♪ on "america tonight" could it be the strange fruit of another dark time. a mother's fear that it wasn't suicide. >> right now the way i feel it's a lynching, because of this public display. >> questions about the death of this teenager and why the local police didn't answer them. and having the blunt talk america. >> they probably think i play basketball, and probably think i come from a low-income family.

they probably think that i'm dangerous. and i have to live with that. >> sarah hoye gets real with black parents, their kids, and what they need to do to stay safe. do you fear for them? >> i want to raise my kids with awareness. and the women warriors leading a new generation of activism. >> it gave me a different rush of energy. and all right, now let's really shut it down. >> away from the bright lights and microphones, how they became the backbone of a new movement, with fists up, fighting back. ♪ good evening, thanks for joining us.

i'm joie chen. it is a horrible case, that evokes the strange fruit of a terrible time in u.s. history, lynching, the hate crime of the 20th century was never even outlawed in the united states. but the pattern of lynching was well-known, a young black victim, taken from his home in the night, found often beaten and hanging in a public place. no lynching have been reported since the late 60s, but a death in north carolina is raising fear and suspicion that the worst of those bad times might be repeated. >> i saw my son's body in a body bag zipped down to the shoulder, and i zipped the bag down further where i could see his upper body, chest, neck, and i knew then -- i said to myself he didn't do this to his self. as a mother i knew. i would have sensed it.

i would have felt it. >> north carolina isn't much different than a lot of other small southern towns. integrated, yes. but with a sharp divide between black and white. and bearing an undercurrent of suspicious between the black community and the all-white police force. a mistrust which lead to the investigation or lack thereof, believe. >> my son did not deserve to be taken from me this way. >> amen. >> his mother claudio addressed a support rally. >> there are things that hand me. >> just 17 years old, ready to start on his school's varsity

football team, lennon lacy was summer. >> he said i can hardly wait. he said i think i'm going to shine this year. i said i think you are. >> the night before his very first game as a varsity linebacker, he went out for a light night walk. early the next morning someone made a grizzly discovery in a nearby trailer park. >> i need ems i have a man hanging from a swing set. suicide. >> it's a black male hanging from the swing. he hung himself. >> but to his family the facts just didn't add up. his mother insists he wasn't depressed. >> his demeanor would have changed. his attitude. his eating habits. his routine would have been off all together.

>> an independent report found there was no suicide note. and there were other details that didn't make sense. the report says he was found with someone else's 10.5-size shoes on his size 12-feet. and no one could explain how the 5'9" teen could tie a noose and hang himself 7.5 feet high. >> i asked them to prove to me how he could have done this if on. >> but in some ways suicide would be easier for the family suspicions. >> right now the way i feel it's a lynching, because of this public display of where his body was found. >> there was another reason for his mother's suspicious.

before his death lennon has been seeing an older white woman, which claudy warned him could mean trouble. >> it could have, because there is a race issue here. i mean you can look around you and see it. >> but the local police didn't hear any of that, because they ruled the case a suicide. an independent pathologist reported local police didn't want an autopsy, and threatened to take the medical examiners camera away. >> anything involving the lacy case, i refer you back to the press conference that mr. john okay? >> we want justice! >> no one has accused the police of wrongdoing, but in an echo of the protests at ferguson and after the death of eric garner in statton island, hundreds marches in this small town last

weekend, to show that lennon lacy's life matters. ♪ just a little while longer >> we know it was a hanging, but the question is was it self inflicted? was it a staged hanging? or was it a hanging or lynching homicide? >> those questions might be answered now after the fbi announced it would reexamine the local police departments preliminary investigation. for a grieving family, already skeptical of police, an independent investigation may be the only path they can truth. >> there's just a lot of questions that i would like answered and why wouldn't they answer me? because it because of my race? my social status? i just wanted those questions answered. it would be a lot easier for me to have closure and start grieving.

