on "america tonight," stunning confessions from the fortress of faith, conclusions >> victims who say abuse compounded the pain of their assault. now, a follow-up as even bob

jones university leaders admit they failed. also tonight, failing grade, the crown jewel in the effort to change american public education. why a growing number of would-be educators say don't teach for america. >> i was in a position where not only was i feeling incompetent every day. my incompetence was hurting the lives of children. >> "america tonight"'s christoph putzel. in the hour ahead, moral authority. >> the two of you together, you call yourselves. >> the god squad. nothing gets past us. >> heart break and healing. america tonight's laura jane glihal how men of faith join forces and push big money to act when lawmakers wouldn't.

fort worth evening. thanks for joining us. i am joie chen. when america tonight looked into sex assaults and hopes for salvation city flagship university of christian fundamentalism, the allegations seemed stunning, almost unbelievable. leaders at bob jones university blamed sex assault victims for their abuse shaming many into walking away. now, a blockbuster review by an independent watchdog group confirms what "america tonight's" sarah ohio, that sex assault victims suffered a second time at the hands of those that were to help. >> i think they should have told me it wasn't my fault. i think they should have not heaped more shame on me because i was already filled to the brim with shame. yes need any more. >> katie landry is putting the

pieces of her life back together together. it's been nearly a decade since she left the bob jones university university, the flagship of christian fundamentalist education. and she says a place that fails rape victims like herself. >> i loved my teachers. i loved the school. i am not sorry i went there. but what i am sorry about is that they seem -- they seemed so unwilling to acknowledge where they had done wrong. >> so here is the so-called 40 tres of faith, bob jones university greenville south carolina. there is almost 4,000 students who go here to this private college. the teachings follow a pretty literal translation of the bible, and rules on campus are super strict. there is no t.v. there is no hand-holding. there is no popular music. and even a little violation

could get you kicked out. >> landryts assault did not take place on campus. she was 19 and working for an ambulance company in columbus, ohio, when she says her supervisor raped her. one evening while counting supplies in the back of an ambulance, she said she felt the prick of a needle. >> i couldn't move anything. and he came over, and he took my clothes off and i could still speak, so i was telling him, no. and he raped me. and my -- i couldn't brush the tears away. >> scared to tell anyone, landry returned to work. >> i had five more shifts. 3 out of those five, he raped me again. two weeks later, i left for my freshman year at bob jones university. >> raised in a conservative

menonite family, she kept her rape a secret until her junior year at bob jones when she finally, sought help. >> i didn't understand why he had picked me. so, i felt there must be something about me. was it something that he saw that said it was okay to do this to here? was there something inside of me? and then, i thought if he could see it, does that mean other people can see it as well? and i just -- i needed help. i needed help really bad. >> she was referred to jim berg for counseling. the dean of students at the time. but she says he blamed her for the assault. >> he asked me if i had been smoking pot. and i really, i started to get this almost dizzy feeling, and then he asked me if i had been i am peer review with this man, had i had relations with this man? and i kept telling him, no, to all of these questions, but he either different believe me or he hadn't heard or he wasn't

going to help me. and he said, we have to find the sin in your life that caused your rape. and i just ran i ran out the steps of the administration building and he just confirmed my worst nightmare. it was something i had done. it was something about me. it was my fault. >> now, 31, landry says she wanted to come forward when she learned other students at bob jones shared her experience. in 2011, a bob jones trustee resigned when news reports surfaced that he had allegedly covered up the rape of a 15-year-old girl and forced her to confess her sin in front of her fundamentalist church. in the aftermath of the scandal, the university hired the group grace, godly response to abuse in the christian environment, to conduct an investigation into the school's handling of sexual abuse reports. grace, a non-profit formed by

