abuse. and narrowing the gap. why one ceo cut his own pay and made $70,000 his company's new minimum wage. plus: from america to african and back. >> the forest, the ambience, the little bits of music you hear. >> one man's incredible 30 year journey in search of a song. isantitrust. it is the one trend google probably doesn't want to track but that name was front and center for the search engine, trying to bury the competition. google is the third most valuable brand in the world according to forbes and it's not only the top-rated search engine it's synonymous with intrrnt search. so identified with look up things on line, it is identified by dick reiteration as a verb. >> google. >> the company handles more than 90% of internet queries in europe and now regulators with the european union say it's gone too far. >> today we have adopted a statement of objection to google. >> google could face billions of dollars of fines if it's found in violation of antitrust laws. >> our preliminary view in statement of objection is that in its general internet search results, google artificially favors its on comparison shopping service and that this constitutes an abuse. >> google is accused of giving its advertisers preferential treatment and steering shoppers to google's customers while pushing down or secluding rival websites. that has prompted complaints from google's european founders like found em,. >> disappearing from the internet. >> google faced dissimilar accusation in the united states but the federal trade commission dropped its investigation in 2013 after the company voluntarily agreed to change some of its practices. the internet company has three weeks to respond to the charges and on tuesday made this statement. while google may be the most used search engine, allegations of harm for disoorms and competitors the eu said it would also investigate google's conduct regarding its android operating system regarding apps and services. >> for google's issues we turn to our science and technology editor jacob ward. >> john, chooses a competitor that's it. as long as customers have that choice they're safe from monopolies in theory. at first google was a way of finding these competitors without leaving your office or housing. now it also sells a lot of stuff and that blows apart the whole regulator model we are used to. google's an detroit operating system and online shopping tools, flight tool for example here are some of the competitors. kayak, expedia hipmonk and flights. now when you type the words air fare to hawaii into google john, results are what have regulators worried. expedia comes up early. kayak shows up off the bottom of the place and hipmonk doesn't show up on the page. google flights google isn't just a competitor in this space it also owns ita software, it sells software to these rivals, google could hold back the best deals for itself and give its competitors only higher priced flights. there is no evidence that it is actually doing that john but that's extraordinary power. it owns, searches, owns one of the biggest flight companies and sells crucial data to the rest of the field. if you look at google's field online shopping and books and movies and social media, if you choose to experience the web the way so many do, by going to google first the company has extraordinary power to influence where it is you go, who gets information about you along the way, and john, what you buy when you get there. >> jake ward reporting. breath larson is a tech analyst and editor of tech bytes.com. what impact could this have on the company? >> it could be potentially bad to their bottom line. they could get slapped with a potentially heavy fine. we've seen european companies slap pretty healthy billion euro fine against them for their dominance, they did the same thins with microsoft. what was interesting with the microsoft case from start to finish so much had changed. the big thing with microsoft is internet explorer is the default on windows five years later it's gone. not so much. not gone. they did discontinue it just recently it lost its dominance in the marketplace. two things could happen. google could come back in ten weeks and say we don't think we've done anything wrong it's not our fault we're so popular and then drag it on for a certain time to let the competitors bubble up. >> but there's significant difference between the united states and you're. explain that. >> google 90% dominance in europe. >> not so much here? >> they're above 50% when it comes to search but what's an interesting term with search and google is very mindful of this, if people are going to shop for things they're going to go to am done and say i need a new laptop not google and see what's presented to them. they're already starting to lose that market share. they've lost a lot to social media, facebook, and google trying with their google circles it just never worked out for them here. >> there are safeguards put in place by big u.s. tech firms like microsoft and amazon and google? >> we hope that the government is watching and paying attention because these companies become so massive that i think especially in the realm of tmg technology the law doesn't catch up as fast as technology does. the world of technology, we're not sure how important is it that google has a 90% market share? what could potentially be bad about that? well we could see what's bad about that when you go to search for a flight they're going to say why don't you use our flight booking service? is the