Transcripts For ALJAZAM America Tonight 20140907

A move sparked by flash point ferguson, a brutal response. Now how the feds are stepping in and young protesters across the region are stepping up with more protests. And the fight for chicago rages on. One year after our in depth look at stories behind the violence. We revisit a community trying to move forward. How have you been coping over the last two years . Trying, trying not to cry in front of them. You know, its days i go in my room and lay across my bed and tears just flow. Christof putzel, to learn what a year and a push for full on Police Enforcement has made for fight for chicago. And good evening. Welcome to america tonight, the weekend edition, im joie chen. The fight for chicago and its most vulnerable residents begins. Last week more than 100,000 students headed back to school in the city. Security guards protected them as part of the safe haven effort. School consolidations forced many students to walk through gang territory just to get to class. Gun and Gang Activity remains big, though paradoxically, citys murder rate is down. America tonights Christof Putzel spent many nights on the south and west of the city, as we begin our in depth focus on the fight for chicago he returned to see what if anything has changed. Reporter it was almost a year ago to the day when we first met Stacy Liberty standing at the back of this church. Her son Antoine Johnson had just been shot and killed by the police. Its just lost the world, basically, its hard for me because i have my son. My mother died two months before. I had him. So it was like that was all i had, at that time. By him being my oldest, my first, after my mother left, thats all i had. And when he left, it was like everything just left. Reporter how have you been coping over the past year . Trying. Trying. Trying not to cry in front of them. You know, its days i could go in my room and lay across my bed and tears just flow. Days like he going to come out of this room. Whole time i think im going, they bring me back to the house. Antoines brother artise remembers going to the alleyway why his brother had been shot. Just draws the blood down the alley. I just picked all the clothes i had on, i wiped the blood on it. I still got the clothes right now in my room, wiped up all the blood out and took it with me. Took them in my bed and right now with me today. Reporter artise proceeded to show us the clothes he used to wipe up the blood from his brother in the alley. His brain, his guts, everything was laying there. Why would i let it lay there . I would rather take my brother with me. The blake wood on the clothes have dried but the pain and the fear are still fresh. Stacy has three other sons still living at home. Worry about them . Everyday. Everyday. If one dont answer the phone, i calling their friends. Have you seen them, have you talked to them . Their friends call me up every day they walk out the door. Im not saying there are guys hanging out that would take them away from me. I didnt think the police would take him away from me but they did. They did. Reporter the Police Maintain antoine was in possession of a. 9 millimeter pistol. A charge stacy disputes. She is suing the Chicago Police department for what she states is the wrongful death of her son. We losing these kids, they cant grow up to raise their own kids. They leaving parents to take care of their kids. Like we say, we supposed to leave before our kids do. You taking our kids from us. Its not the kids on the streets, its the police officers. Yall helping them. Reporter overall, crime rates are down in chicago but if you live in neighborhoods like north londale it doesnt feel like that. Between january and august of this year, there have been over 1250 shootings in chicago, most of them by neighborhood gangs. In response to those numbers, mayor rahm emanuel has prepared more boots on the ground, a move not popular among locals who see police as a force. The movement we profiled last year. Made up of former gang members its mission was to protect the city against the violence it initiated. I first met Dakari Johnson and cedric body, where a long standing conflict between two gangs had been mediated. Dakari had been shot six times by the beings gang cedric belonged to. I did something positive today. Ceasefire had dakari and cedric walk in the neighborhood together passing out antigang violence literature. I recently caught up with them. Do you remember last time you and i were walking together . Why wont you cross the street with them . This is one of the blocks i was beefing with. So you dont feel comfortable going over there . Ill go over there but i aint not going to go over there, im clause tro claustrop. Certain people you just cant be around. Do you still feel that way . No im good. No, its just when people got animosity around you, you stay away from stuff like that. How was it for you walking the streets these days . More like any other person. Not every other person has been shot six times. But you know that was in the past. You got to get over it. Once you get over it, you just dont look back. Cedric is less comfortable Walking Around and insisted in meeting in an area out of sight. Since we met him last