its provocative and war- like acts. That's coming from the Defense Secretary.
They're trying to send a message with might -- with what may seem to our audience as -- ok this is a military exercise right off the coast of South Korea. But this is something that is going to be noticed in North Korea and this is something that they can react to.
But this is something that the U.S. wants to make sure that they hear loud and clear through this physical joint military exercise.
HOLMES: All right, Kyung Lah for us on another tense weekend on the Korean peninsula. We appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
BOLDUAN: So a nearly four-decade-long military career ended yesterday. General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, retired Friday about a month ago after the general and his staff criticized the administration in a magazine article that we all know very well and have talked a lot about.
President Obama accepted Stanley McChrystal's resignation. The general summed up his service and how it came to an end. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES AFGHANISTAN: This has the potential to be an awkward or even a sad occasion. With my resignation, I left a mission I feel strongly about. I ended a career I loved that began over 38 years ago and I left unfulfilled commitments I made to many comrades in the fight, commitments I hold sacred.
My service did not end as I would have wished and there are misperceptions about the loyalty and service of some dedicated professionals that will likely take some time, but I believe will be corrected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Well, saying good-bye there. Clearly you can only imagine it's bittersweet and that no one really imagined that they would be at the retirement ceremony for General McChrystal at this point.
HOLMES: It's just amazing. Just a couple of months ago he was in charge of all the coalition efforts in Afghanistan. Now he's out of the military, retired now.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HOLMES: Well, we wish him well.
Coming up as well, a reminder of one of the guys who showed us how to do this job; he was a journalism pioneer. We've got a tribute coming up next for Daniel Schorr. Thirty-three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, it's 35 minutes past the hour here now. And we're talking about a CNN legend that we're having to say good-bye to.
BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly. Daniel Schorr, he died Friday morning at a Washington, D.C. hospital. He was 93 years old. He's a CNN original. His career spanned more than six decades.
HOLMES: And besides being a CNN original, worked at CBS for quite some time, '53 to '76. He worked with the legendary news man Edward Morrow (ph) over there. He's helped as we said launch CNN back in 1980. He was our senior Washington correspondent and how about this? On the first night CNN was on the air he landed an interview with the President, Jimmy Carter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL SCHORR, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Mr. President, welcome to the world of cable news. You've known George Watson as ABC. You've known me as CBS and I wonder what are your thoughts now in having to contend with yet another set of initials, CNN.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's an exciting and historic thing in my judgment for our country and indeed its impact throughout the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And for about the last 25 years, Schorr worked at National Public Radio. And our Josh Levs, he worked at National Public Radio -- Josh.
LEVS: That's right. Yes I had a chance to get to meet Dan and get to know him a little bit. He was a giant at NPR and obviously, everyone had so much admiration for him. And he -- he meant so much to that organization for more than 20 years.
And something I really liked and we can go with this, Scott Simon who hosted the weekend Saturday -- a Saturday morning program said, "Nobody else in broadcast journalism or perhaps any field had as much experience and wisdom."
And this a man who you know not only was known as a pioneer in our industry but also got a chance to show his lighter side too and got a chance to -- to play and show even to this day, even up until recent days, how this kind of work is done. So Daniel Schorr very much will be missed.
HOLMES: And again, one of the originals but something to think the first night CNN was on the air, to land an interview with the president. So that was a ...
BOLDUAN: A good way to kick it off ...
HOLMES: That's a good way to kick off this network. So Daniel Schorr, saying good-bye to him at the age of 93.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Well, it's 37 minutes past the hour. We're going to take a quick break here but first, you knew some of this stuff. You've been seeing some of these pictures. You knew how this was going. Everybody talked about the impact we were going to have on the economy once Lebron came to town.
Well, we are starting to see some early signs of it, already. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Let's get a check of the top stories right now.
Another deadly day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Five American troops died in two separate IED explosions. Very little information at this point is out there other than both roadside bomb attacks happened in southern Afghanistan.
And a disturbing discovery made along the U.S./Mexican border. Suspected casualties of the ongoing Mexican drug cartel wars, nine hidden mass grieves have been found containing at least 38 bodies. The local attorney general says he believes some of the dead may have been buried as recently as a few days ago.
