tv 60 Minutes CBS March 20, 2011 7:00pm-8:00pm EDT
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gus: baseline, williams. 4:32 to go. 4:32 to go. 92-55. [the captioning on this program is provided as an independent service of the national captioning institute, inc., which is solely responsible for the accurate and complete transcription of program content. cbs, its parent and affiliated companies, and their respective agents and divisions are not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of any transcription or for any errors in transcription.] [closed captioning provided by cbs sports division.] [closed captioning provided by gus: the big ten may go through a transformation next season. len: why, because of the divisions? gus: no, because of some of the seniors that may be leaving. [whistle] it may be wide open except for these guys. like most advertiser, were going to run a 3-d commercial this year. in fact, we made one.
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but it didn't test well. here we go. actually, it tested too well. ah... whoa! [ man ] we concluded that running this commercial would have been inappropriate. i'm okay. so we didn't. you're welcome, america! [ male announcer ] it's the sure sign of a good time. the just right taste of bud light. here we go. ow! ♪ [ keys ] where i grew up, there was violence and crime in one direction, and the bright lights of broadway in the other. the first time i touched a piano, i knew which way i was headed. i poured my heart into every note of "empire state of mind" until it sounded perfect. and it kills me that people might not get to hear it the same way. [ male announcer ] hp touchsmart. with the intel core processor and beats audio. hear music the way the artist intended. only on hp. everybody on.
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gus: tonight on cbs, "60 minutes" followed by new episodes of "the amazing race," "undercover boss," and "csi: miami" tonight on cbs. let's take a look at the coke impressive moment. len: let's spell impressive with a capital i, as david lighty just came out here right from the beginning. every open opportunity he's had, particularly from beyond the arc, he's knocked down. 7-7 from three-point range. 9-10 overall from the field. david lighty has been just that, impressive. gus: yes. ball thrown into the backcourt. sibert trying to pick it up.
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he touched it. they'll play on. [whistle] and he threw that one into the stands. len: let's give george mason some credit. thoroughly out-manned. they've been bowled over, had the avalanche fall on him. now the snow is nice and quiet, but they're still hustling. still trying to dig their way out of it. that to me demonstrates an awful lot of pride in who they are in their program. because there are a lot of teams that would just lay down right now and start looking at the clock, hoping it drifts away quickly. gus: deshaun thomas has it knocked out of his hands. and here come the george mason patriots into the front court. len: it also helps that ohio state hasn't missed a beat, so that keeps the opponent equally as aggressive. gus: jonathan arledge in the game. now both teams starting to clear their bench. this is a time, although the game is a blowout, it's really nice to see coaches allowing
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guys that wouldn't normally get a chance to play, to say at least i stepped on the floor, got to p.t. in the ncaa tournament. len: i'm sure in the recruiting message that they were given, they told guys you'd have a chance to play. they're keeping it clear. gus: first they brought you real coke taste. zero calories. now they're bringing you the most impressive ncaa experience known to fans. get in the game at cokezerosocialarena.com. all you see in the stands, scarlet and red with a smattering of syracuse orange and marquette blue and gold and george mason green and gold. [whistle] 20,174. and standing room only. so we will advance ohio state. that brings up a pretty serious match-up, the buckeyes and
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wildcats. ohio state and kentucky. from newark. [whistle] what are the keys match-up-wise in that game? len: as i said, i think inside, kentucky will play some zone. but they mostly play man, at least from what i've seen lately. comes down to getting help from josh haralson inside against jared sullinger, if, in fact, that's the match-up that john calipari is going to go with. but by the same token, you cannot forget the perimetering because ohio state, they literally have beaten george mason from the three-point line in this particular game. but of course, that means you've got a very potent person down low that forces you to game plan from down low and leaves the shots open from the perimeter. gus: you may see the best four freshmen from the country. terrence jones, brandon knight, a true freshman from florida. a point guard.
