arrested. california is in a state of emergency because of the drought and it's causing drought for industries and businesses like ski resorts and the lack of snow and water is hurting tourism and revenue. those are the headlines and i'm thomas drayden. ♪ on america tonight a jury's decision and anger that remains. >> until we get the type of justice that we deserve. >> reporter: the florida gunman who said he was forced to stand his ground and the lingering doubt the shooting of an unarmed teen was really a case of self-defense. also tonight fighting for air. >> no power of the people because the power of the people don't stop. >> reporter: on the other side

of the bank are people of the toxic city, the wrong complexion for environmental protection and remembering to heal and veterans on a mission to restore the past and can also mend the wounds that haunt them in the present. and good evening and thanks for being with us, i'm joie chan, a verdict who fails to find the shooter guilty of murder and the case against michael dunn who killed jordan davis couldn't agree if he was guilty leading to a mistrial on the most

serious count and prosecutors promised to retry dunn for his death it has rated heated debate about racial profiling, self-defense and justice in america and america tonight sarah has the story. >> reporter: frustrations mount following the controversial end to the high-profile murder trial over loud music. it took a weekend of deliberations for the jury of 7 women and 5 men to hand down its verbal. 30 hours of deliberations plus multiple questions sent to the judge, all signs the jury was struggling with the case. they could not agree on first degree murder charges but did find 47-year-old michael dunn guilty of attempted murder charges and for shooting at an suv. >> you will not kill me and i stopped. >> reporter: with dunn heading to prison the parents are still seeking justice for their son

who would have turned 19 on sunday. >> they will continue to stand and we will continue to wait for justice for jordan. >> reporter: under florida law dunn could serve at least 60 years in prison for the attempted murder convictions and possible 15 years for shooting at the parked suv. >> it's in disbelief and has not sunk in and when he sat next to me he is saying how is this happening. >> reporter: john guy convicted dunn of first degree murder during opening statements. >> pointed that pistol at the careful of teenagers and started and continued to pull the trigger. he was guilty of shooting into an occupied vehicle. guilty of three counts of attempted murder and guilty of the first degree murder of

jordan davis. >> reporter: once jurors delivered their verdict they voiced frustrations outside the courthouse. frustrations also making waves on social media. meanwhile dunn's daughter says she barely stopped crying since hearing the verdict. >> i love him so much. like i can't imagine that. he has to protect himself and if he sees no other way to bring out his guns that is what he will do. >> reporter: he was indicted in 2012 for murder after fatally shooting davis over a dispute of loud music and they stopped at a gas station in jacksonville florida and dunn plead not guilty admits shooting davis but said it was self-defense. >> i thought i was going to be killed. >> reporter: since saturday's verdict they have plans to retry michael dunn for first degree

murder. >> this jury had a lot of work to do and we thank them for their careful attention to everything in the trial. i can't say we are surprised but, you know, we are not back there and don't know what is going on until the verdict finally comes out. >> reporter: as michael dunn remains behind bars it could include the state reopting to try him for another conviction and appeal the convictions he already has and the appeals we are possibly talking the rest of his life. >> reporter: thanks, sarah. this time now we want to go on and look at a -- take a closer look at the verdicts that criminal defense attorney and we have ken with us from fort lauderdale florida and thanks for being with us and when we talk about a mistrial on the most important part of the trial, the killing of him is the mistrial here. does this amount to a prosecutor

fail? >> it's a prosecutor fail because the whole purpose of having a trial is to seek justice and justice is interpreted as having a resolution and there is no resolution on the most important count of first degree murder. there is no resolution so, yes, there is a fail on the part of the prosecution. now they have to use taxpayers money and retry this case and attempt again with a jury of 12 people since it's a first-degree murder charge. >> reporter: is that a strategic fail, ken, going after the murder one charge? >> absolutely. i have continuously said that this is a very weak first-degree murder case and it's a much stronger second-degree murder case. in fact, this is a textbook law school second-degree murder with ill will and evil intent and this happens in a matter of seconds and hot blood as opposed