And a suspected U.S. drone attack in Pakistan this morning kills 16 alleged militants. At least five missiles are believed to have hit a compound in South Waziristan. The region used to be a nerve center for the Taliban. U.S. military does not comment on reported drone attacks -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, we see this every single year in the NFL. A rookie who has never played a single down signed a contract for more money than athletes who have been in the league for years and years.
Now, some of this year's instant millionaires expected to be Oklahoma -- Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Fresno State running back Ryan Matthews, also Tim Tebow. All these guys went first round. None of them signed yet, but there has been some movement this week with some other first-rounders.
In other developing story here and we knew this was probably coming. Money starting to flow from Cleveland to South Florida and it's linked to that guy on the far right there, Lebron James.
Let's go to South Florida for our business and sports analyst Rick Horrow is with us this weekend. Rick, it's good to have you back in the states. We missed you here after you went to the British Open last week. But it's good to have you back.
Can you explain this? This is really disturbing, quite frankly. That some of these guys, talking about maybe Sam Bradford, getting a 40-plus-million-dollar guarantee money and he's never played a single down in the NFL?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Disturbing, maybe to you but not to Sam Bradford ...
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: ... and his parents. Ok, so the bottom line is the market has driven up these salaries. Stafford, the quarterback first round pick for the Lions, last year and on and on. And even some of the old-time players are saying we need to take some of that money and turn it in to a rookie wage scale, spread it out, give the veterans some of the money and even the retired players some of the money.
The NFL by the way is an $8 billion -- $7 billion or $8 billion business so you would hope over the next year they don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg over who gets the money.
HOLMES: Yes. Are they going to? Are we still going to have football next or is it going to be the next season, not this one but the next with this collective bargaining agreement, it seems like the two sides are still far apart on at least a couple of issues.
But how could the new agreement change where some of these rookies get down the road?
HORROW: Well, remember, there are a lot of issues here. The teams, the have versus have-not teams, the haves versus have not players, the superstars -- a lot of different agendas, as we said. This year they're entering to what's called an uncapped year. So the partnership is beginning to unravel a little bit. Let's just hope the working relationship, the Roger Goodell and the late Gene Upshaw forged can come into play with the new set of characters.
Paul Tagliabue (ph) the commissioner set the stage, Roger Goodell following him. Let's see what happens, they've got a lot to lose if they do this deal.
HOLMES: At least have some veterans are waiting around right now and see what some of the rookies get. There's just something wrong with that.
HORROW: Yes, well -- unless you're a rookie.
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: And of course that's the bottom line of all of this and the rookies are not members of the union until they sign so there's an issue of who represents who.
HOLMES: All right, now let's go to South Florida where you are. We knew this was coming. Lebron was coming and the money was going to follow. Are we seeing this already?
HORROW: We're seeing a lot of dimensions. First of all, the magazines are saying the Heat is now worth nearly $500 million, maybe $100 million or $150 million more than a couple of weeks ago. $50 million per playoff game the economists are saying.
So the deeper Lebron brings that team into the series, the more money for the Heat. It's good for Lebron, by the way. He's rumored to have spent $50 million for a 20,000 square foot house in Coral Gables.
HOLMES: Oh my God.
HORROW: That's good for him, good for the community. There is a suite at the Gansevoort Hotel called "The Heat Suite", $2,500 a night, you get exclusive use of a Ferrari, you get an ocean view and you get your pick of the Heat jerseys. Is it James? Is it Bosh? Is it Wade?
I don't know but that's -- that -- that is T.J. -- that's T.J. Holmes' money. I'm not sure -- it's my -- my kind of money.
HOLMES: That's not T.J. Holmes money. I'll go in with you on that thing the "Heat suite" one of these days.
Last thing, and do this for me quickly Reggie Bush doesn't exist anymore at USC?
HORROW: Well, he doesn't exist in a lot of different places. I guess they sent the Heisman trophy back. USC is making $80 million a year on revenues. Reggie Bush is doing okay, $7 million a year with the Saints. But you are talking about ignoring a guy who won the Heisman trophy for you.
Something needs to be done about agent regulation. We'll talk about that down the road.
HOLMES: And we'll talk about it down the road. But again, he's been accused of doing some stuff he shouldn't have been doing and dealing with agents and other folks when he was at school there. So the school is in trouble.
Go ahead, you want to add something.
HORROW: I'm just asking, did I hear myself right the question before? I got to share a suite with you in south beach? Is that what I'm hearing?
HOLMES: You did go back to that. I'm just saying we should split it. Ok, you take the Ferrari, I'll take the suite. All right.