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and then sullinger and aaron craft. and don't forget deron lamb of kentucky as well. len: ohio state, they can't expect to shoot like this from beyond the arc. if it comes, great. there are opportunities they'll have to work for and get open shots. here, even when they're challenged, they're knock them down. [whistle] gus: deshaun thomas, bounce pass. len: the flip side, ohio state on defense against kentucky, kentucky has got some very prolific jump shooters out there. you're going to have to extend your defense, get out and deny as well as contest. gus: wednesday on cbs, drama with a mind all its own. "criminal minds: suspect behavior" wednesday, only cbs.
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95-59. and as they used to say in catholic school ball, ohio state five points away from busting the clock. allen. nice play. byron allen off the bench with six points all in the second half. [whistle] and a foul up top. the three-point shot has been the story. len: it certainly has. in an attempt to keep jared sullinger out of the game, good ball movement, defense without it. defense kind of sagging. opened up the opportunity for the buckeyes to knock down some threes. and boy, have they done just that.
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gus: and the tournament record, john goldsberry was 8-8 in 2003 in the ncaa tournament. david lighty may have been able to go after that record, 7-7, but he's been on the bench for quite some time now. len: i suspect there's only one record that they're going after, and that's to get themselves etched into the annals of national champions. gus: 1960, ohio stite winning the national championship. john havlicek, jerry lucas, bob knight on that team. and jump shot going down for rashad whack. his first basket, he gets in the box score in the ncaa tournament. under a minute to go. stripped out of bounds. we'll head the other way. our next game, syracuse-marquette, a rematch
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of the game that took place earlier this season. marquette defeating the orange at home 76-70. how does that break down for you? len: here's when familiarity breeds contempt. marquette, they do a nice job of passing and slashing against the 3-2 zone. but after the other night, rick jackson is going to be the guy that's going to ignite syracuse, make him work inside. i don't think chris o'tooley or gardner are a match for rick jackson if there's a focus on getting him the ball inside. gus: and that will do it. ohio state 98, george mason 66. the buckeyes continue to steam roll through this tournament as the number one overall seed. and they'll take on kentucky in newark.
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for len elmore, i'm gus johnson saying so long from cleveland. tonight on cbs begins with "60 minutes" followed by "amazing race. gus: you've been watching the ncaa men's basketball championship. we'll send you to our ncaa studio after these messages. [ magic johnson ] i'm magic every time i leave the door,
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[ all cheering ] [ laughter ] [ smooches ] [ all ] ooh! [ male announcer ] in the network, perfect endings download faster. at&t is getting faster with 4g. at&t. rethink possible. ernie: ernie johnson in new york. tonight on cbs, all-new beginning with "60 minutes." scot pelley reports from the tsunami zone. that's followed by new episodes of "the amazing race," "undercover boss," and "csi: miami." that's tonight, only on cbs. coach rick pitino, we appreciate you spending the weekend with us. rick: i had a blast. got a different perspective on the game of basketball. kenny: why did you look at charles when you said that? rick: it's great therapy for getting knocked out of the first round.
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ernie: thanks for joining us. we'll see you back here thursday evening for the sweet 16. so for our entire staff, enjoy the night and enjoy the tournament. the night and enjoy the tournament. see you thursday. what would that do for you ? these days, they do so much more. text messaging and e-mail, camera, gps. they're really your lifeline to so many things. with best buy mobile you can look at at&t, verizon, t-mobile and sprint. the features, the pricing, the plans. we're able to help you make a better choice for yourself.
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captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> pelley: there's a reason we use a japanese word for a catastrophic seismic wave. japan has more tsunamis than anywhere else on earth, and nine days ago they saw one that rewrote history. it was triggered by a 9.0 earthquake and helped set off the biggest nuclear emergency since chernobyl. an american team is working with the japanese in tokyo in a
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desperate attempt to get the reactors under control. >> it's just so uncertain. this is unprecedented, you know, unchartered territory that the consequences could be greater than we expect. >> pitts: mark twain's "adventures of huckleberry finn" is one of the greatest works of american literature and it's always been one of the most controversial. >> why is there a big deal about this right now? >> pitts: today some school districts banned the book, and national debate over censorship has caught fire, and it's all about one word. >> one of the first things i do is i make everybody say it out loud about six or seven times. >> pitts: the "n" word? >> nigger. get over it. now let's talk about the book. >> safer: archbishop timothy dolan of new york is hard to miss. this burly, overweight, chur unic irish-american who has been called the american pope charges
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through life like a holy bulldozer. >> you bet i remember you. i would be sweating if we were outside. >> safer: hands reaching. >> where did you get the food? >> safer: a tireless promotor of all things catholic. >> i was amazed at the media coverage. >> safer: he's always ready to refuel. >> stick around. get me a cold beer. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm byron pitts. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." anythinit was 1995.