billy graham has talked to faculty and administrate orders and students, 50 self identified victims have come forward to tell their stories to grace. women and girls are taught they must confess the part of sexual abuse that they enjoyed, that they probably enticed their abuser. according to the independent report, serve atakers were also discouraged from making police reports. with one commentsor saying she was told it's best not to make a big deal about this for the good of the school. some of the assaults took place on campus. some didn't. but bju students who come forward said there is a culture of victim blaming by school counselors and administrators. before the report was made public on thursday, bju president steve pettit said in a statement he was humbly sorry, adding, in part, we did not live up to their expectations. we failed to uphold and honor

our own core values. the majority of those surveyed for the report described bju's response to their abuse as hurtful and the school's culture as blaming and disparaging. this former student asked that we conceal her identity out of fear of retaliation. while growing up, she says a family member repeatedly raped her. >> i grew up in a very conservative christian home. and one of the things that we were taught was obey and i didn't understand what this was. yes even know what sex was at that time. yes know any anatomical terms. nothing. all i knew was that it hurt and that i didn't like it. >> when she started at bob jones in the late 2000s, she thought she would finally be able to get help. she was referred to professor pat berg for counseling, the wife of jim berg, the former dean of students who had

counseled katie landdry and like landry, she said she was told the repeated rapes were her own fault. >> she talked about my sin regarding it, and one example would be she would repeatedly say if i had ever experienced pleasure at any point while he was doing this to me, that that was sin that i needed to repent of. i remember her looking at me and saying, you kn saying you know that the nightmares are your own fault because you are choosing replay pornographic thoughts in your mind. >> during the investigation, grace reviewed a number of materials, including court documents and e-mails like this one from pat berg, telling this former student to call her rapist and ask for forgiveness. >> here, you are being advised? i think it would be best to say to him that since you have been at bju this year, god has been working in your heart. god has shown you that you were wrong not to forgive him as

christ has forgiven you. >> you know, i had to ask him to forgive me. >> forgive you for what? >> because i had failed, obviously years before, to for the forgive him. >> pressured by profess or berg she called her rapist? >> picking up that phone that day and calling him was one of the most gut-wrenchingly hard things that i ever had to do. it didn't bring me healing. it didn't bring me closure. instead,

the campus bookstore be stripped of all materials associated with him. this former student continued with counseling at bob jones despite the unsettling nature of the sessions. >> the reason i continued to go was because i was still so desperate for something to help make this better. it was like if this is what my life is going to be like, then i don't want to live anymore. >> finally, after graduating, she took matters into her own hands and reported her rapist to the police. he was convicted of sexual battery of a child under 12 years of age. >> i mean if you would have told me that dark day when i walked out of his office with no hope that one day, my rapist would be convicted and sentenced to prison, that i would be living a stable, successful life, and that i would be healing from my abuse, i would never have been able to believe you.

but those are the miracles that i have seen my god do. >> others who have certain the hard step to come forward are now waiting with hope and a prayer that change will come. >> some day, i would like to see a world where universities, churches, schools, families, friends stand alongside the victim and not cover up the abuse. >> "america tonight" sarah hoy with us. the thing that might be most shocking in all of this is that months after you did this reporting, this independent review essentially just says everything that those women told you months ago. >> absolutely. >> that's it. you know, so some people say what's the most shocking thing you heard? that it reaffirmed what we were told. now, we should make note that we did reach out to bob jones university. we have not received an answer to our request for an on-camera interview. all we do have is that statement that was sent out yesterday

ahead of the report. >> our program, "america tonight" has focused a great deal of attention on sex crimes on campus all over the country in different kinds of universities. but there is something about this independent review compared to what we have seen on other campuses. the focus is different here? >> absolutely, joie. the one thing that sets this report apart is that it focuses on the kind of help these victims received. right? when they went in to seek counseling for perhaps an incidents that happened off campus or something that happened in their past, to get the spiritual counseling to feel better about themselves, that's where the problem occurred. this is where they were being told they were the victims. this is where they were told they were the problem. >> ameri"america tonight," sara. >>, thank you so. >> what was supposed to be a new model of education and the alums who say teach for america failed them and the kids in their classes. >> it was an important stepping

stone to where i am now, but it al was also the most miserable worst six months of my life. >> america's tonight, christoph putzel, "don't teach for america." the gathering storm. the for theic sounding pi pine apple express, a fullly-loaded super soaker of a storm taking communities right over the edge. use force in a way that has lots of partners... >> every saturday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america

