Transcripts For ALJAZAM America Tonight 20131017

Nuclear program went into the second day with representatives from the eu and the u. N. Security council asking tehran to agree to international monitoring. Those are the headlines at this hour. You can get the latest news online at al jazeera. Com. We on Al Jazeera America are in continuing breaking News Coverage at this hour. Youre looking live at the u. S. Cal toll on the house floor are lawmakers are set to vote reopen the government and raise the debt limit. A short time ago the Senate Approved the legislation to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. Given the off again and on again its easy to understand it aint over until its over approach. Both reporters and members take into a slam dunk vote on ending the Government Shutdown. At this hour were still unclear about all this this. It seems the end is near for the moment. The president spoke for a short time ago. Heres what he had to say. Once this agreement arrives on my desk, i will sign it immediately. Well begin reopening our government immediately. We can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American People. Ill have more to say about this tomorrow, and ive got some thoughts about how we can move forward in the remainder of the year to stay focused on the job at hand. Joins now is political analyst and al jazeera contributor bill schneider. Also with us is the real money host ala hostali very well shee and libby casey with Mike Vick Tara with us as well. Fill us in on where it stands right now. Reporter were waiting for the house to take its vote, and, of course, we saw the senate do its vote and the final tally there was 81 to 18. We saw a handful of republicans vote with the democrats for passages some voted against, those 18 republicans among them, senator ted cruz when he insisted on tieing funding the government with defunding obamacare. So thats where were at. President obama came out and spoke after the senate passage. Its unusual to see him come out in the middle of the procedure here on capitol hill, but as you said, he believes its a done deal. Even if a couple republicans are turned off by the president coming out and saying, okay, were moving forward now, before they get a chance to vote, it wont affect that many votes. So were expecting passage. Libby, well and you to stand by. We go to Mike Viqueira on that. The president was out a short time ago speaking. Was it a vick victory lap or how would you characterize it reporter clearly a victory lap. The president and White House Strike a con sill to her tone. Somewhat unusual he comes out before the house voted before it was a donedeal. Yes, mr. House republicans are sore. I talked to a couple via email tonight that he did that, but its academic. Theyre not going to yank it from the floor at this point out of pique against the president. The president was con sill to her and kept the highminded tone and for the need to republicans and democrats to Work Together and put politics and elections behind. He cited some of the bills stuck in congress, a victim of the gridlock that led us to this point this evening. Lets listen to a little bit of what he had to say. We need to pass a law to fix the broken immigration system and pass a farm bill. With the shutdown behind us and budget committees forming, we have an opportunity to focus on a sensible budget that is responsible, that is fair, and that helps hardworking people all across the country. We could get all these things done even this year if everybody comes together in the spirit of how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us . Reporter its a win for the president. Theres no question. House republicans, a devastating loss, a capitulation really allowing this bill to hit the floor after all the effort that theyve taken, allfornaught to please conservatives and the pea party base. The president will seize the initiative. He has a statement tomorrow at the rose garden, 10 35 a. M. Where he talks about this agenda. Regardless of the fact that it is the the president says we need to put politics and elections behind us, next year is a Congressional Election year, and its going to be hard to do that these next three months in between now and january 15th, incidentally, the date of this agreement. This is a threemonth agreement to keep it funded for the next three months and work towards a deal in the meantime. The next debt ceiling until february 7th or thereabouts. They can use extraordinary measures to fudge the deadline and move it on. Theres no explanation that it changed what so far. You look at the Senate Roll Call vote tonight, see who voted against this senate deal, struck by their Republican Leadership and democratic leadership, marco rubio, ted cruz, rand paul. All three prospective president ial candidates trying to appeal to the base in 2016 voted against this. John cornyn from texas has a tough senate race ahead of him and david from louisiana who wants to run for governor there. Theres no indication anything is going to change, even though they have promised in this bill to get together and try to do something they havent been able to do in five years, and thats come up with a budget. I wanted to clarify more on it. We didnt do it earlier. I want the details on what were looking at. The deal voted on tonight would reopen government and Fund Operations until january 15th. It would also lift the debt ceiling extending the governments ability to borrow until early february, but it means, gentlemen, as mike pointed out, we could look at this all over again early in the new year. This is true, right . It is. Republicans are saying this was round one. Theyre looking forward to round two. Round two is even closer to the election. Too do they want to do this again . What does it do to the markets . Not enough. Weve lost 4 