CNN DOCUMENTARY: THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS

CNN DOCUMENTARY: THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDER -  June 2010

Almost thirty years after the murders of over 25 Black children, teens and young adults, CNN anchor & special correspondent Soledad O’Brien investigates the nearly 2-year siege of fear that gripped the city of Atlanta.

Although Wayne Williams continues to profess his innocence from behind bars, with his arrest and conviction, he was described as both a “monster”– and the nation’s first Black serial killer.

With exclusive access, O’Brien examines new evidence to offer viewers a new look at the persistent doubts, and decide for themselves who was responsible for all those lost young lives. Viewers will be able to vote for their verdict on this case on CNN.com.

SoledadOBrien.info

Soledad O'Brien Q&A on CNN's Haiti Documentary, Rescued

CNN's latest documentary, Rescued, premiered this weekend with the initial airing on May 8th. The program is a moving look at the suffering in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake.

O'Brien answered some questions exclusively for the Huffington Post including some personal connections like these two:

Q: How does being a mother of four yourself influence your desire to do a story like this?

A: I hope that any good journalist would say--this is a story that people need to know about. But as a mother--I guess any parent full grasps the horrible choice in handing off your child because you just can care for him because you have no job, and a result, no food. It's heartbreaking. We capture some of those moments in this documentary: a mother who begs to stay in the orphanage. But they can't take her--it's already too crowded. The orphanage is also running out of food. So, she hands over her infant--"please take him". It's so powerful and so desperately sad

Q: How do you explain the difficulties you report on to your children?

A: My children are young, ages 9, 8 and 5 year old twins. We talk a lot about the stories I'm covering and the work I'm doing. They've seen the documentary and were riveted--all four kids! Then watched it again! It's a story anyone of any age can understand. I think they feel good about the stories I tell--they get to ask lots of questions (the main one is "did babies die") and we discuss in great depth the why. Why slavery? Why poverty? Why hurricanes? Why earthquakes? I can't always answer the questions but we always discuss the issues. I think that they're developing a special understanding about the world through the stories I tell.

CNN Haiti Documentary "Rescued" Premieres Today

Rescued

Premieres: Sat. May 8,and Sun., May 9, 8 p.m., 11 p.m., 2 a.m. (one hour; all times Eastern)

CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien investigates the plight of those left most vulnerable in the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake – Haiti’s children in a new documentary, Rescued.

Told through the eyes of 7-year-old Cendy Jeune and former child slave Marckenson Oliphi, O’Brien reports on how Haiti’s orphans struggle to overcome immense obstacles – crushing poverty and the shame of child slavery.

Along the way, O’Brien interviews people connected to Haiti’s almost 400,000+ orphans – missionaries, aid workers, and relatives, all who themselves must overcome bureaucracies and a frail recovery from the powerful earthquake.

SoledadOBrien.info

Haiti’s Innocents in CNN Documentary, RESCUED

Rescued, premieres this Saturday, May 8 at 8pm ET

CNN was the first news organization to report from Haiti following the earthquake that devastated the tiny Caribbean country in January. That’s when CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien began a journey reporting on Haiti’s remarkably inspiring children.

Told through the eyes of two abandoned children and two American missionaries, O’Brien reports this powerful one-hour CNN documentary on Haiti’s children’s before, during and after the earthquake.

The two children, six year old Cendy Jeune and former child slave Marc Kenson Oliphi are Haitian orphans abandoned years ago by their parents. They represent the children whose faces appear on the worldwide appeals for charity. They survived some of the worst poverty imaginable and escaped their hardship when they were taken into an orphanage of an American missionary family.


Susette and Bill Manassero are the American missionaries who have devoted their lives to Haiti’s children. They are part of an expansive and controversial missionary community that shelters thousands of Haiti’s abandoned children. They manage the Lighthouse Orphanage, and live in Port-au-Prince with their family so that the young Haitians they care for do not have to leave their homeland.

Haiti has 380,000 children living as orphans, though O’Brien learns, in a country with unbelievable capacity challenges, the term ‘orphan’ has a complicated meaning.

"From the moment I met the children at the Lighthouse orphanage, I knew I had to return to Haiti to help put a face on the hundreds of thousands of orphans living there. Not only are they incredibly strong and inspiring, but they tell the larger story of Haiti and its struggles before and after the devastating earthquake."

After viewing an initial screening of the documentary and being so moved by what he saw, hip hop music artist and philanthropist Wyclef Jean, a son of Haiti, provided voice-overs of the Creole translations in the program, along with award-winning Haitian novelist Edwidge Danticat.


Geraldine Moriba is the executive producer for Rescued and Rose Arce is the senior producer.

SoledadOBrien.info

Getting Personal About Helping Haiti

Soledad O'Brien spent time in Haiti covering the disaster relief efforts there after the earthquake. She is working on a CNN documentary about Christian missionaries helping in Haiti, but she spoke recently about the personal efforts that people can do - including her own young children.

"My kids, their project for their second -and third-grade classes, is they got plastic bags and put in notebooks and pencils and pencil sharpeners and stickers because when I was in Haiti the kids loved these little horse stickers my son put on the back of my blackberry. They went, 'Oh, these are great.' So I said, 'We should bring some stickers next time I go.' So I brought two roller bags of 300 notebooks, pencils and stickers and it happened to be the first day of school. That was something little we did. Did it make a huge difference? No. But a bunch of kids have notebooks now. So there's a lot of things you can do that cost nothing or very little."

SoledadOBrien.info

CNN Crew Back From Haiti With Orphans

Photographer Tawanda Scott, Soledad and her producer, Rose Arce, about to board en route to Miami from Haiti. 1/21/10

21 orphans from the foundation, Cresh l'enfant Jesus who are in the process of being adopted, were flown to the U.S.

Rose on the plane with an orphan named Sandia.

Workers from Maison des Enfants orphanage tried to get more then 100 orphans to the U.S. embassy. They wanted to get the children paperwork to bring them to the US. All the children are in the process of being adopted. The bus convoy was forced to turn back because trip was slow and hot and the children were vomiting and workers feared for their health.

SoledadOBrien.info

Green Chimneys Gala Hosted By Soledad

June 5 - Soledad O'Brien hosted the Green Chimneys 60th anniversary Gala at the New York Hilton. Green Chimneys helps children through animal-assisted therapy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd and others have painted fiberglass dogs that were displayed tomorrow and will be auctioned off this fall to benefit the organization.

The event honored Green Chimneys founder Dr. Samuel B. Ross Jr. and his wife, Myra.