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>> kroft: there's a reason we use a japanese word for a catastrophic seismic ocean wave. japan has had more tsunamis than anyplace else on earth. and the massive 9.0 earthquake nine days ago, and the subsequent tsunami, has left nearly 8,500 people dead, some 13,000 missing and nearly a half million homeless. and it leaves japan teetering on the edge of a nuclear crisis that has already resulted in measurable amounts of radioactivity turning up in milk, drinking water and in some crops. scott pelley and a "60 minutes" team have been in japan for more than a week, travelling from tokyo to the port city sendai to the once-beautiful resort of matsushima and into the zone surrounding the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. there, tonight, emergency crews are struggling to restore cooling and stabilize pressure inside the reactors. what we have found in japan is a catastrophe that reveals both the power of nature and the
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fragility of human technology. the fukushima daiichi crisis is not one nuclear emergency, it is four potentially catastrophic events standing side-by-side. in all, there are six reactor stations; numbers one through four are in peril. last week, crews risked their lives to get water onto melting uranium fuel. through explosions and blasts of radioactive steam, a few hundred japanese joined battle with the most powerful force known to man. one of the americans responding to the emergency is julia nesheiwat. she's a state department official who was already in japan working on nuclear issues. she served, in washington, as deputy chief of staff to the director of national intelligence. in tokyo, she's been on the fukushima disaster from the start. we're providing the full resources of the united states government, everything we've got? >> nesheiwat: yes. absolutely. >> pelley: our best people are on this? >> nesheiwat: yes. they are working non-stop around
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the clock in each of the operations centers. >> pelley: they are now working side by side with the japanese? >> nesheiwat: yes. >> pelley: but that wasn't always the case. >> nesheiwat: not in the beginning, no. >> pelley: an american team of top experts arrived shortly after the disaster, but they were largely stuck at the u.s. embassy. the japanese didn't think they needed the help, but, by last tuesday, the emergency was out of control and the u.s. gave the japanese an ominous private warning. >> nesheiwat: that if we don't expand the efforts, we'll require heroic work that could be, you know, quite devastating for the workers. >> pelley: what did we mean by that? >> nesheiwat: that means they could very well lose their lives. >> pelley: an official with the u.s. government told the japanese that your people are going to have to die to save that plant unless you let us help you? >> nesheiwat: yes. >> pelley: at one point during the week, the hazard was so great, the japanese took all but about 70 workers out of the plant.