of the markets in the last month or so. The s p and the dow and nasdaq were at their highs about one month ago. We havent seen it come back. What are you celebrating exactly . They didnt throw themself off of a cliff. We get to revisit this in three months. As mike said, there are two things to keep in mind here. The fundamental dynamic hasnted changed. The people are prepared to do so again. Does it feel good to them or they regroup. The other thing is there is one primary obligation in the constitution for congress to pass the budget. We have fundamental disagreements as to what that budget should look like. Forget the side deals. The Main Operation of government is a budget shths and were not close to it. There is going to be a negotiation. They have to get something done by the middle of december supposedly. Theyre supposed to. Theyve had deadlines before. Keep in mind one thing. This is really the bottom line. Obamacare is still the law of the land. The whole thing started with conservatives said well use the debt ceiling and the Government Shutdown as leverage to kill obamacare. Theyre trying to defund it. This was their last chance. Its still there. Its still the law. Theyre still quite unhappy. Ted cruz earlier quite angry, disappointed, infuriated, not satisfied with where this was going. This was like throwing down a marker, right . It is. He says congress isnt listening to the American People. The American People are split on obamacare. Its gained a little support in recent months. Most americans think, lets see how it works and try it out. Theres things clearly wrong with the website. Lets fix it, but dont shut down the government. Fix it. Lets talk about the dissatisfied. Among those that spoke is chuck schumer. Hes always ready to talk about many things, but has been relatively quiet until tonight. Stepped out. Lets hear what he had to say. Today is not a happy day. Its a somber day. We finally achieved our goal, but frankly we ended up where we started. When we started we said we would do three things. Fund the government, pay our bills, and agree to negotiate. We started there, and thats where we ended up. Thats exactly what the law does. No more, no less. Thats progress . Thats progress. We want to let our viewers know that the house has agreed theyre going into session in about 10 minutes, 9 1 2 minutes and go back into session and start voting. Thats a long way to go. Will there be speeches on this one . Im not sure. I dont know what the rules are on this. There was talk about the spending rules. Libby would know better than we would. At the last check they would allow them a few comments and speak for a while. We might be an hour and a half, two from it being completed. Keep in mind this hard core conservative tea party caucus, they will not admit defeat. They say this will go on and this is round one. They see more opportunities to gain leverage, and theyre never going to give up trying to kill obamacare. That cant happen unless the republicans elect a president of the United States. That wont happen until 2016, if it happens at all, that runs on a pledge to get rid of obamacare. That can be difficult. We saw what happened with that. Thats right. Lets go back to libby casey on capitol hill at this hour. Libby, were talking about that, two questions there. Is there going to be a debate on the floor of the house, or is this just going to be a straight up and down vote . The other part of it, what do you hear from the members and others who obviously are pretty darn disappointed tonight . We expect to see a little bit of conversation back and forth before the final vote takes place, but that will come in a little while this evening. As far as the tea party members, we hear a couple of difrn it the things. We here some resignation from some and other fighting words from other including senator ted cruz. He walked onto the senate floor earlier tonight right next to senator mike lee, the republican from utah. He hasnt gotten quite as much attention as his colleague, senator cruz, but hes been by his side throughout the whole thing. Cameras were popping and the reporters were trailing after them. It was a Virtual Campaign ad. You see them setting up for talking points they tend to use down the line to the key constituents theyre appeals to. They got a lot of mileage out of this, and they got a lot of footage, basically. So they feel, i think, good in one sense about some of the attention their issue has garnered. On the other hand they walk away without a victory in this one and the republicans are frustrated that things didnt go their way in the house. Speaker boehner got a standing ovation today when they had a final meeting. As some of the republicans came out it was moderate, so a business more frustrated than the real conservatives. That is true, bill. On that point, that sort of frustration and the support that might build for the tea party in a sense, if you want to be really cynical about this, this could be a fundraising opportunity, right . Yeah. Its the alamo the alamo that the texans lost. This is always unusual to me. It was always conservatives who wants to protect the economy and business, and this is such an unbusiness and uneconomic way of doing things. Im puzzled why they look Like Campaign ads. Why would you appeal to a base of people that think it was a responsible thing to do to not pay your bills and harm your economy is puzzling to me. The republicans i remember when i was growing up liked things good for business, stability and planning, and this has been anything but. Number one, the redistricting has gin them very safe districts. Number two, the Supreme Court has ruled that anybody can get as much money as they want to Political Action committees and Government Spending. They dont depend on the party and dont depend on business from money. They