website. the website founder said 60% of the submissions she gets are x-rated. i'm don lemon on ccc. i'll see you back hear at 10:00 p.m. eastern. cnn presents begins right now. tonight, is mississippi still burning? a shocking crime. accusations of a sinister motive. >> there is no doubt they were looking for a black victim to assault and even kill in this instance. >> forgotten heroes. >> this expensive slice of california real estate is supposed to house america's homeless veterans. so guess who we found sleeping outside. fighter girls. >> would you do this for practically nothing? this single mother does.

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>> and raising questions whether authorities turned a blind eiffel drew griffin has been digging into this story from the very beginning. >> june 26th in mississippi would bring temperatures and humidity into the 90s. a breeze out of the southwest would barely move the state flag enough to see that confederate battle symbol. still displayed in its upper left corner. at 4:00 a.m. on this sunday morning, most of mississippi was still asleep. but for a group of teenagers, white teenagers barreling west on interstate 20, a mission was already underway. they were headed to jackson because in their segregated

world, jackson is we are the black people live. >> they were looking for black people. they were looking for a black person to assault. >> mississippi hynes county district attorney robert schuler smith says evidence shows those white mississippi teens had just one thing in mind. >> they discussed let go get -- let's be honest here, let's go get a nigger, right? >> that's exactly la it will show. >> it was still dark when james craig anderson walked out of a motel toward his car in a parking lot towards jackson as ellis avenue. smith says that's when the white teen-agers saw him, james, a black man alone. it is hard to imagine what happened next without using the term hate. teen-agers from mostly white

rankin county, were being laeld by 18-year-old eric deadmonde. he hated blacks, hated white people who had black friends. he hated anyone he thought was gay. and on this sunday morning after a night of drinking, he and his friends, witnesses have told police, were out to act on that hate. some of the teens there that night would tell police the teen-agers attacked that lone black man without any provocation, repeatedly beating anderson yelling "white power." then one of the vehicles drives off. darrell deadman apparently wasn't through. he had two girls in his truck as he was leaving this parking lot, a big f-250 pick yuch truck. james craig anderson, the man who was beaten almost to a pulp was stumbling down this curb.

that's when police say darrell deadman hit the gas, jumped the curb and ran right over his victim, smashing him. what he didn't know was the entire episode was being caught on a surveillance camera on the corner of this hotel. this is what was caught on that tape, obtained exclusively by cnn and we warn you, it is disturbing. james craig andon first comes in to view in the lower right corner of the screen after he was beaten, according to police. he staggers into the headlights of mr. deadman's truck. his white shirt easily visible. then the truck backs up, surges forward, the headlights glowing brightly on anderson's shirt before he and that shirt disappear beneath him. the truck runs right over the defenseless man.

>> after he does that, he drives to a mcdonald's, picks up a phone, apparently call as buddy and says what? >> according to the testimony "i ran that nigger over." >> witnesses would say he almost was bragging about it, that he was laughing about it really. >> that's what we plan to present. >> darrell deadman has pled not guilty. his attorney refused to give comments. the district attorney has classified this as a murder and a hate crime. you would think it would be a wake-up call for any town where that kind of hate could fester, but this is brandon, mississippi. think again.

>> it's just an unfortunate incident. it happened but once it happened, we haven't gone into code red, oh, my good, we've got a major problem, let's stop the traffic and everybody needs to go home and lock their doors. you know, we just kind of keep going, doing what we do. >> here where a confederate war memorial stands at the center of town, the police say there were no warning signs but we found the police are wrong. cnn has learned investigators are now looking into allegations darrell deadman and his friends had a pattern of racism and violence. how did they get away with this? >> they just never got in trouble. like they would be told on and the cops wouldn't do anything to them. they'd let them go. >> reporter: school officials ever intervene? >> no, let him go. >> reporter: coming up, did a town's indifference help lead to murder?

