Transcripts For ALJAZAM America Tonight 20131023

Today. A call for jug justice where two 17yearold boys were charged with assaulting two girls. A special prosecutor has been called in to reopen the investigation. Australias bush fires are burning around the country they are expecting to flare wednesday. More than 200 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales in the capital of sydney where the government has declared a state of emergency. That is the news a the this hour. I will see you back here at 11 00 eastern and 8 00 pacific time. On se america tonight bleud lines on campus. Student on student Sexual Assault and a new approach to stop it. Holding university responsible. We put more emphasis on preventing plagiarism than preventing rape. Fire on the sky. New reports challenge washingtons strategy against terror targets. More resighmore precise or moree that u. S. Is commitmen committir crimes. I have a stepson and grandson and i lost a cousin through violence. Good evening and thanks for being with us. Im joie chan. Sex crimes. And the response of victims to those assaults lead us tonight. First we turn to maryville missouri. They found themselves bracing for a major protest by the. The charges were dropped by the accused high school boys. But the girls felt they were bullied for reporting what happened. A newspaper investigation forced new attention on the case and the appointment of a special prosecutor. But the sheriff has affirmed that the local authorities had done the right something. Ultimately the truth and the facts will come out in this case. And i hope when they do that the people that have been critical in this community are big enough to accept what the truth really is. Following up on tonights story. Also with us is an organizer for the rally. How did the rally go, court ancourtanycourtney. The rally was a success. And we had thre tremendous st from the community. The overall purpose of the event was to provide support to the victims and their families. But to all victims of sexual abuse and violence. We understand that the local Law Enforcement were concerned that there would be a emor enors turn out. How many people did come out . Was there any problems there . Were no problems whatsoever. Everything remained peaceful. As the Anonymous Community had been advocating and ourselves as organizers of the events as well. I would say this has been an an extreme success. The Law Enforcement stepped up their game and they did a fantastic job of pa patrolling e area and securing the location and making sure it was a success for all of us. A success in terms of what . Just that everything remained peaceful and everybody was safe and there wasnt any kind of threats that were being made in regard to the Maryville Community itself. And it was a positive demonstration in support of the victims and also he ha educating otherothers and advocating themt the rape culture and the rape Culture Society that we live in and so that way we can find solutions. I know that is a Small Community and quite a few people are interested in what you are doing on television st. I want to ask you about the special prosecutor we have been talking about. A new special prosecutor has been aannounced in this case. What is going on with that and what do we know about this woman . A judge appointed that special prosecutor yesterday. She is from jackson county. And that is an hour away from maryville. They havthey wanted to put out a statement. They say we will go about our review of this case as we go about 234e about any case. It will be a thorough review without fear and fait favor. And we have no idea what the result will be. Theyll be taking their time and there is a lot of security any here and because there was accusations of political favors. And they stay they are not making any other statements right now and i did talk to one of the Family Members band one. One and one. Girls involved in this case and the prosecutor reached out to them to stop making public statements so this investigation cant bcan be done in a proper. In special prosecutor is well known in this community. She has been in the Prosecutors Office in various capacity. And she has had a few notable cases on her record including the conviction of a i aer is sel killer. She was part of the conviction of the first Catholic Bishop for failing to report child abuse. She knows how to handle this type of case and people will hold her accountable to ensure she is truthful and fair as she is known for doing. I know a lot of attention will be continued to be paid by reporters and folks like you that are interested in the outcome of the events in maryville. We continue our look at Sexual Assault and the impact on its victims in a different community, on cam pugs campus communities. At the university of connecticut no need for title nine uconn huskeys are on the court. Several women filed a discrimination do can many compg the university discounted and ignored their reports of rape. Its following the path played d by two young women from the university of North Carolina. It happened so quickly within two minutes my head was slammed into a \ room door and then again next to a toilet and the assaulassault proceeded. I remember looking at myself and not being able to fully comprehend what