as high as the empire state building. twice as high as the tower and from the valley flour to the top, taller than the tallest building in the world: thanks. goodnight. >> on "america tonight." robbed on the job. workers in this country losing millions of dollars in wages each year. and many don't even know what the law says they deserve. >> a lot of times people think sweatshops as garment, third world countries. we're saying right here in the united states all kinds of workers are being sweated. and one aspect of being sweated is being robbed of your wages. >> "america tonight's" christof putzel investigates wage theft from the workers who need the

money the most, america's lowest paid employees and why no one is making their boss pay. also tonight hot off the press. "charlie hebdo" returns to french news stands. france's determination to celebrate. vive lecharlie. and the law. >> you're going to get caught. >> a new orleans artist his canvas and how it earned him an audience he never expected. >> i seen the guys walking up and i was like uh oh, this doesn't look good. good evening, thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. we all know what it means to be robbed but suppose the theft takes place on your job and the person stealing from you is your boss? that's called wage theft and the numbers are staggering.

in just one year workers fighting back against their bosses recovered nearly $1 billion. that's amount they got back.the total losses in wages and benefits nationwide could be more than that. in an "america tonight" investigation, correspondent christof putzel found it is the very lowest paid, the ones who could least afford it who suffered the most. >> translator: i always imagined the u.s. to be a free and democratic country. i expected to see money everywhere. >> reporter: bichang lew is a 44-year-old father and husband. he came here for what was hoped to be a pert life. >> it's not as i imagined. the u.s. has its dark sides, i.t. has a lot of unfairness. >> in 2007 he took a job with an independent company called yes car, working long hours.

>> in 2007 you were making about $500 a week, is that right? >> uh-huh, yes. >> your pay was $500 and how many days oweek were you working working, six days ? >> yes. >> six days about 12 hours a day? >> yes. >> do the math bijang was working about 72 hours a week, no overtime. two years later yes car announced a protection fee they paid their drivers, bringing his pay to $5.55 an hour well below minimum wage. >> in 2009, the minimum wage is $7.25. so that's a difference. that's a big difference so it looks likes you are owed quite a bit of money. >> translator: after a while i wasn't actually making any money and i realized i was basically working for free. the little money i made just wasn't enough to make ends meet.

>> reporter: and he wasn't alone. in 2009, bichang and 20 others filed a lawsuit against yes car for wage theft. they said the owner got away with underpaying them for years, by classifying them independent contractors instead of hourly workers. >> they are in fact company employees with the right to minimum wage and overtime. >> reporter: joe ann loom is executive director for the coalition for real minimum wage. >> 3.33 an hour, wow, this is just alt on the upper east side? >> upper west side. a lot of times people think sweatshops as garment, thirld third world countries. but we're saying right here in the united states all kind of workers are being sweated. one aspect of being sweated is being robbed of your wages.

you can talk about raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour, $30 an hour, but it's not going to be real in the worker's lives until the law is enforced. >> reporter: struggling to keep up. we're here at the department of labor in downtown manhattan, that has received thousands of claims that the employers stowing wages from them. it so take months if not years just to get these claims investigated. as of june of last year, the department had 17,000 wage theft cases still unresolved. according to a state audit more than 75% of them had been sitting for more than a year. we wanted to speak to someone from the state about the unresolved claims. deputy alphonse david would only speak to us by telephone. we asked him. >> one of the practical realities of litigation is it would take time.

i would suspect the case you referenced is actually outside the department of labor and in court. the only part of the process that the department of labor controls is the investigation stage. after they issue their determination they have no control over the process. why? because an employer could appeal. >> workers never win in court because employers have all the money and can afford the best lawyers. bosses always win. and workers just have to take the abuse. >> reporter: we also wanted to ask tony low, the owner ever yes car, about bichang's wages. >> is tony low here? >> tony low is no more here. >> does he work here? >> no he doesn't. >> is there a manager i can speak with? >> moments later this man appears, he would only identify himself as wallace and said he

hasn't seen him for years. >> who are you looking for? >> tony low. >> he's been -- he left this business two, three years ago. 12, 2012. >> i asked him what his workers were making, he wouldn't specify but they were independent contractors. >> they are all independent contractors. >> you classify them as independent contractors? >> yes. >> the department of labor says they are unaware of any cases for drivers working for yes car. workers advocates say tony low's decision to sell the business is a common tactics to avoid paying proper wages. >> it's common, to sell and open up a new business. there is not much risk involved actually.