HORROW: I understand. Got it -- all right, next week, see you.
HOLMES: Good to see you, as always Rick. Thanks so much buddy.
BOLDUAN: So more than 200 teachers, fired. Just right like that and it has little to do with budget cuts.
HOLMES: Instead, they were told they are fired because they're not getting the job done in the classroom. Its 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: About 15 minutes to the top of the hour here now.
Washington, D.C. just got rid of a lot of employees. In particular, we're talking about teachers; 241 of them fired, another 700-plus have been put on notice.
BOLDUAN: Our Sam Ford from our affiliate WJLA says the school's chancellor believes she's doing what is right to help the children, but the record number of firings has parents pretty uneasy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM FORD, WJLA REPORTER: Outside Seaton elementary, one of the summer school sites, parents seem wary hearing of another round of teacher terminations by Chancellor Michelle Reed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very concerned, yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I hear is layoff, layoff, layoff of teachers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who will teach our kids? If they're laying off 200 teachers?
FORD: Reed's firings of more than 260 teachers two months after school started last year sparked protests. In this current round, the chancellor's office says it terminated 302 DCPS employees, including 241 teachers and another 729 employees have been put on notice. They'll be gone, too, if their performance does not improve substantially.
MICHELLE REED, CHANCELLOR, D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM: The mayor's main priority is to make sure that we have a high-quality teacher in front of every single child and every single classroom, every single day.
GEORGE PARKER, PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON TEACHERS UNION: Reform through firing; the focus is on firing rather than supporting and building.
FORD: Teachers union president George Parker says the new teacher evaluation system that DCPS implemented should have been a pilot program at most, this year.
PARKER: I've never seen the level of fear in the classroom among teachers as I saw this year.
FORD: Parker says the union will be filing grievances over many of the terminations and he believes jobs will be saved.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Now the teachers union were judged using D.C.'s Impact Program. It is a new program and their teaching skills are evaluated after principals and education experts make five classroom visits to observe what's going on there.
HOLMES: They're also rated on the students' achievements. But the Washington Teachers Union says most teachers don't believe in the impact program. They say it is not quite a fair evaluation system. Whether you believe the system is fair or not, the school's chancellor is a firm believer in it. In fact, she says this purge has been a long time coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REED: In my opinion, for far too long, we have been willing to turn a blind eye to the injustices that are happening to children in schools across America in the name of harmony amongst adults. Right? We want to get along with the union, we want to get along with this person or that person and we don't want to fire anyone because that makes us feel bad as adults. But in the meantime, children have been done a disservice every single day.
We have graduated a generation of Washingtonians who do not have the skills and knowledge that they need to be productive members of society because our schools have failed them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We're going to be getting some feedback and some reaction on what's the next move should be for the D.C. Public School System with our education contributor Steve Perry who's going to be joining us next hour.
Also right now some video we couldn't believe when we saw it but a woman walks on to train tracks and the train is on the way. The story, however, has a happy ending. We'll explain exactly what was going on here.
And also another piece of video, Kate; supposed to be a simple traffic stop got a little nasty. We're going to hold on to that video.
BOLDUAN: Yes. This startled me last time actually.
HOLMES: Yes, it did throw you off a bit so because of that we're going to hold off on showing you in case you have the same reaction Kate did.
BOLDUAN: Right. But we'll have that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: A visually impaired woman, she is quite thankful today for some very good Samaritans who were there to look out for her.
HOLMES: Yes. Take a look at this. We'll tell you why. This is at a sub stop -- this is in Metro Atlanta, a train stop. Transit police say the woman -- visually impaired. Again, she's now identified -- she's a 57-year-old woman. She literally walked right off the platform and on to the path of an oncoming train.
BOLDUAN: Yes. But the commuters, they -- well, you can see I -- they jumped into action. Just absolutely so quick to react; some pulling the woman off the tracks and to safety while another then signaled for the train to stop, which it did just a few feet to spare. Just a few feet in front of her.
And besides the expected bumps and bruises, the fallen woman is doing ok, thankfully. Meanwhile, the transit authority is thankful for the quick thinking and quick acting passengers.
HOLMES: Let's go ahead and wind through this other bit of video. This was literally a split second decision that was a matter of life or death. We caught this one on camera as well.
