Transcripts For ALJAZAM America Tonight 20131108

Administration is trying to remove transfats from the food supply. Its the first time the fda have acknowledged that transfats are unsafe. President bal obama apologizo people that are losing healthcare plans that he said they could keep. I am sorry that they have continuefind themselves in this situation based on information from me. It comes on the heels of the healthcare. Gov website. Those are the headlines. America tonight with joie chen is next. America tonight the membershihelpthat never came. Our investigation looks at the American Red Cross and the failures that left comowchbilitiecommunitieshigh a. An america tonight exclusive. What did you think when you got that call saying that you werent going to get the money. I thought it was wrong. The native American Community and their outside threat of having their children taken away. And looking back. What the world could have seen. Early signs of hi hitlers northwesmostevil vision. Good evening and thanks for being with us im joie chen. At is this time o last year e people on the eastern seaboard were still reeling. The American Red Cross sprang to the aid of victims armed with donated dollars. The red cross promised to help them recover from the disaster. Disaster. You a ias it turns out many of e left wanting. One year on. This is breezy point. One. New york communities most deaf devastated we Hurricane Sandy churned up the east cost waves crashed into homes and the power went out and then more than 100 houses burned. Visible scars left in piles of drifting sand. Straighpeople in new york beachs like this. Some homeses are so damagedded theyll never be inhabited again. You will here story after story of peep trying t people trying. Sandy cost new york 42 billion. It will be a personal cost to bear for many years. Upanddown the coastal the dough bridough briedebris has b. The long nigh nightmare of destd or damaged homes is not yet over. Thestethe search and rescue ses. It was a lie. It was a betrayal. Rozsalee is a spannis is a sh teacher. She is now living in an entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial apartment its all she could find. I lost everything. Shshe lives on the second flr of this building and a year later still not repaired. The first floor was completely washed out. There was mold and funky smells. And then there was the fully stocked deli. He would 4r50eu6we lived abo. And there was food that went bad. Fema told you to get out. They looked at the outside and said why are you still here. For months they were forced to live in a motel and then the red cross said they could hope to. Help. I spoke to the case worker and he said i would be eligible for money to move no a new place and my Household Items would be replaced. The red cross raised more money to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. 308 million. They created a move and Assistance Program to help people get back no their storm damaged homes. They so far have spent i 15,00. They said they would give you how much money . Ten t thousand dollars. What did they tell you you needed to goat the money fro. Goat the mone get the nun frd why is. Cross. Find a place and submit a w 9. They badly needed assistance and the red cross changed their eligibility clo criteria last m. Ben is a former red cross volunteer. He is the founder of a nonprofit organization. There are hundreds of people across new york that were told that they would be eligible for assistance. They jumped through hoops and tock days oftook days off work t they were not eligible. How high was the wate water her. It was right around here. His home backs onto a canal. Sandys tidal surge buckled his dock and sent water flowing into the windows. A year later the water rotted walls are still half gone and paper are still growing out in what had basketball his office. Its a one foot or a two foot or a three feet. And then i knew this was going to be a problem. Anything i had proppedded u pros not high enough. These are the documents you sent off to the roa red cross. He yesyes maam. Those are all of the things that they asked you . Thats it. How much d do you think it wl cost to fix this. He found a contractor and submitted an estimate. Then he got two phone calls telling him his application is denied. That is it. I havent heard from them since j when we return more of this exclusive america tonight investigation. Part two. A Relief Organization adds to the stress after sandy uncovered the shift an shift and commitme. Next. America tonight the membershihelpthat never came. Our investigation looks at the American Red Cross and the failures that left comowchbilitiecommunitieshigh ad dry. We continue with our investigation with shel sheila mcvicker. We takleaving hundreds of familh help they had been promised and needed we asked the red cross for an on camera interview, but the request was denied. I was in new york and work being with the sandy operation for months. We have protected this mans identity and changed his voice. He has direct knowledge of his move in program. People were promised money by the red cross these people have been home oless or displaced for year. They were made promises by the red cross and the red cross failed to honor. The red cross lawnched their move in Assistance Program. The red cross workers were told how to interpret the program criteria. Each case had multibel multiplef approval. Why were there people in the pipe line and all o all of a sun were not processed. The eli elicel will we showed him a red cross document which was used by case workers with now disqualified victims. We are committed to being good stewards of donated dollars and regularly evaluate our work. And to