summer he was shot in the hand and his best friend was shot and killed next to him. I walk the neighborhood but i dont walk no more. I get in the car. Why is that . Because too much stuff is happening. Reporter like what . Lot of shooting and stuff. Reporter cedric has a baby now and something more to live for. Any time i been involved in that, i got a whole thing to live for. Reporter both member say they have left the gang life behind. Cedric plans to go to college. Dakari says, with a baby on the way, he tries to avoid the environments. How do you feel because you have a baby on the way . I got responsibility, i was free, wild do whatever i want. Then i got somebody who take the path that i set for them, i got make a good path. For myself and for my kid. Reporter the young woman carrying dakaris child is actually the child of someone else we met last year. Ing derek took pride to help mediate violence in the streets before they escalated into shootings. Today, despite ceasefires lack of funding hes still doing his best to curb violence in the neighborhood and mentor young men. Down down down all right. Jail jail. Dereks best efforts aside he cant stop the bullets from finding victims. He was one of the first i trained for the boxing program. Reporter latrel was actually shot on this same block. I held him in my arms, telling him to breathe and keep up. You were there when he was shot . His eyes were going into the back of his head. I stride to coach him into living. How do you look at it . Well still the same, just something normal that happens. It just happens. Aint nothing im not used to. Its the neighborhood. Getting shot twice isnt normal . Its not normal that you would want to happen to it but stuff thats going on. I talked to him a week ago about that, about being shot is not normal. And its something we shouldnt accept. Reporter while derek can offer these young men the benefit of his experience what he cant do is offer them a job, a ticket out. We sat with him and showed hem some footage we shot the year before. What you teaching them man . How on the streets. What you learning on the streets . Drug dealing, fighting shooting. Have you ever seen anybody get shot . You see what youre teaching him . This is a kid, this is our future. I want you to read it to me, read that for me. This right here . That right there. Once again i would like to thank all of the good people that continue to support my family. Enough. Listen you good man, youre a leader. You can read. Most people on the street, they cant read like i can. You are a leader. You are our reared. What is your name . Bobby. Derek. Im going to look for you. Im a boxing coach. Stay at the scene. Its too late for yall to be out here. Real sad. Just four months after we filmed this moment 13yearold bobby was shot after breaking into someones home. Without proper guidance hes going to be some leader of a gang. And hes a thinker. So hes going to be thinking criminally. I end up coaching them for a few. But at the time, it got cold, so it was whats on the streets. He broke into this guys house so the guy whose house he broke in ended up finding out he was the one who went in his house. And this is a grown man that shot a little kid. Be. Ceasefires funding got caught shortly before bobby was shot and derek says its made it harder than ever to capture these kids away from the street. His resources was his brother, what are you teaching them, how do you street see us. Teaching him how to gang bang. How to steal. How to not respect another human being. And thats what they have. Bobby was just one of the 2001 2185 people shot in chicago. Christof putzel, al jazeera, chicago. And on another challenge, raising pressure on the streets, the death of an unarmed young black man, gunned down in a Community Just outside of st. Louis, launched days and nights of protest in ferguson, missouri last month. Michael browns death also raised questions about racial profiling and about the militarization of Police Departments and it ignited a new wave of activism. America tonights sarah hoye on, is it just another moment or the start of a True Movement . Reporter from new york, washington, chi. Justice, when do we want it now. To the bay area. Protestors joined the nationwide call for change following the shooting death of michael brown. It was during browns emotional funeral, where family members called for that change to start with the youth. We have had enough of this senseless killing. We have enough of it. Any time changes come in this country it has come through the youth. And the youth listened. That weekend, young activists called for civil disobedience. Hundreds of protesters marched through ferguson, chanting dont shoot. Justice for mike, flash points like ferguson are the beginning of change. While this is an issue that occurred in ferguson it is emblematic of a national problem. Problem being police brutality. The overpolicing of communities of color. Theres no need for all of us to go to ferguson. We all live in ferguson, United States of america. Howard carr of university,. Can real change happen or is this just the heat of the moment . This is what happens. Theres ground swells, theres maybe some marginal kind of adjustment, but the