happened. And i need to get out of here. These women say they were raped at a place most people believe is a haven of learning. They were a freshman and a sophomore. Each attending the unc at chapel hill each says the university failed to protect them in the first place. Or give them the support they needed to cope with the experience after ward. The last thing i would want to do is walk int into an an ofe meetly aftemeetimmediately aftes happened and be questioned on it for hours. I know when i did report it i was blamed for it. I was told that rape was like a Football Game and i should look back on the experience and what would i have done differently to avoid the situation. One 2one in they twenty colle students will be raped. That means over a College Career as many as 20 to 25 can be victims. Today many 6 thes of these victf rape refer to the themselves as survivors. There is depression and eating disorder and blame and not wanting to go out at night. Dropping out of school and dropping out of classes and switching majors and switching residential hall rooms and a lot of that burden is placed on the victim to change your life life. Its your fault you got to get over it and you have to figure out what you can do to make it better. The thing with university as a whole for Sexual Violence they treat it as a com compliance is. Its all been this didnt really happen or it wasnt as bad or pr stuff i want someone too stand up and take ownership of it. Saying we messed up and weir wee going to learn from our his mistakes. I want them to say we are sorry and we are going to make it better hospital in that we didnt do anything wrong. Its easy to put a blue light on campus and have a security guard. Its not going to be a light to end sexual vi violence. Sings 1972 the Us Department of education says institutions receiving federal funds must ensure an he ha education free f sexual discrimination. The law is associated with equality and sports. But many colleges and University Say they were unaware of their legal obligations under title nine to also protect students from Sexual Assault. Historically schools have looked the other way or covered it up. Linda manning is a former dean who is dissatisfied with the universitys handling of assault comcomplaints. We absolutely put much more emphasis into prevent being plagiarism than preventing rape. 2345 wathat was a reality. Im going to talk about physical abuse and Sexual Assault specifically on College Campuses and what we can and must do about it . In april of 2011 joe biden released the Dear Colleague lever. Lever letter it left no doubt that protecting students is the schools responsibility. [bell tolling] though an an annie had graduaten 2012 they found each other. They began to talk about the issue of rape at the university of North Carolina and they made a decision to take a assistant. This is not a unc problem. Un c is a representation of a cultural problem. The women began researching title 9 and interviewing other students of rape and in january of 2013, they filed a federal complaint against the university of north carb lin north Caroline Department of education. I think this is a mik microcausm of what i what is happening acre United States. It boggles my mind. The department of education has made an effort. Yes, but they have never really done anything. There is no real tooep teeth bet that we have seen. Has any university had their federal funds withdrawn . No, never. The federal com complaint has received considerable Media Attention and social media has given a voice to a network of survivors have filed their own complaints at the department of education. Today the office of civi civil s has opened investigation on Sexual Assault at 25 colleges and university. Universities. For many finally there and a sense of a turning point. A andrea and annie started to pull people together all over the country and mobileized the movement. That is the confr contribution t they made. They took one case and made it a national issue. Thethey helped educate countless women across the country and young men too about their rights. Anand so think they take it e next step. They go to the department of education and filed a complaint saying my institution didnt take care of me. This is one of three full time title nine administrators hired since the federal com plaint cos lodged against the school. Its easier to talk about plagiarism. We have to talk about violence and sexual vie ledges. Ledges violence. Have we done that as best as we could. We need to do better and we need to do more. Fee spitdeedespite the federe linings the right way guidelines the right way forward is not familiar to administrators of the university. We are stumbling because we are not getting the guidance we need with the expectations and the regulations. The this is a courage project. And its the first gallery that showcased it. Interesting with thiscatio thiss survivor was targeted two bookss ago. It says keep quiet and know your place. They say Sexual Assaults are under reported. When i see a report that says 000 across the board its a road flag. In 2014 more federal guidelines are on the way. Educating students about reporting Sexual Assaults and intervene being when they see a problem. Its no longer training women not how to be raped. Its about