ensure that open cases are following program guidelines. Is that an accurate statement . Its a nice statement and i do believe in general they do try to be a good stewards of the donor dollar. There were clientness that cli t werdeemed donors. The red cross insists the criteria was applied from february onward. That is not what red cross workers told us. We spoke to two former and one red cross worker. They stay afte say after may 6te was so much confusion they were offeredded tordered not to speah client. The case workers were told not to speak with client. Not to speak with client of the not to speak with client at all they were not sure of the effect of the changes. Some red cross workers were so up si upset they quit their. None of the former red cross workers they spoke to can tell us why the change in intertion was made. Just that it came from upper management one described it as asasharbash at the disasters account Ability Program doeses of people were funded and then denied. Somsome were told that they e getting the money in the mail. The check was cut and this is what you are going to get. And the check never came. There were hundreds of other cases that were somewhere in the pipe line. Where the case worker had been given a positive indication to the climate. Client. These were not a small hiccups these were enormous migraines. After asking for explanationings to the pro program the red cross said they would review and make good on cases. The red cross says if client were promised assistance by the rered cross case worker we will honor their request even if they dont meet program criteria. The red cross will continue to work with us on sandy relief. Last month during a news conference, the u. S. Attorney general says after investigation of complaints the red cross would now contribute more money to helping sandy victims. They are working to correct problems and review cases that people were denied relief. But america tonight received this email. Its dated september 20th and reveals further changes to the implementation of the program. The request refused and guidelines are more strictly evaenforced now. They never came back. Laura is one of those that had her case reviewed and denied the second time. And then it started to leak. I am hoping that my boilers will hold out. And if they dont i will boar bw money. She was not eligible now because she did not stay in a hotel paid for by the government after the storm. But she has a pet. That would have been one. Exceptions that they should have allowed. Most hotels will not take a pet those that stayed with family or friends or those that state stan their damaged homes one of the ways the worker described the program as arb as ash as arbi t. Show feels door after door has been shut on her and her fawnly. Family. And what hurts the most is the refusal of the red cross to help. What did you think when you got the phone call saying you were not gre going to get that money . I said it was wrong i said that to him. Its unfair. Wathere was never an idea i was not going to be eligible. There was never that conversation. You have met all of the requireless trequirements to mau eligible. The new York Attorney Generals Office is tinnin contg to watch the red cross. They do expect them to honor the victims of sandy. When you hear this story, you are modall mode immediately strt is happening here . Is the red cross running out of money for victims. We knew that at the time the change came in the program they had 110 million in the bank raised for sandy. And they had a thousand families and giving them the maximum allowable that would have been 10 million. That in the scope of things is not a lot for the red cross. Is there any suggestion that someone is pocketing something for themselves. What case workers are talking about is gross mismanagement. The approval that took place from when the top program was implemented from dic december ty went through e many layers of approval. There is oile another way tok at this of the these are contributions. These people were not expecting to receive. These people were left in a terrible situation. If they had it would be pennies on the dollar. Most didnt get money from fema. In cases like rosalee. They made decisions on what red cross workers toile told her ova period of months. Months. She would have done thingings ts differently if she hadnt known she wasnt going to get the money. She is playing tag with the el red cross worker and has no idea whether she will get the money or not. Its not a question of deserving, its a question of need. 10,000 would make a gig big difference on what they had to pay out of pocket and it may help them a little bit more. And it goes to people that donated money in the first place if i wrote a check or did a phone donation i yo assumed that would be going to sandy. Everyone was raise being money raising money for sandy. The new York Attorney generals focus is on that in their charities division. We want to talk to johnathan catz. He is Associated Press reporter who has covered some of the biggest disasters in the world. He wrote a book the big truck that went by and how a storm came to haiti and left a disaster. You are talking about the storm that came to haiti. Do you lock at similarities we these relief ach agencies are handling the enormous disasters. I was in new york after sandy. And there were a lot of similarities in the way that the people were reacting in new york and on the ground in haiti after 2010. Like what . People know that tons of money is going into the american red cds cross. Cd red cross. And its often not obvious where that money is going if you have are somebody that is directly affected by the disaster. You wont see as many red cross