can raise money from independent, conservative billionaires in texas that give them a lot of money and raise money on the internet. Thats why they cant easily be disciplined by the party or the party leadership. Wall street really has no influence with these people. This is something new. This is a political fundamentalist Movement Like a religious fundamentalist movement. They dont hold up the bible but the constitution of the United States and want to go back to 1787. Mike viqueira at the white house for us. Does the president feel in any way he has the tea party on the run . Reporter i think they feel that at the white house. I will say this. I want to hear what bill has to say. I think the day after the election we thought john boehner, who new that remember the last guy that had taxes rise, we saw john boehner jump in front of that because he knew the white house had the upper hand coming off the election when the president won if not overwhelmingly certainly in convincing fashion. They lost that fight. He knew he had this chasm within the Republican Party. The tea party was very upset about that and felt they had the rug pulled out from under them by john boehner. Snookered was the word i heard a couple of times. They thought this time was going to be different and that emboldened ted cruz and the gang to have this position. Ali, to answer your original question, the Republican Party now has to decide who they are. Right. The Republican Party of your youth or the big old building across Lafayette Park here. The Republican Party has changed. Theyre two very different parties. If they nominate marco rubio or rand paul or ted cruz, the Republican Party is going to split wide open. Not the first time its happened like with roosevelt. Thats the important point. Who is the face of the Republican Party . The Republican Party versus the tea party . There is a face, but i dont know if hes interested in doing it. The governor of new jersey who is about to be reelected next month by an overwhelming margin, he embraced the antichrist, he embraced president obama after Hurricane Sandy because obama supported a relief effort. If he wanted to certainly the republicans did not. A lot of conservative republicans in the house, a lot of people asked me why didnt wall street put more pressure on these guys to stop it, and i think bills point is valid. Wall street doesnt have pressure to put on these people that wont move. They dont even accept they lost the 2012 election. They still dont think they lost. Fair point. Gentlemen, thanks very much. Bill schneider, ali very well shee and Mike Viqueira and libby casey. America tonight will take a break here and will continue after this. I would drive around new jersey meeting more and more people who this is affecting. Is your race going to become a symbol of that. This is a perfect race of new jersey. The only federal race in america right now that new jersey has the ability to send a message to washington. Do they endorse a tea Party Shutdown or reject a shutdown for the republicans and democrats. Meanwhile, he made a visit a visit about 30 miles to the west. This is the shop that is the kind of Small Business worried about obamacare one of the central themes of his campaign. Companies are cutting back on fulltime job ands not growing and dividing up businesses and finding any way they can to get out from under the thumb of obamacare. He went on to address what he believes is the real problem with washington. You have to put an end to this massive Government Spending explosion of debt and regulation. Id like to see as little government assist possible. I think local government is the most important. Local Services Continue with the shutdown of the federal government. Thats the one level of government we cant do away it. Late in the day booker greeted merchants in newark. Like rutgers this is clearly booker territory. He believes that the federal government can be a positive force in peoples lives. I wish my opponent who talks about our cities in such negative ways to see the incredible things happening in our city. My opponent who supports a tea Party Shutdown who believes this this decisive, sporadic broken politics, were saying we should go a different way in america. Is it idealistic to transform it . Onethird of the all the Development Goes on right here. This came about because of idealism and believing and supporting and working together. You think you can change washington . I think i can. Thank you, thank you. Mayor. Cory booker has been a mayor. Hes had a limited constituency and hes out there with his constituents. The story of rescuing a woman from a burning building and shoveling sidewalks. Senators are different. Senators are legislators. Its different from being an executive. I think its unclear right now what kind of senator he would be. He has a doubledigit lead in the race. Its not surprising considering his star power. Hes very well liked in new jersey. He has the highest popularity of any politician in that state except for one person, and that person is Chris Christie. Now, we did hear a little bit of criticism in newark about cory booker, a schoolteacher told us she believes hes a little, quote, overrated and a maul Business Owner told me that booker appears too interested in his own political career and not only real people on the ground. What you overwhelmingly hear in newark where a lot of people know cory booker, hes extremely popul popular. People are leaving cars running in the street to take pictures with him. Hes a celebrity politician in that town. When you talk to the supporters, a smaller number of people are the Typical Tea Party republican. They were against obamacare and for a lot of conservative social issues against abortion and samesex marriage. The last days of the race, that was a bold move to go out there heart