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their problem is water. the systems that keep the radioactive fuel rods cool, failed. the rods are partially melting, releasing radiation. and its not just the reactors. there are also used fuel rods, essentially nuclear waste, stored in pools nearby. they're also losing water. american experts fear one of these pools is already dry. nesheiwat told us the danger is multiplied because the reactors are so close to each other. >> nesheiwat: that is a grave concern at this time. if... if there is an explosion, if there is a meltdown, a fire, it can absolutely affect the neighboring plants. >> pelley: what would that mean? >> nesheiwat: goodness, i don't even want to think what that could mean. that's just something that... we would have to really plan for it at the greatest scale, and we're hoping and praying that that's not the case. >> pelley: all last week, the u.s. said the crisis was more grave than the japanese apparently believed, and, so
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far, the u.s. experts have been right. last wednesday, the american embassy began a voluntary evacuation of u.s. citizens. it wasn't until two days later that the japanese acknowledged the threat was greater than they'd thought. the japanese declared a voluntary evacuation zone of 12 miles around the plant. the u.s. says it should be 50 miles. there is great uncertainty. top experts disagree on fundamental questions such as whether melting fuel rods would cause an explosion or just a fire. answers are critical to planning for a bigger emergency. >> nesheiwat: it's just so uncertain. this is unprecedented, you know, uncharted territory that... the consequences could be greater than we expect. >> pelley: more than 50 american experts are in japan, including engineers from the nuclear regulatory commission and public health advisors. many are working in three joint emergency operations centers
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around tokyo. one of their biggest problems is getting a good look at the damaged reactors. surveillance pictures have been poor. >> nesheiwat: you're dealing with the smoke. you're dealing with, you know, like i said, the debris. it is just very difficult to make such an assessment of the situation. i mean, you're really trying to scrutinize the pixels of the picture. >> pelley: the u.s. team is using cameras and sensors, carried by drones in the air and robots on the ground, to get a clearer idea of what's going on. no one knows what will happen at fukushima, but it's important to remember, even without this nuclear crisis, japan has already suffered a catastrophe. this was the moment that altered the course of japanese history. the tsunami inundated about 400 miles of the northern coast. you can't picture the enormity of it, so we stopped in one
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small town. matsushima was said to be among the most beautiful places in japan, a famous vacation spot. the name has the same ring to a japanese as big sur or cape cod does to an american. "matsushima" means "pine tree island." the trees are about all that's left. what was the personality of this town? what was this place like? >> david chumreonlert: oh, everyone's very friendly. >> pelley: david chumreonlert is a native of texas who's been teaching english in matsushima schools a couple of years. we met over a canal where tourists came to fish. that's a bridge we're on. the canal is full of houses and cars. this is where the kids from the school came from. >> chumreonlert: yeah, they would come from here and around this area. >> pelley: nobiru elementary school is around the corner. david chumreonlert was among the teachers and students who were wrapping up the day when the building began to roll on the greatest quake japan has ever
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seen. >> chumreonlert: the principal was like, "oh, this is a big one, so everyone get under a desk." and then it quieted down, and the teachers were like, "let's go check the classrooms to make sure everyone is okay and start getting everyone to the gym." >> pelley: this is the earthquake-reinforced gym which stands across the playground from the three story school. >> chumreonlert: some guy with a helmet on, he came in and he was like, "tsunami's coming." and then the principal was like, "okay, everyone, run back to the school." the fifth grade teachers, he was, like, in front of the group, and he was outside. and he said... he, like, looked down this way and he saw a wall of water, so he's like, "everyone, run back inside." >> pelley: it was too late... >> chumreonlert: yeah, it was too late... >> pelley: ...to get out of the gym. >> chumreonlert: ...to get out of the gym. >> pelley: inside, there were around 200 people-- children from six to 11, parents who'd come to pick them up. less than 30 minutes after the quake, they were swept up in a surge of seawater and debris. >> chumreonlert: it was blasting through the door, and it was like, when it was hitting the walls, it would make a kind of whirlpool motion. at that point, it had risen up to the stage level, and by then everyone was on the stage.