BOLDUAN: We have incredible video we're showing you right now. This happened yesterday, south of Calgary, Canada. That's where a Canadian air pilot was getting ready for a flight show that is happening today when something as you can see went horribly wrong with this CF-18. It's a fighter -- I don't know if that's a feed -- he had just a pull seconds to pull the rip cord and eject from the cockpit before the aircraft fireballed. That was terrifying.
HOLMES: Yes, he is ok, we're told. He suffered some injuries but none of them believed to be life threatening. The cause of this is under investigation now.
Let's go to another bit of video to show you. This was a traffic stop and it is not supposed to go down like this. This is in Middleton, Ohio. This got ugly between a cop and a driver; this was an alleged -- an alleged hit and run. The officer pulled him over. The suspect just started throwing blows as you can see here. He didn't care if that dash cam was rolling which of course we see it was.
BOLDUAN: Yes. And the officer, he tried to grab his taser but it apparently didn't work properly. Luckily another officer arrived quickly on the scene and right now the suspect is in custody on a bunch of assault charges. The officer involved will most likely need facial reconstructive surgery.
HOLMES: All right. Well, I want you to listen now more so than watch something. I want you to listen to this song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Do you know it? It is "Lift Every Voice and Sing". But were you aware that it is the black national anthem? There is a college professor out there that says there shouldn't be anything out there called a black national anthem, certainly not now. He says it is divisive.
We have a debate you do not want to miss that he ties all in to what we're seeing in this country right now as it comes to race relations.
BOLDUAN: Plus, there is a major heat wave upon us. Jacqui Jeras will have the details of that right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: We have got a lot of weather to talk about.
JERAS: We do.
BOLDUAN: We were talking about the remnants of Bonnie but we've got heat and there is a lot going on in the middle of the country.
JERAS: Yes. A lot of flooding, in fact, we've got breaking news at this hour. If the control room could take up, I think it's RX-201 or RX-2 which has a picture from downtown Chicago and the Dan Ryan Freeway. We've got some major flooding has been going on in that area from heavy downpours through the overnight hours. And it's closing down the freeway there and causing a lot, a lot of major issues on the roadways there.
Here you can see showers and thundershowers on the radar picture as those continue to pull on through. We've seen a good one to three inches of rainfall and continued showers expected through this morning. Flash flood warnings are in effect across the area.
There you can see that tower cam I was talking about. We've got a lot of fog in the area as well. If we can kind of peek through that fog, you'll see all of those cars which are there and backed up across the area.
We'll continue to follow this developing story throughout the morning hours as well.
And this is certainly not confined to Chicago. You know how bad things were in Milwaukee the last two days. We've got some flash flood watches that stretch now across much of the Great Lakes, including you here into the Detroit area for today as well.
Thunderstorms could become severe this afternoon. We'll be watching the nation's midsection, the Ohio Valley and into the northeast. Damaging winds will be our primary concern and on the south side of this system, oh, my goodness. The heat is just incredible. We've got heat advisories and warnings in effect from Massachusetts all the way down to Georgia, stretching all the way over towards Kansas. It is going to be feeling like 100 to 110 degrees.
And of course we are tracking tropical depression Bonnie. I'll have more on that coming up a little bit later.
Right now, CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER USDA EMPLOYEE: The thing that really hurts is it was so easy for them to make a decision to throw me under the bridge. I was asking them, please, look at the entire speech.
ROGER SPOONER, FARMER HELPED BY SHIRLEY SHERROD: I tell you what, I never was treated no better, no nicer and looked after than Shirley. She done a magnificent job.
TOM VILSACK, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: This is a good woman, she's been put through hell. I could have done and should have done a better job.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: On behalf of the administration, I offer our apologies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING; top of the hour here now. I'm T.J. Holmes. And as we do every Saturday, we take this 9:00 Eastern half-hour and we focus on one hot topic.
It seems the hot topic in this country the past week and the past couple of weeks really has been about race. There's been a series of painful, divisive incidents that have sparked conversation and controversy, including the NAACP versus Tea Party and most recently the Shirley Sherrod story.
But right now, we're going to try to better understand each other, those incidents and our reaction to them through a song. Yes, a song. It's a song some consider a great source of pride, but that some others call divisive and unnecessary. The song I'm talking about, the black national anthem.