>> the woman now tells the daily mail that she believes their interracial relationship lead to his murder. she says she has now left the town sphere -- fearing for her own safety. are there two americas? >> yes, there's white america. and there's black america. america. >> "america tonight" sarah hoye with tough talk. and on the heels of a break through with cuba, a look back to a harsher time and the tough kids. >> i travelled with my 5-year-old sister. and it was very painful, because she asked my mom, why do i have to leave? i mean how could you explain to a 5-year-old child that she had to leave her mother and

you know? >> the children of operation pedro pan. >> television icon norman lear >> we hoped we were delivering real characters... >> creator of "all in the family" "the jeffersons" and "good times" talks race, comedy and american culture today... >> you're taking me to a place in this interview, i haven't been before... >> i told you this would be your best interview >> ...and it is... it's the current one... >> every monday, 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

>> al jazeera america morning news >> good morning and welcome! to al jazeera america >> real stories... real reporting... real news... a deeper look... >> a much better forecast for today >> with an international edge >> why is this so important and how close is this deal? >> from our award winning news teams across america and beyond >> we begin with breaking news

coming out of the west bank... >> news that matters... al jazeera america morning news every morning 7 eastern only on al jazeera america ♪ >> that big thaw in u.s. relations with cuba, meeting a frosty response from some exiles and some lawmakers who just one day after the president announced the historic opening, vow to slam it shut. more than 50 years of exile may make it impossible for all of those who left cuba to forgive. but even for those who came so many years ago, it is impossible to forget. >> i remember waking up, thinking, yeah, this is my last day here. i may never see my parents again. >> reporter: carlos was only 11 years old when he left cuba alone on a flight to the united states.

>> when it first came up i was very happy to hear, oh, great, i get to leave. i was scared about leaving my parents, but i felt life was so me. >> reporter: he packed a few articles of clothing and boarded a flight to the united states, never realizing it would be the father. >> i thought yes, i will get to see him, but then he died. >> reporter: thousands of cuban children were sent to the u.s. along, by parents who feared the government would take them away and brainwash them. ultimately 14,000 cuban children would flee the country on u.s. commercial flights to florida, part of a program started in 1960 called operation pedro pan. >> when they finally gave us the go ahead to get on the plane, it was pretty rushed. >> reporter: the washington, d.c. reverend also remembers

spending a lot of time with his father before he left. >> from what i remember from that summer leading up to august was a lot of fishing trips. >> what do you think your dad was doing by spending so much time with you? >> he was sick. i knew he wasn't going to be leaving cuba. so i think all of this time was sort of his way of, you know, being -- while it could happen, of being with me. >> reporter: do you remember what the last thing you said to him was? >> no, i just remember hugging him. hugging him real hard, but i don't remember -- i don't remember the words. >> reporter: he says he was nervous when he boarded the plane. nervous about leaving his country and family, but he will never forget hearing gunfire during a revolution, or seeing armored vehicles in the streets. >> i think everybody realized that castro was there to stay. the rumors were the children would be send to russia to be educated in russia.

>> my parents got very desperate because they started indoctrination in schools, and a lot of children -- or older children turned against the parents, and it -- it was becoming a real tragedy. >> reporter: she was a teenager during the revolution. >> i started posting little things against the government, writing stuff like down with fiddle and stuff like that. and my mom was scared. because you kids have no knowledge of the danger. >> reporter: alvarez thought her brief. >> they kind of told us very near to our leaving, and they made it sound like, oh, you are going to a summer camp. i traveled with my 5-year-old sister. it was very, very painful to me, because she asked my mom, why do i have to leave? i how -- how could you explain

to a 5-year-old child that she had to leave her mother and father, you know? >> reporter: although she didn't know him then, alvarez's future husband, a future grammy winning latin music star in the united states was also boarding a plain as part of operation pedestrian row pan. >> did you feel lonely or sad? >> no, no, no. no, i did not. most of the kids that came here from pedestrian row pan had that tough moment when they felt lonely, i was not, because i was surrounded by 86 kids just like ♪ >> this documentary "the lost apple," was funded and produced by the united states information agency. it provides a glimpse into what the children could expect when they arrive in miami.