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>> pelley: the water didn't stop there? >> chumreonlert: no, it didn't. >> pelley: what happened next? >> chumreonlert: i realized it's probably going to get higher, i don't know. so i grabbed the side of the stage, the wall, because i didn't want to get... and then, like, a grandpa and some lady who was hanging on to him, they, like, washed by me, and they managed to grab my shoulder. and so, they were, like, hanging on to me, and i could feel it getting pulled. >> pelley: what happened to the older man and woman who were holding on to you? >> chumreonlert: i don't know. i don't know what happened to them. >> pelley: what happened then? >> chumreonlert: i grabbed the railing, and i... somehow, i found my footing. i think it was the top of the basketball goal. >> pelley: the water was that deep. >> chumreonlert: yeah. it came all the way up to the second, the balcony. >> pelley: this is the goal and the railing behind. there's narrow standing room between the railing and the wall. >> chumreonlert: i saw, like, one of my kids. like, he was, like, struggling, so i grabbed him. i grabbed his shirt, and i was able to, like, pull him over to the side and he was able to grab onto the railing. and i helped heave him over. and i saw a big desk with, like, four or five of my kids, like, hanging on to it, and they were
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shouting, "help me, help, help us, help us." and i was able to grab a hold of the desk and pull it closer to me, and then was able to grab them one by one, and we were able to get them over. and then there was one more lady, and we got her over, too. >> pelley: in two hours, night had fallen. you were in the total darkness, in the freezing cold with the seawater all around you for four hours, five hours? >> chumreonlert: about six hours. >> pelley: wondering when the rescuers would come. >> chumreonlert: yeah. ( sigh ) and then the aftershocks would come, and everyone would huddle down together and, like, afraid again. >> pelley: what were you saying to the children over that long dark night? >> chumreonlert: i just kept saying, "hang in there, hang in there," and just, like, tried to give them a little smile, make them smile a little bit. >> pelley: in a wrecked house nearby, we found a child rescued from the gym, six-year-old sayna suzuki, in her grandmother's
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arms. it came all the way up to here? she told us, "the water came up to my neck, up to my face." how did you get away? "a teacher grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up out the water." we don't know if it was david chumreonlert who grabbed her. there's a lot that's unknown. how many survivors would you estimate were up there on the balcony? >> chumreonlert: i'm hoping at least over 100. i hope, hope. i'm not sure, though. >> pelley: we came back to the gym and were surprised to find those who did not survive lying across the basketball court and up there, on the stage. families searched for loved ones, lifting blankets one-by- one in a combination of hope and dread.
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there are about 85 bodies in the gym, by my count. it's now five days since the tsunami. the army has come in and done the best they can. they pulled a car out of this entranceway and wrapped most of the bodies up in army blankets. but the fact of the matter is, there is no place to put this many bodies. the morgues are completely full and, frankly, there aren't enough people to move them. it is a fact in this part of japan that, at this moment in time, there are not enough living to take care of the dead. in matsushima, we found this: one small unit of japanese self defense force engineers. they seemed to vanish in the vast destruction. they're clearing roads and searching houses, but the response so far seems strangely small. they're spread thin over the 400 miles. there's no sense of hurry. the engineers knock off at dusk,
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a sign they're not expecting to rescue anyone, not now. all across northern japan, nearly half a million are homeless, nearly a million have no power, and two million are without water. in the coastal city of sendai, a city of a million people about the size of detroit, we saw nearly 3,000 residents patiently waiting for a grocery store to open for the first time in days. there are shortages of food and lines for gasoline stretch half a mile. add to this what you might call nuclear refugees. thousands are in shelters because their homes are too close to the fukushima reactors. tomonori kato came in to be checked for radiation. he was clean, but his home is half a mile from the nuclear plant. he's lived there 50 years. he told us he expects he'll
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never return. the nuclear refugees were loaded on buses and hurried away, carrying almost nothing. not only are their homes in danger of being irradiated, but every possession they own. yoshihiko igarashi's house is three miles from the plant. his daughter was born there. she turned 20 last week in the shelter. like everyone, they've laid out a few square feet on the floor with no idea how long they'll be here. 1,600 people are in this shelter alone. it's just 20 miles from where the reactor fires are burning. if you believe u.s. experts, that's much too close. igarashi told us he feels that way, too. the japanese are, for the moment, balancing between the disaster that has happened and the disaster that awaits. the prime minister told his people they will rebuild japan, but, all along the northern coast and in the town of pine tree island, there is a powerful sense that, for now, time has stopped.
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>> cbs money watch update sponsored by: >> mitchell: good evening. at&t will buy t-mobile for $39 billion in a merger of the second and fourth biggest u.s. wireless carriers. nissan will resume auto production in japan this week. gas rose 7 cents in two weeks to an average of $3.57 a gallon. and "limitless" won at the weekend box office. i'm russ mitchell, cbs news. working in the garden, painting.