>> tuesday, the landmark series concludes. >> i'm on a mission that i have to keep this business going. >> an intimate look at middle class families. >> i panicked because, how we gonna pay that? >> the issues we face. >> there's no way to pay for it. >> fighting to survive. >> she's like my role model... as in perseverance. >> building a better future. >> it's coming together little by little. >> real life solutions you can't afford to miss. >> we're making it the best that we can. >> "america's middle class - rebuilding the dream". >> tuesday. >> 7:00 eastern. >> only on al jazeera america. primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera america.

in the effort to remake american public education, teach for america has been seen as a crown jewel, an opportunity for reform. some of the best and brightest college graduates apile for teaching roles every year but some alums say it failed them and the kids the program is supposed to serve. "america tonight," christoph putzel, on the back latch. >> a prestigious brand name, the darling of the education reform movement, attracting the most talented college seniors in the country, one in five harvard graduates apply each year. >> i realized i wanted to he teach where i was needed, not necessarily where i wanted to teach. >> teach for america or tfa, what some have called the peace corbs for this generation for the poorest school districts in the country. they recruit recent college

graduates like erin nolan who joined in 2007. >> tfa was great at setting up this vision of how you could really make an impact in the students' lives. >> today, there is a growing backlash against tfa led by some of the former alumnae who are claiming it isn't all it's cracked up to be. >> when did the enthusiasm start to fade away? >>ists in a bit of denial because i kept thinking that it was just me and is a couple of things that i wasn't getting, and then, i would be all set. i became skeptical that i could affect the change they wanted even the fall of the first year. >> she was placed in a magnate school in st. louis teaching science. >> would you describe your tfa experience? >> it was an important stepping stone to where i am now but it was the most miserable worst six months of my life. i was miserable.

>> why? >> i was in a position where not only was i feeling incompetent every day. my incompetence was hurting the lives of children. so it was a very heavy burden. i felt behind from the beginning. i had 173 students, 100 seniors and 73 9th grade students. >> overwhelmed and disengine with us. you are expected to look like you know what you are doing and to present yourself as this confident authority figure, and i didn't feel like a confident authority figure. >> like all new tfa teachers, she had pledged to teach for two years but she resigned after just six months. she is pursuing a graduate degree in education. teach for america trains teachers to be an intensify-week training courses and places them in needy school districts. david green, a retired teacher, was a mentor to 19 of tfa's teach erps. he says five weeks of training is simply not adequate

preparation. >> so what i found were kids in really bad situations. the schools they were put in were almost entirely mismanaged, horrible places to work and not because of the students but because of the way the supervisors or the adminstrators are running it. and they would tell me about the paperwork and the stress and the top-down stuff and the things that tfa was making them do on top of the incredibly difficult job of learning to teach and teach full-time at the same time. >> it's just a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

>> the backlash against tfa came to a head this fall. the durham school district in north carolina severed its relationship with the organization after more than a decade of working together. last year, pittsburgh became the first school district in the country to reject an active teach for america contract. sylvia wilson helps make that decision. >> you sit on the school board? >> yes. >> you voted against teach for america coming to pittsburgh. >> i did. >> why did you do that? >> why should we put the least experienced people in the school did that need the most help? they didn't have the kind of training that teachers are required to, certification, what you need to have. i am not saying their heart wasn't there. i am not saying that at all. there are a lot of people who really care about children but you have to have more than that. it takes more than walking in a classroom and caring. >> if a school district is having trouble getting teachers into the places where they are needed desperately, why not? >> because so many times, people think you can walk in a