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we've been investigating an alleged hate crime for months. it's raising disturbing

questions about whether the hatred that haunted mississippi's past is still burning today and even more disturbing did a small mississippi town ignore the warning signs? drew griffin found in brandon, mississippi that many people new and may have looked the other way as a group of teen-agers became more racist and more violent. >> reporter: the death of james craig anderson was like the dark mississippi past come back to life. the prosecutor robert smith had on heard the tales of racial hatred from his grandfather who helped and even housed civil rights leader like medgar evers and dr. martin luther king, jr. it was before he was born in the 60s when both men were shot down in a terrible wave of terrible violence. on june 26, that ugly past was suddenly present.

when you first saw the video, the surveillance video, what was your reaction? >> certainly breathtaking, unbelievable. i thought about the fact that that could have been anyone, including myself. >> reporter: the district attorney has charged darrell dedmon, the to aeen driving the truck that killed anderson with murder. five other white teen-agers who were there have not been charged. anderson's family has kept their grief and frustration mostly private but after a court hearing, and erson's sister coud not contain her anger. >> go to brandon, mississippi

and get those our five murders who committed a violent act against my brother james ander san. restraining orders y >> reporter: you have to drive east to get to brandon. while in jackson, anderson's killing has called for marches and a call for healing. in brandon, reaction has been silent. brandon police wouldn't even remember cnn's phone calls. it was an assistant chief who finally came out to say there was no story here. are you concerned a lot of these kengs are from rankin county? not just one or two but there were seven of them who drove over there and took part in this. >> you're right. you're going to have a couple of bad seeds. one guy ran over the individual, not all six. so, you know, i can't -- i hate that it happened and i wish to

god it didn't happen here or anywhere but as far as it being, you know, we have a national problem, we don't have any more problem than any other city. it's just an isolated incident and you can quote me on that. >> reporter: but it didn't take us long to found out it wasn't an isolated incident. darrell dedmon has a criminal history, arrested and convicted of harassment earlier this year. two years ago this local pastor says he had to call police when his son was being harassed. >> and i had told jordon for a year and a half that darrell dedmon will kill you. >> he had a look of no conscience. he was blank stare. darrell always i think just carried around this backpack of

hatred. >> reporter: other students also told us they were bullied or beaten by dedmon and his friends, who called people nigger lovers if they befriended blacks. we were told school administrators mostly looked the other way as bullying and racial hatred festered. school officials declined our interview request but a spokesperson told cnn they take bullying seriously and they they had no record of troulg from dedmon. students told us dedmon and his friends were a problem, using racial slurs, calling plaques and even president obama slur words. >> it zoomed look every word that came out of their mouth was the "n" word and that they're taking over, as if it was some kind of war. >> reporter: dedmon's family has

refused to talk to cnn. so has his attorney. this man did. once close to dedmon and his friends, he now fears them. >> i believe that every one of these kids that are in the incident are dangerous and capable of many things. i just don't want my image to be seen because i'm really worried about it. >> reporter: this man told us there were other violent and racial incidents with dedmon and other friends of his. did they ever go looking for black people, hunting literally? >> yes. they're known as the racist kids, the white group. >> reporter: cnn has learned federal investigators from the department of justice have uncovered two other possible incidents where groups of white rankin county teens, including

dedmon, have sought out and attacked a black person. have you guys been concerned about these guys? not at all? >> nope. >> reporter: this man says racism is behind brandon, mississippi's silence. do you believe there's a lot of people in brandon, mississippi that may feel the same way about the killing of a black man? >> yes. yes. i've even heard it out of some of the police officers' mouths, that this is their statement, well, darrell's a good kid. he just made one bad mistake. >> drew griffin joins us now. we talked about teen-agers. what happened to the teen-agers involved? >> the five other teen-agers have been very cooperative. it's fair to say without their cooperation, a lot of details would not have come out. that being said, this investigation both federal and state is ongoing and i'm told more charges may be filed. >> how much more is going on

here? is this a symptom of a larger problem? >> you know, many people are saying this is a wake-up call for mississippi and maybe even for the rest of the nation. these are teen-agers. they didn't grow in a vacuum. parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, teachers. they go to church. these kid go to church. what pastor richardson is saying we can't all go to church and pray for mankind on sunday and then allow our kid to go and use the "n" word on monday. this is a wake-up call he would like to bring attention to. so far it's not being heard. >> thank you very much. i know you're going to continue to follow this story as it goes to the courts. >> up next, a story i've been investigating for several months now. think it have as another form of injustice. veterans back home and living on the streets. >> it was a contract, i'm going to serve my country and my

country will serve me. where did it fall apart? >> i decided to find out in my special investigation. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the peace of mind of owning a 2011 iihs top safety pick. the all-new volkswagen passat.

