made by four men who said their pastor coerced them into sexual situations when they were teenagers. now after a lengthy wait, bishop long finally spoke the words many in his congregation were waiting to hear and cnn's martin savidge was there. >> reporter: standing before an overflowing crowd of congregants in the mega church he built, bishop eddie long was in no mood to back down. >> there have been allegations and attacks made on me. i have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man, but i am not the man that's

being portrayed on the television. [ applause ] >> that's not me. that is not me. >> it was long's first public comments since four young men filed lawsuits accusing him of using his spiritual position and the church's wealth to coerce them into sex. [ siren ] >> so many came to hear what long had to say, traffic was still snarled as service began. what do you hope to hear today? >> the truth. the truth. >> inside, parishoners waited an hour for their embattled pastor to appear. when he finally did, walking hand in hand with his wife, the crowd came to its feet. clearly feeling at home, long acknowledged those listening went far beyond his unusual sunday morning crowd. >> good morning, new birth. >> good morning. >> and good morning to all our

other guests. >> reporter: when long eventually turned to the scandal itself, the levity was gone. >> i've been accused. i'm under attack. >> reporter: and his intentions became clear, describing a legal battle of biblical proportions. >> i am not a perfect man, but this thing i am going to fight. [ applause ] >> and i want you to know one other thing. i feel like david against goliath, but i've got five rocks, and i haven't thrown one yet. >> reporter: afterwards, a much more subdued long appeared before the news media. >> on the advice of counsel, i'm not going to address the allegations and the attack that's been levied upon me at this moment. >> reporter: then he left without taking questions, leaving parishoners with mixed impressions of whether the truth

they had south -- sought is what they actually heard. >> he's innocent and he didn't do anything. i believe him. >> he really didn't say anything. it seemed like he avoided the subject. he just said what he wanted to say. >> reporter: martin savidge, cnn, georgia. >> and coming up in ten minutes here on cnn, the legal merits of this case. will it hold water in court? we'll delve into that. it's going to be a sleepiness night for a lot of people in the upper midwest especially in central wisconsin because happening right now a levee on the wisconsin river is failing causing emergency officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order. checking out all of this and all the developing weather news is jacqui jeras, our meteorologist here. what's going on? >> reporter: hard to believe, sun was shining and a gorgeous day in wisconsin but the heavy rain that fell on thursday finally caught up with them. we're talking about areas in central wisconsin near a town called portage where a very old levee system is now failing.

this is the caledonia levee near the town of portage, wisconsin, on the south side of the river. this is a 14-mile long levee basically made out of sand, and it started deteriorating today. it's about a third of the way gone, and they are concerned that 60 to 100 homes could be threatened if the levee fails all the way, and they think it's pretty imminent. that's what we're being told by columbia county officials here. there you can see homes downstream which have already been flooded and the river has reached record levels. here you can see the river gauged now on the wisconsin river at portage. it's just within inches of that record height. unfortunately, that pressure will stay on the levee for at least a day and a half before it starts to recede so a very dangerous situation and many rivers remain out of their banks, all across parts of the midwest. we've got renewed flood concerns tonight, don, across parts of the southeast. more details on that with your travel conditions coming up later in the show. >> thank you very much. the pentagon says it burned nearly 10,000 books this week.

what is it trying to hide? president obama hits the campaign trail ahead of mid-term elections, but will it help democrats at the polls? that's ahead, and our political ticker. don't just sit there. be a part of our conversation. send us a message on twitter or facebook or check in on four square, part of our eatocracy project. [ female announcer ] your precious eyes.

when allergies make them itch, don't wait for your pills to kick in. choose alaway, from the eye health experts at bausch & lomb. it works in minutes and up to 12 hours. bausch & lomb alaway. because it's not just your allergies, it's your eyes. going great, babs. made it really easy for customers to manage their car insurance policy online. well, you know that's why we have 24/7 support, so customers can call us anytime.