the law allows the frash to do frash franchise to do this and that. hide behind the subcontracting system, franchise system, say this is not my responsibility, the risk is very little. that's why i think that so many employers and businesses do it rob workers. >> six years after suing yes car bichanning lieuichang lieu ichang lu is working at another job. america is not china, it is not what you imagine. it is not a perfect world. america has its own oppression its own abuses. it's very hard to live here. >> what's the hardest part of being able to take care of your family

? >> translator: it's all for my family. it's my responsibility to take care of the family. >> reporter: did you ever think that it was going to be this difficult being here ? >> no. life in china was better. >> christof putzel, al jazeera new york. >> is there really help that these low wage workers would ever see their money? winied from gou , in this case agreed to pay $4 million to its workers in back pay. that's a huge win for them but what does it say to other low wage workers? >> i think it's a model of what workers can do if they organize, step forward and fight for their rights.

>> is it really just restaurant workers or does it apply across industries? >> i think it applies across industries. i think unfortunately wage theft is a huge problem. not just in the restaurant industry, but for caregivers for drivers. for construction workers. in the nonunion sectors, across low wage workers generally. >> what makes it so difficult though for workers to organize to even know what their rights are? >> i think there is a lot of different issues at play. i think particularly for low wage workers or immigrant workers, there's lack of knowledge about what the law requires, that they even have a right to the minimum wage, what the minimum wage is. we work with a lot of low wage immigrant workers many who are monolingual or limited english proficient. many are new to this country unfamiliar with the legal system, there are multiple agencies in many cases and

knowing which agency does what or how to get there or what support those agencies might provide would be an issue. the immigrant groups like the chinese law caucus can really play a critical and important role. >> i have to ask you, is this really an issue with small businesses with restaurants and oarl other smaller type businesses, where people are not aware of their rights, could this also be an issue for bigger businesses? >> absolutely. unfortunately wage theft is a huge problem nationally. i think two-thirds of low wage workers are not paid the wages that they're owed. it is not just in restaurant. it's construction, it's care giving. it's retail. it's big companies like walmart, there were recent victories wage and hour settlements against walmart.

it's high end michigan michelin reviewed restaurants. >> appreciate your being with us, thanks very much. >> thank you. workers and wages, big issue on the agenda last year as president laid out the nation's top political priorities. next week though mr. obama will be back and he will outline his agenda for this year, in his state of the union address. income inequality may be on the table again. we're curious what you think. "america tonight's" digital team wants to hear from you in your dear podus project. we asked you to weigh in and thousands of you did, tweeting and e-mailing what you wanted washington to stay on. income inequality, drone

strikes, student loans, health care , medical marijuana, gun violence, and all that matters most to you. this year, we've reached out to some people we've met on "america tonight." like sarah wolf, a remarkable young woman who did the almost impossible. she got lawmakers of both parties to back her bill. the able act allows americans with disabilities to save for their own futures without suffering penalties to their government benefits. sarah will have a seat in the first lady's box at this year state of the union and she's already got another item on her to do lest for president obama. what happens to a family when a veteran with ptsd accommodation home. brandon is asking the va for

more help. now it's your turn. write your message to the president, take a selfie and share your story on social media. call dear podus. we may feature it on air at al jazeera america. you can hear more about dear podus on our website, al jazeera america/"america tonight." state of the union address will begin at 8:00 eastern that night. all the political issues leading up to and after the speech as well. live coverage of the republican remarks as well following the president's address. next up on "america tonight." facing a grim calendar. four condemned men facing the ultimate penalty, and why they

fear it may end like this. >> he was moving, he groaned, he was attempting to speak and the only thing i could hear him to say clearly was the word man. >> "america tonight's" chris bury on america's next execution. later tonight, vive lecharlie. "charlie hebdo," worries about the next act of france's trimmists. france's france's