classroom and then you can open up a book and teach because people were in education, themselves. doctors don't just jump in there. there are skills you develop and you have to have them. >> the decision to turn down tfa was a con tentious one. after all, studies show many tfa teachers are as xeveneffective appears and sometimes more effective than veteran teachers. they 73789 to the hardest to staff schools. >> superintendent of the pittsburgh school district, dr. linda lane, disagreed with the school board's decision insisting the program was worth trying. >> they have strong results. i mean comparable to traditionally prepared teachers. so, i am not saying that given a perfect world if i could get at least five years of experience fully credentialed, traditionally prepared teacher that wants to go there and is excited about that assignment, sure, that would be perfect. but i don't live in that world. unfortunately. >> teach for america was founded

by wenty copp 25 years ago. her idea was to redefine teaching in public schools by turning it into an illustrious service mission rather than a safe middle class career choice, a vision she spread in speeches like this one at stanford. >> if you take a hard look at who decides to go into teaching on average, you will find that it's generally not the most capable people graduating from the most selective colleges. and i think that we have to change that. >> do you find that people pushing for it or just the teach for america program is insulting? >> many educators feel insulted by it, just know can what the requirements are for everybody else to be hired, in pennsylvania, we have very, you know, strict things. you have to go through a process. you have to do that. and then they turn around and sa sa say, it's okay for you to not have it. come on in here and step in the door. yeah. most educators find it extremely

insulting. but in terms of besides the insult, it's just really how they prepared to work with kids. >> they don't teach the nuts and bolts of teaching. they don't do enough to prepare teachers who are coming from middle class suburban backgrounds to meet the students where they are at, to meet them in their culture. >> despite the criticism, tfa continues to attract the best and the brightest, receiving more than 50,000 applications this year alone. but a student organization, united students against sweat shops, active on 150 campuses is trying to bring tfa recruitment on campus to a halt. they claim the organization is damaging public education. >> teach for america brands itself as a social justice organization. you come to campus and say, do you want to save the world? teach for america. and people end up doing teach for america for like many of the right reasons. however, teach for america is a

big -- as a system, a broad organization, is a huge part of the corporatization and privatization of america's public schools. >> one of their main complaints, veteran teachers are sacrificed so schools can bring in tfa core members who work for less. >> as public schools are closing, many teachers are being laid off. there are position reserved for core members. like in chicago, massive school closings, teachers and there was spaces reserved for teach for america. >> many te 300 teachers were hired. tfa agreed to sit down with the periods of usas but neither left very satisfied much had been acomplished? >> i didn't find a satisfactory answer to many of my questions. >> we need to talk to tfa about the criticisms. the few minutes at this meeting were the closest we got.

tfa eventually declined our request for an interview. >> if they were truly interested in improving education in the country, they would work with universities and teacher organizations to develop a plan to create career teachers, not simply two-year replacement teachers or stop-gap teachers. that's my biggest criticism of it. i don't want they want necessarily to go away. i want them to reform themselves to be something that i see would be truly supportive of good education in this country. >> christoph putzel, al jazeera. >> julian vazquez has done research joins us from sacramento where he teaches at cal state university there. professor, your report is called cloaking inhe can'tquity, an interestingly title given you are looking right into teach for america. there is an awful lot of good intentions here but maybe the outcomes are not what people expect. >> well, this is an important question because a lot of times, teach for america will say they

have positive effects. let me be the stat profess for a moment. an effect of .07, which is very small. we know that class size reduction, 400% more effective. we know that pre-k is 1,400% more effective than teach for america in improving teacher outcomes. it has a positive outcome but it's minifscule compare to othes that are gold standards. >> one of the things young woman in that report said that struck me, she said they don't teach middle class college graduates about how to deal with the culture of the communities that they are going in to to work with these kids? >> this is very important. a lot of folks have called it, e especially alums, that they are tourists and that teach for america is a temp agency. these are comments that teach for america awe lums have made to me. because what happens is teach for america teachers go in for only two years. the vast mapt of those teachers stay in these communities for two years. they build their resume and