personnel or trucks with their logo on it as you might exexpect in the amount that they raised. In the case of haiti they raised 4 460 million. We had about three permanent foreign staffers own the ground at the time. When i was writing my book and i was going back and asking why wasnt there more visible presence on the ground immediately after the disas at the one of the responses they gave is there is only so much money they can push through at the time its almost admitting they raised more money that be they knew what to do so. Its good intentions or bad organizations or bad management. The red cross does a good job in some things. But in terms of macing large amounts of money and large need an after a enormous disaster. We know from katrina and other bringing weather related disasters, there can does seem to be a problem with getting it right and making sure that money gets to people that believe they were promised that money that is why you have an investigation in new york. There are people saying, wait a minute you told me you can help me. And now you are telling me you cant. And that is what the issue is. And the last question for you johnathan on this. There is that expectation that each event it produces different donations be a people have an expectation. I am donating to the survivors of isnt day. People have expectations as i dont or where the money goes . The thing is the American Red Cross is a big brand name. I wrote a piece after sandy which is basically like cocacola. They know its a grand and they good morning stop to ask which is basic presence questions do they have a presence in the country or area they are supposed to be respond flog. What are they going to do with the money before they get it. Zplr they are a Good Organization and do a lot of good things, but its better to hold itch and ask the questionsfirst. Johnathan catz. How the big truck went by and how the world came to haiti and left a disas at the. And also with us sheila mcvicker. When we return. Soared ties nativar will gather for a different kind of tribal conference. This is the fifth gathering of its kind and its going to be held at the white house next week. One key issue that is bound to come up. In south dakota 13 percent states children are in families. And 50 percent are infoster care. For the lakota people the issue is not just about custody its about cultural survival. Reporting for fault lines. That lakota culture family i evy family is a foster home. Bebernice is raising three of hr grandchildren. I clean them up and send them to school and i do this all by myself that is what keeps me going. Grand parents have the same right to raise children as parents. The tribe has been able to honor this tradition by taking over Child Welfare from the state. They created lowel. La coat alala lakota people we d crowded. And we have four or five girls laying on the floor in the bode bedroom and as long as they were safe and protected that is acceptable dss would not allow that. Using our tradition and culture we were able to find a lot of kids persona permanentsy. Bernices grandchildren have been able to Stay Together and go to school and retain the lakota culture. The best thing in life is that we will havwe love each other. We care for each other. Its a sacred way of life for us. The Transitional Living Program Creates a who home for them. Its a home for teenagers aging out of the foster care system. Our kids would age out of foster care with no skills to survive on their own. And a lot of them ended up pregnant or incarcerated or abusive situations and they didnt have the tools to know what independent living is. Sarah recently arrived at the tlp. Sh she went to state custody when she was eight years old and lived in 12 homes. The first time i went into the system like all i wanted was my mom. All i wanted was my dad by the time i was 13 i finally figured out my parents they dont want kids. They want to be on their own. Regardless if they are there or not i didnt want fob there. There to be there. How did that make you feel when you found out. I didnt want anything to do with them they were going to keep hurting me emotionally. Sarah is now colonel o currek home with her parents. And is studying for her ged tracTransitional Living is wheri need to be in my life. I want a career for myself. I want to go into the navy. Im excited about that. The tlp can be a life line. But its future hinges on funding and its facing severe cuts from see ques sequestratio. Our kids need to love and not to wonder where their next meal comes from. They need to he ha educate thems so they can do what im doing and you are doing. What the tribe is trying to do. With few job prospects on the reservation, many families migrate in search of work. Only to find that k conditions e just as tough in rapid city. That are more native americans living in poverty here than anywhere in the country if their children get taken n into custoy they lack the resources to fight the state. My children were taken from me last week. They said my inagen inability to protect them. I let them go with their dad and their dad took them where they shouldnt have been. Angelas children were taken to a home of a Family Member that abused them previously. Ing an thepreviously. They interviewin interviewed. And they took her into another room. That is when they told me they were taking them. I couldnt even say goodbye to them. And we dont have a lot, but we have each other. Its important to me. It feels like i havent seen my kid in a year and its only been a week. There they are. I wil love you so much. Baby is back. High baby. Hi baby. Never again, okay . Angelas children are being returned to her under state soup supervision. At a