consumer getting harmed in that way are they ending up paying more? there's not a lot of harm because the legislature has to see the harm and address it. >> back in europe are they more concerned about how much power google has and how much they know about you? >> the purches purnls are -- the europeans are a little more strict about right to privacy. nothing like that here i think that is part of it. i think google is going to have more problems going forward with the eu just based on their business model. >> brett, good to see you, thank you very much. walkouts are happening across the country today. fast food workers and other food service employees are demanding a higher minimum wage. there were master planning like this in new york, outside fast food restaurants. organizers used tax day april 15th to the fight for 15 movement. they are pushing for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. a seattle business owner is going beyond that, beyond the $15 an hour. he's making the minimum salary $70,000 a year. more than half of his employees will get a raise. allen schauffler has more on that from seattle allen. >> john, we spent part of yesterday afternoon with some very happy young employees. these were people who sunld had suddenly had many more economic and personal options that they didn't have last week. it wasn't just another day at work at gravity payments. >> my hands are sweaty, i was getting really nervous. >> employees were called to a mandatory all-staff meeting. >> no one really knew what to expect. you know. >> where creez dan price laid out a -- ceo dan price laid out a new payment rate. >> we're going to have a minimum 70,000 payment here. >> it didn't sink in first pay hikes and organized labor to raise the minimum wage above the federally required $7.25 an hour that their ceo had just upped the an tee substantially. s folks were saying can i afford to have a baby now, can i afford to live now. >> saving saving saving. >> i drive a pretty old crummy car so maybe we'll upgrade that soon or something like that. i don't know, it makes my life a lot better, i don't know, better. it opened up a lot of choices. >> obviously we're taking a hit by doing this, financially as a company. >> can the company afford it? >> i think so. >> within three years everybody here will make at least that nice new minimum. management expects less employee turnover more productivity and more customers. >> i think weaver we were averaging about two e-mails a minute today. this is for people who actually want to do business with us. it's just rolling in. kudos to you smart move, partnership, interested in your services. >> they also understand it's a big move with significant financial risk. >> if you're ready to take on the risk and do it, financially you can. i don't see why not. i think it's going to push other companies to make decisions like this as well. >> so the minimum at gravity is now $50,000. just like that, next year it will go to 60, the minimum within three years the minimum payment there salary per year, will be $70,000. is it going to work? the market will dictate that. we'll all know in a couple of years if this is a gamble that has paid off. john. >> allen schauffler in seattle allen thank you. the ceo of gravity payments. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> you were watching that story and you didn't know you were getting those e-mails is that right? >> i wasn't shocked but i learned some of the information i was learning it was pretty cool. >> why did you do this? i mean look clearly you're interested in changing the lives of some of your workers but at the same time you're getting a lot of milkity milkity publicity right? >> there isn't a public publicity recent for doing this. 12 years ago when i started the company the first person i hired i could only pay $24,000 a year no benefits right? i was a little embarrassed to do that, always trying to figure out a way to do it. these are probably one of those bold moves we're trying to improve. >> you talked about the fact you are from rural idaho originally. >> i love serving people and the way i started my whole business was helping independent business owners improve their credit card processing. our whole team is responsible for perpetuating that. when you have more people and more clients i want to prove them wrong and i took a really great team. >> you took a salary cut? >> from $1 million to $70,000. a steep hit. >> you get benefits from stock options and the like. >> not really, no. >> no? >> no. >> you took a steep hit. >> yes. >> all that's coming, all that's going to your workers. >> corrects. >> for how long? >> you know what i've pledged is once our profit is back up above where we've made the announcement i'm going to go back to getting my regular paycheck because i do -- >> what about the workers? >> and they're going to stay there. for sustainability of the company i'm going to be paid market or replacement kind of rate. and for them, i want them all to be $70,000 or higher. so if i can make a short term investment and a short term sacrifice and get them there that will pay off for rest of my life. >> do you have competitors? >> we have a lot of competitors. >> what are they paying their employees? >> for helping clients out maybe $30,000 a year. >> so you think that gives you what advantage? >> we they it gives us a competitive edge. it's really not that to be honest. it's our values that give us competitive advantage. each employee is a ceo. they're an