to first-degree murder and cold blood taking days or hours or weeks of planning. yes, florida law does not list a specific time period and so technically they have a first-degree murder case here but it all happened in a matter of seconds and sometimes for a jury that is very difficult to understand and to swallow and to apply that law to the facts. so i think it's over reaching on the part of the prosecution and i think that they made a strategic blunder by charging or having a grand jury charge first degree murder as opposed to charging him for information which is the same as an indictment with the second-drew murder charge. >> the prosecutor is talking about a pretrial but did want to consult with the family on that, would that go back to a first degree murder trial? >> that is exactly where they have. they are indictment for first-degree murder and proceed

on the indictment i assume and they will end up picking another 12-member jury and going through all the testimony and the evidence again. now, they can tweak it. they can make choices now on what to do to improve the way they prosecute this case and there is a number of areas that they can look at from witnesses they have called, from the order of witnesses, from how they present the opening and closing arguments and how they intend to cross-examine the defendant if he elects to take the stand in the second trial and there is a number of things they can go about prosecuting the defendant. >> reporter: they will go to the jury and try to get an answer from the jury about what they couldn't reach a decision on. >> hopefully a juror jurors will come forward and talk about what their deliberations were back in the jury room. florida law does not allow anyone to approach the jury and request information from them but they have the right at any time to come forward and talk to

any one they want to including the news media about what went on in the room and they want to find out what was important to the jurors when they were deliberating the case. >> reporter: thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. an observer of the michael dunn trial civil rights and stand your ground defense in florida and ben crump helped trayvon martin's family after that unarmed teenager was gunned down by george zimmerman and thank you for talking with us in the wake of this verdict and i wonder if you draw the parallel between these two cases. >> certainly, joanne and thank you all for having me. there are many, many similarities between trayvon martin's tragic death and davis

tragic death. you had young african/american men, teenagers, both were 17 years old and both of them were doing absolutely what they had a legal right to do, and that's very important. and then both the instances put themselves in harm's way and tried to say that they had some fear and they had to kill these young men so. >> there are parallels but i also want to get to this, that in this case it appears that barring any successful appeal mr. dunn was convicted on charges, four out of five charges and likely he will face prison time and mr. zimmerman did not. >> yeah, and that is a huge distinguishing fact. but even on that, it's similar because i believe michael dunn, even though he is off the

street, i still let him escape for the death of jordan davis. remember, he was only convicted of attempted murder charges of the three individuals who were in the car with jordan davis who were not injured. and so really it's troubling because in trayvon martin case where he was killed and jordan davis where he was killed nobody was held aboutable for their deaths and that is a terrible, that sends a terrible message to society. nobody goes to jail for their death. >> reporter: and we are wondering what was on the jury's mind since we have not heard from the jury on the dunn case. i just want to say that mr. zimmerman did come forward over the weekend, he did give an interview to another network and he did not talk about the dunn case but he did talk about his future. quick listen here. >> i would like to professionally be continuing my education and hopefully become an attorney and i think that is the best way to stop the

miscarriage of justice that happened to me from happening to somebody else. i don't think it should happen to anyone ever again, not one person. >> reporter: what was the miscarriage of justice? >> the fact that two law enforcement entities stated that i had acted within the laws of our nation in self-defense. >> you don't think it was about the law? >> i know it wasn't i guess. >> reporter: i have to ask you for a quick thought here, but what does it say to you that this is what george zimmerman is saying today? >> simply put trayvon parents and myself and many others tried to focus on bigger things than george zimmerman because we think that he was just a symptom of the problem. the problem is the stand your ground law that is encouraging people to try to take the law into their own hands versus having law enforcement come and deal with situations. we think the stand your ground

law is legalizing the murder of our children and we are dealing with the bigger implications because as trayvon parents said today it's our child and if we don't do something about this law tomorrow it could be your child. >> reporter: mr. crump thank you for being with us and he represented trayvon martin's family in florida. they offered their support and jordan davis' parents and as mr. crump mentioned they will campaign together against stand your ground laws in florida. after the break on america tonight north korea's crimes against humanity, a scathing condemnation and the doubts about whether it will make any difference. later on the program there is no place like home. >> i like it here.