>> one more controversial issue facing the nation: the death penalty and exactly how it is carried out. oklahoma hasn't had an execution since the botched lethal injection of clayton locket last year. on thursday though the state plans to use its new protocol to carry out the four executions it

intends to carry out in the next six weeks. but the fight to stop it is still on. "america tonight's" chris bury. >> it is in this chair that clayton politicet locket gasped his last. no one selected to watch the procedure actually saw him take his final breaths. investigative reporter katy fretland witnessed the execution. >> something very strange happened, he struggled, groaned, attempting to speak and the only thing i could hear him to say clearly was the word "man." >> locket's execution was oklahoma's first using the controversy lethal cocktail involving the sedative

medazelam. states have opted to use untrusted cocktails, in many cases because european companies said officials have protested the use of their drugs in u.s. prisons. the death penalty research center said medazelam was used in disastrous executions mcguire took more than 20 minutes to die. >> well this gets to a basic philosophical question about what's happening. we are in an era and last year was a part of it where they're trying drugs that have never been used before in executions combinations and dosages. they are doing this on human beings. >> the being state investigation

uncovered poor training, improper equipment and a lack of planning, leading up to locket's botched execution. the execution team failed to properly insert the needle to deliver the lethal injection drugs or properly monitor the ifb ivdrip. things went terribly wrong. the attempt to hit a line in locket's groin, went wrong. called the scene inside the death chamber, quote, a bloody mess. okay officials said they felt political pressure to carry out the execution on time, causing the state to scramble to find drugs. oklahoma's new lethal injection policy increases the dosage of medazelam. in locket's case 100 milligrams were supposed to be injected.

they plan to use 500 milligrams on charles warner. oklahoma,'s better monitored excuse chamber. >> superficial corrections that's the sense i get, that well, the communications could have been better, the lighting could have been better, the doctors could have been better prepared. but what about the drugs they're using? is there proof that these are the best and are going to work as planned? >> would you say that now you're softer on the death penalty than you were when you were governor? >> i think i'm wiser. >> the series of botched executions has led a prominent former proponent of the death penalty to have second thoughts. mark white was texas governor from 1983 to 1987. before that, he served five years as attorney general. >> are you now convinced that innocent people have been put to

death in texas? >> yes. >> no question? >> no question. >> white, once strongly supported the death penalty. as governor he oversaw 19 executions. but now he believes the legal process in capital cases is so broken, the innocent are too easily condemned. in an article for politico, he calls it a crisis. >> in your article you cited a study from the national academy of sciences. that study says one in 25 people may be executed incorrectly. is that number tolerable? >> no. one in any number that you put in the denominator, it doesn't matter what it is, one is one too many. >> nationwide about 3,000 inmates are on death row. that study by the national academy of sciences suggests about 120 of them are likely to be not guilty.

investigative journalist katie fretland will be back in oklahoma to cover the execution. she may not be able to see it. oklahoma has cut the number of media observers from 1 to 5. >> the death penalty represents a serious government power. and the public deserves to have the same oversight. the same oversight as other parts of the criminal justice system. >> every state that carried out executions last year has now a secrecy policy in place and it involves where the drugs come from, who is carrying out the executions and, i'm sure that if they think things aren't going right they'll pull the curtain and we won't know what happens. >> other states are also scrambling to prevent more botched executions. last month ohio