training men and women about the issues related two Sexual Assault and teeing tg not to rape. That is where we are now. We are starting to make the course corrections. The newer generation of officals on campus have a different perspective on Sexual Violence than those that were there 20 years ago. And it will grow. As for annie and andrea they have turned their mission into a light. Sso far often on the other c. Uconn could miss out on funding. Next week we are going to keep a focus on Sexual Assault. Ahead on the program tonight. A force from the sky and unintended victims. Charges that the sky high fire power on the war on terror committing war crimes down below. The United States is being accused of what ar war crimes fe skies. They have called for a full investigation. Michael okwu has a report. When the drone struck last october she was helping her grandmother pick okra in afghanistan. In the year since the drone attack killed his mother they have heard nothing about why they were targeted. Amnesty international investigated the killing. One of dozens of People Killed in suspected u. S. Drone attacks. I have met with the family and spoke with them at length about what happened. There is simply no justification for this killing. And worst of all the family has been given no explanation for why she was killed and why theretherewas drones overhead. Pakistan has taken the bulk of u. S. Drone attacks. Attacks on yemen have picked up since 2011. Human rights watch focused their report there. After 90 interviews they found 57 civilians had been killed. They focused on attacks on pakistans north region. Pacpakistan forbid traveling toe area. The u. S. Secrecy impeded their research as will. The most challenging situation we had to face was the complete ceicsecrecy of the u. S. We cannot be 100 certain but we can be sure that these are war crimes. President obama wants strong oveoversight of all lethal acti. But for Human Rights Watch that is not enough. We found that despite assurances from president obama that its doing its utmost to protect people from harm its killing innocent civilians. The report comes two days after secretariesecretary of state ket with pakistan president sharif. Its detrimental to our efforts at eliminating terrorism from our country. This issue has become a major irritant in our bilateral relationship as well. I would there for stress the need for the end of drone attacks. The family would like to see an end to them as well. Dicklparticularly nabila. That was america tonights michael okwu reporting. Journalist joins us now she has documented drone strikes in pakistan and you have done a full documentary on this. Can you explain to us what your motivation was in producing this documentary . Yes, thank you for having me i think what i wanted to do was to focus a little bit. There was a lot of concern around coun counting up the dea. Whether they were stif civilianr mitciviliansmilitants. I was looking at what was the experience for the lives. Living. What is it like to live under drones. Can you talk about this area of pakistan . Its part of pakistans federally administered tribal area. Its off limits these days. The military will not let you go in. I have been able is to to go toe tribal areas and the border areas and people come there and i have been sabl able to talk tm and get a sense of what is going on in the area. The people are suffering from several forms of violence. There is insurgent violence and the violence from the Pakistani Military and the drone attacks which are wreaking havoc also. On that point particularly i wonder if the civilians gave you any indication if they could in some way, im sure they dont want to see more drone attacks. But do they understand the need to root out these insurgents by these methods . Do they support that . I think there is disagreement whether the drone attacks are helping too root out insurgent groups. Even when i have sat with these groups 6 people of people many d this is driving people and one can understand when someones Family Member is kited. Killed. I have talked to one teen whose niece wags killed in a dron s killed in a drone attack. There is a lot of confusion on whether these drone attacks are hippinhelping the situation. There the pakistani government has neglected for a long time and im not sure if the atanks and bombing can help deal with that problem. From the persia perspective of e people being attacked they want to stop being bombed. Its important to americans and westerners and we as sit citizes should know what is going on. From the respect of the people that are being attacked, its not so much about counting up the dead its stopping the bombing and not requiring them to live in these conditions and be the rubble of war. Appreciate you for being with us. Well continue with more of america tonight after a break. A weak picture on the jobs front. Unemployment dropped to 7 7. Investigators say it was a lone 12yearold shotter. Shoo shoot. He turned the gun on himself. His name is not being released. Camden new jersey was once a bustling Industrial City and now most of the factories are gone and the residents who were forced to stay are struggling to make ends meet. The citys Police Department just went through the most radical overhaul in the United States. The