this is my home. but at the same time there are other cities where there is not a chevron in your backyard spewing 24/7 toxins into the air and nobody communicating with you. >> reporter: the community they call a toxic city, the clouds growing on the other side of san francisco bay about suspicions about environmental injustice. while you were asleep news was happening. >> here are the stories we're following. >> find out what happened and what to expect. >> international outrage. >> a day of political posturing. >> every morning from 5 to 9 am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any other american news channel. >> tell us exactly what is behind this story. >> from more sources around the world. >> the situation has intensified here at the border. >> start every morning, every day 5am to 9 eastern. >> with al jazeera america.

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education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america al jazeera america. we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. >> we pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capital. >> we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. >> and follow it no matter where it leads - all the way to you. al jazeera america, take a new look at news.

>> after a year long investigation, the united after a year long investigation the u.n. released a scathing report today exposing human rights violation of the people of north korea by the government and pulling back the veil they interviewed hundreds of people and found tour chur and abductions and execution and sexual violence and they released a video of former prisoners and their experiences in the prison camps camps.

the human rights council will announce the recommendations next month but north korea's leader rejected accusations and china, the country's only ally may block attempts to prosecute at the international criminal court. >> the capacity of north korea on the radar to avoid international scrutiny. >> reporter: this is an important first step towards accountability. >> no one will be able to say in the future if only we had known about north korea as they said after the second world war, if only we had known. now everyone will know and it will be available in our report and it is a wake-up signal to the world and hopefully to the leaders in north korea. >> reporter: to shed more light on north korea and the human rights record we turn to david hawk who is a human rights

investigator and an author for the report of human rights in north korea and called the hidden gulog and i appreciate you being with us and i saw the international video disclosed and the survivors of the camps coming out and the stories and this cannot be a surprise to you. >> no, that is correct. the testimony of former prisoners has been available for sometime. what is different now is that the u.n. and a high level, formal investigation has looked into the situation in great depth. >> reporter: we outlined if china does not take action here to allow this to reach the icc i mean what happens here, north korea seems to want to ignore it? >> in the long run the

determination by the united nation and by its member governments that the human rights violations in north korea constitute atrocity crimes against its own population will i think in the long run encourage the north korean leadership to realize if they want normalized relations, if they want trade, aid and investment from the outside world, they will have to deal with and put an end to their atrocity crimes and release the 80-120,000 persons who are now being held in these labor camps. >> does it also put pressure on the international community to highlight and spotlight more of these kinds of abuses after all, you heard him say, i mean, now everyone will know we cannot say this was like after world war ii and gee if we had only known and does this put the international

community on notice that look the u.n. has outlined this and detailed it, what action are you going to take? >> very much so. the commission of inquiry was tasked to determine if the violations were crimes against humanity and if so the member governments requested the commission to make recommendations about what the international community should do. and those recommendations are in the report and we will begin to see next month in geneva at the human rights council and later at the general assembly next november if the governments of the world will support the findings and the recommendations which they requested from the commission of inquiry. >> reporter: based on your research and your recommendation these are kind of parallel, some of the same things you would recommend in your report are the same things the u.n. is recommending, correct? >> that is correct.

>> reporter: so what kinds of things are you talking about? >> in the commission inquiry report there is a whole list of recommendations to the north korean government on the steps it should take to end these atrocity crimes against its own people, beginning with releasing people in the prison camp and stopping the torture and the arbitrary detention and the forced labor of refugees that are sent back from china to north korea. so the concrete, specific measures that in great detail that the north korean authorities should take is spelled out in this report and then there is the recommendation that the security council forward this case to the international criminal court. >> reporter: and we will see if that actually happens and see what the response is.