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for far too many americans, the street is their home. it's a life bad enough for anyone but unforgivable when the struggling men and women have already risked their lives for their country. i was stunned to find out more than 8,000 homeless veterans live in los angeles alone. what surprised me even more, there's a plot of land there, nearly 400 acres, that was donated for free just to build a

home for vets. it would have been a lifer saver for a vet i met in los angeles. you're young. how old are you? >> i'm 22, almost 23. >> and you are from this area originally? >> san fernando valley, just over the hill. >> reporter: fresh out of high school, robert signed up to fight for his country. what makes an 18-year-old join the army? >> i wanted to go to college and make something for myself and army said they'd pay for it. >> reporte >> reporter: it sort of a contract, i'm going to serve my country and then my country will serve me is it. >> sort- >> reporter: where did it fall apart? >> it began to fall apart in iraq. you saw things you probably don't want to talk about. >> no, i don't. >> you probably never want to talk about. >> no. >> reporter: robert was in a rapid response unit. he saw action night after night. >> i got back from iraq and i

was having a lot of psychological issues, i guess you could say. >> reporter: post traumatic stress? >> post traumatic stress disorder. >> reporter: back home at fort carson in colorado, he started feeling like people were out to get him. a few months later someone discovered robert's illegal sawed-off shot dht gun hidden in his pair action. he told investigators he was suicidal. at one point he spent a full day drinking, then sat on the side of the bed with the gun in he is mouth. >> i wish sometimes i would have died in iraq so that my life would have meant something, you know? >> reporter: forced to quit the army, robert ended up homeless. >> i went through some pretty bad times when i first got out. i was doing a lot of methamphetamine, my drug of

choice. i was smoking a lot of dope and i was getting in with some rough crowds. >> reporter: and many of those rough crowds were made up of people just like robert, returning veterans. as many as one in three soldiers returning from iraq or afghanistan suffer traumatic brain injury, severe depression, substance abuse or ptsd. >> i was dealing with other people that weren't so nice. >> reporter: is that weird for you to hear? >> yeah, that's reallyin comfortable actually. >> reporter: what happens when you hear a noise like that? >> it startles me a little bit but i know it's a truck. >> reporter: you see it everywhere you look, ex-soldiers like robert are desperate for steady care and for stable housing. so i was stunned to hear about a piece of property in west losses

will -- los angeles set aside for this very purpose, for veterans for long-term housing. it's literally across the street from the v.a. hospital. the story here actually dates back all the way to the 1880s. back then the government wanted to create facilities for aging veterans of the civil war. former senator john p. jones and his friend decided to donate all of this land. back then it was mostly ranch land. but today just a few miles from the pacific ocean, it is some of the most valuable real estate in all of north america. >> it was solely an act of goodwill, an act of trying to take care of the veterans that they had from the spanish american war and the civil war. >> reporter: carolinina barry is descended to the person who made the gift.

the original deed contains a condition that the land be used to establish and maintain a branch of a national home for disabled vets. and a permanent home for thousands is exactly what it was. >> they had their post office, they had a trolley system that went all the way downtown on sunday to the beach. everything was provided for them. they had a special uniform. it was a marvelous place to live and the grounds were gorgeous. i mean, they were just gorgeous. >> reporter: mark rosenbaum is the lead attorney for the aclu. >> at one point this campus housed as many as 4,000 veterans. but beginning with the vietnam war era, vets were kicked out, literally kicked out. >> reporter: around 200 veterans live on the property today, but none of them in permanent housing. alongside them empty buildings, a public golf course, a variety of private businesses, look a theater and a bus depot.

>> this land has been utilized for enterprise rent a car, marriott hotels, ucla baseball, for exclusive private schools. they know what this land's about. >> reporter: with veterans sleeping on l.a. streets, i decided to head to the v.a. to see why this land isn't used for their house be. people have said, look, that property is to the being used for that purpose. is that a legitimate beef? ♪ it gives me warmth. ♪ [ boy ] it gives me energy to help me be my best. quaker oatmeal has whole grains for heart health. and it has fiber that helps fill me up. ♪ [ male announcer ] great days start with quaker oatmeal. energy. fiber. heart health. quaker oatmeal. a super grain breakfast. nceenergy. fiber. heart health. companies you're just a policy. at aviva, we're bringing humanity back to insurance

