Today on CNN Newsroom
A Young MLK Reports on Atlanta’s Record Snow
By Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider
The winter of 2010 is off to a powerful start. Earlier this month, arctic air gripped much of the country bringing snow to many places that hardly ever see it. In Atlanta, over half an inch of snow was recorded on January 7th. That’s a lot for one day, considering the average for this southern city is just over two inches of snow a year.
According to NOAA, the most snow ever recorded in Atlanta was on January 23, 1940. That’s when 8.3 inches of snow blanketed the city. In the days that followed, young children were particularly delighted with this extreme weather event. For many of them, this was the first time they ever had the opportunity play in the snow. One of those children in 1940 was then 11-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr.
In a letter to his father, who was in Ohio at the time, the young King talked about the heavy snow that fell the day before. This letter is included in the fourteen-volume edition of King's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts, known as The King Papers Project.
Haiti's Child Slaves
In our first hour today, Ali spoke with a representative of the Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation - a group that helps Haitian children forced into hard labor against their will. If you'd like more information or to donate, you can check out their website.
Haiti: Law and Disorder
From CNN anchor Don Lemon:
Just as I started the 6 p.m. newscast on Sunday night, my producer said in my ear, “We have some new video of chaos on the streets of Port-au-Prince.” I could hear someone in the newsroom saying, “They're looting.”
But where’s the line when it comes to looting or scrambling to survive?
Sure, there are opportunists in every bunch; people who will pillage and rob just because they can. But to me it looked liked most of the people just wanted basic needs: food, water, clothing and shelter.
Later, at 10 p.m., when I presented the video to retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore’, the man who pulled New Orleans from the brink after Hurricane Katrina, he was adamant there is a sharp distinction between criminal looting and the need to stay alive.
Here’s our conversation as it played out live on CNN.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream…
From Executive Producer Cari Hernandez
Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream Speech" at a civil rights march in Washington in 1963. Do you think the U.S. has fulfilled the vision King outlined in that speech?
Post your comments here and Kyra will read some of your responses on the air in the 10am ET hour of CNN Newsroom.
Survivor's message: 'Don't cry for me'
In the Newsroom, we've been working to help as many people as possible find out about their loved ones in Haiti. Here's the story of a woman who was told her cousin died in the quake, then saw her alive on CNN. The two finally got to speak Sunday. Now her cousin has a message for the world.
Read more here.
And to see how you can help, check out Impact Your World.
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