parachute on you, which is disconcerting for the communities because we used to call that cities criminal nation, sending uncertified, unprepared teachers to teach poor children. somehow, teach for america has changed the narrative to call that approach civil rights. >> there is an effort underway, a bit of a pilot, i guess, to sort of modify reform. some of the ways that tfa teach evers are brought in the classroom. >> sure. i think that there are several things teach for america could do that would address some of the critiques. david green mentioned some of those earlier in your piece but i also think that teach for america should offer districts five-year commitments from these teachers. why not offer districts that are making investments that are peckunary costwise and also non-me coonary meantor teacher david green talked about mentoring 19 teachers. twelve a longer time frame to have these teachers in the schools, that makes a lot more sense costwise and timewise in terms of investing in this approach. i know teach for america has also sought to have longer training. they have done this for a small

sample but why not do that longer training period of one-year for all of their core monsters why only just a few. >> an important point that was made there by the veteran teacher we heard from takes more than walk into a room and caring to make a difference here julian vaskes, professor of educational leadership studies at cal state university in sacramento. thank you very much? >> thank you for having me. >> in a moment, more trouble on the horizon: the heavy weather, a deluge in the west, sending some communities right over t edge. >> it's like sandwich something happens and something happens like a death, you are just there with it. i am trying to be right here with it. >> the pine 57 he will express zooming smack into the west coast. we will get an update. before the end of this hour, faith and another sort of force. how the god squad is leading where lawmakers fear to tread.

>> beyond the verdict and on the streets >> there's been another teenager shot and killed by the police >> a fault lines special investigation >> there's a general distrust of this prosecutor >> courageous and in depth... >> it's a target you can't get rid of... >> the untold story... >> who do you protect? >> ...of what's really going on in ferguson >> they were so angry because it could have been them >> fault lines, ferguson: race and justice in the u.s. one hour special only on al jazeera america now, snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." the justice department announces it will not present native

americans from selling marijuana on reservations. it includes reservations in states that ban pot. it is still unclear how many if any tribes will take advantage of the policy. in a rare response, john brennan responds to the scathing torture report report. he admits it isn't possible to know if torture produced any relevant intelligence with you he said the enhanced interrogation tech needs led to useful intelligence. >> staff walked off jobs to show support for mike he ground and eric garner in the wake of the decisions by two gjz not to indictment the officers responsible in the death. >> the u.s. senate chaplain led the group in prayer for the grieving families and their prayer for peace. it is the kind of weather they hardly ever see out west. but from southern california up

into the pats ivening west coast, it is being pummeled by a punishing weather system. >> from roadways to rivers, heavy rains in the bay area into the central valley. this is the kind of storm california hasn't seen in 15 years. >> this is odd for us. rain doesn't seem to bother us, but if we don't have power, we are pretty much out of commission. >> highways shut down. tens of thousands without power. californians left awe-struck by the strength this storm. >> it can be really dangerous. it's really fascinating. it's amazing but it's very, very dangerous. they are saying waves will be 25 feet tomorrow. gusts, forecasters warned of hundred-strength winds, driving rains, up to eight inches forward. what's behind the trouble? is the so-called pineapple express, a storm system that may picks up heavy moisture around

hawaii and dumps it on the west coast. it's a huge turnaround for california, which has been trying to cope with severe drought conditions. the last time san francisco saw more than four inches of rainfall was in the 1998 el nino. now, schools have been shut down. en parts of the 101, the vital artery down the coast have been closed. and the warnings are dire. >> this storm is supposed to hit in the middle of the night. so, what may just look like a little bit of water on the road could be deeper than it actually looks. >> further north, that pineapple express, a fullly loaded super soaker, one meet roth called it, has doused washington state and oregon with the dirt under some houses and the memories in them simply swept away. >> very sad. it's very personal. these people have built lives out here. it was just heart-wrenching to