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live in the cnn worldheadquarters, dramatic video into cnn from denver, colorado. police in riot gear confronted occupy protestors were mace and pepper balls outside the state capital. this comes from our affiliate kusa. police say they took action when demonstrators wanted to get into the capital. >> a cold, wet snow is falling across the northeast, knocking out power and snarling traffic around the roojon. there won't be any accumulation in new york and boston but people living west of the i-90 corridor could see up to a foot of snow. >> americans are believed to be among the casualties of a bloody

suicide attack in kabul, afghanistan. a taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. it was one of three today in afghanistan. >> check out this video of the u.s. coast guard unloading seven tons, 15,000 pounds, of cocaine that was seized off a submersible watercraft in central america. that's worth roughly $180 million. the haul alone equals roughly one third of all land-based drug seizure in the u.s. for an entire year. i'm don lemon. those are your headlines this hour. see you back here at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> announcer: we now return to "cnn presents." we've been investigating a story in los angeles. there are more than 8,000 veterans who don't have a home. >> it's particularly surprising when you consider that there is land specifically set aside to

house homeless vets. so why isn't that happening? i went to l.a. to find out. i wanted answers for men like robert. he's a 22-year-old former soldier and now a recovering drug addict. he was diagnosed with ptsd. he's in transitional housing with no idea what comes next. he's just trying to get back on his feet. >> i had to steal food at one point because i had too much pride to ask anyone. i still have that kind of pride. >> reporter: for vets like robert, the aclu filed suit to try and force the v.a. to build housing on 400 acres of land that it was given back in 1888. at first we called the head of the v.a. and they said we can't comment on pending litigation.

we called the department of justice and they said they can't talk either. the v.a. called us back and said their chief of staff wants to sit down and talk to me to tell us what they're doing to help homeless vets. >> we've added 700 transitional housing beds, they have medical programs, substance abuse programs. >> reporter: they also have rent vouchers. >> which enable to us put veterans in permanent housing. >> reporter: in los angeles each voucher just for veterans is worth more than $1,100 a month. this year dr. norman says the los angeles v.a. has given out 2,000. of course that's 2,000 vouchers for more than 8,000 homeless veterans. doing the math, there's not enough of these vouchers if they all called you the day after this airs. >> well, it would be shocking.

it would be wonderful. and we will figure out a way to give them emergency and advance igsal housing. >> reporter: if they're hearing you right now, what would be their next step? >> the easiest thing is to show up. >> reporter: show up at the front door is this. >> show up at the front door. we have a variety of numbers. i'm afraid to give you my secretary's number but i will. 310-268-3284 if you have questions in losses will. >> reporter: of course i did wonder how many of the homeless vets are in fact seeing this? how many could even find a phone? there's been a lot made of this property that's just about a block away from here that i think is around 400 acres that was designed for veterans. it was to provide housing for veterans and people have said, look, that property is not being used for that purpose. what of that? i mean, is that a legitimate beef? >> well, speaking for the agency and you know that's under litigation right now so i can't even comment on that. >> reporter: the v.a. will say

we are going to end homelessness by 2015. >> well, they've been saying that for decades but the most interesting this evening is that the lawyer for the v.a. walked into a federal courtroom and said we think this case should be thrown out of court. we don't think there's a basis for the v.a. to have to provide housing. >> reporter: this is the lawyers on the v.a. side, they're the ones raising the flag saying we're not sure this is possible as a starting point. >> i can't comment october litigation. i wish i could but i can't. >> reporter: you think it's possible? >> i think we have the resources in the community to end homelessness for veterans in los angeles. that i do. >> reporter: robert, who is not part of the lawsuit, says he hopes it gets resolved before his housing placement runs out and he's back out on the street. you want a new life? >> i want to get a degree. ewa

i want to graduate from college. i want to get a good paying job, buy a house, you know? the right things. >> reporter: the place that robert stays now is a group called volunteers of america. it's remarkable. like him most of the people there have no other place to go and every one of them fought in iraq or afghanistan. that's how they're living now. >> that's pretty amazing. a couple questions. first, what happens next for him legally speaking? >> well, you know, people would like this lawsuit thrown out, especially the government obviously. the federal judge has said that's not going to happen. i think they're pushing for some sort of mediation and specifically for him trying to get him his benefits back so he can get his counseling back that he's not getting and making it worse for him. >> what happens to him next? >> i think he would like to stay at this halfway house voluntarily and he wants to go back to school. that's how this whole process started. but we're going to keep tabs on him. he's an interesting guy and i think he's emblematic of what's

happening out there. coming up, women in the violent world of mixed martial arts. >> my mom would cringe, oh, my good, you're so pretty, why are you doing this to yourself? >> that's exactly what we wanted to know, too. that's up next on "cnn presents." when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can create my own plan to pay down large purchases faster... or avoid interest on everyday items. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today.