[ in a robotic voice ] does not compute. error. [ all ] error. error. error. malfunction, babs. beep. boop. boop. ha ha. very funny. powering down. [ new guy ] we're not really robots. [ thomas ] i thought we were. [ male announcer ] want a great deal on car insurance? go to esurance. it is time right now for a senate politics update. keeping our eyes on the latest headlines on the cnn.com political ticker and previewing the week ahead for you. let's join cnn's political editor mark preston from the best political team on television. mark, what's crossing right now, sir? >> reporter: don, as you said, we've got some real interesting

new poll numbers on the tea party, and we'll get to those in a moment, but let's talk a little bit about what's happening this week. a very, very busy day, the days ahead on the campaign trail. let's start with monday. vice president biden is in new hampshire, and he's campaigning for democrats carol shay-porter and carl hodes and the mississippi governor haley barbour will be in new hampshire campaigning on behalf of john steven who is running for governor up there. the republican running for governor. on tuesday president obama holds the first of four major campaign rallies before election day. he'll be in madison, wisconsin. skipping ahead to thursday, vice president al gore will be in tampa, florida, campaigning on behalf of kendrick meek, the democratic senate nominee in that state. on friday, former massachusetts governor mitt romney goes to florida. he'll be campaigning for the republican gubernatorial nominee down there, mr. rick scot, and moving on to saturday, indiana republican congressman mike pence is in iowa.

he is going to deliver a speech to the iowa for faith and freedom coalition, not to be outdone, tim pawlenty this week, the minnesota governor, will also be in new hampshire for john steven, so for my count, don, you're talking four potential republican candidates going to some very important states campaigning as we head into the 2010 midterms. >> hey, mark, i hear you have poll numbers and it's about how americans view the tea party. i'm interested in that. what did they show? >> we talk a lot about the tea party and its effect on american politics, but let's look at these numbers right here. this is from the most recent cnn opinion poll released, we asked friday and over the weekend -- do you think the tea party is too extreme, mainstream or just unsure about the tea party? look at these numbers. it shows that the country is actually split, 43% say the tea party is too extreme. 41% say the tea party is mainstream, but let's cast that forward a little bit. how influential is the tea party?

let's look at this number. are you more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who the tea party supports or who the tea party opposes? 50% of americans, half of americans say that they would support the candidate that the tea party supports so the tea party, clearly a very influential political force, don, as we head into the mid-term elections. >> what can we expect to see from the tea party in the next few weeks, mark? >> well, don, we've seen it already. in the primaries they have been able to knock off several republicans they didn't think were conservative enough, but heading into the final weeks into election day, let's look at three specific contests, alaska, joe miller, the candidate that they backed, that defeated lisa murkowski, the republican senator from that state. murkowski is running as a write-in candidate so expect the tea party to pour as much money and resources to make sure miller wins that race. let's shift down to nevada, with sharron angle the tea party candidate beat back a crowded field including a republican establishment candidate in that

race. she's taking on senate majority leader harry reid. expect the tea party to pour a lot of money into nevada, continue to pour a lot of money in nevada. if the tea party wins that race, the symbolic victory would be huge and let's end up with delaware. we spent a lot of time talking about delaware and christine o'donnell. again, another candidate would be nowhere if it wasn't for the tea party. with the tea party's help, don, christine o'donnell was able to defeat the republican establishment candidate mike castle in that state. polls show that christine o'donnell will have a difficult time trying to win this election come november. however, the tea party is expected to put a lot of money in that race. again, if they win that race, that seat was held by vice president joe biden for 36 years. it would be another huge symbolic victory. don? >> great report. thank you, mark preston. for the latest political news go to cnnpolitics.com. bishop eddie long speak ing publicly about allegations that he molested four young men. how did his message, morning message, play with church members, and when we come back

we'll hear from someone who was there. when i brush, i like to do a really mediocre job. i love running my tongue across my teeth and feeling all the stuff i missed. [ male announcer ] no one really wants plaque left on their teeth. done. [ male announcer ] but ordinary manual brushes can leave up to 50% of plaque behind. oral-b power brushes are inspired by the tools professionals use, to clean away plaque in. for that dentist-smooth, clean feeling every day. fight plaque with real power. oral-b power. get 50% off oral-b power brushes for a limited time. visit oralb.com for details.

gabrielle richards has been a member of bishop long's church for eight years. she was in church this morning to hear him address the allegations, and tonight i spoke with her about her minister's message to the congregation. >> i was so proud of him, the way that he came out with his head up and with his fabulous wife, and he -- he showed the strength that i'm accustomed to, and this is the bishop long that i know. >> yeah. did you want to hear it earlier? i mean, be honest. you said it's good, but did you want to hear that earlier? >> earlier, you mean, as soon as allegations came out? >> well, sooner. didn't have to be as soon, but did you want to hear from him earlier than today? >> i respected his decision to wait and speak to his family, his new birth family, and that's a very respectable thing.