structural inequality, that remains unchanged and until that changes this cycle will continue. Reporter here we are. The world is aware of this. Where do we go from here . What happens next . What happens next is, people create build community and network and then we have to wait to see what shape and form that takes. But its the energy that has been revived by this movement. What youre in is unique to you but its part of a much larger structure and continuum. Reporter helping build nah that useful community, where hundreds of thousands of people who just last week paused for a moment of silence for brown. Organizer femme nis feminista jones. What they describe as a Excessive Police force. Meanwhile, a collection of hip hop artists, organized by los angeles rapper the gang. Initially, just upon hearing it was like really devastating. Im on the way to ferguson. The single, dont shoot, features diddy and others. Mike brown is african american. I am african american. I do have a voice. Im an entertainer so i wanted to you know, do my part in bringing awareness to it. So that at the end of the day, that i could sleep well, knowing that you know, i use my voice correctly. Benefit the justice for mike brown go fund me account. Which has so far raised more than 300,000. The outcry following the death of brown is just the latest example of young activists taking the streets and focusing on violence in america. When Trayvon Martin was gunned down in 2012 thousands rallied in solidarity. Im here because of traifn but its bigger than trayvon too. Just last week, social Justice Groups including color of change delivered a petition calling for a full investigation of the citys Police Department to the white house. Complete with more than 900,000 signatures. Im sick and tired of the police brutality, comploitation and de exploitation and degradation. And its time do something. Missouri senator jamilla nashid delivered the petitions. The lack of respect that the African Americans feel they have had from the steamsd system. Student Government Association took this picture. Which went viral. And now has 15,000 retweets. What was the purpose of the photo . The purpose was really just to just take a stand. If you see anyone standing in the picture, take a stand. Enough is enough. We are not sitting island and quiet about this anymore. Although a picture is an idle image, it speaks a thousand words. What do you think it said . Something had to be said, if we didnt say it who was going to say it. As the young and restless plan another rally for this weekend, theyre also holding hope that the Justice Department announcement will bring a change that theyre hoping for. Sarah hoye, al jazeera, washington. When we return, women facing war. Fault lines correspondent josh rushing with the mothers and fighters standing up to the Islamic State. When i left my husband i said okay i will be more strong, i have children, they love their children but still they have their mother. Alex gibney, a Ground Breaking look at the real issues facing American Teens on, the edge of eighteen only on Aljazeera America on the crisis still going on in iraq, the offenses by the Islamic State in Northern Iraq has sparked a humanitarian crisis, nearly a Million People have been driven from their homes many into refugee camps near erbil. Josh rushing visited one camp, women victimized by i. S, some of whom are now fighting back. Ramone is a stay at home mom for her three children. But since her family had to flee their home in early august with only what they could fit in their car, the home she keeps for her family is a tent in a crowded refugee camp. Translator this is not a life. We have to walk a Long Distance to get to the toilets and im afraid to go there at 3 00 or 4 00 a. M. Im worried about my children who are always getting sick. People barge into the tents. It is not ideal for the women, we need another solution. Reporter more than 3 Million People have been displaced by the crisis in syria and iraq. It says they have 17 People Living in this small tent. She can take this to where theyre giving out food, is so she can get food for the 17. Largely christian and supported by the church here, ramonda struggles to maintain her sanity. Im living in fear. We are psychologically affected by this situation. This whole situation is affected our lives. Reporter the war here has spawned the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. But for a host of reasons the suffering falls disproportionately on women. One of those reasons is the very nature of the Islamic State. Rumors of rape, kidnap and women being sold by cattle run rampant in the camps. Translator of course im afraid of i. S. How can i not be afraid . I used to be afraid just watching the news. I have nightmares about it. Reporter other women in kurdistan have chosen to fight Old Fashioned way with a gun. Weve linked up with a unit of the pkk. This unit happens to be mostly women and led by a woman as well. And they brought us over to show us the front line with the Islamic State. When commander nuva pointed out the black flag across the way she noticed something extraordinary to happen. Two women, one carrying a child, were coming across no mans land. Today they were allowed