human rights investigator and author david hawk and thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> reporter: after the break on america tonight. >> it's a case of environmental injustice and a case of environmental racism. we see how they operates in nigeria and ecuador and disregard communities they feel are not organized enough or aren't empowered enough to fight back. >> reporter: but they are fighting back in this toxic city by the bay. one community suspicions and a fear that reaches across the nation, next. later in the program an american revolution, veterans with a mission to restore the past at the same time heal their lives. >> every sunday night al jazeera america brings you controversial... >> both parties are owned by the

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reformed proposed for the vatican bank and some family issues and taking on contraception and divorce and same sex unions and in north carolina the governor faces scrutiny because of duke energy accused of dumping 80,000 tons of toxic ash in a river there earlier in the month and he briefed the governor about this and they said it was a sweetheart deal for the company which employed the governor for 28 years. industries do have to be based somewhere, but all too often the smokestacks are in communities that don't have the power to fight back and we go now to one town, richmond, california which is across the bay from san francisco and it has been called a toxic city, this time frustrated citizen led by a green party mayor refused to be

hostage to industry. >> there was a big boom. and i got scared, i got really scared and then i saw the fire, this big fireball go in the air and we all took off running into the house. >> reporter: on august 6, 2012 courtney cummings and her family were in their front yard when a massive fire erupted at the chevron refinery just six blocks away. the smoke and toxic fall out sent more than 15,000 residents of richmond california to area hospitals with respiratory problems. investigators later discovered a severe pipe corrosion caused a ruptured sure that sparked a blaze and found their own inspectors had repeatedly warn the company to replace the aging pipes. richmond lies just across the bay from san francisco's

glittering info-tech boom where the containers and train tracks are hard to miss and also a battleground between an entrenched industry and a crusading mayor. >> but the effort there. >> reporter: gail is the mayor of richmond. first elected in 2004 as a green party member, she has up ended politics usual by confronting chevron head on. >> it's a case of environmental injustice and a case of environmental racism and we see how they operate in nigeria and in ecuador and they disregard communities that they feel aren't organized enough or aren't empowered enough to fight back. >> reporter: last fall chevron paid $2 million in fines and no contest to six charges including failing to protect employees from potential harm.

many residents here insist the 2012 fire is willingful negligence that dates back decades and one that continues at the expense of low-income minorities who have persistent health complications and simply cannot afford to leave. according to a 2009 report about 80% of people living within a mile of the chevron refinery are people of color, a quarter of them live below the poverty line. a native american single mother of two court any cummings has called richmond home for the past 30 years. she is proud of her community with one glaring exception, chevron, the oil giant whose refinery dominates the landscape. >> i like it here, richmond is my home but at the same time there are other cities where there is not a chevron in your backyard spewing 24/7 toxins

into the air and nobody communicating with you. this sediment is going in our bodies and into my children who have no protection except me. that's what makes me sad. >> reporter: the entire family has breathing problems that require them to use inhalers. but cumming said they are not leaving and neither is chevron. the company operated the 29-acre facility for more than 100 years and today it's the largest employer and taxpayer and the presence is felt everywhere, from the storage tanks on the hill side to the glossy billboards that line the streets. and the critics complain that very little is invested in richmond. >> this is chevron stuff here and the neighborhoods around it. >> reporter: while the toxic emissions and headline grabbing incidents keep taking their

toll. one year after the august 2012 fire the city council led by the mayor was going to sue chevron for neglect on oversight for inspection and repairs. >> are you saying that chevron does not care? >> yes, chevron is very clear that profits come first. in fact, they have been charged with criminal charges and they admitted to them. >> i can almost hear people right now saying oh, there is that green mayor spouting hyperboles about the big, bad oil company, why should we take her seriously. >> well, because it's a truth and it's the big bad oil company and they are the ones who are bashing the people of richmond, if you will, so when we push back, we are fighting for our lives and fighting for our dignity as a community. it has a right to health and well-being. >> reporter: chevron has