>> what was it like being in the congregation this morning? what service did you go to? >> i went to the 8:00 service. >> and 10,000 people were there? >> it was packed. it was awesome, and everyone was there to hear bishop say what he had to say, and bishop long did a great job assuring us that he's still -- he's still bishop long. >> when he spoke to some of his members and he said what his members may be going through, so let's listen to that and then we'll talk about it. >> okay. >> it's extremely difficult time for you because many who have called you and asked you questions and all of these kind of things, you ain't never got this many phone calls in your life. >> are you getting phone calls besides from cnn or people calling you? >> definitely. people want to know. they want to know what's going on with the bishop, and i say

you can wait until sunday and hear, and they heard today. >> yeah. anything change for you about the bishop, about the church or whatever? you going to continue to be a member of the church. has anything changed for you at all? >> nothing has changed. my love for the ministry, my love for bishop and his family has not changed. >> gabriele, thank you, again, very brave to come on. we had two other members who were supposed to come on but they didn't. i applaud you for coming on and taking up for the bishop because we don't hear his side. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity to come on and show the positive side and our point of view. >> bishop long has a high-powered legal team to defend him, including former u.s. assistant attorney craig gillum. earlier tonight we had a conversation about the merits of the case and the charges. >> a lot of these cases usually do end up in a financial settlement because it's embarrassing to the person, you

know, the case has been brought against. >> okay. >> one thing i'm worried about is the possibility of criminal charges. >> the one thing we did not hear from eddie long is i did not do it. so i think one of the things you might see it an extremely aggressive strategy that turns the mirror on the victims as opposed to on himself. i think it will be very interesting to see how things play out. but a very interesting strategy has been mounted. she's also sort of preparing a strategy that i think will help potential jurors lean on her side. >> what do you mean by that? can you explain real quick? >> i'll give you an example. if you look at the complaint, one of the things in the complaint, in addition to like failure to intervene and failure to supervise, she talks about how these boys were ordinary straight boys who tried to have girlfriends and eddie long wouldn't let them, so for a jury pool they see this as ordinary straight 16-year-old boys being preyed upon by a gay minister. that's the way it's spun as opposed to gay church members who had an inappropriate relationship above the age of

consent. even though there are other issues that may not be legally germane, in the court of public opinion and in the actual jury pool eddie long's people will have some problems. >> marc lamont hill and sunny hostin. the pentagon admits to destroying thousands of books. it says it's protecting national security, but is it really repressing free speech? don't ask, don't tell is being challenged on several fronts. ahead we meet a retired air force master sergeant who is gay. he served honorably but lived a life in the shadows. how do you spot the guys who always do a super job ?

just look for a business with the superguarantee® shield. you'll get the job done right, or we'll help to make it right. protect yourself with the superguarantee® only at superpages.com®. protect yourself with the superguarantee® ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ ♪ i like your messy hair ♪ i like the clothes you wear ♪ i like the way you sing ♪ and when you dance with me ♪ you always make me smile

[ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn hotels, you always can. holiday inn. stay you. and now stay rewarded with a sweet dilemma. up to five free nights at any of our properties or double points. when allergies make them itch, don't wait for your pills to kick in. choose alaway, from the eye health experts at bausch & lomb. it works in minutes and up to 12 hours. bausch & lomb alaway. because it's not just your allergies, it's your eyes. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke.

the pentagon says it destroyed 9,500 copies of a new book in the name of national security. defense officials say the first version of operation dark heart by lieutenant colonel anthony schaeffer contained classified information, including names of american intelligence officers. that's according to the "new york times," but the author who serves in the army reserves says his book was fully vetted before printing. it's his memoir about his time leading a covert operation in afghanistan. >> we did go through a very lengthy review process, and that process included interviews by a researcher to make sure that we had information from original sources as well as research from public sources which put it all together into the thing, and keep in mind, don, this is not simply a memoir.