on your sleeve and say im all the way out here on the tea party. It puzzled a lot of people, too, because it pushed him further to the right in new jersey, which is a centrist type of state and blue state. So people were wondering why did he do that . During the debate he really pointed himself as this right wing conservative there, and it really turned out a lot of voters. The poll done by reuters found it turned off voter, and thats when he showed momentum before the debates and that tanked again. We bring in mr. Schneider to explain to us, why would lonigan do that . It looked like a Suicide Mission . Turnout was very low in new jersey. It was held in the middle of october on a wednesday. Im amazed anyone showed up in the polls. He was expecting that a small number of people would show up to vote, and they would be dominated by the diehardtru red. That could happen in virginia where the attorney general is also a Tea Party Candidate and hoping for a low turnout because his people are going to show up the way lonigans people would show up if theres a blizzard. The former aide to president clinton is leading in polls in virginia. What does this tell us about the page for tea partiers for these big races . They cant compete in a blue state like new jersey. Its likely to be suicidal, even in the very unusual special election. If he loses in virginia, it says, you cant elect a Tea Party Republican even in a Southern State like virginia. In a purple state. North carolina is another state that comes play. Chris christie is expected to win big. Hes a republican in new jersey, which is voting for cory booker right now. A mainstream republican can win a blue state. A Tea Party Republican cannot win a purple state in the south. There you see Chris Christie. While we were up there in new jersey, there was a lot of talk about that race as well. What you see up there is Chris Christie really going moderate right now in that state, and people there loved him. Highest popularity of any politician in the state of new jersey. Chris christie is a republican in the blue state of new jersey. A bunch of states we will follow on all of this. Thanks for being here. Coming up here, online operations rooting out injustice. Well download the social messages of the Group Anonymous. Thats all i have an real money. Victoria azarenko my name is ranjani chakraborty, now a snapshot of stories making headlines on america tonight. Concern is growing about the widespread salmonella outbreak traced to foster farms chicken plants in california. The cdc says the strain is resistant to many antibiotics making it a more dangerous outbreak. So far more than 300 people have been sickened since march. A heavy out of world this discovery as divers pulled a half ton fragment of the meteor from a bottom of a frozen lake in russia. More than 1600 people were injured when the meteor fell to earth and exploded in february. Promising signs in geneva after two days of talks with iran. Diplomats say they will meet again in november. We told you about the Group Anonymous, an online collective made up of internet savvy activists who pushed the plight of two Sexual Assault victims into the spotlight. They launched a social Media Campaign to get it reopened and its not the first time they rallied thousands of people online to expose a perceived injustice. The Group Anonymous has been making an impact for years. Reporter it happened in steubenville, ohio on august 11, 2012. A video uploaded a video laughing uncontrollable of what sounded like the rape of an incapacitated girl. He rained marcel lues wallace in pulp fiction. Reporter a picture of the passedout 16yearold being carried by two players from the towns legendary Football Team showed up on instagram. It continued later with these comments on twitter. Some people deserve to be peed on. Never seen anything this sloppy, lol. The images were soon removed, but not before being captured by crime blogger alexandria goddard. Two players were arrested a week later, but she began blogging about the case, afraid that the popularity of the towns big red Football Team would prevent the attackers from being brought to justice. Her blog came to the attention of anonymous, a loosely organized group of internet activists. Five months later, when prosecutors appeared to be dragging their feet, the group packed into roll red roll the fan page and posted this video partnering. The girl was sexually assaulted, molested and raped and drug unconscious from party to party. Anonymous threatened to publicly identify everyone responsible. You can hide no longer. You have attracted the attention of the hive. Operation red roll engaged. Their stupidity astounds me. They hung themselves. We have the reputation of hackers that no one had to hack anything to get tweets or anything like that. Derek was the person behind the mask on this video posted to the roll red roll website. He admits making the video, but he says that someone else hacked the website. The tweets and the facebook posts that the kids make mocking the victim, the rapists themselves made, it enraged me that someone could treat someone like that. This is trayvon martin. I know you heard that. A week later he released the Youtube Video that says was sent to him by someone from steubenville. That was the big bombshell that got everybody going. It definitely made the splash needed to get more people involved in the investigation. She wasnt moving. Theres rushl a reaction. The video racked up a million views and sparked national outrage. Anonymous protest z converged on the streets of steubenville. We got 2,000 people on their city street peacefully who said there were signs and rape victims coming forward for the first time speaking online. It was very powerful. In march richmond and mays were found guilty of rape and sent to one to two years in