Some of you may be saying, I had no idea there was a black national anthem. Been getting some of those responses from you on- line. There is actually a song that's been around since the year 1900. This half-hour, live with me here in Atlanta will be a college professor who says this one song is actually a barometer for race relations in this country over the past 100 years, and says it's unnecessary right now.
And also the Reverend Jesse Jackson who has played a part over the years in trying to get the song back into the forefront and says it's invaluable.
But first, a little background.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): The song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" has been recognized as the black national anthem since the early 1900s. With its message of struggle and hope, the song is often sung to promote black pride.
TIMOTHY ASKEW, AUTHOR OF BOOK ON BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM: What restricts the meaning is not this beautiful song, it is the title. In 2010 we do not need a song that's titled "The Black National Anthem."
HOLMES: Tim Askew is an English professor at Clark Atlanta University, a historically black college. He is laying out his argument for doing away with the black national anthem in his new book.
ASKEW: When you think of "Lift your Voice and Sing," you see shifts in African-American political thought. This one song is a barometer of that so that if you look at how it was used, how it was sung, maybe in the '30s and '40s when there was, you know, even more overt racial discrimination, this song was very, very much popular in schools.
But as the civil rights movement progressed, people started questioning, are we really wanting to promote this?
HOLMES: Askew says ironically the black national anthem suffered one of its lowest points of popularity during the civil rights movement and the decline continues today.
ASKEW: It's declining because a lot of young people and a lot of people are not so much concerned about this song as a black national anthem, they're concerned about being an American or they're concerned about their issues as young African-Americans through hip-hop music. Life their voice and this anthem is not necessarily the voice of all black America.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: all right. You hear it there. Dr. Askew's actually in here, in the studio with me. Clark Atlanta University professor. Clark Atlanta certainly wants to us know they certainly support their staff, but not always the views of their staff are reflective and representative of what the university stands for. So get that in there.
But Dr. Askew, thank you for being here.
ASKEW: It's my pleasure.
HOLMES: You know, you probably will stir some people up with this debate and with the research you've done.
ASKEW: I know.
HOLMES: But you said something to me when I talked to you about this. You said actually when you had to talk to your white classmates back in the day, your Asian classmates, your Hispanic classmates, or even today your colleagues, you're actually are embarrassed to say that there is a black national anthem. What did you mean by that?
ASKEW: I'm embarrassed to say that because a lot of people, particularly students come to me and say, doc, what does this mean? What does this mean, doc? I had one white student in particular who said to me, he said "Dr. Askew" -- I said to him, "young man, we're going to be singing this wonderful song. I said "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a requirement for this course. I make all of my students learn this song as a song of cultural identity" and I said, "young man, you're going to have to sing this song, too. Because it is very important."
And he said to me, he said to me, he said "Dr. Askew, if they make me sing this song as a black national anthem I won't sing it. He says I love black people, I'm here. I'm a part of this wonderful community." He said, "But Dr. Askew, I'm white. I'm a white American and I want to sing this song as a song that relates to me and all other Americans."
HOLMES: But Dr. Askew, as you know and the criticism will be out there, this song means so much to so many African-Americans over the years. It was a song of pride, of struggle.
ASKEW: Absolutely.
HOLMES: That black people claimed, and it's been since 1900. Can you understand why -- we're going to talk to Jesse Jackson in a second.
ASKEW: Absolutely.
HOLMES: But someone from his -- you were around for some of the civil rights struggles.
ASKEW: Absolutely.
HOLMES: I mean that group of people who went through that struggle to have this national anthem, the black national anthem taken away or stripped or hear someone say we shouldn't have one, how do you respond to them that there shouldn't be one just on that emotional level?
ASKEW: I would say that "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is the most beautiful American patriotic song of the 20th century. I would also say that I'm not telling people not to look at it in any way they want to but you have to be careful of the labels that you use to describe anything because people will misconstrue what your intentions are.
Now the issue about "Lift Every Voice and Sing" during the civil rights movement, in my research from Yale and Emery where I got my doctorate is that "Lift Every Voice and Sing" actually declined during the civil rights movement, a time when you would think people would be mainly in solidarity and the black power movement. But a lot of people were singing other songs such as "We Shall Overcome," other songs besides "Lift Every Voice and sing."
HOLMES: All right. Well, Dr. Askew, you stand by. We're going to take a quick break here and continue our conversation. But you're hearing one side here, but also the Reverend Jesse Jackson in fact was part of an effort to try to get this song back into the forefront to put it on people's minds. That effort was back in the '70s. He's here, going to be live with us to talk to us about his feelings of it.