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>> pitts: from the moment it was published in 1885, mark twain's "adventures of huckleberry finn" caused controversy. it challenged authority, poked fun at religion, and was accused of leading children astray. what's surprising is that 125 years later, "huckleberry finn" is still making news. today, there are school
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districts in america that ban this american classic for one reason, one word: "nigger," a word so offensive, it's usually called the "n-word." now, a publishing company in alabama says that schools don't have to change their reading list, because they changed "huckleberry finn." their newly released edition removes the n-word and replaces it with "slave," a bold move for what's considered one of the greatest works in american literature. mark twain's "huckleberry finn" is a classic set before the civil war. the story's told by huck, a white boy escaping an abusive father, and his adventures with a black man named jim, escaping slavery. "huckleberry finn" is set along the mississippi river. in it, twain used the n-word 219 times. to some people, the word gets in the way of the story's powerful message against slavery. to others, twain is simply capturing the way people talked back then.
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are you censoring twain? >> randall williams: we certainly are accused of censoring twain. >> pitts: randall williams is co-owner and editor of newsouth books, publishers of the sanitized edition of tom sawyer and huckleberry finn that replaces the n-word with "slave". it's aimed at schools that already ban the book, though no one knows how many have. williams says they are not trying to replace twain's original, n-word included. >> williams: if you can have the discussion and you're comfortable having the discussion, have it, have it with it in there. but if you're not comfortable with that, then here's an alternative for you to use. and i would argue to you that it's still powerful. >> pitts: the new edition drew powerful reactions from twain scholars, the press, and ordinary readers, and it's worth noting most of the articles don't spell out the word, either. what's it say that people have been so passionate about it?
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>> williams: i think it says that race continues to be a volatile and divisive subject. >> pitts: in this passage, huck says the word three times in two sentences. "jim was monstrous proud about it, and he got so he couldn't hardly notice the other niggers. niggers come miles to hear jim tell about it, and he was more looked up to than any nigger in that country." what do you think of "huckleberry finn?" >> david bradley: it's a great book. it's one of the greatest books in american literature. >> pitts: author david bradley teaches at the university of oregon. he says the key to understanding huckleberry finn is through twain's use of language as the friendship between huck and jim unfolds. >> bradley: when huck comes back to that raft, he says, "they're after us." he doesn't say, "they're after you"; he says, "they're after us." and that's the moment when it becomes about the american dilemma, it becomes about, "are we going to get along?" >> pitts: school districts struggling to teach "huckleberry finn" have called in david bradley. he believes strongly in teaching twain's original text. >> bradley: one of the first
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things i do is i make everybody say it out loud about six or seven times. i get all... >> pitts: the n-word? >> bradley: yeah, "nigger." "get over it," you know. ( laughs ) "now, let's talk about the book." >> pitts: students at woodbury high school in minnesota are reading the original book. but there are differences in how their teachers approach it. nora wise says the word out loud in class; karen morrill does not. >> karen morrill: what happens when we... when i say "the n-word" and i don't pronounce n-i-g-g-e-r. people are scared to talk about race. >> pitts: are you scared to talk about it in class? >> morrill: no. >> pitts: but you will not say out loud the n-word? >> morrill: that's just such as minor part. >> pitts: aren't you giving the word more power than it deserves by not saying it? >> morrill: i didn't give the word its power; it came into my classroom with that power. why is there a big deal about this right now? >> people find the word extremely offensive. >> morrill: i might not always reach and nourish and nurture
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every single student, but i can certainly do my best not to harm them. >> pitts: when nora wise says the word, she feels its impact on students is worth it. >> nora wise: it makes sense in this novel to teach it with the controversy. it makes sense to bring up all of the hard emotions. they come with it. it's not just a classic book. it's not just the way the words are written, it's the ideas. >> pitts: 11th graders melvin efesoa, joseph jaurdio and ryan farrell are confronting the controversial word and their feelings about it. >> ryan farrell: i feel that that word is in there for a reason. twain put the word in there to get our attention. and every time we read it, it does exactly that-- it gets our attention. >> joseph jaurdio: if you replace that with the word "slave," of course, people would be less bothered, but i think twain wants people to be a little bit bothered. >> pitts: melvin, you smiled. >> melvin efesoa: i smiled because, like, i just kind of think that constant use of "the n-word," and it's... it... to me, it feels unnecessary. >> pitts: why? what is it ab.... it's just a word, right? what is it about this word? >> efesoa: it reflects on african-american history back then.