it's brutal, sometimes bloody and wildly popular. it's mixed martial arts, mma for

short, and it can be very lucrative if you're a man. >> yeah, but if you're a woman, not so much. it's a very different story. so why would any woman climb into this cage for all-out combat for what amounts to almost nothing? >> our amber lyon follows along a mother to find out the answers to that question. our warning to you, some of the images are pretty graphic. >> reporter: they're tough, skilled and not afraid to be sexy. in an exploding sport dominated by men, these female fighters fight for much more than a win. they want respect. why do you fight? >> it's very empowering. it's the hardest sport out there. there's nothing you can do to tess your limits more than mma. >> reporter: michelle gutierrez is a pro mma fighter, that's

mixed martial art, a full combat sport. we're talking two fighters in a cage, no pads. once banned across much of the u.s., today mma is one of the fastest growing sports among men and women. >> hey, michelle, how are you? >> good to see you. >> welcome to throwdown. >> reporter: so this is your home away from home? >> it is. >> reporter: a house she spends up to 40 hours a week in, training, in martial arts to wrestling. >> this is called a triangle. >> reporter: i feel that. so your goal in this is to choke me? >> i want you to pass out. you're choking and tap. >> reporter: but when michelle isn't spending 40 hours a week practicing takedowns, she

spending another 40 hours pouring drinks because the sport she loves doesn't pay anywhere near enough to support this single mother. do you make more money bartending or fighting? >> bartending. >> reporter: wow. >> as slow as it is in here right now, i make more money in two days than i walked home with in my last fight when i was split open like a water mellon. >> reporter: michelle isn't kidding. by some accounts her last fight was one of the bloodiest in women's mma history. >> she grabbed my braid. i had my hair braided like i always do. she grabbed it and kneed me in the face and cut me open right here. she hit an artery so it was bleeding like all over the place so they had to stop it due to blood. when i see it, it makes me sick a little bit but in other ways it's beautiful, almost like a warrior shot. you know, that's me, i fought. i would have continued on

fighting if the referee would have let me. i would have continued on. i thought that was kind of a beautiful picture. >> reporter: some would say that -- >> some people are repulsed by it. >> reporter: it is hard to watch at times, which begs the question why would do you this for nothing? even michelle's late mother didn't understand at first. >> my mom, she'd cringe and, oh, goo god, you're so pretty, why you are doing this to yourself? >> reporter: but her mother did eventually come around. >> see started to accept it a little bit and was giving me kind of her approval, you're the only person who has a dream and i want to you do it. i feel like when she died a little switch flipped in my head answered just went all mma. >> reporter: and it is this raw brutality that may pose one of the greatest hurdles to women's mma. according to insider likes

fighter kim couture. >> there's a lot of guys we come across that doesn't like it, they don't want to see it. >> reporter: but is it repull shun or exposure keeping these women from the really big pay da days? the ultimate fighting championship has the largest crowd, purses and sponsors but it's a boy's club, no women. dana white is the founder of the ufc and he has been criticized for his decision to exclude women, especially after this tmz video went viral last year. >> when are we going to see women in the ufc, man? >> never. never. >> reporter: dana declined our request on an interview on this story but he did recently speak with cnn about female fighters and defended his refusal to include women in the ufc this way. >> the problem is right now, there aren't enough good women to create an entire division.

>> reporter: but michelle and other female fighters we spoke with aren't buying that argument. >> every promoter has at least one female might on the card. like every card on the undercard there's a girl on the fight. that's a lot of girls in the main event. >> reporter: and to be fair, michelle's point isn't completely lost on the president of the ufc. >> as the sport continues to grow in popularity and more and more people start taking martial arts, you know, it's inevitable. you're going to see a lot of women competing. >> reporter: but for now for michelle, it's still a question of slinging drinks, scraping by and fighting for nothing more than respect. living on that dream that someday soon she'll punch her way to the top tier of the mma and what that would mean for her and fighter girls everywhere. >> it would mean not having to work at a bar. it would mean just being able to train and be a true professional

athlete. it would be huge. it would man everything to us girls. this next story we have is also one of perseverance. >> coming up kiss

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