Also, you've been hearing from a lot of people over the past couple of weeks, a lot of grown folks on TV arguing about race in this country. But what about young folks? What about some of the young people? Well, we have four of them going to be in studio with us here in this half-hour as well to talk about their thoughts and what we've been seeing the past couple of weeks.
It's six minutes past the hour. You don't want to go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: You are listening to what is been labeled for a long time, the black national anthem. The title of the song is "Lift Every Voice and Sing." It's been around since 1900, but some are saying, including the guy sitting next to next to me, Dr. Timothy Askew of Clark Atlanta University that, in fact, the song, the title, at least is divisive, has done research for his book "Cultural Hegemeny of African-American Culture, African-American Patriotism," looking at the song. We appreciate you being here. Talked to you before the break about why you think the song should just not be labeled that. It could apply to so many people with struggle.
Now, Reverend Jesse Jackson is actually on the phone with us. He's with us from Chicago. I can assure you why -- there he is. The reason we have to do it like this, having some weather issues there in Chicago but Reverend Jackson, we appreciate you nonetheless, being willing to hang in there with us and get on the horn at least.
Reverend Jackson, several years ago you were trying to bring this song back, trying to put it back into the black consciousness and here we are now, there is a book out and there is a professor making a case that the song is divisive in some way by promoting a sense of a separate nation, a black nation or two different nations within this one. What is your response? Do you see any credibility to that argument?
REV. JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: (INAUDIBLE) Describing a journey, a struggle, rooted deep into (INAUDIBLE) the experience of slavery, was written during the time of Jim Crow (ph) and lynching and it is descriptive.
It represents part of the multi-cultural heritages in America. Everything about the song it seems to me reflects our experience as we seek to expand the big tent to include all Americans.
HOLMES: I don't think that anyone is arguing about the message in the song of struggle. But the argument that he is making at least that when you label something "a black national anthem," when you label it that, then in fact you are doing something that's discriminatory and divisive, in his words. Do you agree with that, at least?
JACKSON: To me it doesn't stand to reason. I mean, songs rooted in our unique slavery experience, our unique Jim Crow experience and it is a song as if "We Shall Overcome" regarding our years of our silent tears when our brothers saved this far along the way. (INAUDIBLE) except the black experience. I was talking with a group this week of Latino leaders who were concerned that they're trying to remove ethnic studies in Arizona.
The attempt to excerpt ethnic studies in school, the attempt to excerpt the tape that drew about the Shirley Sherrod challenge this week, we shouldn't excerpt history. We should include history and it is the richness, the multi-culturism is the richness and genius of the American experience.
HOLMES: Well, Reverend Jackson, what would you say today, the value of the song is and the popularity even of it, a black national anthem. And there are many people I talked to, just I did an informal poll. A lot of people, frankly white people, didn't even know there was a black national anthem.
A lot of young black students, unless you go to HBCU, aren't even being taught the song even. So I guess, where would you say the popularity of the song is today and its value today?
JACKSON: You know, the song does not compete with "Star-Spangled Banner" for example, or our commitment to patriotic service in the military, our Americanness. It is simply a part of our experience. Of course, those who don't know it, ought know it and those if they are African-American, they're white, they'll appreciate it.
We have to appreciate the African-American journey. It may be a Latino journey or the Irish journey, or the Jewish journey. We have a Greek Orthodox church, they have songs of faith, or going to a mosque or you go to a synagogue. All of these songs and all this poetry is a part of what makes us who we are, a multi-cultural, a multi-racial society. I don't even understand the point of even discussing its value.
HOLMES: Dr. Askew, you still are sitting next to me. And how can you say to a guy like Jesse Jackson who has been one of those front- line soldiers of civil rights, nobody would question that. How can you say to that guy, or many like him, that this shouldn't be around today?
ASKEW: Well, first of all, I would say to Reverend Jackson how much respect I have for everything that he's done and everything he stands for in trying to bring people together. I think that he's a wonderful man and he's always been one of my American heroes.
But I keep hearing Reverend Jackson say multi-culturalism. A black national anthem title does not promote multi-culturalism. And what Reverend Jackson said about gone are our weary years, I feel him. I understand. But so many people, white, black, Asians, Hispanics have told me this relates to my people, Dr. Askew.