see the house with the garduard back and they had dinner on the deck the night before and then the house just went. it's devastating. >> in a community that's watched erosion bring the beach front closer in recent years, there is little to do but accept the inevitable. >> not really overwhelmed. it's like when something happens and you know it's going to happen like a death. you are just there with it. i am trying to be right here with it. >> in the middle of it, san francisco, not just a city by the bay but one try to go with the flow. jay gray is standing by there this hour and getting soaked, i might add, jay. >> reporter: joie, it is a mess here, has been since early this morning. you see the golden gate bridge barely wrapped in clouds and has been all day. the surf here has been rough. it's the rain that just won't quit falling, started in the early morning hours and that's

when we lost electricity in the downtown san francisco area, more than 90,000 without power. it's a problem that still lingers more than 70,000 still haven't had it restored. a lot of the traffic lights are out down here. a lot of the businesses are dark. and it's really been a problem, joie, that has been building throughout the day, just like this rain. there were more than four inches in some areas before the sun came up when this is all said and done, and that may be late tonight, early tomorrow morning, we could see 13 inches of rain in some areas. now, there has been a horrible drought in california for the past several years. they need this rain, but i am not sure they need it all at once because it has no where to go right now. >> yeah, jay, looking behind you to the bridge and i know ththint to the north of you, town to the south of you as well, everybody is seeing the same sort of conditions. >> reporter: yeah. it is just a mess. the water is building.

as we talked about the power out is causing a lot of problems and the crews trying to work in the midst of all of this mess are having problems as well. they say it is going to take time to restore a lot of the power but it's the standing water, the flash flooding also causing problems on the bridge. their buffer zones so that they make sure cars can get across. concerned about the wind. the ferries across the bay have been closed down all day. so, it's something that's just continued to magnify, continued to cause problems, you know, tech is such a big industry here a lot of people decided just to stay home today, work from home if they could. and schools ahead of all of this closed for the day both here in san francisco and oakland. they will re-assess and decide tonight if they will go back tomorrow. >> we are concerned about you there being washed away as the surf comes in behind you from san francisco, correspondent jay gray. thanks very much. when we return, justice for those too sick to help themselves. >> my son, sleeping in the

hallway. couldn't get bail for sleeping. something wrong with that picture. >> al jazeera's fault lines" investigates the american justice system and whether there is a safe place in it for the mentally ill.

sglvenlts it's a question that raises questions about how the

criminal justice system treats the mentally ill. germ om merdow was arrested for sleeping in a harlem stairwell and couldn't pay bail. the guard has been charged for misconduct for failing to check on him. the issue goes beyond one guard or prison. from "fault lines," on why people like he get stuck behind bars before their trials. >> let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. our father, most gracious god, as this family and their friends as they gather, we ask that you send your comforter and your holy spirit, your guide to be with them. >> queens, new york, germ om

merdow's family is laying him to rest. 56-year-old jerome was arrest for trespassing and booked into riker's island jail. >> we miss big brother. we had a special connection, a special relationship. >> scenario days later, he was found dead in his cell. >> they say he was baked to death. his room temperature reached well over 100 degrees with no ventilation. >> there are no words to explain. >> yes. >> it looks like you just came from a building that caught on fire. >> he was black earn my hair. he was darker than my hair. >> jerome was a former marine who suffered from bi-polar disorder and alcohol abuse. >> a week went by and we didn't hear from him, two weeks, then it was three weeks and then mother said, something ain't right. >> his family says he should never have been in jail but a

judge had set his bail at $2,500. >> that's how much it would have cost him to walk free before his trial. since jerome couldn't afford to pay, he was sentence back to riker's island to wait for his trial. >> the price that we pay for allowing money and bail bondsmen is i mmense. high-risk people buy that i way out of jail. low-risk people sit in jail at all tremendous cost. >> when germ merdow was arrested, he was sleeping in an enclosed staircase in harlem public housing. his mother, alma, said he had been visiting a friend in the building. >> because my was 50 something

