[Velshi:] Welcome back. A new book tells the fascinating story of a couple, an interracial couple, who fell in love in the 1950s in America. They raised a child through the civil rights movement. Their son struggling in his own search for identity. Well, that boy grew up to be our boss. It's his new memoir called "My Long Trip Home." Joining us now is the executive vice president of CNN Worldwide, Mark Whitaker. Mark, thanks for being here.
[Mark Whitaker, Executive Vp And Managing Editor, Cnn Worldwide:] Ali, it's great to see you.
[Velshi:] It's important to me this interview go well. Let's talk a little about this book. It's interesting. It really is a memoir. You decided a year after your father's death to go back and write the history, much of which you didn't know. You live a lot of it, but you went back and found some of the reasons for the way your life was the way that it was. Tell us about a bit about this.
[Whitaker:] Well, I always knew that they had a very interesting story.
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Whitaker:] Interracial couple in the 1950s. My father was an undergraduate. The only Black male student that's worth more college when they met.
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Whitaker:] My mother was his teacher. So, it was a doubly scandalous relationship.
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] They came from very interesting worlds. My father grew up in Pittsburgh as the son of undertakers. My grandfather, actually, is one of the first Black undertakers in Pittsburgh, had been born on the
[Velshi:] Yes.
[Whitaker:] So, that was the interesting part. But then, there was also a tragic part about all the things that happened after my parents divorced that kept me from writing the story for a long time.
[Velshi:] And when you go back to the story, what you learn of, you know, both of your parents had remarkable histories. Your father's side and your grandfather on your father's side, these were remarkably charismatic men with a lot of the faults that come along with charismatic men. They were handsome. They were drinkers. They were womanizers.
[Whitaker:] No, absolutely. And my grandfather had suffered a stroke when I was a very small.
[Velshi:] So, you don't know him
[Whitaker:] I knew him, but as a sort of, you know, almost a cripple, you know?
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] But one of the things I found in the process of my research was an autobiography that he had actually dictated to a nurse in a nursing home on his 75th birthday that told the story of how he had come to Pittsburgh and become this very successful businessman, but then, eventually, because of his womanizing, because his marriage split up, he lost his business. My father hated his father, basically, and was in conflict with him his entire life, and yet, became very much like him. So, for me, part of the process in all of this was, first of all, discovering their stories, the source of that conflict, which I think explained a lot of my father's problems but also made it even more important for me to come to terms and wrestle with my father's memory.
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] So, that didn't happen to me.
[Velshi:] Both your mother and your grandmother on your father side both had to deal with these men who had absent to themselves from their lives, and they became entrepreneurial in their own ways. Your grandmother ended up running the undertaking business.
[Whitaker:] Right.
[Velshi:] And your mother ended up finding teaching jobs wherever she could get them. Caused you to live in different places, all over the world. And the universal part of the book becomes the struggle of identity.
[Whitaker:] Right.
[Velshi:] Are you white? Are you black? How are you identifying with this as you as you grew up?
[Whitaker:] Well, you know, even though my parents split up, my mother took pains to keep me and my younger brother in contact with my father's family.
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] So every year I talk about my long trip home. We would take this long trip to Massachusetts where she finally ended up after years of temporary jobs
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] teaching at a small college there, every year to drive all the way out to Pittsburgh to visit them. So I grew up in those two worlds. But, you know, one of the things I got from my father for all of the struggles with him was that even though he identified very strongly with his upbringing in Pittsburgh with Africa, he became a scholar of Africa.
[Velshi:] That's right.
[Whitaker:] With black culture, he never wanted to be completely defined or confined by that. So even though I had these personal struggles with him, in some ways, I thought that that was a very good example that I followed first consciously but more unconsciously as I grew up.
[Velshi:] Where does that leave you to now? How do you identify yourself? Because you've got kids who are more mixed.
[Whitaker:] Yes. Now that's true. Well, look, you know, I identify myself as African-American, and in fact, as you know, if you know our history, anybody who has I mean, most black Americans have some white blood.
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] And, frankly, a lot of white people have some black blood. Although one of the things that I think is interesting, you know, is that I grew up at a time when it was a very unusual to be mixed race. And then when I was sort of a teenager in college, there was a sense that somehow you had to choose. I think increasingly mixed race people come from mixed race backgrounds are saying it's OK to be mixed race.