juvenile detention. He credits anonymous for what he sees as justice serves. Theres say sense of excitement but also a sense of empowerment. This is what, you know, the people are supposed to be like in america. It was a classic hacktivist action, a Diverse Group with computer skills converging like a flash mob around a perceived injustice. They become part of anonymous because they seek empowerment from the world they havent got from power structures. Quinn covers anonymous. Its a populist movement because membership is open to everyone, and its hierarchy is based entirely on merit. Some tools are for activists and some just take down websites. You accout, and thats how you e social capital. Their knowledge of computers and the internet have allowed a technically savvy generation who might not otherwise be involved in social issues to find their voice. I think the most powerful thing about anonymous is the transformation is does to the people that are in it. Once their kind of part of Global Action and global Political Action, that sticks with people. During the arab spring online activists helped egyptians evade government krens soreship. During tit they took down government websites. We decided to help them win this battle against oppression. Once you feel like youre part of tunisian revolution, you care about the world in a way that very little others train you to care about the world. Theres antisensorship and pro free speech. Many people that came online found this to be a place where they got access to information where they could express themselves and that expression was nearly sacred in the culture. When hacktivists attacked the websites for visa and pay pal for refusing to pay things for julian as sauj, they were in collision with law enforcement. We thought it was a fedex truck but it was a s. W. A. T. Team. They told me, fbi get the f down. They put me in handcuffs. Is the department of justice going too far in their fight against protesters . Theyre hitting whistle blowers with a sledgehammerer now. We will hear from america tonight tomorrow night. Still ahead tonight, profiled and locked up. Its a live story that many transgender people can tell. Youll meet the community gripped by fear. Smell in the air and were following a strike team now to the top of the mountains where the fire line begins. vo its a war being fought by air and on land costing millions of dollars every year. You will make an individual decision to build a home there, but whats the cost to the rest of us . vo whats going wrong with the war on wildfires and what are the true costs of putting them out . Welcome back. Tomorrow you may notice a lot of purple clothing about signs of spirit day. Its organized to show Transgender Americans and raise awareness for people bullied because of their orientation. Tonight we consider authorities. We will bring you the story. In a Police Station in memphis, tennessee, a young transgender woman named dawana johnson has been arrested. Both officers were later fired. Violence against transgender people is not just a problem in memphis. A study by the National Coalition of antiviolence programs found that across the u. S. There are three times more likely than others to experience police violence. A common notion about policing is the police look for things that look funny. Thats part of what policing is. Its generalized position, and transgender look out of place. Dean spade is a lawyer and founder of the Sylvia Rivera law project. A Poverty Law Center that represents transgender people of not having social services or homeless shelters and et cetera. If youre poor, youre going to be poor and on the streets. That will put you in the path of poli police. Im 26 now, i could say i was homeless at the age of 15 until 23. Sasha told me that police often suspect her of engaging in prostitution. And when i found out the Evidence Police used against her, i was shocked. What kind of experiences have you had with the police . The cops stopped me and asked me what i was doing. I was like aim walking around, i am homeless. They said okay and, looked in my bag and they saw over three condoms and assumed that i was prostituting. And they charged me and locked me up for that. We heard this story over and over. Police using possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution. We met sasha friend that same night. She told us police regularly stopped her and searched her purse. I have been locked up probably about three times. Three times . Yeah. And for what . For nothing. Just because they assumed that i was a prostitute and because i had a number of condoms in my purse. Trina is a College Student who was arrested while waiting for the train. How did checking your i. D. Turn in to a prostitution charge . She told me she wanted to see in my bag and there were condoms in there and she locked me up for prostitution. Why did she lock up up for that . I assume because i am transgender, they look if your bag and search and you lock up for prostitution. Having a condom on you is evidence of nothing really more than hope. Andrea richie specializes in police misconduct. She has seen dozens of similar cases. Young white man with six condoms in his pocket is following good health practices. A black woman with six condoms in her purse is assumed to be engaging in prostitution. New york city gives away over 35 million free condom ace year. While one arm of the government gives away condoms, another arm, the police, have effectively criminalized possession of them. People go to a lot of trouble to contribute condom to his normalize condom use and to encourage condom use. And for Police Departments in new york city or anywhere in the country to then turn around and say, but if you look a certain way, or if you are in a certain place, or if you are a transgender or a woman of color, or if you