years old, sleeping in the hallway, $2,500 bail for sleeping? something wrong with that picture. they need to check it out real fast. >> jerome. >> yeah. >> alma found out about jerome's death one month later when she was called by a reporter. to this day, she has never been contacted by officials at rism kers island, jail, or by anyone in new york city government. >> back in my days, if you was sleeping on the street in a bench somewhere they would tap you on bottom of your feet and tell you to take a walk. now they want to put you in jail so the city can pay the money. >> that's ludicrous. >> that's crazy. yu >> just don't let it happen to another mother's son, thinking he is homeless, a bum, he had no no nobody. he has somebody. he has a sister and brotherez, a

mother and father. on the day jerome was arrested, the prosecutor offered him 60 details in jail if he pled guilty. he rejected the offer. >> our problem is not that we have people in jail. our problem is we have all of the wrong people in jail. and having all of the wrong people in jail is something we should all care about. the cold reality is that it is the powerless people who are kept in jail for want of a few hundred dollars. they are the people who suffer just because they are too poor to purchase their liberty before their trial. >> "fault lines" correspondent brings us his investigation, "chasing bail" this saturday

here on al jazeera america. our final segment this hour, the front lines of grief, the two of you together, you call yourselves? >> the god squad. i think that's passed us. >> what is the main thing the two of you are trying to accomplish. >> reduce gun violence in america. >> h.2 men of god join forces i the fight for gun control after a break.

>> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor... >> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes continues episode three: the new middle east on al jazeera america >> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy...

>> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> start with one issue 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

♪ this weekend will mark .2 years since adam lansa shot and killed 20 children and six adults in newtown, connecticut. >> carnage sparked nationwide calls for new gun laws though a new national poll finds for the first time in decades, more americans favor gun rights over gun control. the fight goes on. "america to be honest," lauri jane glihal has .2 men who have joined forces for change. >> when gunman adam lansa opened fire at sandy hook elementary school, the religious leaders of

newtown, connecticut, were on the front line of grief. >> i don't think anything prepares you for the horrific reality that was what happened to us here. >> reverend matt crennic was among the first clergy called to the fire house to console parents? >> i don't talk about that except to say i was there with this group of families as they were learning about what was -- what had happened to their loved ones. >> in hebrew, it's noah smuel. >> at a time rabbi learned a little boy in his congregation, noah pozner learned the youngest victim of the ramp page. >> knowing he was just barely six years old. >> it's a rip-off. he was such a great little guy, you know. and his life was robbed from him. >> the shooting at sandy hook elementary thrust rabbi prior and reverend kreven into the national spotlight. >> these darkest days of our

community shall not be the final word heard from us. >> the mats kerr transformed them both into advocates for stricter gun laws in america. >> it connected me in ways to other communities and other people who had been impacted by gun violence and made me more aware of that impact in a real emotional human level. it's a ticket we have been hand anded and we have a responsibility to put into the game, you know. and that's the newtown card, you know. so we didn't ask for it, but we were served it. so, i feel that that's like a commandment from god for me to do something with that. >> how are you doing? >> the rabbi and the refer end were acquaintances before, but the sandy hook tramming deforged a shared mission. >> the two of you together, you call yourselves? >> we are the god squad. nothing gets past us. >> what is the main thing the

two of you are trying to accomplish? >> reduce gun violence in america. >> prior and crebben went to washington to lobby for backgrounds checks and a ban on assault rivals? >> i went down and met with is senators and other legislators and congressmen as well. >> they couldn't muster the votes. >> we won the majority, but they fill bustered it so we needed more than a majority. >> how disappointing was that for you? >> it was very, very disappointing. >> it seems right now at least for federal gun legislation that washington is where you go to for things to just die. >> some people will want to get involved in gun regulation. >> the god squad came up with a new approach, .1 that didn't rely on politicians. they decided to go after corporate america. >> i want corporations to get off of the sidelines to be thinking about this and be create i havely respond can. that's my sole goal. >> their first target, starbucks, when open carry advocates showed up at a

starbuck in newtown with weapons, it was too much. the god squad started meeting with starbucks managers, applying pressure, and starbucks caved. no more open carry. >> i think it was the moral authority of the god squad after newtown that really put starbucks in an untenable position and within about four months, starbucks changed its gun policy. >> hi, however you. >> elliott feinman met the god squad during the starbucks fight and joined forces with them. feinman was touched by tragsedt in 2007, his son, a special forces veteran, was shotd dead in a restaurant by a man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. >> the murderer had been in mental institutions twice and yet was legally able to get the gun that killed my son. >> feinman has pushed for tougher gun laws ever since.