to pass. With miles to go before theyll find the nearest doctor for the child. We are surprised to find pkk fighters so far south of their mountain stronghold. These kurdish fighters have struggled with turkey for years from their mountain in iraq. Until now we havent taken a position in these wars but we see it as very important, as the pkk being here. This is very crucial, and above all, we are here to protect our people. Reporter why is it important to you as a woman to be involved in this fight . Translator we do this to protect womens rights because there is no one protecting women. They are likely to be victims. Even if a woman is suffering in america we share the feeling and we are resisting for her here in reporter gunls and mortars in the distance reinforce her point. There hasnt been any improvement in iraq. There are always explosions death and blood. The only solution at the moment is war. There are no alternatives. Reporter back at the refugee camp. The doctors as a volunteer doctor treating the sick. Most of our patients are women and children but women are most effective because they are the main pillar in the family. Children dont have good water or clothes and women began to suffer psychologically and this leads to physical effects. Before we treat them physically we are treating them psychologically. Reporter it is not hard for doctor to empathize with her patients because she too is a refugee who fled from her home near mosul when the i. S. Attacked. What do patients come in with the most . They come from the skin ah allergy, skinn, dehydrated, low blood pressure, generalized weekness, psychological not good. Reporter psychological. In a place with so many needs, to be diagnosed or treated, in the meantime, mothers in camps like ramonda have to find a way to carry on even when they think they cant. Because this war isnt likely to go away any time soon. And unlike many of the women affected by this conflict, war knows no mercy. Translator enough. We need a solution. Even if we wanted to return home, how do we return . We have nothing there. How are we supposed to survive . I dont know how. That report from erbil in iraq and fault lines correspondent josh rushing. When we return, protecting babies by jailing their mothers . Why is threatening these women with prison jail time the right thing . It holds women responsible for their conduct and we hope it deters future behavior. Women have had the opportunity to avail themselves of drug treatment programs and they have not. Tennessee takes a novel approach to saving babies being bosh into addiction. Why the state is filing critical charges against drug abusers. Documentary series. No refuge children at the border only on Al Jazeera America its not a crime to be addicted to drugs unless youre a pregnant woman in tennessee. A new state law now, women who use drugs during their pregnancy can be prosecuted for aggravated assault against their unborn babies. Tennessee is the First Successful state to pass a law like this. More harm than good . America tonights Sheila Macvicar has more on this controversial law. Ive been on both ends of this. Ive been the pregnant addict and the daughter of an addict. Shannon castile knows addiction. Shes fought it every year since she was a 15yearold girl. Normal day would be my mother standing up asleep while she was standing up, on methadone, a lit cigarette in her hand, her boyfriend in the bedroom, smoking crack. Growing up in tennessee in the chaos of addiction, almost inevitably she says she became an addict. Opiates, alcohol and heroin, too. The miracle would have been to not end up that way. It was like my breath. Like i couldnt breathe without it. It was my very existence. Reporter shannon has been clean and sober for three years. She works full time and cares for her three lively girls. But she has struggled, hard. And in one of those struggles after the birth of her eldest daughter shannon relapsed and found out she was pregnant again. Immediately i was terrified. I knew what was about to happen. I knew what kind of fight i had ahead of me the next nine months. Reporter why could you not simply stop doing drugs . The withdrawal symptoms were so intense. There was no way to function and be able to be a mom and to be able to work and just get out of bed even. My body wouldnt function. Reporter shannons doctor wrote her a prescription for more opiates. He said you cant stop. If you stop the detox would be so harsh you could possibly miscarry. Towards the end of the pregnancy i was so worried about social services and her born addicted and the consequences for her being born addicted. Thank you for mommy, thank you for daddy. Reporter shannons daughter was born healthy and drug free. But if shannon did the same thing today, using opiates under a Doctors Orders in tennessee she could land in prison. As of july 1st women could be jailed with charges as is he vier as ago severe as aggravated Assault Using drugs during pregnancy. Going through painful withdrawal systems called neonatal abstinence system or nas, tennessee leads the country in babies born with nas and the problem is getting worse. You see babies that are scratching, theyre having convulsions. They have diarrhea. They have this high pitched scream and it goes on for days. You start thinking of the pain theyve entered on. Barry stovis, is a District Attorney in sullivan couldnt. 