important decision maker. that's giving us a competitive advantage. it's our responsible to lead them in the right way and compensate them the right way. >> what did your employees tell you? >> people were really excited. they were in disbelief. i think we're all kind of wondering if we're dreaming. it's pretty emotion. there was stunned soinls silence for a couple of seconds. >> we're paying ceos millions and millions of dollars working for corporations that make very little money. do you see this is a trend? do you think you'll turn around wall street? >> i think so. >> really? >> i think it's a capitalist solution to a real problem. we're going to have a differentiation and continue to take market share and our competitors are going to have to follow suit and -- >> there are bosses out there that disagree with you entirely. >> our competitors say dan i want to buy you. i said maybe i'll buy you some day. >> dan price it's good to meet you, thanks a lot for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >> a day of reckoning and reparations for chicago. the city have agreed to pay $5.5 million to the victims of police who used beatings suffocation and electrical shocks to elicit confessions. what he got were often false confessions. ash-har quraishi joins us. ash-har. >> it is something that victims and city officials are now trying to address john. >> they played the game called russian roulette on me. >> three decades ago darryl kahn ona suspect in a murder case said chicago police officers shoved a barrel of a shotgun into his mouth. >> they said, go ahead and blow that (bleep) head off. pulled the trigger. >> first time they pulled the trigger what did you think? >> i wasn't, i was scared to death and i didn't want to show it. my mind was such that it felt like any head was being blown off when i heard that click. and then they took the shotgun barrel back out of my mouth. they put me in the back seat of a detective car and had my feet outside the detective car. i was still handcuffed. they pulled my pants and shorts down and they started to shock me with an electric cattle prod. >> reporter: cannon said chicago police officers forced a false confession, he spent time in jail for a crime he didn't commit. black men endured torture at the hands of chicago police between 1992 and 2001. under police commissioner john best of yourburnlg. heburge. 5.5 million in reparations for dozens of torture victims connected to the scandal. y says its significant on several counts. >> this is the first sometime that a city in the united states of america has ever acknowledged racist police practices and provided reparations. and to be clear we're talking about reparation he for black people in this instance. that is a huge landmark. >> reporter: mayor rahm emanuel supports the proposal which some hope will close the book on one of the city's darkest chapters. >> to help the victims have their own sense of closure. >> the deal which still needs to pass the city council vote would provide up to $100,000 for each victim offer free city college tuition for victims and formal apology issued by the city. one that the city could not stay back is burge's $3,000 per month pension. he still continues to collect it. >> even with that prosecution he was able to keep his pension. we have no recourse. >> while no reparation can address the pain he's carried with him through much of his life the city's acknowledgment is a start. >> it is a spacial victory partial victory and sends a message throughout the united states that at some point in time you can bear enough pressure on government without a physical riot or something of this nature here, and make change. >> reporter: and john, the proposal also includes the creation of a memorial for survivors, as well as a measure that would introduce a curriculum into the chicago public schools to teach eighth and 10th grade students about the john burge scandal. john. >> lawsh thankash-har thank you. all eight were released on bail while appealing their convictions. their sentences range from one to eight years behind bars. >> weakest ways to assess student knowledge and learning. >> it's detrimental sucking air out of classrooms. >> denouncing standardized tests and more and more students are refusing to take them. coming up at the half hour jonathan betz is reporting on the emerging school of thought on the education system. and coming up next, california's drought, why there's plenty of water to go around in one of the richest counties, tax prep and billions of dollars at stake. stake. >> in tonight's special report on our fragile planet, california has been hit hard by drought, but in marin county, one of the richest in the state there is water to spare. melissa chan has a report on how some have many and others don't. >> drying reservoirs, fallow field, a state of emergency. but north of san francisco in marin county, it's water water everywhere and everywhere to drink. >> our waters are 94% of capacity right now which is about average for this time of year. >> it's one of the richest counties in the state and the country. in the story of the haves and have nots, here is another problem these residents don't have problems with. >> we have hot tubs they have swimming pools they have golf courses they have streams that are actually running. whereas we are sitting here straggling with as many as we have and saying think before you flush. >> the drought has not had a uniform impact across the street. 