dismissed the lawsuit as a waste of city resources and another example of failed leadership. but the mayor pushed the u.s. chemical safety board to investigate, and in december the richmond city council got a shot in the arm from its staff which blame chevron for what it judges to be a preventable incident, the board went on to recommend sweeping reforms that would confine refinery operators across california to be proactive in addressing potential risks and greater input from workers and local government. >> the team proposes to the board the following recommendations. >> reporter: on january 15th, area residents packed city hall for a hearing on the proposed safety reforms. >> we call on you to do what is necessary for our right. >> if you and the city and these other regulations don't do the job, we will do the job because as we said ain't no power like the power of people because the power of the people don't stop,

period, and we won't stop. [applause] in a highly unusual twist the board refused to adopt the recommendations made by its own staff. >> we thought it would pass. it's a proactive rather than reactive model of safety and it was a disappointment. >> reporter: environmental activists in richmond says chevron has a long history of polluting the city and henry clark is the director of the county's toxic coalition, an environmental justice group that works on behalf of minorities. >> did you see the pictures? okay, all right. a lot of people have moved out not only because of the issues relating to chevron but crime and just like all things in the area. >> reporter: what would you say about the fact that having industry in towns like this creates job, they put millions more back into the state, they

might do harm but ultimately they are doing good as well? >> well, they do create jobs and a tax base but the jobs is not coming to the people here in north richmond primarily who is on the front line of the chemical assault. we get the child with asthma, the cancer and health problems and chevron and the other workers get the progress and laugh all the way to the bank and we crawl to the graveyard burying our people. >> reporter: it's the north richmond center for health. it was funded with a settlement from richmond-based general chemical following another industrial fire in 1993 that filled the air with sulfuric acid. >> we will do it again. very soon. >> reporter: peggy polk is many of senior patients here suffering respiratory problems and blames them on years of

toxic exposure. >> i've developed severe allergies and asthma and lung problems and sometimes i can come outside and the air is so thick it takes my breath away, i have to go in for a breathing treatment and inhalers. >> reporter: john is an expert on environmental health sciences on the university of california burkely who studies air pollution in the bay area and the asthma rates are twice the national average he says it's not fair to connect them to the chevron refinery along and factors like highway traffic and other industrial operations based in the city play a part. >> nevertheless, kids in richmond do have an increased risk of developing asthma and events like the chevron fire could be an important exacerbating effect but there is also a vulnerability of the richmond population because it's of high minority status as well as low socio economic status.

>> reporter: chevron refused our requests for an interview and in an e-mail the spokesperson said the company worked more than 1.9 million hours to improve refinery safety since the accident and chevron provided $10 million of medical costs of effected residents and has an air monitoring station that can be checked online. >> we applaud any sincere efforts by chevron or anyone else to want to do the right thing but that doesn't mean that we give chevron a blanket approval to continue to increase their pollution. >> reporter: the mayor has led the drive to hold chevron responsible but her term is up in november. there are concerns that the momentum to hold the company momentum may be lost. >> this town means a great deal to you, are you worried? >> absolutely.

i know for a fact that chevron will put more money than ever into this year's electoral season. in 2012 they put $1.2 million in to campaigns to attack our candidates. i know that they will be working harder than ever to try and turn this back. but so will we. >> reporter: you're up for the fight? >> i am up for the fight. we cannot go backwards. >> reporter: since the chevron fire, court any cummings has moved further away from the refinery. but the trauma of that dark day in august still lingers and it has moved her to speak up. >> when chevron happened, the explosion was like do i take my girls and leave, did we finally see enough and go back home? but we didn't. >> reporter: why not? >> because i have a real big

problem when people try to take my boys. >> reporter: in spite of all that has happened chevron is not going on the defensive. on the contrary it has a $1 billion expansion of the plant and says the upgrade is necessary to stay competitive in the global market while conceding the changes could lead to an increase in over all emissions and chevron officials will tell you it will make it environmentally friendly by reducing emissions of volume unit of production but people say no matter how efficient it is more production is more pollution and results of an environmental impact report are still pending. >> and michael is reporting to us from the bay area tonight, thanks. when we return, we will look further into environmental injustice, our guest on why when it comes to green, issues the

answers are black and white. on a memorial holiday preserving the past. >> if we lose our monuments we lose a piece of ourselves. >> reporter: how this restoration project aims to help the past and the wounds of the present. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life. on al jazeera america al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history!