30 of the babies born in the county tested positive for drugs. Hes a big supporter of the law. At the shift the light what about the plight of the babies . Reporter why is threatening these women with prison jail time the right thing . It holds women responsible for their conduct and hope it deterring them of future behavior. Theyve had the opportunity to avail themselves of drug treatment programs and they have not. Reporter until this year, the state didnt allow prosecution of women using drug. But they were alarmed with the number of babies born with nas, the first state in the nation to specifically target women for they can avoid jail by getting treatment. So this is the womens unit, right . This is where the ladies will stay for the next 90 days. Jessica lyons manages the state facility. Its a threemonth intensive Rehab Program that focuses on getting women clean and sober before their babies are born and helping them stay that way. What kind of shape are these women in when they come to you . Sprit, and desperate, i get a lot of phone calls, ms. Jessica, can you get me in, can you get me in . Katherine hayes and crystal morton have two of the six beds. It was a struggle to get here. I was trying to get help and nobody would accept me because i was pregnant. They said i guess insurance factors, risk, liabilities, stuff like that. But im like how can you not want to help this child inside of me, you know. Were seen as a liability. Were seen as an issue that they cant handle. And i feel that thats heartbreaking. Do you know that when you call up Treatment Centers treatment programs, one of the questions youre asked is are you pregnant or could you be pregnant . And in almost every center in this state a positive answer to that question will screen you out of the program. They will not take you if youre pregnant. Let me put it this way. Theres plenty of other programs and what im telling you is whether we go through our child protective investigative meetings well find programs that we can to put these women in. If there are programs most women havent found a way to access them. According to the department of health and Human Services only 129 pregnant women in the entire state received Addiction Treatment last year. The handful of clinics that accept pregnant women require them to go through detox first and for a woman on opiates, going cold turkey can harm the baby or cause miscarriage. Do you know about the law that was passed here in tennessee . Yes, it criminalizes women who have a Substance Abuse problem. I feel thats extremely detrimental because it offers no opportunity to get better. State legislators have little regard for the problems that women and addicts face. State representative terry weaver. These ladies are the worst of the worst. They are not thinking about prenatal care. Again i want to emphasize what theyre thinking about and that is just money for the next high. Theyre not using the medical tool or strategy. This all is absolutely a medical problem. Dr. Ron bailey is a psychiatrist in charge of Addiction Treatment at maharie medical college. Along with a dozen other american medical associations he warns that the new law will discourage women for seeking treatment for fear of doing jail time. It can have a significant effect to decrease the interest and the willingness of future patients who may have a problem to go seek clinical treatment. You feel your doctor or clinician is going to be the Law Enforcement arm. What im hearing is some of the women are not even going to go to the doctor because they are afraid the doctor may report them. So through their pregnancies theyre not going to seek medical care . No, no, some women are saying that. We should work with Law Enforcement to ensure that when those people find us we should direct them to Law Enforcement not the other way around. Katherine hayes is the veteran of more than one treatment program. Youre actually productive, youre learning life skills, youre learning how to cope in the real world. Ive never felt that in any other program ive done. Reporter theres group therapy, individual therapy, drug tests and life lessons. Have there been a portion of your life where you felt inferior . You go to bed in time you have breakfast in time and you model your day like. We all need routine and some degree of structure in their lives. We get people who very often dont have that structure. Led the medical community to define addiction as a chronic brain disorder not a medical problem. State legislators reject that view. Its not like cancer. If i have cancer i cant go into a program and just get rid of it. People who are alcoholics, keep drinking, recognize its a big problem, getting help and overcoming it. Why signal out pregnant women . What youre forgetting is the consequences and that ultimately, that woman has a choice the baby never had. It takes more than just making a decision. There was many, many many, many times that i used and i didnt want to, many times. Shannon is now working with Addiction Specialists trying to start a Treatment Center called mothers mosaic, to