future hearing she will find out if she will regain full custody. Did you pray . I prayed every minute m minu. Me too. Me too. Later angela told me about a note that the investigator sent her. So the wha the police are sau can decline the help of your tribe. That is not the first time she wanted to get the message to me. She also sent it to me verbally over the phone. Why do you think she is telling me that. She is trying to influence me that i am better o o off with ot me. I have so many people tell me that if the social worker takes my kids i will never see them a. Jolene has even had junction to challenge her right to intervene. The tribe has a right to intervene and they still on. On joke. Onobjectchbl. Chbl. I can see the pain on your face. How can it not affect me im faytive. Fanative. I get emotional thinking about what was lost with kid. Yoyou how many kids we have lost lord . We cant change the past, but you can take bad from that and go forward. Fault lines correspondent we had run ins with the Child Welfare system and in one case losing the one. Grandchildren to the Child Welfare system while they kept the other one. My father grew up in a Residential School many stories i heard did hit close to home. Quite familiar and quite common among the community. And you know, full disclosure you and i met at pine ridge. You and i were working on different stories there. Seeing that environment the poverty is hard to com compreher tell somebody else. And some folks say why wouldnt you want your children to leave that enviroment and have greater opportunity elsewhere . The response that we haerd hd from people in poin pine ridge s that we may be poor in monetary terms tha, but we are rich in culture. That is what it boils down to the people that we interviewed, they have a different priority and different world view. One that celebrates their past and their her continuing. Tryintheir heritage and when wef the community the traditional language and song were being used those were also the families where he would saw a cohesive kin Group Holding onto the children and raising the children together. So its really a question of different values of the indigenous community. The people here want to be able to pass on their own Cultural Values to their young people. And that is not going to hoo han if their children are taken away. In the state of the south dakota abover ipoverty is not actually reasonable grounds to remove a child from a family. Do you see a opportunity for change here through the child welwell fair actwelfare acted. The indian Child Welfare act is a federal law that across the United States if a native child is to be removed from their family they are first to be placed with their kin and after someone else in their tribe. Until those are exhausted a child should be taken out and given foster care. The heart of the question is whether or not the exist being w is being lived up to in the states right now. We spoke to to many people that said the law is great. He would want th the state to fulfill it. Rob canoe we appreciate you being with us. When we return, off the cutting room floor of history. One of the most feared leaders in the world. Why didnt hollywood spotlight hitlers reign of terror fault lines examines why so many native American Kids are caught in the Child Welfare system. Any time they see a social worker its like seeing a police officer. The Immediate Response is, theyre here to take my kids. From the Indian Perspective who sees this in terms of history, this is as about as adversarial as it gets. Determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesnt contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. They may consider it offensive. And in that case they just recommend that you block that person. I dont want to minimise this, because i mean, theres some really horrible things that are on line, and its not its not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hatefilled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. There has been a huge number of those that exist as well. Didnt anyone know or even with the benefit of min hind site. Hindsight. One case in point 1930s germany as hitler came to power aand created a killing machine. Didnt people know a new cinematic rerelease shows that there was a bold effort to expose the threat. One that could have captured americas attention. Own if moviegoers had been watching. I have never had a man owe so able to persuade people. In his 1933 film Neil Vanderbilt tried to warn the world as what i saw as a serious threat, Adolph Hitler. In the hour and a half that hitler spoke to the packed audience that night. As sign of one of americas wealthiest and most powerful families va vanderbilt set out e his own expose. Before iphones and snap chat videos van de van der van der bn expensive fil film camera and al known name that gave him key access to well known people in germany. What message do you have for the American People . Vanderbilt understood the power of dra drama. A chilling conversation they had with the translation of the killing views. Tell them Adolph Hitler is the man of that power. Tell them that adolph hitter his been sent by the almighty. What about the jews, your lesso. Tom doroth doherty. He finds it quite remarkable. When you look at the film with modern eyes how profetic the film is. At that time 1933 doherty points out that america was more concerned about issues at home. They were far away and not on many peoples radar. Oon this film you have corneilus vanderbilt. They are clear eyed about persecution of the jews. Which brought up in a way in this film that you wouldnt see in hollywood until year later. Vanderbilt saw the up ragech he. Grabbing the fil filmness