and all of that produced in the south bronx. >> that's right. as we would say in the south bronx, all that and a bag of chips. >> hinojosa: so a lot of people, when they think of the south bronx, 1960s, '70s, when you were growing up... >> right, right, right. >> hinojosa: ...their image is of a place that was entirely desolate, that was, you know, in destruction. >> right, right. >> hinojosa: but for you, it was a totally different reality. >> well, there was that element to it. but i always say that i was very fortunate to have grown up in that time period, because the culture, as far as latino and african american culture, particularly afro puerto rican, afro cuban culture, and obviously african american culture, were in full force in the streets, particularly in the summertime, because we had rumbas in the park all the time. that's when you'd hear people playing drums, conga drums, and playing this beautiful rhythm. >> hinojosa: now, i'm going to stop you right there, because i bet some people are saying, "they had what in the park?" rumbas.

as margaret said, in 1949 we came to the south bronx, which was an irish neighborhood, mostly. i was sort of a spaced-out kid, destined obviously to be a poet. i was this big at 13 and i was a good rollerskater and the kids were amazed and they befriended me. after a while, they recognized that i had some sort of athletic ability and because i was so spaced out, they mistook it for great courage and if they pushed me, i pushed them back. it was just like a game. so they took to me and asked me to join the shamrocks. i even changed my name from ed vega to ed mcveigh. and this is how they passed me off because most of the teams they played were other irish kids. this was a regular football team so, consequently, they listed me as eddie mcveigh. it was great fun and my friends were jimmy flynn, paddy o'connor. my siblings married the shenny's and i almost married a catherine finerin but it didn't work out. i have a nephew, sean patrick mcflynn. i always question myself because my writing about the irish is really my writing about myself coming to the united states and coming into

they went to the south bronx in new york city to get a first look at the problem.band and wife both working to support to feed their children but had to turn to the food pantry. i talked by satellite, how can a nation live obesity epidemic have a hunger problem. >> we make poor choices, high calorie foods and that can lead to an obesity in a setting of under nutrition. >> find more on the special series, crisis in america at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 and world news with diane sawyer. we work with bay area food banks to end hundredser. you can donate money online or food feongsz can be dropped off. to find your local food bank drop-off call (speaking in international language) and he said unto them go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel preach the gospel  ♪very creature in the world. (applause) whoa. you gotta be kidding! you guys are exactly who i had in mind when i cated my new jumbo breakfast platter. it's a ton of food: 8 of my new mini pancakes, hash brown sticks, scrambled eggs, plus bacon or sausage, all for only $2.99. it's just the

they went to the south bronx in new york city to get a first look at the problem.usband and wife both working to support to feed their children but had to turn to the food pantry. i talked by satellite, how can a nation live obesity epidemic have a hunger problem. >> we make poor choices, high calorie foods and that can lead to an obesity in a setting of under nutrition. >> find more on the special series, crisis in america at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 and world news with diane sawyer. we work with bay area food banks to end hundredser. you can donate money online or food feongsz can be dropped off. to find your local food bank drop-off call 1-800-8 every day potentially harmful germs can collect on the surface of a denture. leading regular toothpastes are not designed to kill the bacteria that polident is designed to kill. polident's unique microclean formula has been proven to eliminate thousands of times more of the germs that can grow on dentures than leading regular toothpastes. that's why it's best to clean your denture by soaking in polident. not just once or twic

and when we asked, it led us here, to one of the toughest parts of new york city, the south bronx, whereo, ma'am. >> stahl: are you her grandmother? >> rivera: no. >> stahl: she's her grandmother's mother. you're her great-grandmother? >> rivera: yes. >> stahl: and she's had rhonda since she was a baby. do you know your mother? >> rodriguez: yeah, i know my mother. >> stahl: is she in your life? >> rodriguez: no, she comes around, like, probably twice or three times a year. >> stahl: that's painful. >> rodriguez: yeah. it's been happening all my life, so i'm pretty much used to it, so... >> stahl: and she's not alone. it turns out that the entire building where rhonda lives is set aside for kids being raised by grandparents. rhonda's friend yolanda, who had been the first to audition, lives two floors up with her great aunt, melvenia smith. yolanda met her father for the first time ever just last year. >> melvenia smith: he came to my house and he told his big, elaborate tale about, "i'm here for you." he gave her $20 and, "i'll be back on sunday to take you to the movie." she stayed hom

but how terrible of them to give money so the she can send mail orders into homes in harlem and south bronx until parents this is an alternative school. post that even though they won't get in? >> guest: some of them will get him. one in seven will get into the lottery but if she had to wait and joe klein had his way, and mike had his way, seven and seven would get in because they'll be able to expand those schools. >> host: what were the plans were burned education over the 1 million children that were not going to go to charter schools? a system of 1.1 million is that you and i are in total agreement. there are some misguided reforms again. the only way is, as i say, you are asking this question to me as if it's a hostile question we know because -- >> host: i'm not asking a hostile question. >> guest: you have to keep hitting away at the system. the first thing you have to do is allow the people who operate the system to be held accountable. and the people who work in the system to be held accountable. you have to give them the tools, and then you have to go, as i say, revamp in the cont