Department Says major crime is down on the streets and its safer. But residents argue they are being unjustly targeted and fridaprofiled. A typical block party in camden, new jersey. Music, food and families out enjoying warm weather. For maria its an opportunity to gather her grandchildren and other little onings an ones andt them. For the kids the real treat is a chance to play freely outdoors. Something they dont get to do much. That is because they live in a city deemed one of americas most dangerous. Under seige by violent crime. I lost a sister, a stepson, a grandson and i lost a cousin through violence. Reminders of lost lives here are everywhere. This is where obie was shot at. It was my grandsons best friend. And this young man over here is nico. It was a good friend of his too. And they both killed riep right. She was born and raised in camden. Camden was so sweet. We used to leave our doors open and our bikes on the sidewalks. You compan cant do that now. Cacamden is a snapshot of urban decay in america. Camden has lost one third of their res residents. Rated at poor over the city in america. More than half of camden live in poverty. The effects are deadly. Hours before we ey arrived in camden a 53yearold woman was killed in her home. Last year camden had the highest homicide rate. There are 170 open air drug markets. Compounding the problem was a corrupt and ineffective police force. Ill equipped to handle the ep epidemic of crime. Your grandson was shot here in camden . Yes. In a area where we would have had a Police Officer patrolling. They have had the Biggest Police overhaul in the u. S. Too broke to hire new officers. The city came up with a radical plan subsidized by the state. They fired all of their 240 officers and dissolved the force and let the county replace it with a bigger a and cheap cheape department. They took on new recruits in order to avoid the terms of the contract. We had 30 absentee rate on any given day. It was difficult for the cop that did come to work they were generally working a 16hour day and many comes that didnt work were home and were ordered in so we could have minimum Staffing Levels to provide a service out there. It was not a sustainable position. During crime filled night shifts there were barely a dozen cops patrolling the entire city and not enough to answer 911 calls during the day. The hand over was controversial. The city hall lost control of their Police Department. Some residents and Community Activists charged it was Union Busting and il illconcieved. But despite protest, camden officals pushed ahead. Many of the Department Veterans chose not to apply to the new force. Most of the new recruits come from the suburbs of critics claim that young rookies like him lack the experience and skills to deal with the tough treats ostreets of camden. Im here for the right lines and and right reasons and i cant think of a place that needs Quality Police services than the residents of camden. Between may and september homicides dropped 22 and shootings are down 11 . Police say its thanks in big part to this. Concentrated foot patrols in neighborhoods like park side. Bacbacking up the boots on the ground is a hightech surveillance system. Hundreds of closed circuit cameras track incidents in hot spots. We had a fight 245 was that s brewing and officer were monitoring this. They have units starting over towards this area. He pulls out a handgun and he is going to shoot this individual below the waist. Bank. Bang and this guy goes and this guy takes off. Nobody calls police. We observed this and we saw them getting into this car and they pull out. And you will see in a matter of ten or 15 second well have the calvary coming down the street and well be able to locate this vehicle and arrest these suspects. For now officers are concentrated in a couple of high crime neighborhoods. But 100 graduates are expected out of the academy in september and neighbourhoods will have more cops on the beat. And those cops will be cracking down on quality of life. Loitering or vandalism. Most like seeing more police on their blocks. You cant ride a bike out here without a light or Something Like that. I was riding my bike without a light. I got a ticket for riding without a helmet and on a sidewalk. You think the new police are too strict . Yeah. I moved out because my son was born. I started coming back around here and i saw all of the comess and mainly in the daytime they seem to be nice and i dont see people in the corner and the drug dealers and the presence was good and then after two weeks of me like living in here they are just harassing people. They are just harassing people. Just because a kid is a teenager and he is on a corner dont mean he is selling drugs. He could be waiting for somebody. Or he could be lost. Ask him nicely why are you on the corner. If he is smart with you that is different. But if he is not smart with you dont get violent with him. Its saturday night and sar gent gensergeant diaz is on thet shift. Its not long before a call comes in. Reports of shots fired at a housing projects. He arrives to find officers there looking for a shooter and no injuries and a hightech mobile unit monitoring the area. Diaz explains there was no Police Presence here before the new force took over. In one of camdens