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and like i said, it's like... it's a history that nobody wants to relive. >> pitts: do you think the discomfort starts and stops with the n-word, or the discomfort extends to a conversation about race? >> williams: in this specific instance, it is the word itself that is the problem. people are not coming up saying, "well, we can't teach this book because it's got discussion about slavery." what they're saying is, "we can't teach the book because it's got all these repetitive instances of the offensive n-word in there, and therefore, we're not going to use it." >> pitts: the publisher says they are providing a service. >> bradley: they are. >> pitts: there are school districts that won't deal with "huckleberry finn," and they remove this word, and now they're able to have their students read and deal with "huckleberry finn." >> bradley: no, it's not "huckleberry finn" anymore. we're talking about students-- what are we teaching them? this may be their first encounter with slavery. it shouldn't be their only one. but that's one of the reasons we can't mess around with it.
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there is a reality there that you cannot avoid. >> pitts: but do you... do you lose that reality when you take out the "n-word" and replace it with "slave"? >> bradley: yeah. "slave" is a condition. i mean, anybody can be a slave. and it's nothing for anybody to be ashamed of. but "nigger" has to do with... with shame. "nigger" has to do with calling somebody something. "nigger" was what made slavery possible. >> williams: it's... well, the word is poison. >> pitts: you used the word? >> williams: oh, i used to. i grew up saying the word. it was all i knew. i never gave it any thought. >> pitts: williams runs newsouth books in montgomery, alabama, cradle of the confederacy, and where jim crow was once king. >> we don't want the niggers going in this school. it's a white school. >> pitts: williams, a son of alabama, says the civil rights movement changed him, as it did much of the south. for him, the subject of race and the n-word goes beyond any debate about the book.
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it's also about how far the south has come. >> williams: we learned to think differently about it, and thank god we did. i mean, the movement didn't free, you know, black southerners. i mean, it freed white southerners, too, and you know... >> pitts: freed you from? >> williams: freed us from the sin of... you know, this... this was a big... a big sin. >> pitts: kids use it-- you know, the... the rap. >> bradley: well... >> pitts: artists use it, the black rap artists use it, as you know, as i well know. brothers use it all the time... >> bradley: oh, yeah. >> pitts: ...when they talk to each other. >> bradley: i love it. >> pitts: sorry? >> bradley: i love it. >> pitts: you love it? >> bradley: yeah, yeah. "you're my nigger, man." look, what... in every group, there are words that you use, there are inflections, there is knowledge about what a word means to you or to me or... how i mean it when i say it, that is not an insult. i think one of the things that offends white people about it is that they can't say it.
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they say, "well, is it because of my inflection, or is it because..." it's... no, because it's... because you're not us. jeff foxworthy says, you know, "you can't make jokes about a redneck unless you are one." you can't "nigger" unless you are one, and unless you are willing to accept everything that goes with it, which is a lot of good stuff, you know? and that's what they want, they want that good stuff. >> pitts: what's the good stuff that goes with that word? >> bradley: having an awareness that you have... your people have overcome centuries of oppression. the pride of saying, "yeah, you can say anything you want and it won't slow me down one bit." >> pitts: but the word is hurtful. >> bradley: the word is not hurtful. how it is used is hurtful. the people who is saying is hurtful. >> pitts: 17-year-old jeremy richardson is still trying to figure out how to react to the word, especially as the only black student in nora wise's english class. >> jeremy richardson: and then, having the teacher read it out loud to everyone, then everyone's looking at me like, "oh, well, she just said that. what are you going to do about it?"