>> when you go away to camp, everything is strange. >> reporter: the children were taken in until their parents could arrive. >> they put us on a plane. we had to take another plane to get to dubuque, iowa. and i don't know why they separated my sister and i. she was the only thing that i had, and i was her only family, her only person that she knew. ♪ >> reporter: alvarez who had been performing since she was a outlet. >> i remember the first song i ever wrote was a song for cuba. >> reporter: how did it go? can you sing it? >> it said [ singing in spanish ] >> that is the chorus line. nobody is doing anything for?

it's like a question. like a cry. >> reporter: for willie music was a way of making friends. >> we went to a party, and there was a little band playing. and one of my friends said hey, i talked to the drummer, and i asked them to let you sit in, and they said yes. and i said oh, my god -- i never in my life sat in front of a drum set, ever. and they said we're going to play wipe out. [ laughter ] >> so i started to play, and for some reason i did it good enough drummer. >> reporter: the adjustment was harder for those without an outlet. the reverend was in an orphanage. >> i remember whenever somebody would say something to me, my response was i'm not an orphan. so it's hard to make friends with kids who are orphans when your only way of identifying

yourself is threatened by the fact that you are in an orphanage when i know that my parents are still alive. it was survival mode. that's what it felt like. >> reporter: alvarez and her sister were separated from her parents for three years. what was it like to have your family together again? >> it was -- it was heaven. and then we were put in a boarding school again, because they had to go to puerto rico and get a home and settle down in puerto rico, so they were like reunions and accept rations and reunions and accept rations. >> reporter: finally willie reunited with his family. >> it was very, very emotional. we cried. we embraced, we -- you know, said finally. >> reporter: but for louise father.

>> there was a telegram, and my sister got a telegram, and i got a telegram, they said that my father had died. you know, i do remember crying, crying, crying, the gay -- day that i got the telegram. >> reporter: it would be four years before the reverend would see his mother again. >> and then it was a process of acclaimation, it has been a long time. last time she had seen me was at 11. next time she sees me i'm 15 years old, and you have been on your own for four years. >> reporter: what would you say family? >> well, it's not the same family unit. and the hardest part of it all was, i think, for my mother. she goes through this huge

herculean effort to get to the united states and when she gets here, she finds two children that are very different than those she sent. >> reporter: the reverend is now the rector at st. john's church in washington, d.c. carlos is a professor of history and religious studies at yale. and the two performers who never knew each other as children, came together through their music. inspired by her childhood others. >> we took a lot of foster kids to come and take them to disney, and stay here for christmas. and now i have an animal rescue, and i know it has to come from all of that -- all of the things that i went through as a child. >> how much would you say your experiences? >> i would say a lot. a lot. i -- i believe -- i know as a

matter of fact, that being an artist, you touch people's emotions, including your own. >> which of your songs makes you the most emotional and touched? >> of course, the song that -- it's a song that i wrote. it's called [ speaking spanish ] the day will be arriving. and for some reason that song touched the deepest fiber of emotion and heart of every cuban inside the island and around the world. ♪ families standing up for and behind their children. in our next segment, we'll look again at the impact of clashes between cops and communities of color and the tough talk many black families say their dids need today. >> if you speak to any or most

black men or black young men, they will usually have a story or two. >> are you okay with that? >> i'm not okay with that. >> we'll also look at the strength behind the movement. >> no more lies! no more lies! >> who is out front and who really leads the fight? a new generation of leadership, and why now more than ever, women are the key. ♪ >> al jazeera america presents >> somebody's telling lies... >> it looks nothing like him... >> pan am flight 103 explodes december 21st, 1988 was the right man convicted? >> so many people, at such a high level, had the stake in al-megrahi's guilt >> the most definitive look at this shocking crime >> the major difficulty for the prosecution that there was no evidence >> al jazeera america presents lockerbie part one: the pan am bomber

now a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight." a new study links autism with air pollution. pregnant women exposed to high levels of air pollution during their third trimester may be twice as likely to give birth to a child with autism. the disorder affects 1 in 68 children in the united states.

and the bostonbombing suspect in court. it is the first time he has been seen in 17 months. more than 70 years after his execution, a south carolina judge has thrown out the murder conviction of a 14-year-old black boy. he was arrested and sent to the electric chair in 1944 allegedly for killing two white girls. he was convicted in a one-day trial at the time, and executed without any appeal. the judge today said the speed in which the state dealt out the punishment was shocking and extremely unfair. justice in america isn't always applied equally. we have seen the blow black in many cities. the same cases underscore a

sense of urgency in many black families to have the talk with their young men. a blunt conversation about what they should do and not do if the police stop them. sarah hoye now. >> reporter: another friday night. another funeral. >> i came here to show my support, because i have three grabbed sons and i'm afraid for their lives. >> reporter: inside mourners paid their respects to the family of an unarmed black man shot to death in a stairwell by new york city police. his -- outside others voiced their frustration. the deaths and the protests that followed, put a spotlight on an intimate conversation happening in homes across america. a conversation about race.