we wanted to make this a lessons learned and a path forward so the idea was to give the reader an idea of what it's like being on the ground running this stuff and at the same time learn what happened regarding the tipping point for the war in afghanistan and areas we stayed away from. technology, any areas with names undercover -- >> colonel, i go back to my original question to you. what's going on here? >> look, i -- i would be speculating. i've heard rumor. there's a lot of things out there about why. you know, they have cited regulations, but i used the process given to me. my aide consulted with me a lot at the beginning of this project. we walked through it and got the clearance in january, and, you know, one of the rumors is that the wikileaks thing had an effect. >> yeah. >> i connect the dots, and i think the wikileaks thing was a bit of a blur and my information pre-dates some of the wikileaks, the isi, the problems with the taliban resurging and iranians by a full year, and i think there may be issues there that people were uncomfortable coming

out at this point in time. >> i'm glad you said that about wikileaks because i had a hard time putting my arms around exactly what it was and if it meant anything and i think they probably think this is more detrimental to national security than the wikileaks thing was. listen, you should probably thank the pentagon for destroying your first edition because the redacted version when we last checked was number two on amazon, it's a best-seller. >> don, i feel -- look, the army received notification from defense intelligence agency on the 13th of august saying, you know, essentially if this book is published, the free world will fall. and when i received it, i looked at it, and as a soldier i said you don't want to give me this. if you give me this this won't have the effect you want it to have. they gave me the memo and the rest is history. there's another way of doing this. if there's real security concerns let's get this offline and not make it public. the fact that they have done this.

i'm grateful to the pentagon for the amount of free publicity i've gotten over it but i think could have been done differently. >> i have to ask you this as a man in uniform. you're speaking about against the destruction of your book. could you get in trouble for this? it's a code of military justice. it has rules against officers speaking out against superiors. >> i'm not -- no. i'm not speaking out against the destruction. i think it was done for the wrong reasons is what i'm saying. >> we did get a response. cnn did receive a response about operation dark heart. it is from lieutenant general ronald burgess with the pentagon's defense intelligence agency. here's what he says. the dia's investigation identified significant classified information. the release of which i v determined could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security. the manuscript contains secret activities of the u.s. special operations command, cia and national security agency. an attempt to repeal don't ask, don't tell failed in the senate last week.

the policy refuses to let gay people serve open in the military. cnn photojournalist ken toohey has the story of a gay air force master sergeant who retired after hiring -- after hiding his sexual orientation for 21 years. >> my name is dan zaborowski. i joined the air force in '85, and retired in 2006. what was different about me being in the air force is being gay and having a partner. >> you can see it's kind of running there. got to make sure you don't get too much on your brush. >> oh, okay. >> my name is mark byrd. i'm originally from ellisville, mississippi. we've been together 19 years. every time dan's had orders for a permanent change of station, pcs, i've gone with him, and i was happy to do so because, you know, i love him, and that's what a spouse or a partner will do. >> wrap her up.

>> when dan had functions at work, i would not attend. >> you know, if it was a gathering of friends, that would be easier than going to an air force function. usually air force functions i would leave him at home. >> if we were to slip up and someone -- if someone would have found out that we were gay, you know, that could have cost dan his career. >> i retired from the air force four years ago. mark was there. >> for the ceremony, we -- we went into a room and we sat down with his colonel. >> i had asked my colonel if i could recognize mark with a certificate the way they recognize our spouses. >> and you can see the colonel, he got very uncomfortable, he's like oh, we can't do that. >> so i wasn't able to give mark a certificate but during my speech i was able to present mark with a shadow box that represented the years that we were together while i was in the air force, and i recognized him as my best friend who had been

behind me most of the time. >> the don't ask, don't tell bill had passed, the 21 years that i served would not have been in vain, something good will have come out of fact that, you know, maybe i had to conceal who i was, but, you know, in the future men and women will be able to serve openly and not conceal who they are. it would have been really great to have had seen this pass. >> okay. imagine this. your plane is coming in for a landing and then you hear this. >> brace for impact. >> heads down. stay down! heads down. stay down. >> the drama on a delta airlines flight late last night is all caught on tape. pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off.

i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on.