400 different water districts produce 400 different scenarios. >> loot of information coming out of california is really looking at the snow pack and the customers that are dependent upon that. we are not. we are not part of the state water project or the central valley project. we are a unique system, has a unique water supply, our mount tam has our own supply, that's unique for a supply so local. >> marin's reservoirs brim with water, so much so that engineers allow spillage, releasing water downstream. the water district has made upgrades modifying reservoirs, replacing aging pipes before they start leaking. so as you can see with the situation here in marin good water management is key and can have an impact on the worst drought the state has seen in the century. just a hundred miles away in the sacramento valley the situation couldn't look any different. retired farmer bob henigin worries about how his colleagues respond to the drought pushing the state to build more reservoirs. buying water from other districts. >> when my grandparents came here part of their annual food budget was to pitchfork salmon out of this creek and can them. when do you think a salmon is going to come up this creek now? >> reporter: for him the creek that once ran the length of his fields shows the followly folly of the system. lucky residents in marin. >> everybody is jealous of marin's everything situation. everyone here has got a beautiful car beautiful husband, beautiful wife, great school system, everything is great here as far as resources. >> reporter: the water district's affluent customer base has provided it with a steady budget for sound water strategy but the district says that as wealthy as people here are they have acted responsibly acting conservatively long before the state's declaration of water emergency. cut water use by an overall 25%. >> we do feel lucky but it's part luck and part vision that somebody looked forward to, saying what if? i think a lot of it's geographic as well but we're still part of the whole state. so any problem the state has we're part of as far as the solution. >> reporter: but only a part of that solution. while marin doesn't compete to buy extra water it doesn't sell any, either. there are no pipelines to carry it to where it's needed. so with water to spare in this corner of the state a small paradise thrives. melissa chan, al jazeera marin county california. coming up opting out of tests, why officials say the tests hurt students and parents saying more and more no. what it means for doctors and patients. patients. >> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america i'm john siegenthaler. opting out why the movement to skip standardized tests is gaining ground nationwide. medicare fix. lawmakers put their differences aside for a $200 billion reform bill. remembering maya. >> maya angelou invited me to go to africa and that changed my outlook on life. >> lost and found. >> happiness of people around, excitement because people are going around being with the children i love. >> searching for a song in the jungles of africa and finding much more. we begin this half hour with education in america and the price, the pressure for the children their parents and for teachers. for many public schools across america, the curriculum revolves around common core, the battle over it is intense. it could be a key issue in the 2016 election. tonight a closer look at the families who are taking a stand on testing by opting out. jonathan betz is here with more. jonathan. >> john this is becoming the trend in pockets around the country. parents and teachers so fed up with standardized tests they are encouraging students to skip them. >> everyone knew cheating was going on. >> if you yell at me point at me. >> reporter: ten were sentenced for crimes relating to a massive cheating scandal in atlanta. >> this was pervasive like the sickest thing that has ever happened in this town. >> reporter: educators were accused, and convicted. the pressure students face due to standardized testing. an increasing number are opting out. caught off gashed by situation he like this. >> any kids only have half hour science and half hour social studies to prepare for tests. >> reporter: encouraging parents to let their kids skip the standardized tests. >> we are skipping those to make way for test prep. >> 5% of new jersey students skip the test, places like colorado florida and new york, anger directed at new common core benchmarks. the tests often aren't required for graduation but they do assess students and rate schools and some places tie teacher's school focusing too much on prepping for a test rather than teaching. assessments are critical, asking how else do you force a young mind to improve if it's not tested? now opting out could become a problem since federal rules require actually say that is a hollow threat because they claim no school has actually ever been penalized for failing to test enough of its students. john. >> jonathan betz, thank you. kamala karmen have two children's in new york. they have opted out of the standardized tests. kamala why? >> my children are not taking the test because we refuse to take part in a flawed test. >> you north against all standardized tests just this one? >> i'm against this one in particular because it's made by pearson corporation which has a rift of being actually sued for problems in its tests misscoring tests test questions having to be recalled and also it's important to know that parents are not even allowed to see these actual tests