are out at 3 00 in the morning or if you are wearing a tight shirt, suddenly that condom on you is evidence that you are about to engage in lewd conductor public s. E. X. The west village where game sought refuge after being kicked out of their home is his now one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the u. S. This comes more police and with more police comes more harassment of those who dont fit in. Police are charged with enforcing racialized gender norms and expectations in terms of how women are supposed to look, how men are supposed to look, how women are supposed to act and men are supposed to act. When they see someone who isnt acting in way they think they should be acting around gender or isnt expressing gender in a particular way or who is visibly someone skier or sexually non conform they go read it as disorder. And they often perceive that person as already disorderly, as already suspicion us, as already prone to vie glens ove violence. Over 50 of the lgbd homicides in 1220 were transgender women. Even when they were the victims of hate crimes, 48 reported receiving mistreatment from the police when they went for help. In the space of five months, mark carson have all been victims of motivated violence which resulted in their deaths. We met vienna garcia a young trantransgender woman. I dont like to go out at night because i feel scared, because, you know, sometimes probably they can arrest me or you know. Let me get this straight. You dont go out at night because you are worried about getting profiled by the police. Uhhuh. You are more scared of the police than the violence in the nipped. Yeah. Thats your main concern . Yep. The nypd declined to speak with us. She is a froze or o a professore she is an expert on police practices. She believed that the nypd is one of the best departments in the world. Do they use profiling . No. I dont think that you have any Police Agency in 21st censure any a end democratic country that uses profiling. But there is really . Yes, truly. But Police Officers come with their own biases, their own perceptions of who is the usual suspects. So maybe official of course they are not using profiling. Official. Unofficially . I think its one of each one of us uses a certain type of profiling, there is a very thin line between drov deviant behavr and criminal behavior with many Police Officers. Raise your hand if you have been asked for your i. D. By a police officer. Thank you. An Organization Called trans justice is training transgender new yorkers on their rights and interactions with police. Raise your hand if you have or have witnessed someone called a derogatory name by an n. Y. P. D. Officer. As transgender nonconforming people we are inherently always not going to fit, right . We are never going to be the norm. And for a lot of us, passing is never going to be an option. So does that mean we all have to conform in order to survivor does it mean we try to build a new society. He was a member of the group, and says trans justice fills an important need. What kind of encounters have you had with the police . I was walking with my colleague from work to her home, and the cops stopped us and they asked us for i. D. Although i did ask them to please refer for me as male. They did not. They dont respect who you are, they dont respect your pronouns. They want to force something on you that you dont agree with. And they forget that you are human and everyone deserves some respect. Back on christopher street, she shared her story with us. One we heard so often. First, rejection by her family. Then an arrest. For just being who she is. [inaudible] i finally found who i was. And then being locked up for nothing, and then you find yourself in a jail cell full of men, and the cops reminds you who you are. But you know that deep down inside thats not who her. But thats how they see you. That really hurted. It hurts, you know. That report came to us from america tonights christof. We consider spirit day and what it means to the l. B. G. T. Community. Joining us now wilson cruz and allyson gill from the Trevor Project both organizations are advocacy groups committed to providing support for the lesbian, game, bisexual and transgender communities. We appreciate both of you being with us. We start with you, you are an exceptional case in that even before you were really a big star, you were out. It was part of your becoming a star that you came out at about the same time. In such a public way, yet do you see a reason for young people in other environments to be close ted, to be concerned about their own safety in such environments . Absolutely. First of all, thank you for calling me a star. I appreciate that. But, yes, i mean, still even to this day, we still see that lgbt students and young people are being harassed and victimized in school over 80 of the students that glistens, another organization has surveyed, say this they are being victimized because of their Sexual Orientation and 60 say they are victimized because of their gender expression. So, yes, obviously they are still a rampant problem with bullying in schools. So, yeah, even all these years later. But i think part of the way that we solve that is Like Campaigns like spirit day where we actually have an opportunity to shed a National Spotlight on lgbt youth and show them the sport that they need because we see when our students and when our youth are supported, and celebrated, they excel and they are allowed to actually be themselves. Right. And make danks, wilson really is a star from my socalled life. Allyson gill is here, we were talking about this as we watched christofs report. Do you see that disconnect between societys increasing openness i think, and public policy, which may be is lacking behind . I do. I do think that society is becoming more and more open to beds lee