This isn't just for black people, so why do you have this label. I even had very militant black students, very militant black students say "Dr. Askew, if they keep calling this song "black national anthem," it is dividing us other people have also experienced the same pain that black folks have. Is our pain much more important than their pain?
HOLMES: Well, Reverend Jackson, I'll let you wrap it up here and then respond to that because ...
JACKSON: Well ...
HOLMES: Go ahead.
JACKSON: (INAUDIBLE) the Bible says remove not the ancient landmarks our mothers and fathers have set. This experience of the 246 years of slavery on (INAUDIBLE) is a part of a landmark. The other way to put it, the children crossing the Jordan River, say put 12 stones in the river. Why? So you might memorialize our struggle that those who do not know might learn.
Because if those come along and do not know the roots, they have no appreciation. In some sense it is a song of faith and struggle says a lot about America's challenge, its history and its unfinished business. You need look no further than the Shirley Sherrod experience this week in Georgia to know we need to appreciate the significance of pulling down walls, building bridges, writing poetry, singing and preaching about it. I think it is a good thing.
HOLMES: All right. Well, Reverend Jackson, we appreciate you again. We expressed why we had technical difficulty there, because of some tough weather and it's been tricky but we appreciate you hanging in there, once again keeping that phone up to your ear because of the weather issues. We are showing a picture of it. Heavy rains, got some flooding issues in Chicago, some nasty stuff.
So that's why the technical issue. But Reverend Jackson, we appreciate you hanging in there. Thank you so much, and also to Dr. Askew.
JACKSON: Well, keep lifting every voice and sing.
HOLMES: All right. Thank you, Reverend Jackson.
All right. Reverend Jackson, thank you so much. Dr. Askew, we appreciate you, again. I know you're going to be talking to many more folks and debating this issue down the road with the new book that you have out.
And to our viewers, I know a lot of you have responded to me over the past couple of days and we talked about this particular issue. We want you to continue doing it now. You heard a couple of sides here now about it. You heard it laid out from the Dr. Askew, and you heard it from Reverend Jackson as well, the significance.
What do you think? Has it given you something else now to think about, quite frankly? Please, send it to us, tjhomescnn on Facebook and Twitter. I'm at tjholmescnn, we're going to get and anxious to get some of your responses to how this is going.
Also, in America, our blog here, the story was up. You can read more about the story there as well but also a lot of comments have been coming in literally thousands to that web site. A lot of people chiming in. But again, the song not just a song. Dr. Askew saying it really serves as a barometer for race relations in this country over the years and our attitudes about being not just one nation but some kind of way we feel like we should be divided in some ways. By all means, let us mow what you think this morning.
Also, like I said, you've been hearing a lot of grown folks on TV. No offense to Reverend Jackson, also Dr. Askew, but you've been hearing from a lot of adults in this whole debate. Well, we got some young adults, some young people who are maybe trying to find their own civil rights struggle of today. Got four of them in studio here with me. We're going to hear from them. A good conversation coming up live. It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHIRLEY SHERROD, FMR. USDA OFFICIAL: My message was intended to be a message of coming together. You know, I've lived in the south all my life and I know where we came from, really, really segregated, to where we are now. Not totally together. Somewhat together. Seemed pulling apart again. So my message was about working together, coming together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. We've been having a lot of conversation about race over the past couple of weeks, it seems, but one voice you haven't been really hearing from, are the voice of the young people, what do they think about what they're seeing, of all the views you're seeing on TV. Are they really representative of the young people?
Well, I have four of them here with me. I have Garrett. I have Jonathan. I have Laura and I have Stephanie. We had a little name roundabout. But we got them here.
Guys, thank you all for being here. Over the past couple of weeks, do you all think -- what's been going on has been reflective of how you feel? Have you all been seeing stuff and have just been itching to get in there and be a part of conversation?
STEPHANIE COOPER, SENIOR, CLAYTON STATE UNIVERSITY: I know I have.
HOLMES: Yes, why so?
COOPER: As far as the Shirley Sherrod case, I think it was a case that made me feel that we still have a struggle that we need to overcome. I know that I'm not saying that racism is the only thing that was involved in the case, but I feel that some people that were in a place that had -- that can make a big decision, acted a little too quickly.
HOLMES: Jonathan, let me ask you, what did you think about what you saw in the Sherrod case?