he joined craver and crebben believing corporations could break the deadlock. >> there of a referendum for marriage equality and microsoft came out in favor of it. within .90 days, 289 major corporations came out saying, yep, we should have marriage equality. and now, you are not part of the mainstream if you are not for it. >> you are hoping the same strategy that happened with gay marriage -- >> yes. will happen with gun laws? >> if corporate america gets involved, we will get sane gun laws and quickly. >> with their strategy refined, next stop: kansas city, home to an unlikely target, hallmark. the nra put the company on its enemies list after hallmark made a donation to help defeat a conceived carry ballot initiative. hallmark said it would no longer support gun control laws. this summer, feinman and the god squad threatened a boycott encouraging people to avoid

buying father's day cards unless the company would take a stand in their fight. >> do you think that's a little bit of bullying? and why do you think that's okay to pressure a company in that way? >> i think it can be considered bullying, and frankly, if we can do bulking and cut down the gun violence and gun, you know, homicides, i am all for it. >> at first, hallmark refused to meet and the group planned to picket. just weeks before the planned protest, company representatives agreed to see feinman and the god squad confidentially. when the trio arrived in kansas city. we caught up with the three before the meeting. >> what is the key strategy when you go into these meetings today? >> it's a complicated little triangle here because hallmark is a wonderful corporation, and it is a very powerful civic force here in kansas city. and they are really frankly the good guys. >> all social change requires

corporate america to be involved and we are hoping that this will be the first step towards that happening. >> we reached out to haul mark but they declined to comment. after the meeting, feinman and the god squad wouldn't discuss what if anything hallmark had agreed to but the mood was upbeat. >> would you say you were satisfied with your meeting today? >> we bumped like this and we felt like we hit the jackpot. >> fist bumped? >> yeah, we fist bumped and hit the jackpot. >> we advance the process, established very good commu communication, and got rid of a potential adverse satisfactorily position. >> it doesn't mean that we are all in agreement or we all see things the exact same way or we are all going to do things the same way but that for us, that the opening that door of conversation makes a big difference. >> two years have passed since adam lansa killed six adults and

20 children at sandy hook elementa elementary. the impromptu memorials have been dismantled. the elementary school, demolished. but the rabbi and the refer end are determined that their mission will go on for as long as it takes. >> if we can get corporations involved in the conversation, we get other people involved, we could prop solve. we can do a lot better than just kind of feeling good and yelling at each other and going home and saying, i am right and you are wrong. >> you safe one life, you save others. we can't get the numbers to zero. but we can get them to a level where we could say with a straight face that we are a civil, humane society. ♪ to make our lives a blessing. >> lauri jane glihal, newtown, connecticut. ♪amen. ♪ making a difference with faith. >> that's "america tonight."

please join us this weekend for a startling look into the world of virtual violence and real-live threats. >> threatened with rape, murder. your husband was threatened to be killed and have his genitals cut off. >> did you see these threats? like they said who? what? why? where and when they were going to murder me and my husband. >> america tonight's adam may on the gender war being played out online gamer gate and the women who dare to complain about video games. why that is a target sunday on "america tonight." if you would like to comment on the stories you have seen tonight, log on to our website. join the conversation with us on twitter or our facebook page. good night. we will have more of america tonight this weekend. >> consider this: the news of

the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america >> this c.i.a. director's extraordinary mood to dispute the senate report on the c.i.a. and torture. bernie madoff's secretary of 20 years joins us as new outrage comes out in the case. and a debate over fraternity in americas. -- in america. >> i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this". those stories and more