those states are determined to keep up the grim work behind these prison walls fueling the debate over what exactly constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. chris bury, al jazeera, houston. >> two hour execution she's now trying stop the accusations of four men who are scheduled to die soon in oklahoma. you know i am confused of this ohio on the one hand says it's banning medazelam. oklahoma is increasing the amount. now everybody is going to use this drug, in this amount, this is how we're going to monitor whether there's pain. why isn't there some sort ever national standard for this? -- sort of national standard for this? >> that's why we're asking the united states supreme court to

look at this. when the united states supreme court last looked at lethal injection in 2008, all of the states were using the same could be tail, sodium pentothiazol which was known to produce a deep unconsciousness. now states are moving to medazelam. and three executions medazelam does not work and cannot work the same the barbiturate does. >> which means what? >> that means that the prisoner is not going to be in a deep coma like unconsciousness so the prisoner will feel the suffering and the pain from the second and third drugs. but because the second drugs drug is a pair littic, the people will not

know that the prises prisoner is suffering. only what happened in mr. locket's execution that the witnesses were able to see the suffering and the pain that he experienced because he was not paralyzed from the paralytic. >> why does it even matter, for example? we know this is a grim thing. why does it matter that the media will not be able to see all of it or the witnesses that are there that the state would have the right to close the curtain as it were? >> there shouldn't be a right to close the curtain. executions have historically been public. and the public should see what the state is doing, how the state is doing it, what the state is using, in order to carry out executions. >> and if a drug like this continues to be used, doesn't it have to also have some sort of sign-off by say the fda? >> well, we know that the fda

has not approved this drug for purposes of general anesthesia. and that's because whether the drug was being tested it did -- because when the drug was being tested it did not work the way it was supposed to. it cannot reliably produce a state of unconsciousness in order for a prisoner to be executed constitutionally to voy avoid severe pain and suffering. >> thank you for coming. >> thank you. >> "charlie hebdo." and later this hour, why does it matter that the moose are missing? >> the moose are a key stone species right? we know an animal like this, it would show up first in animals like moose in minnesota.

>> "america tonight"'s "america tonight"'s adam may on the majestic moose and what we might all learn from these >> tuesday. from race relations to foreign policies, terrorism and the economy. >> if this congress wants to help, work with me. >> ali velshi kicks off our special state of the union coverage at 7:00. >> we'll take an in-depth look at our nation's financial future. >> then john seigenthaler breaks down the issues. >> we need to know what's going on in our backyard. >> plus, objective analysis and live reports from across the nation and reaction from around the world. the state of the union address. special coverage begins tuesday, 7:00 eastern. right here 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... >> now a snapshot of stories making headlines on "america tonight."

new york governor andrew quomo, looking for ways to make the grand jury are process more transparent. in cases where people are killed by police officers, lifting the veil veilvail of secrecy. officials charge the mayor of ig wa igwala mexico with construction. the mayor, his wife and more than 40 others feature kidnapping charges. the judge in boston has refused to delay the jury trial of dzhokhartsarnaev. jurior questioning is set to begin thursday and the trial is set to start on january 26th. tens of thousands lined up in paris to buy the

satirical magd "charlie magazine, "charlie hebdo." after two brothers attacked the offices killing eight debt torl officers editorial workers and two police officers. "america tonight's" smk sheila macvicar is in paris over the widening debate over religion and freedom of speech. >> reporter: it was barely street. this is not the usual reaction paris news sellers get. >> translator: i have never seen so many people in front of my

stand. >> reporter: "charlie hebdo" was back. more than a normal print run, in big demand. a week ago, gunmen taking responsibility in the name of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula attacked the magazines offices killing some of san san of france's best known cartoonists. it had a tiny rearedship, all of it in frabs. >> honestly, i never read "charlie hebdo." >> we should just for the memory. >> translator: it is a tribute to those who do this job and make it the means of expression and freedom of thought. >> reporter: "charlie hebdo" is provocative and intentionally offensive.