>> how are you doing? >> hi. >> reporter: but in black homes the conversation is about life and death. >> if you speak to any or most black men or black young men, they will usually have a story or two. that? >> i'm not okay with that. >> reporter: brooklyn native kim and her husband are the parents of four children. three boys, one girl. akim, a bakery owner and private tutor, says for her family talks about race started the day their sons were born. with this most recent news especially here in new york city, all of the protests and marching, have you guys had to have unique discussions, or was this part of anning lo -- a longer conversation. >> i think it's part of a ongoing conversation.

i feel like my sons are not news. >> for a country that prides itself on having justice distributed among the land, but doesn't have justice when someone kills someone that is close to my age and of my skin color, that's -- that's scary. >> reporter: reggie and host of the podcast says he has taught themselves. >> i know they are perceived a certain way. >> reporter: how does that make you feel as a dad? >> it makes me feel like i have to do my best to protect my kids. i can in part upon them, some type of -- what is the word, practical mind set, body movement, way of acting -- and my sons have already been police. >> since third grade, at my

school i have been the only black boy in my grade. and collectively my parents just told me to watch out and stay out of trouble and stuff, because they kind of knew i would be looked at in a certain way. and i hadn't really caught on to that until this year, when i was stopped by a police officer. i was just walking to my train, and they stepped in front of me. they said excuse me, can we please check your bag. and i said yeah, sure. so i opened my bag for them, but i was kind of in shock. >> reporter: how did that make you feel? >> i understand what my parent had told me. it all made sense. >> there are two stages of learning. you learn, you hear, you recite, and then there's the realization when you go out into the real world and say this is how i can apply what i have learned. and our kids are actually seeing what they have been instructed or taught for so many years.

>> there's a fear there, that is i can just walk down the street and, you know, get shot and die and nothing will happen. and that i think is probably one of the most depressing things that i have had to deal with, you know, this year. as a 17-year-old in america you should haven't to think to come to terms with the fact that if you get wrongfully killed nothing will happen. and that person who kills you wrongfully will not be held accountable for their actions. that's just terrible. >> reporter: the 17-year-old traveled to washington with his school to attend the justice for all march in early december. >> i think it's important that we voice our opinions, and try to make a change by, you know, noise. >> shut it down. shut it down. >> as soon as i got off of the bus in d.c. i was surrounded by hundreds of people who were united under the same cause.

it's so clear to me that it's my responsibility as a young person to stand up for my rights. >> reporter: you define it as your responsibility. why? >> my responsibility to speak up for myself. you know. and i speak not only on behalf of myself, but also for my younger brothers and i guess for every other young black man in america. >> reporter: two ivy league grads, four children accomplished in their own right, all facing the harsh reality that for them race matters. >> unfortunately every day experiences have to be, i think, sometimes met with caution for my sons. >> reporter: do you fear for them? >> i don't want to raise my children to operate out of fear. what i want to raise them with is with awareness. >> reporter: despite their awareness, some fear still remains. the recent protests in new york

city sparked a surge in police presence near the boy's private school downtown. >> reporter: do you feel safe? >> it ticks me off. >> i find myself having a small anxiety attack. >> reporter: they say whether they are on the street or the classroom, people see color and they see a threat. >> the mup dane things are we're good at sports or basketball or track. we are thieves and just evil people. every time i get on the train and happen to be a little too close to somebody, even though it's really crowded, that person always has to clutch their bag closer or move it to the front so i don't steal what is in their bag. i just think that's ridiculous. >> they probably don't think i have a dad in the picture. they probably think i play basketball. they probably think i come from a low-income family.

they probably think that i'm dangerous. and i have to live with that. i can try to change it, but at this point in my life, i'm going to have to live with it. >> i feel like very little hope is given to us, and i feel like if we embrace that, i think we're just feeding in to this, you know, psychological cycle, where we're lesser and we're -- you know, black is not beautiful, and black is criminal, and i feel like it's up to us to redefine ourselves. >> race and racism in america are almost akin to a religion. people are going to believe what they want to believe. i hope my boys have heard that they have to be excellent. so regardless of whatever fool projects on them, their track record is good.