they are not released to the parents. >> so you have a history of teaching? >> i have taught. not children, adults. >> you understand testing is so much a part of the system that we use for kids to move forward. if testing is so bad i mean, let me try this. i understand what you're trying to do, to change policy. but what does it do for your kids? how does it help your kid not to take the standardized test? >> you could ask how it would help my kid to take the standardized test. i don't see any way it helps. what hurts my kid is deep project based learning. >> what does that mean? >> that means that my fifth grader's class was recently studying the maya. she learned so much about the maya, at the end of the unit they had a maya unit. where they -- >> that's lovely, don't they have to take tests and aren't they going to be judged and the rest of their life be based on tests like these? >> did you take common core tests? >> no, my son is about to graduate and we've taken tests every year in the state of connecticut. over and over. >> i mean you when was the last time you took a test? >> i'm old it's been a long time since i've taken a test. >> my children take the tests they take tests that their teachers make that are based on what they sided in class and then -- studied in class and then they can perform on those test $that aretests that they learned. >> but the act and sat -- >> did you start preparing for sat when you were in third grade? >> i don't know, but my sense of it is not having stain it lately that my children are going to be forced to do this on a regular basis throughout their life if they want to move to the next level. >> only forced to do it if you comply with those rules. >> who's going to decide, are parents going to decide or teachers requesting to decide? >> that's a good question. actually there's no research basis for this standardized testing. we are the only country in the world that tests our children through grades 3 and 8 and international rankings they do not test yearly. >> you don't think it helps parents and students know where they stand? >> i know where my children stand because i read their report cards which are narrative. i go to parent teacher conferences. i could show you something my daughter's written in three minutes, less 30 seconds you could tell me where she stands. >> you want to change the whole education system right? you're talking about major changes in the way things are done right now. >> i'm actually -- i am talking about major changes but i also want to be clear that these sort of changes really have only happened in the american educational system. this sort of emphasis on testing in the last 20 years and specifically in the last five years with this incredible emphasis on testing. >> so turn it around you would -- >> i would insist that we have authentic assessments that actually measure what children know. if we want some sort of -- >> again who decides that? are you -- are the participants going to decide? >> well parents certainly have -- are stakeholders right. parents are stakeholders. >> the schools school administrators run the school. >> i would argue that billionaires run our schools because the education agenda as it is set in new york state and other places is largely, there is a naicial nation article that the nine billionaires who are going to change new york state. >> you understand my question. >> i'm not sure i understand your question. >> are you going to turn it over to the schools or are you going to let parents decide? >> i think parents and teachers are the deciders, they should reflect public will, we don't have democratically elected school boards in new york state anymore. >> that is a very important point. >> i think parents voices need to be heard and the voice of researchers need to be heard. that's the important thing because all of these so-called reforms do not have a sound basis in research. the american statistical foundation american science foundation all say this sort of testing and use by teachers is not sound. >> your voice is being heard now and we'll find out whether it's heard in the future and whether or not politicians listen to you. >> i think extends of thousands maybe hunsmaybe hundreds of thousands of politician he will listen and i hope that makes a difference. >> kamala, thank you for coming. >> you're welcome. senators on both sides of the aisle well approve a medicare bill that, libby casey in washington with more. >> congress waited until the last possible minute but a waiting game also unfolds around a series of temporary doc fix. what's different this time is congress managed to come up with a bipartisan deal that fisms thisfixesthis problem once and for all. >> the doc fix that is the biggest change in medicare in 20 years. >> it happened after press went to bed i think but a thing like doc fix passed, sgr passed this body last night in a very bipartisan way. >> the bill passes the sgr or sustainable growth rate, how doctors who treat medicare patients are paid. if congress didn't act doctors would have seen a 20% drop in reimbursements. fights in congress over the doc fix have discouraged for years. this bill scraps what many viewed as a flawed way of reimbursing doctors which tied payments to gross domestic product and they will now be reimbursed on a pay for performance model. critics say that encouraged unnecessary testing and procedures to pad bills. >> we now understand it is time to permanently fix this not just to eliminate the problem but