this edition, ridicules the present president, and to something deliberately blasphemous. the cover which we won't show depicts a weeping muhammed under the headline, all is forgiven. there was swift condemnation of the muslim world and in some parts of paris sadness and anger. >> translator: it is a country of freedom of expression so i will express myself. i am against what charlie has said because he has profoundly offended our prophet. you can mock my mother my father my children, but insulting the prophet is not good. >> heavy guard across the country and in germany and italy too security has been increased. it was "charlie hebdo"'s decision

to republish danish cartoons of the prophet in 2011 that made it a target. emphasized today by a video released by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> aqap leaders chose the targets laid out the plan and financed the operation, and assigned a commander for the attack. >> reporter: al qaeda claiming it is responsible and has the ability still to reach into the west. >> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar joins us from paris. i'm struck by this queamed al qaeda making a claim. it seems a competing interest for a rather dubious distinction. >> reporter: the reason they're competing, amedy coulibaly, the third gunman, has made clear in his own video and his own statements that he has professed allegiance to i.s.i.s.

it is an extremely unusual situation where you have someone working for i.s.i.s. allegedly and people who say they are working for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula working together. it may be as counterterrorism officials have said to me that what this is, is about a friendship and a network and not so much about allegiance. but al qaeda in the arabian peninsula made very specific claims today. they said that they chose the targets. they said they financed the operation. and they said they chose the chief of the operation. we're looking into finding out just how much of that might be true and there are good indications that at least part of that is not true. >> sheila i have to ask you at a personal level to help us understand the attachment to "charlie hebdo" that has come about so many of these magazines selling out at the news stands already you have a long history in france irs and yourself and working as a journalist there, tell me how the french feel about the

magazine and why it's so important now? >> some of it is part of history, this is something that someone has tried to destroy and now it has come back a week later after this attack and we have to celebrate that and we have to commemorate that. the other part of this, and this is really important because you know let's be very clear about "charlie hebdo." "charlie hebdo" had a very niche audience and an adolescent sense of humor. they sought to offend as many people as possible. at this moment what it says about the french harks harks back to voltaire, he says, i may not agree what you have to say but i will defend to the death your right to say it. that is something that is deep deep in french culture and french society and something many of the frens take to heart. heart.

this is a worry of height.ed tensions, that there will be many worry about intercommunal violence, that people will attack the muslim community or the jewish community or attacks between the two. it is very, very delicate and delicate here throughout europe at the moment and we're seeing that with this rise of anti-islamic antimuslim sentiment that is taking place not just in france but also in germany and elsewhere. >> "america tonight's" sheila macvicar for us in paris. when we return, a trip to the great cold north and a mystery. >> they're actually taking blood samples. >> "america tonight's" adam may. what's behind the disappearance of the missing moose. lessons learned, the explosive allegations on a college campus which put his relationship with the victim in the headlines.

>> a lot has been made of what went on in the headlines. i'm not -- people were not getting angry at me, they were getting angry at the fictionalized sensational character that was based on me. >> the university of virginia, rocked by the rolling stone exposé into campus sex crime. what it will take to set the record and the school's reputation straight. we go into this on thursday, on "america tonight."

>> 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. >> why did so many of these people choose to risk their lives? >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> people are dying because of this policy... >> there's no status quo, just

the bottom line. >> but what is the administration doing behind the scenes? >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america hours. hour. >> a moose hunt of sorts is set to begin soon in minnesota. because all across north america, the moose populations are plummeting. scientists really aren't sure why but last year they did find some clues. "america tonight's" adam may took on the cold truth with researchers trying to save a majestic and critical species. >> it's a race against time to save the moose in northern minnesota. the population rapidly moving from endangered to near extinction in this part of the country. >> if we continue at this

trajectory we'll be out of moose in 2025. >> so the caller said 36. >> reporter: biologist michel carston season carstonson, the study largest of its kind anywhere in the world. >> spotters there. >> reporter: first, the moose is darted with a tranquilizer from the air. then a team of researchers get up close to take medical samples. so behind me right now what the research team is doing is they're actually taking blood samples from this cow. they have also taken hair samples and they're measuring the entire animal for their research.