>> reporter: so where do we go from here? >> i don't have an answer for that. i feel like we have to live our lives, and we have to make something of our lives, and once we're at the point that we want too be, then we can -- we can try to change whatever needs to be changed. >> reporter: sarah hoye, al jazeera, new york. tough talk harsh reality. steve perry is a father and started capital prep in hard ford, connecticut. he is the principal there. you talk the talk to your young men every day. give me the bottom line. what do you say to a young black man who is going out on the streets who might come upon a guy with a badge and a gun? >> he will come upon a man with a damage and a gun at some point. it's a right of passive for african american males. and i will tell him to get home.

mind his manners, be humble and as respectful as possible, so he can get away from the situation. it's a dangerous situation when you get a man with a gun and a badge and the support of an entire state and country him. >> but mind your manners? that's -- that's what you got in i mean, really, i would think that you almost are encouraging frustrations. doesn't that set them up for conflict when they do come upon these situations? >> the expectation is to make sure that children understand what is real. i'm not in a position to change the situation. but i can make sure that they get home. i have been in situations and my students and recently one of my sons was in a situation where he found out he was black.

and what i mean about that is we don't think anymore about thinking about what it is like to be black. >> he found out he was black -- >> he found out he was black because he went to a birthday party and a little white kid called him the n word. and he was nine. and he knew he was black before, but he didn't understand that being black was somehow bad to some people. and we try to shield our children from it, in hopes that they won't be confronted with the same circumstances that we have been confronted with, but the fact is the fact that racism is very much alive and kicking. >> but you are an educated man, an educator, the best you can offer your child is look, your job is to come home? to get through whatever situation there is? to just get home safe. >> right. no one knows -- the police

officer who pulled my wife and sons and i over a year or so ago -- he didn't know that i was a -- have a doctor in education, he didn't know nor did he care. he wanted to sigh what he wanted to say, he wanted to be slick and disrespectful. my objective was to get home. i'm a man. i feel the same things that many men feel when they are confronted in this way. so i got home -- >> but at that moment -- i have got to be clear here. at that moment, you ate it. >> you have got to eat it. it wasn't like i would be able to argue my point, and he would argue his point. he is a police officer with a weapon, and i don't necessarily think his intentions were good. >> but that's the same message you give your child then, your

son then, that it is going to get ugly and you are just going to have to take it? >> absolutely. boys in particular are taught don't let anybody punk you. somebody is going to make you feel like less than a person, and you just have to eat it. because right there he is the complete boss. he is the judge and jury. it is not fair, it's disgusting. it's disgusting that on individual who has the trust of the community and in many cases the only person that separates us from chaos, is the person who is in fact carrying his own brand of chaos with him. it is horrible that we still have to have this conversation. and sadly it's a couple of bad actors. we're not talking about police all over the country. i have a couple of relatives that are police officers, and i fear for them each night, because i fear they are going to

bare the weight of the one or two bad police officers who get the rest of the african american communities up in arms and one of these young men who feel like they don't have anything to lose, see my young -- uncle or cousin as the same. >> tough story. appreciate you being with us. >> thank you. ♪ in a moment, a look at families on the front line. who is leading the new movement for change? fists up, fight back. but maybe not who you might think in charge. >> let them be! let them be! >> a crisis on the border... >> thery're vulnarable... these are refugees... >> migrent kids flooding into the u.s. >> we're gonna go and see josue who's just been deported... >> why are so many children fleeing? >> your children will be a part of my group or killed... >> fault lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be

arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... fault lines no refuge: children at the border only 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...

what i have he hehere -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> let them be! let them be! let them be! >> we hear the voices and we hear the names.