work with other pregnant women who face a sustained battle she fought with addiction. That battle may are harder as the payment becomes more harsh and the treatment they need is so hard to get. Sheila macvicar, al jazeera, nashville, tennessee. America tonight has found out so far at least three women have been charged with tennessees new law that just went into effect in july. When we return, a novel approach for police and an unruly immigrant community. Kansas city police find a heavy hand isnt always the most effective solution. How many arrests would you make in a day . Eight, ten, 12. Did it make anything better, did it change that negative behavior . No. When the crack down doesnt work what officers turn to instead. Most places the debate over undocumented immigrants has focused on how to get rid of them. That used to be in kansas city, missouri, too. Undocumented immigrants unruly and threatening. Then an enterprising officer came up with a solution. Chris bury on reaching out instead of cracking down. This was the location of the ad hoc day labor site. Matt thomasik, a beat cop, in an unmarked pickup truck. For 50 years now, police have been dealing with immigrants from mexico and Central America who come to kansas city looking for work. Imagine you have 100 to 150 guys standing on the corner looking for work. They werent all interested in working, but hanging out and selling drugs. When you started out here were you kind of a hardass . Yes. Yes. I mean yeah. A former narcotics officer, thomasik got assigned to this partly of town 12 years ago when the immigrant population of kansas city was exploding. Hundreds of day laborers, near all undocumented would hang out in this parking lot hoping to bargain with those cruising the strip for cheap labor. People passed out, literally on the sidewalks. We had all those guys standing there, and no restroom facilities. I got at least two different calls from hysterical elderly residents saying that there was a naked man showering in the backyard with their water faucet. So it was a mess. It truly was a mess. At the tenderloin grill, across the street from that parking lot, the family that owns this cafe got fed up with the petty crime. Hi there, how are you . Ashley rule who took over from her grandfather said some of the day laborers would retaliate when they called the cops. A lot of trash everywhere, just a lot of graffiti and destruction of property i would say the most. When i replaced the windows four years ago they were at least eight bullet holes coming through. When you have that kind of disorder, you go in and establish order. Zero tolerance. Spitting on the sidewalk, any public urination, you would go to jail. How many arrests would you do . Eight ten 12 in a day. I arrested the same guy ten times in a day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as ice, stepped up its raids. But the zero tolerance approach got zero in the way of lasting results. Did it make anything better . Did it change that negative behavior . No. Reporter in fact, the crack downs yeanlted the hispanic population who claimed good men were swept up with the bad. Honest day laborers even more fearful to police afraid to even talk with them. Hector gonzalez was one of those who used to hang out on the street looking for work. When they do something youre scared and you dont answer nothing right. It makes you worry about, okay, the police. Reporter what was the relationship between the police and the immigrant community . Well, there was no relationship. Reporter linda callen, a long Time Community resident said the get tough approach backfired. Because so many immigrants came from areas where police are not trusted. Those coming from third world countries, the police are the enemy. The police are the people shaking you down, the police are the people who are kidnapping your kids. By then, matt thomasik was under pressure from his supervisors. He said what the hell do we do . He suggested a center for day laborers to congregate off the streets. Duhh, of course this makes sense. The west decide Community Action network, known as can, sponsored this. Home away from home. Now they had had a place to do their laundry, take a shower, use the bathroom, our lady of guadalupe welcomed them. You need to have clean clothes and be presentable for the boss. So this allows them to do that. This comes in handy doesnt it . It sure does. Officer thomasik who has a tiny office here, meet noticed the ones who stopped in and those who didnt. If im giving you a place to go to the restroom but youre still choosing the street, that gives m me an idea of your are intention. I started seeing them like human beings and everything got a lot easier really quickly after that. Reporter in return for a safe place to on gre gate, day laborers are expected to chip in on the days they are not are hired. Painting over graffiti, tending to public gardens. Hosme pontoya came to the u. S. Illegally, at the age of ten. Soon thomasik got a new bilingual partner, chato villalobos, he grew up on the west side, the son of undocumented immigrants from mexico. My parents came here to give me a better lifer. I was born here. I was born a citizen but for those who are destroying my country, i