to substitute a payment system that encourages physicians to provide high-quality care and to deal with incentives that reduce the volume of care. >> what broke this cycle of temporary fixes democratic and republican leaders agreed to compromises that both sides hadn't budged on before, paving the way for easy passage first in the house. >> the yeas are 92, the nays are eight and the bill passes. >> can instead add to the deficit. >> like any bill of this magnitude, there are strengths and weaknesses. >> and democrats agreed to help wealthier seniors foot some of the cost. more than $7 billion for community health centers set up through the affordable care act. the bill's total price tag $214 billion over a decade with about a third of that offset. >> this has been a long ordeal, a lot of us have worked on on capitol hill. >> one bill over but congress is remains deeply divided. that spirit of bipartisanship fading already on capitol hill. a confirmation vote for loretta ta lynch then there's the budget which republicans and democrats are nowhere near agreement on. john. >> libby casey in washington. income tax is due. tax fraud is on the rise especially with returns done on tax prep software. a form he employee for turbotax claims, the company knew what was happening but for years did nothing to stop it. lisa stark has more. >> reporter: john, lafs year the irs paid out -- last year the irs paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent tax refund. now online tax preparation software such as turbotax are trying to figure out how crooks take refunds that don't belong to them. all of this comes as turbotax stands accused of making it too easy for these criminals to do business. >> the sheer amount of fraud that we were knowingly letting into the network really bothered me. >> the fraud that he's talking about is online tax scammers, claiming refunds. mcdugal was a security engineer for one of the largest tax filing company intuit, which owns turbotax. this year turbotax has seen a huge increase in fraudulent concerns. >> we were seeing millions of families being affected by this but we couldn't get management to shut the fraud down. >> when they go to file their individual return either their state or the irs rejects it saying a return has already been filed with that social security number. unrival rafflingunraveling the mess can take months. to prove who you claim to be was far too lax. >> one of the questions they would ask supposed to be the challenging question was, what is your last name? i mean, just ridiculous things like that. for any sort of attacker that's not a very high bar to cross. >> reporter: the problem got so bad that state tax commissioners flooded turbotax with complaints. said users now have to go through extra security. in a statement to al jazeera the company disputed mcdugal's allegations saying, quote fraud is an industry wide problem. adding quotefully suggestion that intuit or any of its leaders sacrificed security for financial gain is unfounded. one of its leaders intuit's deputy general counsels said it's not up to the firm to stop fraudulent returns. he says it's the responsibility of the irs. but consumer advocates say intuit is shurk shirking its responsibility. >> i blame this totally on intuit. more importantly ntuit didn't impose stricter security measures until after it got filed. >> does profit from these tax refunds that the irs later determines were paid to tax scammers. that's because according to intuit the government never tells the company which returns turn out to be fraj fraudulent. john. >> now to a rising issue where breakingbarbara serra has the story. >> even been cases of murder. indigenous south south africans say facing high unemployment. >> can you please get out? you must go because when we are done here, we are coming for you. so i ran away. >> well many of the migrants are already fleeing bad situations in their home lands. some have even been living in south africa for decades. in our next hour we'll take a look at what's driving driving the xeno phobe yah. xeno phobia. john. >> we'll be right back. >> maya angelou was a poet, civil rights activist. her words continue to touch people around the world including tavis smiley. he pace tribute to her in a new book called my journey with maya. i asked him about their friendship. >> we started out as mentor men mentee. she became a mother, she said you must find something else to call me. she said boy i could be your mother. how about mother maya? she says sounds good to me. on the 29th of maize i'll never forget it, she passes away the day before the 28th of may. i couldn't walk into this jacob javits convention center without doing a tribute to her. the idea was to put my relationship down on the pages of this book. >> she gave you a lot of advice. >> a lot of it. >> tell me what the best was to you. >> she said repeatedly, we find our path by walking it. for all the advice that she gave me for all the examples that she shared for all the counsel she delivered to me, she ultimately said to me you will only find your path by walking it. i knew that meant i had to discover some things on my own for all she was to me she couldn't tell me what my role was, she couldn't help me, i had to walk the road myself and find it. >> she was tough but also gentle. she didn't always agree with your journalistic approach when it came to president obama. >> that's right. there were a number of things we disagreed with. i said to her my role as an advocacy