okay. imagine being on an airplane and then you hear this. >> brace for impact. >> heads down. stay down! heads down. stay down! heads down. stay down! >> hmm. >> all right. >> you'd have to pull me off the floor. scary moments for passengers aboard delta airlines flight 4951. this is video from inside the plane. the pilot had to make an emergency landing at new york's jfk airport last night after one of the plane's wheels got stuck in the up position. the plane slammed on to the runway and slid to a stop in a shower of sparks. you could see the sparks there in the video. everyone, luckily, is okay. let's check your top stories

right now. an israeli moratorium on jewish settlement building in the west bank came to an end four hours ago. some construction started before the official freeze ended. diplomats are scrambling to try to keep the moratorium's end from scuttling the middle east peace talks. investigators are trying to figure out what caused a water taxi to slam into a pier on seattle's waterfront today. five people were hospitalized with minor injuries. the coast guard said one person was thrown into the water, but was rescued. about 78 people were aboard the vessel. and there is an auto recall to tell you about. hyundai is recalling some -- some nearly 140,000 of its 2011 sonatas because of a potentially faulty steering column. the worst case scenario, a driver could lose the ability to steer the car. hyundai dealerships will inspect the vehicles and update the power steering software.

a chinese company with a possible stake in generamotors and a group of pot growers coming together. this week's "getting down to business." >> reporter: group of economists that make the official ruling say the great recession is over, but consumers still aren't spending like it. stores like walmart are now offering smaller packages of items for lower prices, much like what dollar stores offer which have seen growth, even in this tough economy. look for the latest consumer confidence report on tuesday. and while it seems americans aren't looking to buy right now, some in china are. china's biggest automaker has shown interest in buying a stake in general motors. this could create a pretty sticky situation for the u.s. government which used taxpayer money to help bail out the auto giant. gm officials plan to start wooing major investors in october but it could be years before the government sells its entire stake in the company. we'll get an industry update when sales reports come out this

week and finally a teamsters union in oakland, california, has some new members from a medical marijuana growing company. the 40 employees will get a negotiated salary, health benefits and even a pension. ah, but no word on whether there's going to be any drug testing going on. that's this week's "getting down to business." allison sokik, cnn, new york. >> all right, thank you very much. >> healthy living begins with healthy eating and we're taking you on a cross-country food journey, and we're starting you off at farmers' market. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's

better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪

everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. step away from the internet. schedule no meetings. hold all your phone calls. for the next hour, there will be no agenda. marie callender's invites you back to lunch, with a new line of fresh recipes. like chicken teriyaki with crisp water chestnuts. it steams to perfection in minutes, giving the fresh flavors and textures of a homemade meal. marie's new steamed meals. it's time to savor.

severe weather causing travel delays in the southeast and mid-atlantic states. jacqui jeras here to tell you what's going on with that. >> it's coming in waves, don. an ugly mess across the mid-atlantic and a lot of problems all the way across the place. flood watch in effect in virginia and down across georgia including atlanta where we could see three to six inches of rain easy. real concerned about the flood threat and boston, city metro, philadelphia, rain and atlanta, charlotte and washington, d.c., could reach over an hour and delays in miami and tampa. here's a look at atlanta where it's been raining pretty much all day long. a live picture downtown where it continues to be wet and you're under that flood watch. we do expect to see standing water on roadways in addition to smaller rivers and creeks which go out of their banks, we're also concerned across the appalachians, too, don, that we could see mud slides. big weather news tomorrow in the

southeast. >> really. all right. thank you very much. let's check the stories that will be grabbing the headlines in the week ahead from the word of politics to wall street to show business. we start tonight at the white house. >> i'm ed henry at the white house where the president, no surprise, is planning a big campaign swing this week. first new mexico where there's a hot governor's race and on to wisconsin, a big gubernatorial battle but also democratic senator russ feingold finds himself in an unusually tough re-election battle and on to iowa where there are big races this year but also some major presidential caucuses a couple years down the road. >> i'm dana bash on capitol hill where congress will return for one more week in session before going home for good for the election. democrats especially are so eager to leave washington they decided to adjourn one week earlier than planned. they say they will use the remaining days to focus on issues that will help democrats at the poll, outsourcing, and

legislation intended to stop american jobs from going overseas. >> a lot ahead for wall street as investors wait the final revisions of second-quarter gdp which is expected to show pretty slow growth in this country. also ahead, the auto industry will be in focus. we'll get september car and truck sales this week, and wall street will really focus on the nation's capital. president obama set to sign a $42 billion bill aimed at helping small businesses hoping to get them to hire. that bill is expected to create half a million jobs in this country. and finally the new wall street reform team this week will hold its first meeting in washington. we'll track it all for you on cnn money. i'm "showbiz tonight's" brooke anderson. here's what we're watching this week. the next steps in michael douglas' brave battle in cancer at his wall street sequel opens.