en, game, bisexual and trans issues. In the past 10 years we have seen broad changes and how trans people are treated in society. However, the policy changes, especially at the federal level are not proceeding as quickly as we would hope. For example, the employment nondiscriminal act which would provide critical protections is making its way slowly through the senate we have been trying to pass this law for 25 years. Its very slow. Yeah. Particularly the Trevor Project focuses on supporting young individuals and trying to prevent suicide. Because of the pressure. How serious a problem is it . Its a very serious problem. We know that for all young people, suicide is the second leading cause of death. But for lesbian, game, bisexual and transgender young people in particular its a heightened they are at heightened risk. Lelesslesbian and game are fours higher risk. And transgender are higher. Wilson, when you think about that, four times more likely to commit suicide, and young people in particular, where a lot of your own focus and your own fans are from, can you talk about what is most important to that sense of support, community support, national support, Family Support and friend support to help people feel comfortable and able to be out and be their true selfs. Yeah. Well, its heartbreaking to me that that number still exists. You know, the fact that yourself esteem is affected by the way that people treat you in your school and sometimes sadly enough in your own family, is a problem that i have been working against for 20 years. But even as another part of that problem is the way that it affects the education of our kids. You know, so many of our kids arent showing up to school. Are lagging behind in their education because they are not coming to school. Right. And allyson, and also not feeling safer. Thats right. Thats right. 15 of trans gents students report being forced out of school because of harassment and that has life long negative outcomes. Appreciate both you of coming in and talk toss us,. Thank you. Thank you. Again, spirit day is tomorrow and america tonight will be back in a moment. On inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hardhitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. Millions who need assistance now. We appreciate you spending time with us tonight. Up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. Why l. A. s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the Entertainment Industry there. Next. Finally from us tonight, from namibia, there is a wardrobe that serve serves as a permanent reminder of a bloody history in that country when the land was colonized by germany. Now the that anybody vinnie government wants to shed its past. The reporting on the colonial makeover, here is al jazerras tanya paige. Reporter the distinctive dress say reminder of whats considered the first genocide of the 20th century. 10s of thousands of africans were killed by the german colonizers by copying their style, they believe that they assume their former enemies power. Although germany has not formally apologized and calls for compensation have been unanswered, it isnt something that this family dwells on. The war will be responsible. Who will say our grandfather was wrong, who will say that . No one. So some things you have to accept. Reporter the government wants to assert a more indigenous identity by renaming some germannamed places. But the people in the port town have fought back so hard the government has backed down. He says his hometown would have lost valuable tourist dollars. What you are selling tourism is an experience that is linked a geographic space. And then you brand that and so when you change the name, the images of that evoked in your minds may no longer reflect the space as you know it. Reporter in the capitol, change is underway, this too ste honors the tough, glorious german warriors who fought the resistence. The statue was moved from its original spot make way for the new National Museum which overlooked the city, but the president wanting to one step further, and get rid of the statue completely. While some want to shed the colonial legacy some families believe that although their dress may have originated with their former oppress or, it is now whole i theirs, the familys mate react says the tradition will never die yet your granddaughter feels differently. We are moving in to a modern era. You move for a city. People dress how they dress, fix yourself how they fix themselves. You wouldnt really want to wear that going tout a mall or a party dressed up in your traditional way. Thats like, kinds of lame. Reporter whether its german or african names or different them lines its a conversation they are having that is as much about the past as it was the future. Thats it for us here on america tonight. Please remember if you would like to comment on any stories you have seen tonight, log to our website aljazerra. Com americantonight. Meet our team and get sneak previews of the stories we are working on, tell us what you would like to see on our 90ly Current Affairs program and join the conversation with us on twitter or on our identifies book beige, good night, well have more of america tonight tomorrow. Breaking news on al jazerra america. I am John Siegenthaler and this is a live look at the house of representatives, where members are now voting on ideal to raise the debt limit and reopen the federal government. The Senate Passed the bill earlier this evening, it would funds the government for about three months, through january 15 accounttjanuary 15th and raisese debt ceiling until february 2nd. It comes two weeks in to the got shutdown and a day before we hit a limit defaulting on some of the United States state. The president stoke about an hour ago and said that he would sign the bill immediately as soon as it came