mike brown, ferguson, eric garner, trayvon martin. behind the signs, pushing the movement forward is a new network of women. here in washington, d.c. for example, most members of the national movement leading protests over the deaths are women, mothers, sisters, who told our producer and "america tonight" their stories. ♪ >> when the trayvon martin decision came out, i went into deep depression. i felt a sense of hopelessness. and it was pretty severe that i could see black people walking on the street and i could see them as victims, as potential victims. it was another confirmation that black lives don't matter, and that the value of my son and my

husband, that there is no value. my name is erika, i'm a wife and mother, and active in the black liberation movement here in dc. my son is five, and marley is four. and they are two different children entirely. my son is very much a kid, and very much aloof to a lot of things going on. with my daughter marley, she is on the opposite end of that. at four she is very much aware of what is going on, because she is with me, i'm a stay at home mom, and she is with me most of the time. any actions or things i'm doing, she is there. i said what do you all know about the police? salomon said if you take something they put your hands away. and marley said almost immediately, the police kill everybody. >> ♪

>> most of the actions and things that i'm seeing, that i'm a part of, black women are in for. for actions that are actually disruptive and shutting things down, it is black women. sometimes in many places we're the better communicators, we don't have a whole lot of ego that goes along with this, because we can connect with our sisters and knowing that is my sister, if it happens to her, it has to me. and to have my daughter sit in that space as well. so it's very powerful for her to see. ♪ momma, momma, can't you see, what these cops have done to me ♪ >> i'm tony sanders, i work at a bank? dc. my side job is being here in the revolution. i'm one of the founding members

of the more. a small group of us, but very dedicated. the smaller a group is, the more dedicated the people are? i consider what we are doing radical nflt lots of peel would call us militant and that's okay. i met erika after mike brown was killed and they started tear gassing the place in ferguson. there was a call of action that went out. it was a group of young black people who wanted to do something more than tweet. >> i would say the effectiveness of organizing in secret is because it allows us to accomplish a task without it being thwarted, that the police didn't prepare and try to stop our actions. >> you are able to put pressure on people, not let them be able to get to their jobs, their senate hearings, whatever we can disrupt, so they always see it.

and never know where we're going to pop up. >> they don't know it, but what is going to happen is we're going to shut -- down. we're going to have a group of folks on the outside of china town marching around. once inside the theater, we're going to purchase tickets to "top five" walk over to exodus, and shut that -- down. >> we are tired of portraying us, and erasing us. this is white supremacist propaganda, and we're shutting it down. >> no more lies! no more lies eiffel >> we are not going back to business as usual! >> you have to leave. you can't come in here. >> we felt like we really made a difference. we wanted people to understand where we were coming from.

we did our job. they stopped that movie. it wasn't business at usual in the theater that night. you are going to have to refund some money to people. no more lies! >> and i saw my comrades standing down there cheering for us as we came down. it just gave me a different rush of energy. all right. now let's keep it moving. let's really shut it down. i just started yelling, fall out, fall out, and we did a massive die-in right there. >> the treatment of black here in america. so we lay down as an inconvenience to show you that black lives do matter. we disrupt your movie, because your movie is full of lies. we were kings and queens. you have got us in that movie as slaves. we are sick of the lies ieflt

>> the whole damn system is guilty as hell! >> who's streets? >> our streets! >> we had that national march coming to take place. i don't think that al sharpton is going to give us his platform to give young people and the ferguson leaders who had an uprising. so if they are speaking, we're shutting it down. meet us at the march. >> it's a national march, and al sharpton is leading it. so we want to find out what voices he is going to elevate. that's what my -- my intention is. the people from ferguson are here, some stayed with me last

night, and others are in a hotel nearby. just making sure their voices are elevated. that there isn't anybody that is a ferguson organizer or leader on the stage that speaks, then ultimately it needs to be shut down. and we need to take the platform. >> at this point what we're realizing is that they are not going to let anybody from ferguson speak. our mission right now is to take over the stage. because they are the catalyst of the movement, and if approximate we leave out their inheritance we're leaving out the most essential part. we have erica who is trying to round up the people. she has media passes she is going to give to them. >> this is bullshit. it's a show for the media. >> we love our sister barbara, but what i have here is ferguson people that want to speak. >> let them speak! let them speak!

let them speak! let them speak! >> if we don't get it, shut it down ieflt >> hi, my nam ta -- is jeanettea, put your hands up, please! hands up! >> don't shoot! >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> today the delegation of grieving mothers are going to congress to -- to share their stories and to ask our elected officials to stand with them. and to hear what the mothers are actually calling for. >> the only reason my son died was because of the color of his skin. when we were inquired about why he was stopped, they said he looked like he was doing.