whether >> so all this week cnn is taking a cross-country food journey. we have sent reporting teams over corner of america and beyond. here's what our mission is. it's to get fresh answers about how our food is grown. how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budgets and the pure joy of eating, of course. it's called eatocracy, mind, body, wallet. earlier tonight cnn digital produced derek dodge showed us how cnn has teamed up to make a trip to the farmers market a little more fun, healthy, and even rewarding. >> yesterday at a farmers market, over 6,000 in the country and the usda has a searchable directory at farmersmarket.usda.gov where you can search for the one nearest you. then search at foursquare and you can unlock a healthy eater badge at one of over 6,000 farmers markets in the united

states. if you go to google earth, yesterday i went to the peach tree road farmers market. >> did i do that right? >> in atlanta, and i demonstrated the process for you. >> so that's the number of farmers markets where you can check in throughout the country. >> over 6,000. >> i went yesterday down the street. >> okay, cool. let's listen. >> we're at peach tree farmers road market in atlanta, georgia where i'm demonstrating how to use four square to eat healthy. we want people to get out and support their local farmers markets. check in at over 6,000 farmers markets on your phone when you go to four square. find your location, check in and you can download the cnn healthy eater badge. and you said these ones are a little bit spicier. >> sometimes around the seeds there may be a little bit more heat to them. seed. let's try the sun dried tomatoes. they're good. on your phone you come to a

place like a farmers market and check in and let all your friends know online where you are so what you did if you check into a farmers market like this one, you'll get a special cnn healthy eater badge, a good way for people to come out to farmers markets. >> you checked in on foursquare. >> i have. there's my healthy eater badge. >> excellent. and with your healthy eater badge, you have some special prices, whole wheat pasta, mustard greens, a pumpkin, some pesto or honey. >> thank you so much. >> absolutely. >> have you checked into the cnn newsroom today? >> i checked into cnn newsroom. who is the mayor? you get mayorships when you're on foursquare. >> who is the mayor of the farmers market? >> i think her name is julie. >> are you the mayor of the newsroom? >> not yet but the mayor of acme seafood house, oceania grill and the world's sonesta hotel. i've got all kinds of badges but no healthy eating badge. >> got to go to a farmers market and get the healthy badge. >> our thanks to derrick dodge, our digital producer here at

cnn. what we choose to eat and where we buy our food and how much we spend on it, it really says a lot more about who we are than we might think so make sure you catch our series called eatocracy, mind, body and wallet all this week on the cnn newsroom. the black wealth gap. african-americans earn less and save less on average than their white counterparts, and we'll show you how one family is trying to reverse that trend. [ drums playing ] [ male announcer ] 306 horsepower. race-inspired paddle shifters and f sport-tuned suspension. all available on the new 2011 lexus is. it isn't real performance, unless it's wielded with precision. see your lexus dealer. down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe...

we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪ save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really was abe lincoln honest?

mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

> some astonishing numbers to tell you about now. in the past two decades the wealth cap between white and african-americans families has more than quadrupled and that got us wondering why are black americans earning less and saving less? cnn's stephanie elam talked to one couple who hopes to pass on their wealth to their kids. >> reporter: chris rock has joked about black people and their money. >> shaq is rich. the white man that signs his check is wealthy. wealth is passed out from generation to generation. >> reporter: there's a sad truth in his humor. studies show black people tend to chronically make less, save less and pass less money on to the next generation than their white counterparts, and if you don't have assets, you can't pass them on. >> give us lord, our daily bread. amen. >> reporter: marvin and kathy dickerson are making sure their family doesn't follow the same pattern.

>> one or two bad moves, and it's going to follow you. >> married for nine years, the couple started planning their finances well before welcoming 6-year-old kaylan and 3-year-old miles. >> how is this a fair fight? >> we knew we had to invest because we knew one day we were going to have kids, and we wanted our kids to have more than what we had. >> reporter: dickersons developed a budget, paid off their debt, began investing and set up a will, a trust and 529 plans to pay for their kids' college educations. >> we can pass that wealth or those assets on to our kids with a $1.5 million tax exemption. >> reporter: but this family is the exception. according to the brookings institution, the media net worth of black americans is about $28,000. compare that to $140,000 for the median household nationwide. what were your parents saying to you to make sure that it was so important that you knew it?