dont know, its hard for me to do. For his part, matt took spanish classes including an immersion in rural mexico where he learned lessons beyond the language. A vast percentage of them are here because theres no alternative. They need to work. They need to work and they cant in their home land, i respect that. I got to need my family. Going to do what it takes. Reporter the new relationship with the men has paid off. What kind of change have you noticed . Significant. There arent people hanking out on the streets, urinating on themselves. Its a better place to be. They have cracked far more serious crimes. Because of the work with the men, the immigrants who once feared the police now approach them, tipping them off to possible crimes. Have you been able to solve crimes because you do have trust of some folks here that you didnt have before . Ive been able to solve four homicides because of this approach. Not because im a supercop but because of the relationships and the trust i have amongst the people that live here work here go to school here have businesses here. Now officer thomasik is convinced his hardass approach, he was less like dirty harry and more like andy of ma may berry. The way those folk talked about andy, he is one of us. Immigrants rages, one corner of kazmir has adopted an Old Fashioned approach out of the american midwest. Give newcomers a little respect and dignity and they may respond in kind. Crust bury al jazeera, kansas city, missouri. Good to see it making a difference. In case you hadnt noticed, football season is underway. Up next, techknow correspondent phil torres. On are prevention of head injuries in the field. Threat. Bombs are cracking off in the distance. This is a booby trap in the Islamic State. A sniper around the corner here. From the front lines, josh rushing reports, on Al Jazeera America ve. News. Yes, football fans, nfl season has already kicked off and with it this year comes a wave of you in headprotecting technology. Last year there were 152 concussions in the nfl reported putting players at risk for injury. Long term. Even worse. Al jazeera techknow host phil torres joins us with a story from culver city, california. Phil. Hey joie. From reebok to century to revel, the epidemic hitting the nfl. This is the latest helmet from redell and players will be wearing it. The reflex helmet is the most aggressive helmet manufactured by redel. The front pad not only compress but allows it to absorb impact injury and reduce forces because its sheering in area thats more flexible. One of the largest helmet manufacturers trying to respond to what is called emergency hitting the fields. Nebraskas Home Team Game when this happened. When a player gets a concussing blow, the brain can bounce around or 20s in the skull. That or twist in the skull. So what kind of hit is likely to land a player in the hospital . Rather than the end zone . And how do you reduce a players risk of concussion . Stefan duma head of virginia techs Biomedical Engineering department has spent the last decade studying the hokies to answer that question. The head impact them tri system or hits for short. Telemetry system or hits for short. Any time a player is hit, professor duma is also trying to make the game safer by creating an independent Rating System for helmets based on how they reduce the risk of concussion. Look at this 100 g hit. Professor duma says a five star helmet can cut the concussion by almost 50 . That is because the shell and the interior spread out the force of the impact. You will never eliminate all concussions. There is no preventive helmet. But there is a reduced risk. Just as five star cars reduce the risk in a collision. Its going to take mean helmet to prevent these concussions with these players. Really comes down with the way the game is played. The nfl already had the first concussion of the regular season thursday night with green bay packerpackers eddie lacey. We hope to see that happen. From techknow, phil torres, thanks so much. And that is it for us here on america tonight. Monday, on our program, the state of Public School education. A war has been brewing over education and it could have implications in the 2016 president ial race. Students are learning from what is called the common core, a set of standards, to ensure that every child receives a high quality education. But critics say it takes power away from teachers and gives it to the government. Why the common core is so controversial. Please remember if you would like to comment on the stories youve seen tonight you can log on to our website, aljazeera. Com americatonight. Also meet our team and get sneak previews of our upcoming episodes. You can join the conversation with us at twitter or on our facebook page. Thats it. Well have more of america tonight, tomorrow. Each other, most of their parts of the capital, they might send this is Al Jazeera America, im Thomas Drayton in new york. Lets get you caught up on the top stories this hour. The u. S. Expands air strikes against t against the Islamic State group, and the defense secrete insists its on an expansion of u. S. Operation. A virus that sickened more than 1,000 children. Those with asthma are vulnerable. In the week ahead, an indepth look at