>> the moose is then outfitted with a gps collar to training her movements. if the animal stops moving the research team gets an alert. >> as long as it's moving on an xyz plane it is in life mode. if it's motionless for a six hour period it goes into mortality mode. it's able to transmits that signal to our smartphones. >> and then what do you do? >> we're ready to respond. >> the aim is to get to the moose in 24 hours of it's death. >> get the best necropsy possible. is. >> reporter: the 1,000 pound animal can die anywhere in this expansive forest and they have such high levels of body fat that their bodies decompose quickly. so receiving an exact location and getting there fast is critical.

in 2014, the team collared 30 moose in the northeastern part of the state in 30 days. but moose don't travel in herds. so trying to find them is difficult even in the best of conditions. trent brown is known as a gunner, jumping out of a are helicopter in waist deep snow collaring moose five times his size. >> how interested are you in these moose? >> very curious. we're doing a small part. we're here for a few days and we help out trying to catch them but it's the biologists from minnesota trying to answer some of the questions. >> reporter: the number of moose in northeastern minnesota has dropped dramatically from almost 9,000 to just 4200 in less than ten years. the moose mortality rate is double the norm. >> we still don't know a main driver. so getting to

the health-related ones, we know the wolves have an impact. we have a healthy wolf population and have for a long time. on the health related side, we are seeing liver fluke, we're seeing some brain worm and we're seeing some winter ticks, but also unknowns. >> half a dozen things that could be contributing to this but you haven't been ablto nail down one certain cause yet? >> no. we're trying but i think it's going to take some time yet, and our challenge is, do we have enough time to where there aren't moose left in minnesota to answer the question. >> reporter: photographer niece haggerman lives in this area but barely sees moose anymore.

>> before you would see a group and another group before. >> you haven't seen that? >> i haven't. i've seen a single one, or a cow and calf really together. that's where i notice it you that. that is the easiest way for me to know it's very different than it was ten years ago. >> haggerman expense hours liking in the mountains of northeastern minnesota looking for moose. >> my eyes see different than they used to. i've learned what that black spot is going to look like. >> you could actually get fairly close to them. >> i can watch their ears, sometimes it's 100 feet and sometimes i've been probably within 20 feet at some point in time standing next to the truck so i know i had a way out so neither me nor them would get hurt but i've had them come pretty close. one of the calves, was really curious, walked within one lane

of me, 15, 20 feet or something like that. >> he sells his photographs online at local gift shops. he's hopeful that the state research will save the moose that he's grown to love. >> they're wild about the area is what drives me, a lot of people in the area, the wolves it is the north and something wild out there. >> moose have been wandering the landscape for centuries, an icon in minnesota's north woods. >> they move at their own pace. we're too rushed in society. you should take a lesson from a moose. chill out, hang out in a swamp. not such a bad thing. >> reporter: here, the animal's image adorns everything from tee shirts to coffee cups. >> there's moose everything as you drive around the north woods and an encounter with the moose is usually thought to be pretty magical.

folks who have those encounters talk about them for years to come. to drive up here knowing that moose are here hoping to see one having that anticipation is all minnesotans want. >> the stark reminder that moose in the north woods are in serious danger. how is that different from the way moose normally behave? >> it had its head tilted to the left and its ears were tilted down. we were able to walk up to the animal ten feet away, five feet away. it walked in circles, wasn't aware of our presence. we went out with the team on the ground and euthanized the animal and we'll try to get it down to the veterinary diagnosic diagnostic lab.