[Velshi:] Right.
[Whitaker:] In the latest census, more people are declaring themselves mixed as opposed to one thing or another and I think that's a positive thing.
[Velshi:] And that's another universal part of this. I can't let you go without talking about the fact that this really influenced you as a journalist. You talk about some decisions you made at "Newsweek," for instance. Your decision not to publish the story about Monica Lewinsky but a decision to publish a story about Guantanamo Bay that ended up you had to do something about. Tell us about this.
[Whitaker:] Well, you know, my father always said to me beware of what you want because you might get it. And certainly we know once I became a news executive I discovered that. There are no easy choices. But you know one of the things I talk about in the book, or some of the lessons I learned sort of professionally, some things that I did right, some things that I thought in retrospect I could have done better and I learned from. I mean, you know, after the Monica Lewinsky story where I tell the story which wasn't known at the time that we didn't have a lot of time to actually make that decision. But, you know, when I had the choices to make during the Gulf War later, I learned some of those lessons and I trusted my gut a little bit more and we did some very tough, skeptical coverage of the march to war in Iraq a few years later.
[Velshi:] Mark, it's a great read. You've got a lot of great compliments on it because it's a great read, but it's full of pictures. It's a great narrative that does have a universal appeal. So thanks for joining us on it.
[Whitaker:] OK. My pleasure.
[Velshi:] Mark Whitaker. The book is called "My Long Trip Home." Carol?
[Costello:] I'm just glad Mark got up early with us this morning. You feeling OK there, Mark?
[Romans:] It's early. It is early.
[Costello:] Here are your top stories now. It's 33 minutes past the hour. A confrontation between police and "Occupy Wall Street" protesters has been averted at Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. New York City officials had ordered the demonstrators to get out of get out of the park at 7:00 this morning so the park could be cleaned. But just before the deadline the cleanup was postponed at the request of the company that owns the park. Demonstrators claiming victory now and still occupying the park.
[Romans:] Also right now there's a big police presence at this site. This is new video of police moving in. Things seem to be under control. So far no major disturbances there.
[Costello:] One thing is certain, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement keeps picking up steam. New York City may be the flash point, but protesters also took to the streets in cities like Oakland and Austin, Portland, Maine, Denver and Boston. Dozens of rallies also planned for today and this weekend across the country.
[Romans:] All right. Governor Rick Perry getting ready to make a major speech today, the first since he jumped into the race. He's expected to lay out bold, new energy plans that promise 1.2 million jobs and make us more secure by cutting our reliance on foreign oil. He says he will loosen some government regulations to do it. Ali spoke to him in our last hour.
[Velshi:] You have said about the EPA in the past this is a quote from you. "They won't know what hit them." What about the criticism?
[Gov. Rick Perry , Presidential Candidate:] Sell the rest of it to the world. We got Washington, D.C., and one-size-fits-all mentality that's killing jobs and a president needs to be in place that respects that government's job is to create an environment where those men and women who risk their capital know they can have a chance to have a return on investment. And we don't have that today.
[Velshi:] A CNN Poll of Polls an average of four national surveys show you slipping into third place. How did you blow that lead?
[Perry:] Well, these polls are going to go up and down. I've run for office for a decade as the governor of the state of Texas. I'm down 25 points when the last election in Texas. And that one turned out all right. What Americans are interested in is not the best debater, not the slickest politician, they're interested in a leader that looks them in the eye and says, listen, here's how to get this country working again. In about two hours I'm going to be standing up in front of America and show clearly how the president of the United States can get this country back working again.
[Romans:] All right. CNN is going to host the "Western Republican Presidential Debate" in Las Vegas. It's live next Tuesday, that's October 18th, 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Anderson Cooper will moderate. Carol will be there live for all the morning-after analysis.
[Costello:] It will be exciting, too. I know I keep teasing you but
[Romans:] I know. I can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve.
[Costello:] Part of it yes, that's a good thing. Up your sleeve. That's another hint. Animals up your sleeve. Republican debate. You figured it out. Coming up next, one father's mission to end bullying. And this fight is deeply personal. That's because his own 11-year-old son committed suicide because he was picked on all year long by bullies. Kirk Smalley will join us live with his amazing story. It's 36 minutes past the hour.