JONATHAN AROGETI, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: Well, I thought that she was wrongly fired. I think it was mainly though a problem with the administration, and not necessarily with the president himself but with people in the administration. They really should have asked questions. They really shouldn't have jumped the gun. I understand the need to get answers out quickly, but the administration should have been at the point to say stop.
HOLMES: Laura, Garett, on the issue of race though, we could talk about the Shirley Sherrod story, but a lot of people said when you speak of race, anybody being accused of racism, people run from it as quickly as they can. It is almost the worst thing out there. When you all see quite frankly grown folks on TV arguing back and forth, what are we missing in some of this conversation that the younger generation is seeing when it comes to race? Either one of you. Go ahead.
LAURA: Go ahead.
GARETT CAMERON, GRADUATE, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, my opinion is that it really isn't about race. It's more about what Shirley Sherrod said, the monetary situation and how it is about the have and have nots and versus, you know, those who get certain perks and those who don't.
HOLMES: Laura?
LAURA SOLTIS, GRAD. STUDENT, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I think when I heard about this case I was most surprised. And I actually think that this is just as much about the media as it is about race. Asking questions if people responded too quickly or not. If the USDA responded too quickly or not. It is all predicated upon a media system that responds to controversy and charades rather than context.
HOLMES: What has been about race then? The tea party/NAACP flap that you all watched over the past two weeks or so. Are young people as focused on -- because you all are from a generation that, to the black students sitting here, you don't have to sit in the back of the bus. You have opportunity, you have things. Not to say everything is where it needs to be but you don't have that. I can ask all of you, what is your civil rights struggle of today that you need to take up?
COOPER: I know that the civil rights struggle for me is accessibility. Accessibility to resources to get further in life. Where I'm from, there aren't as many people that have access to certain standards of education, access to experience in their field, experience to get their word out and to let people know how they feel. They don't know how to find that resource to give their voice.
HOLMES: Well, Jonathan, do you feel a split? Young people -- I mean, because all the incidents we saw, it seemed like it had to be black versus white. We saw, even the Jesse Jackson comments about the Dan Gilbert, the head of the Cavaliers, said he had a slave-master mentality in treating Lebron like a runaway slave. Does that kind of language even compute for a young person these days? You studied about it in the books, but you all don't necessarily have to see it on a day-by-day basis like another generation did?
AROGETI: I actually tend to agree with what Miss Sherrod said in the first three minutes that weren't part of the first clip and what Garett said which is, the haves versus the have-nots. There is a race problem that had existed and still exists in this country but the haves versus the have-nots was really. She was trying to talk about and also what I intend to think is the bigger issue in this country right now.
HOLMES: Garett, do the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, no one's doubting their civil rights credentials but do they still speak in a lot of ways for your generation?
CAMERON: We have the utmost respect for them, what they've done in the past and what they continue to try to do, but I wouldn't necessarily say they speak for me or the people that I associate myself with. We like to speak for ourselves. So we have different things that they seem not to always identify with.
HOLMES: Who is that? Who is that young black leader out there that possibly speaks for you? Because Jesse Jackson and some of the other likes, they have big microphones, big podiums they can stand in front of but who speaks for you?
CAMERON: Well, my field, filmmakers, you know, since that's my line. Music. People who are in the media that are more close to my age speak for me, in my opinion.
HOLMES: Laura, I'll wrap this up with you. Last question here. You were kind of putting the media in check, saying it is partly our fault for stirring some of this stuff up. What would you tell people, frankly, about how do we keep from being drawn into that. Because so many of these stories did split people. You were forced to take a side, you're either on this side or that one.
What would you tell people, from a young person's perspective about keep this in check. When you hear it, you don't have to take sides. Don't fall for what the media might be feeding you.
SOLTIS: Just like your response that if people would have talked to each other, that would have made a big difference. I think if young generations talk to older generations, if we talk across racial boundaries in the midst of between black and white and people in between like myself, we get a more nuance concept of race and we can avoid these misunderstandings.
HOLMES: Garett, Laura, Jonathan, Stephanie, we should go have lunch later. I'd like to keep talking to you guys. All right. Who's buying? All right. Well, guys, really. I appreciate it. I'm so glad I could have you guys on. But we appreciate you staying here. And thanks for getting on the couch. Not a lot of space in there but we appreciate it.
Quick break here, folks. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Now, we're back with more live news at the top of the hour but right now, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE."