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like, i didn't really have a reaction. i just... i basically ignored the fact. >> pitts: you didn't have an external reaction? >> richardson: yeah. >> pitts: internally, though, what was going on? >> richardson: internally, i just thought about it like, this is wrong. like, i don't think that she should be saying this out loud. >> pitts: but why didn't you say something at that moment, do you think? >> richardson: i don't know. maybe because i didn't want anyone to see that i was having a problem with her reading the word. that may be it. but i definitely did have a problem with it. >> pitts: that's an uncomfortable conversation for students? >> wise: mm-hmm. >> pitts: is... >> wise: it's uncomfortable for me, too. >> pitts: wise spends three days in class talking about race even before starting "huckleberry finn." how do you balance your strong conviction about using the words that are in the book with the notion that some of your students may be pained by that word. >> wise: i don't have a callused view about the pain, i don't. but on the other hand, i do feel like any time you come up against something that creates tension or creates discomfort,
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it is a point at which you could grow. and i think that life, in general, has many, many moments like that. and i don't think that teaching kids to step away from that is healthy. >> williams: is the argument that these kids should be subjected to pain? i mean, you know, i don't, you know, see the point of that. >> pitts: newsouth books printed 7,500 copies of its edited version of "huckleberry finn," and say they've sold nearly all of them. >> williams: the only thing missing from their, you know, reading of this will be the word itself. have we taken every bit of the value of twain out? well, that's a preposterous argument. i... i just... i can't even see that argument. >> pitts: what the publisher's saying, by introducing this new edition, they can still have the teachable moment and have the conversation about race.
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you look puzzled. >> bradley: well, you t... you use the term "teachable moment," and that's what "nigger" gives you. that's why it's important to keep it there. i call "huckleberry finn" a "power tool" when it comes to education. there are so many things that pry things open. it's like the jaws of life. and you say a teachable moment-- that teachable moment is when that word hits the table in a classroom, everybody goes, "whoa!" "okay, let's talk about it. let's talk about where it came from. let's talk about why you all went "whoa," when you don't go "whoa" about anything else, when y'all don't go "whoa" when it's blasting around in the parking lot in what y'all call music. if you take out everything in a book that causes the teachable moment, you have no teachable moments. . >> welcome to the cbs sports updaiments i'm greg gumbel. here's a will be at some of the key regional semifinal matchups in the ncaa tournament sweet 16. in the east region, number four
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kentucky faces the overall number-one seed ohio state. out west, uconn plays number two san diego state. in the southeast, b.y.u. squares off against number-two florida, while last year's runner up butler battles wisconsin. for more sports news and information, go to cbssports.com. but i was still skating on thin ice with my cholesterol.
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>> safer: the past decade has been devastating for the catholic church-- seemingly endless cases of sexual abuse by priests, and bishops who turned a blind eye to it. and multi-billion-dollar payouts to victims, all of which led to a steady loss of the faithful. one man the american church hopes can change all that is timothy dolan-- for two years now, the archbishop of new york, the nation's most prominent pulpit. he's also been called the "american pope," after his election to head the u.s. conference of bishops. his mission, as he sees it, is to change a perception of the church that ranges from negative
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to irrelevant. he wants to see the old church made new-- zero tolerance of wayward priests, and an emphasis on what he calls that most pure and noble experience catholicism offers. to accomplish his mission, his main weapon seems to be that indefinable quality called charm. >> timothy dolan: make sure you pray for your bishop. come on in. off we go to work. >> safer: timothy dolan is hard to miss. this burly, overweight, cherubic irish-american charges through life like a holy bulldozer. >> dolan: hi, everybody. you bet i remember you. >> safer: his brow gleaming... >> dolan: i would be sweating if we were outside. >> safer: ...hands reaching... >> dolan: where did you get the food? >> safer: ...a laugh-a-minute hugging, glad-handing and backslapping everyone from street cops to big-time donors. >> dolan: thank you. thank you. >> safer: ...a tireless promoter of all things catholic. >> dolan: i was amazed at the media coverage. where you been? >> saferan
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