fid to save and i crawled under the car and glued the cans to the bottom with tape. What happens next becomes a shock to the film maker hit letter the reign of terror screened in new york and clog and San Francisco. But it was immediately panned. The influential film daily dismissed the notion that hitler would be any threat. And then vanderbilts movie faced a kind of pressure that document tea airmentry. Documentary. In 1915 the 1915 they determinet films were a business. Any state or any city could ban a film or demand that a film be cut before it played in their region. So a Motion Picture maker really had to go through a series of options or hurdles to getcontroversial films played in the 1930s. Which is a main reason why the Hollywood Studios stayed away from that controversial content. A San Francisco theater manager was eas arrested for shg the film and then it disappeared. Doherty knew the film had existed and and expected he might final it. Final find it. There i it really seemed to vanh in the map which was curious and then when the trail seemed cold, a chance discovery. Deep in the stacks of the film archives. I came across this title in the at thadata base and it was ther. And i looked looked at it and e were the names of hitler and vanderbilt and one title. I was curious about it. Why are theying to. Together and i made some inquiries and before he would new it we had something unique in our collection. Something unique, what is believed to be the only surviving copy cuf of hitlers n of terror. , probably someone wanted to release the film in bel belgiumr europe. And we dont know what his intention was. But to release it here. And the events advanced is him and he didnt have the time to release it. The working theory is that the film was ordered before the nazis invaded bel belgium in 19f someone was showing the film they would file a complaint. So in many countries you had a censorship and they ordered the film and didnt pick it up because they knew they wouldnt be able to screen it anyway. It emerged as film historians are keeping a lid on hitler in the 1930s. This author accuses hollywood for forging a pact to us movie houses. When hitte hitler came to powert movie studios demanded that though fire half of their salesmen in germany and by 1936 they failed all of their jewish salesmen in determin germany. The nazis said they couldnt make a film showing the war or the persecution of jews. For the American Business to go along with each of the demands is collaboration in a sense. The notion that hollywood was implicit is challenged by a reminder in the 1930s in the germany and in the you had was a very different time. Words like collaboration and comcomecomcomplicity. Arare over blown. Ththe images of the. Announcer nazis are so vivid. They are the universa universe. So for the Hollywood Studio to be importing a film into germ n the 1930s wouldnt be considered a horror. The film screened in new york. Well be right back. Interest audiences are intelligent and they know that their its the latest high octane company to go public. Twister is going to make the people that helped it become a sensation very, very wealthy. There are many challenges that come with this life changing event and it doesnt have to equate to retiring young and rich. We found someone who has been through it all in redmon redmondwashington. Redmond, washington. You will find paul gross challenging the trails on his mountain bike. He retired from microsoft at 40 years old. Its bit of a dream come true growing up. Everyone wanted to figure out how to make it, it was like the American Dream and it was happening. And it was fun. He spent money on cars and golf and travel. And it all left him uneasy. I was studying spanish. I planned to learn the Musical Instrument and it didnt happen. I was more drawn with things with computers and things with making changes with people and i wasnt feeling the words. He came here to seattle based social venture pa partners to fd a way to make life re havent. Svp has offices in 34 cities and is given out 50 million in grants. It was a good fit for gross. If we pool our money and Human Capital and time we can do a whole lot in soak social issud entrench social issues. Its a perfect example of that. After first giving time an money to support a local school. A new reason for caring and giving dropped into his life. His son was born ten weeks premature. As the layers unpeeled he ended up with hydrocephalus. He embraced the new mission and a simple new philosophy. There is an obligation with comfort to help others be more comp fortable. Commorecomfortable. He has donated a Million Dollars and he serves on the board of the hydrocephalus association. Wealth brings responsibility he now realizes and he offers advice to newcomers to the multimillion dollar game. Find out what it is you are passionate about and do something. How much more do you need and hohow much more can you have . Its a responsibility that this bike rider didnt understand until the life trail he was following made him rich. That is it for us on america tonight. Please join us on the workers compensatoin site aljazeera. Com americatonight. Good night. Well have more of se america tonight tomorrow. Welcome to Al Jazeera America im david shuster. A storm with 125 milesperhour wind gusts is battering the philippines. Municipalities of female have evacuated lowlying areas the storm is expected to pass north of the philippines second largest city. The state department officals say secretary o secretary of stn kerri is headed to switzerland to help with negotiations over Irans Nuclear program the change in the schedule came hours after an iranian official says the agreement with talks is in the works