. >> reporter: at city harvest mobile market in the south bronx, it's free vegetables that draws a crowdmother has three children that can look forward to dinner. why do you come to the food pantry? >> to feed my kids. >> normally, what kind of food are you able to afford? >> rice. >> repororr: in 2009, one in five children lived in households that relied on emergency food assistance. through food pantries, kitchens, shelters. and markets like this one, that rescues surplus food from m arby restaurants and farms. mother of five, cynthia caldwell, has a job at a nursing home. >> this goes a long way to feed my children. >> repepter: why don't you qualify for food assistance? >> $38 over. i make too much. >> reporter: i wanted to see just how she's making it work for her family. how are you? even though she had just come off a grueling shift at work. you went from a 16-hour shift to a food pantry. >> yes. >> why was that? >> because i needed the stuff. i feel overwhelmed sometimes. we're not very thrifty. we might be able to survive. my husband wants to work two or three jobs. we can do th

at city harvest mobile market in the south bronx, it's free vegetables that draw the crowds.en who can now look forward to dinner. why do you come here to the food pantry? >> to get food for my kids. >> reporter: normally what kind of food are you able to afford? >> rice. >> reporter: rice. does this help your family? >> yes, it helps me a lot. >> reporter: in 2009 nearly one in five children lived in households that relied on emergency food assistance through food pantries, shelters, kitchens. here you go. and markets like this one which rescues surplus food from nearby restaurants and farms. >> how are you? >> reporter: very well. >> welcome to the market. >> reporter: master chef frank falcinetti donates food from his restaurants to help families out during tough times like this. >> corn, carrots and tomato salad. >> reporter: today, a bonus. a cooking lesson too. everyone would be hoping the economy would be kicking in right now. >> it's kicking in. it's kicking everybody in the butt. the first thing that gets cut is food, you know, instead of three meals, you cut it down

from ivy league schools and can't find jobs, think of 17-year-old african-american guys in the south bronxry indiana that drop out of school. they are looking at 30, 40, 50 years of unemployment. >> there was another great piece, you mentioned the "nightly news." ron allen did a story about a town in rhode island that declared bankruptcy. it had so much debt, it was cutting firefighters. the fire chief's salary was cut in half. this was going to happen in bigger and bigger cities. it's a snapshot of a small town. how to pay out pensions and health benefits for city workers. they can't run up more debt. you are going to see that in bigger and bigger cities. >> it's much more like grease and other countries in europe. they are going bankrupt when you talk about it. >> i'm going to sound completely out of touch with reality, political reality, ignorance truly is bliss, michael steele. >> yeah. >> the past couple days have felt different to me. the days after the shooting of gabby giffords. i felt something was going to change in the media world and it did. it really did. i really think the cr

i suggest that these people with graphs hop in a car, go to south bronx, compton, gary, indiana, see what happens, and i submit to you this, if i was making an observation as an alien and i look at statistics, large, predominantly black neighborhoods, non-white neighborhoods, i would see tremendous amounts of crime and violence. if i noticed areas of white neighborhoods, buhigher education and productivity to the biggest myth is that if people don't have money that leads to crime. we were poor white trash but we did not urinate on the streets -- host: what is your conclusion? caller: non-whites are more predisposed to crime. it is in the disposition. come out of your bubbles and look at reality, look at the cities. they are destroyed -- host: all right, you have had enough time to make your case. guest: i will not speak for director lynch, but i live in neighborhoods, too, and even those who do statistics for the living litigated a life. i would point out a few things to the colored -- bang. even those who do statistics for a living out of that day to day life. i would point out a fe

far rockaway channel in queens and south beach and midland beach and other low-lying areas on staten island and battery park and some sections of manhattan and the bronx i said before, we are adding a full evacuation of all people living in private homes or apartments in the rockaways, and in addition, you should know that mta service including subways and buses and rail roads will beginb to shutdown tomorrow at noon, and jay walder will describe that in other measures in a moment, deend ping upon the effect of the storm, let me caution you, also, in regards to the mta, service may or may not be restored in time for rush hour monday morn, so i urge the employees to check with their employers regarding business openings on monday. now we have never done a mandatory evacuation before, and we wouldn't be doing it now if we didn't think that this storm had the potential to be very serious. the best outcome would be if the storm veers off to the east and doesn't hit us or hit us hard, but we can't depend on mother nature being so kind. we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. just because this is the first time we have had a mandatory evacua

broad channel in queens, south beach, midland beach and other low-lying areas on staten island. battery park city in manhattan and small sections of the bronx a full evacuation of all people living in private homes or apartments in the rockaways. in addition, you should know that mta services will begin to shut down tomorrow at noon and jay walleder will describe that and other measures in a moment. depending on the effect of the storm, let me caution you also in regards to the mta that service may or may not be restored in time for rush hour monday morning. i would urge employees check with their employers regarding business openings on monday. now, we've never done a mandatory evacuation before. and we wouldn't be doing it now if we didn't think this storm had the potential to be very serious. the best outcome could be in the storm veers off to the east and doesn't hit us, doesn't hit us hard. we can't depend on mother nature being so kind. we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. just because this is the first time we've had a mandatory evacuation in any part of the city, i once again want to repeat, this is very serious.

south beach, mid land beach and other low-lying areas on staten island. battery park city in manhattan and small sections of the bronx we are also adding a full evacuation of all people living in private homes or apartments in the rock aways. in addition you should know that mta service, including subways, buses and railroads will begin to shut down tomorrow at noon and jay walder will discuss that and other measures in a moment. let me caution you also in regards to the mta that service may or may not be restored in time for rush-hour monday morning. so i would urge employees checking with their -- to check with their employers regarding business option on monday. now we've never done a mandatory evacuation before, and we won't be doing it now if we didn't think this storm had the potential to be very serious. the best outcome would be if the storm veers off to the east and doesn't hit us, doesn't hit us hard, but we can't depend on mother nature being so kind. we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. just because thinks the first time we've had a mandatory evacuation of any part of this city i once a