toughest sections a squad car posted outside of this store offers security. Neither the cruiser or kids would have been seen here at night in the past. And the same goes for this park in the fairview neighborhood. Before the transition it would have been teaming with people including drug dealers on a night like this. But even with these successes, the root causes of crime make winning this war difficult. We realized that the solutions that plague our city and the socia social inequitiese not going to be fixed with our pistol and handcuffs. What we are looking to do with these two is to empower the community and not to feel imprisoned in their own homes. And to let their kids play in front of their homes. But to do that we have to provide a secure environment for them. That was 34erb america tonigs adam may reporting. Looking ahead, kids caught up in one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, flint, michigan. Hohow many kids do you think cay a gun . Half of flint. And you are not afraid to shoot. If it comes down to it and somebody was going to take my life i would have to take their first. How violence is dashing the dreams of perpetrators. Well have that report on wednesday on america tonight. If you know a College Bound High School Senior you know this is the time 6 yea of year that s get hairy. Early admission deadlines are days away and the calendar gets more hectic after that. The most hectic time comes ated admission. Many count on Public University to offer an affordable option for instate students, but increasingly there are indications that those schools are pricing outs th out the kidt most need the financial help. Dont forget you have to work on both of the bas bases like wd on the first problem. At 18 she ha 18 he has solvef financial problems already. He is manging in business and started planning for College Years ago working and saving money. His High School Friends took notice. They saw me as the smarter one and the one that was going to do something. Jerry graduated third in his class. The son of hispanic immigrants. Its a lot more pressure than some people realize. You have to set a good example. We are low income and they dont make enough that they can take care of me and i also have a younger brother. And in order to get college paid for he decided to go to the military first. Jerrys careful planning paid off. He was accepted to his first choice. Cleveland State University and calling together tuition money and money he saved up and part timparttime jobs to pay the balance he just made it. He started out ahead of other fresh men. And he started taking College Classes before he finished high school. And he was a familiar face on campus. I was an orientation leader and i would walk all over the campus and know where i was at. Then the bottom dropped out. The state cut jerrys Financial Aid. Just by a thousand dollars but it was enough to change everything. Jerry had no choice but to leave csu and give up being a full time student. Them cutting me back i had to decide i had to go part time. I needed an extra thousand dollars apartment that i and the in three or four months. Jerrys experience i is a off the radar trend. And its something that has been growing for more than a decade. The investigative News Organization are finding they are leaving low income students behind. Not only by cranking up tuition but giving less Financial Aid to those that need it most. Talk to me first about what the premise is of public universities why do they exist at all . Public university in general were funded and founded to provide a broad based foundation for residents of their state. Your report concludes that is not what is happening now. State schools have been giving an increasing thei sharef their own institutional aid doll lashes t dollars to the wealthiest students. They looked at the department of Education Data from 1996 to 2012 and found the amount of grants given to the lowest income families has steadily declined. And similar aid to well think students has increased. Why cut access to students that could bring greater diversity to campus. As the former vice chancellor for enrollment at indiana university. Two important trends that have happened that are influencing a lot of what is happening at public flagship institutionings right now. One is the invention of rankings. To raise the rankings they choose High Achievers and wealthier students like out of staters that generate more revenue. As a result the low income under performing students get squeezed out. Everyone wants to be number one in the United States. That explains it. The other thing that explains public universities, there is really no word to use other than dramatic. There has been a dramatic decline in the amount of money that states provide for public institutions. And a lot of Public University now they use phrases like state aided rather than, a state institution. Public universities are out there looking for money. Do the university that you spoke to acknowledge this . They go. They do. They dont have a ton of aid avail i believe and the iable aa lot of resources. In Cleveland Jerry has prior foopriorities too. Losing aid he had to leave full time education and he has trans ford to trans thanks transfey closes at 8 00 and it gives me ten minutes to