moose are a primary subsistence species. for that reason they are very, very interested in what's causing moose population declines from a natural resources standpoint and also from a subsistence perspective as well. >> sharing his data, he has been studying moose for several years and he thinks much of what's happening can be linked to global warming. >> do you think humans are responsible for this? >> yes i do. the changing climate, things that are affecting moose are parasites that are communicated from deer. >> car

carstonson says,. >> having warmer winters, moose have their winter coat on which is amazingly thick and dense. that's what they have evolved to have a warm coat like that. all of a sudden when they have a warmer winter, they can't dissipate that heat effectively. >> this summer her team is implanting moose with meters. the rapid moose population decline in minnesota could mean more trouble ahead. >> most concerning for me is the fact that we may start to see declines in other specious as species. >> moose are a key stone species. we know in animal like this, climate related aspects would show up first in moose in mississippi. >> moose populations across

north america declining, all eyes are on minnesota's state-of-the-art research hoping to solve this moose mystery before it's too late. adam may, al jazeera. >> we'll keep watch and let you know what the researchers learn. ahead here, a transformation from blight to beauty. >> this became less and less attractive, more and more dangerous, aa place when i was growing up, a place i wasn't allowed to visit. >> how a street artist turned an eyesore into an inspiration. >> monday. the most secretive nation on earth. >> we're heading to the border between north and south korea. >> a rare glimpse inside. >> kim jong un sometimes does strange things, but he is smart. >> as tensions escalate, what will be the fallout? >> we're still at a state of war with north korea. >> we have to be ready to

fight tonight. >> "faultlines". 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. new episode. "hidden state: inside north korea. monday 9:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> and finally from us this hour, an image that takes us from street crime to the culture of community. on this tableau, work that is unexpected, usually uninvited, but that has found a home in an otherwise abandoned set of buildings. al jazeera's jonathan martin with the images in new orleans. >> working in a hurried yet careful rhythm. >> graffiti is a fast medium. meant to be fast. if you are slow then you're going to get caught. >> brandon odoms knows this kind of art is unappreciated. >> it is on the poured line of people have this idea whether it's gang associated which is ridiculous. >> once known as de gaulle planner, this vacant apartment complex is where odoms for weeks

trespassed his way in, his personal heros. >> it all started right here? >> in this room yeah. >> but things abruptly stopped the day the property owner showed up as the guy was painting. >> i thought uh oh this is no good. >> but there was no confrontation. the owners were impressed, wanting to noaa know about the stories behind them. >> it led to me pitching this weird idea . >> opening to the public, after more meetings and more convincing, the owners agreed he could use the property. >> so literally this space was trmpledtransformed in 15 days because most of the time, the artists didn't take that long. >> rapidly made five story buildings their canvas. overlapping ideas in what's now

called exhibit b. would tell the stories of this old neighborhood. it would just be. >> towards the '80s when crack different. a lot of people no longer worked. crime started to grow. poverty started to grow. this place became less and less attractive, more and more dangerous. a place as i remember when i was growing up a place i was not allowed to visit. >> the whole first floor of this building was program. >> malik rahim was honored to see his face in the exhibit. he ran a program called common ground. in 2006 after a change in ownership, and increasing crime problems he says everyone was evicted from the property. >> there was a real community. you had real god fearing people you know that was living here. and just by chance and by politics, happened to be poor. >> reporter: there's also a

tribute to george carter, a popular teen whose murder remains unsolved. >> young kids could see, yes he was a model teen, we respect him show he's larger than life now. >> what was supposed to be a one weekend exhibit is still open two months later attracting several thousand visitors including several school groups. >> i cried several times, i felt happiness and also sadness. i felt happy because someone remembered these people and what they've done in history. >> most people would consider this an eyesore a couple of months ago. what do you say, what do you have. >> from the surface i call it possibility. this is the popular corner. >> soon the buildings and the art will come down. developers have plan for a sports complex and hotel on the property. >> it's not temporary because this will live on. for other people who have seen

it, i won't forget it. >> graffiti is hardly ever permanent. but brandon odoms feels he and the other artists have created something that's lasting. while doing what street artists rarely do, use paint to connect to a community leaving it better than they found it. jonathan martin, al jazeera, new orleans. >> exhibit b will open to the public just one last time this weekend. before it has to close for good. that's "america tonight." if you'd like to comment on anything you would like to see tonight log on to our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight. or twitter or facebook. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the

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