>> you work, you save. >> reporter: while marvin is a spender, kathy is a saver so the couple makes all big financial decisions together. >> kathy had this guiding principle, if she's -- you know she spent $100 she got a headache. as we got married and had more resources can you add another zero. it was like a few thousand dollars. >> reporter: valerie coleman morris, who focuses on financial literacy for women, young people and people of color, points to a couple of reasons black americans are so behind in creating wealth and passing it on. >> money is still a very much off limits topic in the average family but in african-american families it's almost taboo. the second thing is the 401(k). we are not participating, and when we do participate we're contributing far less than most other people but in addition to that, there is this overwhelm ing need for becoming more financially literate and we aren't. >> i'm not talking about rich. i'm talking about wealth. >> reporter: but it's more than

just talk for the dickersons, it's a way of life. stephanie elam, montgomery county, maryland. >> fighting a financial crisis from the pulpit. the black church has fought for civil and human rights, and now it's waging a war on debt. almighty debt. a black in america special is coming here on thursday, 9:00 p.m. eastern, here on cnn. they are called unknown celebrities. >> i thought that i would be majoring in business and probably get a crappy desk job. >> okay. so they are not household names, but they have such a huge following on youtube that they can quit their day jobs, imagine that, and work from home. learn the secrets of their success. welcome to our mcdonald's.

yours? really? it's been our dream since we were kids. uh, that long, huh? why not? mcdonald's really supports entrepreneurs. they spend over $5 billion dollars... with businesses in communities like ours. you two really know your stuff. we've done our homework! time for breakfast. mom! not in front of the customers. wake up! wake up! - i just had the most amazing dream! - me too!

opportunities inspiring big dreams. mcdonald's. that's my wife... look, you've got people. chances are, state farm has them too. see, state farm insures more drivers than geico and progressive combined. 40 million drivers, more savings and discounts of up to 40%. so talk to your neighbors. then call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. [ jeff ] my wife called again, then there's my neighbor. [ cellphone rings ] hold on. it's my daughter. hey, schmoopie woopie! [ laughing ] hey, schmoopie woo...pie.

in this economy, quitting your day job can be a dangerous proposition, but some youtube users are turning their popularity into a living. many a musician or two are able to pursue their talent full time because of youtube. singer/songwriter and recent college grad julia nunez is a youtube success story with more than 37 million page views. >> i think the first one that got a lot of views like that was "into the sunshine" which was a guitar song.

♪ and one of the first ones i did harmonies and multitracking. ♪ >> i have no idea. maybe over a million. i think over a million by now. >> but i'll just put my -- >> it's not just musicians making money on youtube, from korean chefs to quirky film-makers, these youtube stars have legions of followers online. among the most popular, mr. guitar man, whose one of a kind videos have drawn more than 140 million views and advertisers willing to be on his page. his real name, joe pena, a youtube partner. >> the key is to really find your niche, be authentic and have fun with it and then what we do find is folks like joe are

masters in marketing themselves. whether that's asking people to subscribe to their videos, engaging with the youtube community and also leveraging other social media platforms like facebook and twitter. >> okay. so joe, mr. guitar man, how did this start off for you, just as something fun on youtube and you putting your videos up and then you figured, hey, wait a minute. i can make money on this. tell us how it started. >> yeah, basically that's how i started for everybody who is making money on youtube right now. that's actually how it has to start because have you to work for so long before you're working any money. for me i've been doing videos for three years before i even became a partner, before there even existed a chance to become a partner on youtube. yeah, if you put a lot of hard work on to it and i worked like 80 hours a week. if you put a lot of hard work into it, you're able to become a partner. >> can you give us a ballpark how much money you're making, you're in the upper income bracket because of this now? >> well, we have a

non-disclosure agreement with youtube and with each company we work with so we can't exactly say how much money. >> you have started your own 401(k) because you've done so well? >> well, basically that's like a thing just for my retirement afterwards, but basically, you know, i pay all my bills, you know, i pay my taxes and i -- and i'm able to just do youtube full time now because -- because of the partner program so, yeah, i'm quite glad that it's now my full-time job. >> listen, chris, you call him a youtube partner. explain to our viewers what that means, to become a youtube partner. how do you do it? >> sure, sure. well, the first thing you need to do, as i mentioned before, is gain a certain level of popularity on the site so what we'll do is we look across the site based on things like the number of video views that someone like joe is creating and the number of subscribers and their channel, and then we'll invite the top creators to become partners on youtube, and that really involves youtube