get what i need printed out. Every morning its a rush to get to work at his job as a bank teller. Jerry stays positive. Its been a tough road and every experience will get me somewhere in the future hopefully and in return g if life it will give my to tell my kid. This way i can reach out to someone and say you are not alone. I have been through Something Like that and lets just get it together and work through this. We expect to hear more about the college of affordability. One of the most expensive schools in the country George Washington University Say they placemenplacementplacemenplace r wait list. Ahead here tonight. The vw bus prepares to take its final right. On august 20th, al jazee finally tonight the end of an era for the beloved at heat leay some the volkswagen bus. The last of the hippie van will roll off the production line in brazil. We traveled to me d montana to d out why its so hard to let go of the wheel. This is the busy pulled out of my neighbors yard. Its a 1966 passenger bus. Im a documentary Film Producer living in montana and i directed a film called the bus. I have a personal connection with the bus and so it was for me it was sort of reconciling my own feelings and trying to figure out why do i care so much about this car and the history of the vehicle is pretty remarkable. Before world war ii hitler contracted for a car that was available for the masses. The car was produced by a dutch importermenernder and he o the factory and saw that the factory workers rigged up a truck looking vehicle and they took a beetle frame and made a flatbed out of it. He grabbed his notebook and drew a sketch and two years later they were in production. The idea of this cargo mover and people mover helped bring post war germany back on its feet. In the 50s the buses were imparimported to the united stas and by the time the sixtys came averaged the Counter Culture movement started there were already hundredses of thousands of buses in the country. And they were cheap and you could load up your friends and drive across the country. There is no shortage of material when you are looking for characters for a volkswagen film. One of the people i was fortunate in meeting and hooking up with was dave manning. Who in a nutshell embodies the vw bus culture. He lives in his bus half of the year. Yeah, i drive it every day. I will be in it as long as i can get away with it. So i did work kind of a normal job for ten months of year and have two months off in the summer. What i realized the two months i was traveling in the bus every year were like, the best part of my year. These campers have a connotation of the hippie lifestyle. They represent kind of the stripping away of what was the really square sort of stuff that everybody was being fed in the 50s. It was a reaction to that. And saying we are not going too wear the same suit and tie and get on the train and go to bjork ever work every morning. We are going to go hit the road, man. Its a little house on wheels and its cute and unique and i enjoy that. The other part that is important they are u till tear ya utilitay are designed in a very, very simple way. Iit gives you the freedom to go places i can get on one of these american highways and go somewhere and when i get tired i can stop. Im independent because i can maintain my own rig. There is not a computer i in it. The flipside i have to work on it every week. The bus is called vincent. I whats writing a song vincent rolls and its pretty much like that. What its like to drive around. Here vincent rolls here vincent drives on a highway in the dark at the end of the year they are stopping production of the cw buvwbus in brazil. And they have stopped elsewhere in the world. They have stopped because of the same reason, they are pretty much an unsafe vehicle. There is no crumple zone. The engine is in the back and there is no room for air bags. And your knees are your first line of defense in the front impact. [horn honking] its a sad thing for me. Its a nostalgic event. But at the same time, Safety Standards need to be in place. Now there is some little part of my heart that is sad that they are finally going to shut the last factory down. Now we are antique car collectors and they are just getting crazy valuable. And its sad that hippies cant buy hippie cars anymore. Vincent drive my hero no i dont ever plan on selling it. If i did anything i would give it away. Its not about se selling it for money, its about gill albert ga good home. Giving it a good home. Oh what a ride. That is it for us on america tonight. If you want wants to want to con anything tonight log on to americatonight. Com. And well have more of america tonight tomorrow. Good evening everyone. Welcome to al jazeera america. Im john siegenthaler. Here is a look at the top stories two reports criticise the United States for the widespread use of drones to kill suspected militants, and which have killed innocent civilians. Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch say deadly strikes in yemen and pakistan violate International Law and could be classified as war crimes. John kerry says reports of a rift between the United States and saudi arabia are overblown. The secretary of state is talking about comments made by the saudi intelligence chief who says the arab nation is