[ shotting ] ♪ >> we are here, the delegations through our pain and through our grief. we are standing together to show the world the face of police brutality, what the families of police brutality victims look like. and if i had my way today, i would be holding my son's autopsy picture for you to see. when you see what we have to see when we have to identify those babies that have been killed and shot seven and nine times and in the back and in the head, it changes who you are. >> yes. >> and let me tell you nothing in this world can prepare you to bury a child. >> this is about our lives. so when we talk about end game. it's not anything really like intricate. we just want to live. that's it.

we just want to live. like everybody else does. we want our children to be able to go outside and play, without fear of them being harassed by the police. them. >> and the activism goes on. erica is now in chicago working with other national groups including black lives matter, and tony's organization, think more is doing more. those are strong women and strong images. we'll end this hour with a look at another sort of reality tv from a different time. >> you have had a hand in 100 television shows. you have tackled issues of racism, homophobia, gender discrimination. did you set out to be a trail blazer. >> adam may with norman lear too. ♪ there's more to finical news than the ups and downs of the

dow. for instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month? have you thought about how climate change can effect your grocery bill? could rare minerals in china effect your cell phone bill? or, how a hospital in texas could drive up your health care premium. i'll make the connections from the news to your money real.

♪ and finally this hour, when reality follows tv. all in the family, sanford and sons, jeffersons. they were those edgy sitcoms, and the man behind all of them was producer norman leer. his shows tackled women's rights, sexuality, and race. and when so many of these issues are making their way back on to tv, adam may turned to the producer for his incite. >> you have had a hand in 100 television shows.

blazer? >> i didn't think of it so much as being a trail blazer. it was american life. you know, we were family of people, my family, other people that joined when we went into television were all members of families. they read newspapers. what impacted them directly in their families was the grist for our mill, what impacted them in the outer world became grist for our mill also. we were dealing with what was. >> but the issues that you talked about in these tv shows -- >> right. >> -- many people never talked before. and they became part of the fabric of our country. they impacted our culture. when did you realize that those shows were having such a big impact on us. >> i realized they were ill pacting the family before they were impacting the culture. it was just a question of what

materials were we going to work with? were we going to deal with something that took place because our kid came home from school crying, and had some problem, and we realized it was our fault or whatever. >> let's start with all in the family. the most successful show ground breaking show for its time. you said archie bunker's father. did you view your father as racist? >> it wasn't based so much on my father. he would shout out me that i was the dumbest white kid he ever met. i don't even like using the world bigotry. it was just progress. he was concerned -- >> opinionated?

>> very opinionated. he had been everywhere where the everything. >> did that show up a dialogue? >> every episode for people opened the conversation. cause i go through life hearing people tell me all the time, you know, and afterwards we talked, we talked, we talked. my father was like that, or wasn't like that. my uncle was. but people talked, and if a play is going to do anything, after it has made people laugh, the best thing is having them talk. so we hoped we would -- we were delivering real characters, the way we knew them in life. >> adam mays full interview next monday night on "talk to al jazeera," 9:30 eastern, here on al jazeera america.

>> and that's "america tonight." this weekend on our program, street. >> back in the day, you get them -- you throw them down, you do all of this. they might be a little -- >> you rough them up a little. >> you rough them up a little. but having them camera on me, when i grabbed them, and i remembered the camera, the camera. >> the call for more body cams on officers. more communities say they want them, but do they make a difference. we'll talk with officers among the first in the country to wear them. and if you would like to comment on any stories you have seen tonight log on to our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight. or join the conversation on twitter or our facebook page. good night. >> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the

charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. >> sharp definitions over president obama's moves to normalize relations with cuba it will take years to turn the tide against terror groups in iraq why are colleges showering perps with huge gifts? i'm antonio mora, this is "consider this," more of those stories ahead. >> the united states of america is changing its relationship with the people of cuba.