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richmond, california and suspicions of residents and evil city leaders that racism plays a role in justice and he is from texas southern university and he wrote the book of responding to disasters in african communities. thanks for being with us and we heard from the mayor of richmond that she believes this is environmental injustice and racism and what would lead communities to believe this? >> well, i think the problem is that there are too many coincidences happening across the country and if you look at where the refineries are located they are too often located near low-income and communities and accidents happen and people that recall most often impacted are people. >> reporter: places like what?

gulf coast community? >> pardon? >> reporter: what places are we talking about, gulf coast communities, west coast communities, where are we talking about? >> we are talking about communities from the west coast to the east coast whether it's richmond or whether it's wimbleton or california or houston, texas or southwest detroit and if you look at a map there are hot spots that need addressing. we need a better and a more rigorous chemical facility safety and security so that these communities that are on the fenceline do not suffer disproportionately. >> reporter: the phrase on the fenceline, what do you mean by that? >> they are next door. the people could walk to work and go across the fence to jobs but often times the jobs are not for them and people drive in and spend 8 hours and drive out, that is another form of economic

inrust justice. >> that goes to the chicken and egg mentality and if people are drawn there because there are jobs there is there a risk and sacrifice they have to make to have that? >> well and sometimes it's not really a chicken and egg. in many cases they were there before the facilities and so even if the facility was there and people moved around the plant, that doesn't negate the fact that there has to be protection. and you can be just as dead if you have an accident if the plant was there first or the community was there first so it really doesn't matter. >> has there been a federal effort to try to contain this, to try to bring justice to communities that suffer disproportionately through pollution? >> well, the movement has been fighting for more than four decades to ensure there is equal

protection and communities that are near these facilities are not disproportionately effected. just this past week we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the signing of the environmental justice executive order signed by president clinton in 1994. that was a long struggle. >> reporter: 20 years, has it made a difference? >> 20 years of working. >> reporter: so you do see progress on that front? >> well, we see progress and we see the fact that we have had action that has been taken at the federal, state and local levels but there is still a lot of work that still needs to be done and the communities that are still most impacted in a negative way from the pollution have to be low-income communities and communities of color and as i said before it would be different if the communities got the jobs but they don't get the jobs, they get pollution and get unemployment and poverty and in many cases they get sick.

>> reporter: dr. robert of the school public affairs of texas southern university we appreciate you being with us here. >> thank you. >> reporter: ahead in our final thoughts this hour, a monumentel effort. >> people need to understand that monuments are living history memorials and have an opportunity to learn about their communities and themselves and thus we need to be stewards for these sites. >> reporter: american heros and served the nation on the battlefield and return now to heal memories. >> al jazzera america presents... documentaries from around the world that inform... >> they were bombarded with shells... >> inspire... >> we can deal with our conflicts... >> and touch our soles... >> it was my dream to get a high school diploma. >> award winning film makers create create unique perspectives. >> everybody's different here... >> just gotta tell ya, it was just a very magical moment...

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[taps playing] this is at garage washington mt. vernon across the street from the capitol and it honors him and contrary to popular belief, this is not president's day by word of congress and government, it's george washington birthday so says usa.gov and the thought about memorials and memories a national project that brings america's heros to markers and restores and heals the wounds of tim time. >> my name is eugene huff and i travel across america restoring

monuments and restoring history. >> reporter: he served nine years in the pennsylvania national guard, now he spends his time restoring the monuments that honor the war dead and in the process heal those who fought. >> people need to understand that monuments are living history memorials and they have an opportunity to learn about their communities and themselves and thus we need to be stewards for these sites. i've been doing monument preservation for the last 15 years. in a typical year i do approximately 15-20 monuments depending on the size and nature of the monument, across the united states there are several,000 monuments in need of care and roestoration and if we lose them we loose a piece of ourselves. >> reporter: he created a nonprofit called saving hollow