journalist is to raise these issues i think need to be raised. if i can hold the bushes accountable, if i can hold clinton accountable i will hold barack obama accountable. i still have to hold him accountable to the best interests of the american people and particularly to his best constituency, the black people. we disagreed about the n word, we disagreed about clarence thomas, a number of things. no consider did i ever have with her john where there was ever any sort of tension that didn't end on a love-note. like john coltrain, love supreme, always began and ended on a love note. >> you bring up music she had love of muk. music. they was a poet a singer a dancer she had done it all. in some of these where you quote her in this book it almost seems to me did you record her on some of these conversations? >> some of these were recorded, in part because over a dozen interviews on my pbs and npr programs i had a number of programs. number two i kept a journal since i was 12. a little bit able on my part but i write things down. whenever i saw maya angelou i would make copious notes of the things that happened that day so i've kept a journal for all these years. the third thing and most wonderfully these years she has written so much over these years, a treasuretrophy of treasure trove of her own work. she would write about these things so i was able to consult her own writings. >> you capture her voice in so many ways, literally or in spirit. one of the things she talks about is jazz improvisation when you are at a restaurant. and just her description is musical. it is -- >> lyrical. >> it sounds like one of her speeches. >> that's how she talked though. it's not fair, but maya had a gift. she couldn't take credit for it. you don't speak for five and a half years and become one of the greatest orators she had a gift. one of the things i loved talking to her so much was just the tenor of her voice. you could sit and listen to her and just be inspired by the way she spoke. and when she got on the stage and performed she would lecture and sing and dance she would mitigation all that in shemixall that in. imagine sitting at her feet, in africa riding around on her bus as she moved around the country. as i did listening to her after a while you start to get the sound of what that voice is like. >> what do you want people to take away from this book? from my standpoint i read it and learned something about maya angelou i didn't know. is that what you want? >> that's what i want. it's about friendship john about love about courage about finding your own voice about walking your own path. it's about as i said earlier modeling what it means to be a mentor. you and me and others who have been blessed to accomplish so much, spend time with young tavises and johns. it's about mentoring. >> she would love this. it's a beautiful tribute to your friend. my journey with maya. >> thank you john for the opportunity. >> now to a very interesting story. louis sarno went from living in the concrete jungle of manhattan to the central africa republic, a song brought him there but the people there convinced him to stay, songs of the forest, the subject of the first person report. >> i'm michael obert and i'm the directorrer of song from the forest. the flick is about -- the film is about an american, louis sarno who lives deep in the forest of the central african republic for many years. he found out that this captivating piece was music from central african pigmies and he tracked the music down found it in the rain forest in central africa with this community became one of them and never came back. >> i had some romantic ideas of biaca life in the rain forest and in fact it wasn't what i thought it was going to be in the beginning. when i got there they were very hospitable but they just wanted me to buy them alcohol and tobacco and they had like a big party. they started singing some very beautiful music which was nothing like i'd ever heard before and it was that moment i decided i could not ever leave there. >> i didn't plan to make a story about louis i was so fascinated by his story. there is a juxtaposition with our own story. he takes a 13-year-old from the african rain forest to this other jungle called new york city. >> i think you know it didn't sink in the whole sometime he was here. when he got back he began to reflect on it a little more and began to realize that you know what he saw was real, wasn't some sort of fantasy. >> like the flick raises a lot -- somewhat very important questions in the beginning of the 21st century like the questions like where is home, where do we belong to? and is there a way out of this system? >> when i come back to america i see people involved in all kinds of activities that don't really seem to make any kind of difference in the world. and they're caught up in these pursuits and in these on obsessions that seem besides the point to me. >> songs from the forest is now playing in theaters in new york and will open in select cities across the country. that's our broadcast, thank you for watching. i'm john siegenthaler. the news continues next with antonio mora and barbara serra. we'll see you tomorrow. w. shattered piece >> this is a reprehensible act. there will be consequences. >> a fragile ceasefire between colombian rebels and the government is broken now the president vows retaliation. flowers and tears. >> how can we go back to a normal life we know where they are. how can we not find our kids and our husbands? the government knows.