ground and he relies on donations and brings veterans and communities together to restore markments. >> eugene said this would be a great thing for wounded warriors and disabled veterans and veterans to work on to reestablish themselves with a sense of being. >> with bronze was don't want to scratch it so we use a simple bristol brush like this which is very soft. >> the challenge will be to work with them to see what their capabilities are and make them feel comfortable but also to engage the importance in history of the monuments they are working on. >> reporter: working along gene and marty served in the vietnam and iraq wars. >> sergeant william and i got injured in iraq 2009. i was a foot soldier protecting the convoys and protecting the

iraqi people who were doing foot patrol out of our forward observation base and started as a regular patrol, all of the sudden we started taking fire. just from the run in and with all the equipment that i had on me, just the movement, it will crush my lower back and i had a small traumatic brain injury. >> so what we are going to be doing today is learning about the process of cleaning and waxing the bronze plaque. >> i'm from falugia and i was injured in 2008. >> you see how this is beating up here, in other words that is lifting and running down and that is because the area has been waxed and what is happening is that surface is now protected from impurities, acid rain and things and then we take the rag

and buff on it and you can see there is a little dirt on the surface there. >> in 2006 in january was my birthday and also as a muslim, the biggest holiday and i was ready to go to mosque to do my service and the guy they sent a car bomb to our house and they explode the house and they killed some members of my family including a 7-year-old, my cousin, she is great and she was beautiful and she was like five yards away from where i was sitting and i lost my leg and i got another injury in my other leg and another part of my body. >> it was a tough battleground. >> it was. >> a lot of american soldiers got killed there. >> uh-huh. >> my name is bob o'neal and a sergeant in vietnam. i was a load boy hauling up and

down the coast and they got my truck twice but they never got me. >> reporter: bob and will alongside thousands of other vets battle post traumatic stress disorder or ptsd. >> i do not sleep at night. i walk the house at night. i told the va i just go off like that. >> i found myself not being able to leave the house, just screaming at night, not knowing why and then actually that stays with you, that stress level and then back in the u.s., back in your house, your body is here but your mind is still over there doing missions. >> this is the world war i plaque and world war i soldiers and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and he is an iraq veteran and taking care of this world war i monument and this is very important because me and bob were vietnam veterans and these guys will be taking care of our monuments when we are

gone and it's a brotherhood and the largest fraternity in the world and cannot forget those who came before us. >> what happened over time is they put a layer of paint and have not treated the rust before they put the paint down. it's a just cause we have here, general gentlemen and we it will cost a lot of money and we need lots of meetings but we want to educate other people to pass the torch because we cannot do this forever. >> today i got my first experience and it definitely hit me at a level i was not expecting and gives you purpose. the mission doesn't stop once you become a veteran. you need to continue and live a legacy and never really

understood. one day i would like to see my name in a monument, but i will be more honored if just people keep doing this type of work regardless if it's my name or not. >> one day after he passed away people it's going to come to my battlefield and going to come and remember mohamed and he was also a soldier and that is something big and something that will make my feelings and emotion really happy because i didn't lost my leg for no reason. >> watch your fingers there buddy. done. gentlemen this has been great and mari and bob, i helped everybody learn something and this has been super. we want to pass the torch to these communities to not only become educated about the monuments but take stewardship and take care of them and spread the opportunity for other people to get involved.

there is an interesting parallel between the damages received by these monuments and our veterans. they both can be repaired. >> reporter: and that's it for us on america tonight and please remember if you would like to comment on any stories you have seen tonight log on to our website al jazeera.com/america tonight and see us on twitter or on facebook and good night and we will have more of america tonight tomorrow. ♪ one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete? real perspective, consider this

on al jazeera america >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, live from our global headquarters in doha and i'm laura kyle and these are the main stories this hour. thick, black smoke in kiev and demonstrators prevented from reaching the parliament ahead of a key vote. [gunfire] gunfire and protests in bangkok turned violent leaving four dead an