erage of the ceremonies in selma. 50 years after the historic march in which 600 civil rights activists were beaten by state troopers as they tried to cross the edmund pettis bridge. the coverage begins tomorrow at 12:30 eastern. thanks for watching. on america america, a local woman barely known outside of her alabama hometown became the image of bloody sunday seen around the world, but she clearly recalls the terror that day. >> beating them with sticks with billy clubs, anything they had. >> crack baby's were supposed to be ticking time bombs. their prospects stunted at birth, but it turns out the

script that was written for them was wrong. >> so when you hear the world crack baby what is your reaction. >> it's another still ma another box to put me in. it bothers me. because it feels like i already had my life written off before i was able to live it. ♪ thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. tonight we examine real risks to young lives. back in the late 1980s, crack cocaine use in this country exploded. soon after came the headlines and the fears about the children labeled crack baby's. infants born damaged by their mother's addictions. the experts said these babies had small heads suffered from from -- tremors, but now signs tells a new story.

here is "america tonight" sarah hoye. >> any time you think you want to legalize drug go to a neonatal unit if you can get in. again and again and again the mother disappears in three days and the child becomes a ward of the state because he is permanentally damaged. >> reporter: the war on drugs was still in full swing and the baby thought to be doomed from birth was the poster child. >> like mr. perreault, i have held crack babies in my arms. >> it is a crack epidemic. >> this has reached epidemic proportions. >> reporter: and just like an infectious disease crack's spread was rapid and vicious. in philadelphia pe the tiny

yellowish rock shook this city to its foundation. >> they would stop their car and start shooting. >> reporter: activist and resident of the neighborhood remembers those dark days like they were yesterday. talk to me about what this neighborhood was like at that time. >> it was a lot of violence a lot of shootings, a lot of keem being killed, a lot of people fighting over territory. sometimes there would be like eight nine gangs in one little community like this. >> reporter: crack addicts strolled the streets and folks lived in fear. people were broke, hungry and out of work. despair lead to desperation, and crack seemed to be the perfect remedy for the inner city blues. it was cheap. the crack epidemic didn't discriminate. it wasn't just the fathers, sons, and brothers smoking rock it was mothers, sisters, and

daughters too. a gritty documentary shot in north philly gives a rare glimpse inside a crack house. >> like i said you take that and it ain't enough. you need more and more and more. >> you are like [ inaudible ] standing in my face. >> we are really getting into it so much we just kept smoking day in and day out. i mean we were just smoking ourselves simple. >> reporter: karen was a young mother at the time. talk about the first time that you used. >> oh. i remember being at a party, and i tried it and i didn't get any reaction from it the first time i used. months had went by and i tried it again. and i was hooked. >> reporter: so in a sense did it almost give you confidence? >> yes, absolutely. in a good and bad way, you know?

the negatives were being promiscuous. i think the positives were being able to say what i meant. history wasn't long but the devastation was crazy. you know, jail all of that you know. i had jamie in addiction. >> reporter: crack baby's were supposed to be ticking time bombs. their prospects stunted at birth, but it turns out the script that was written for them was wrong. >> so nice to see you. >> have a seat. >> thank you. so we're here to talk about your study. what was your biggest finding? >> the biggest finding we saw that the cocaine exposed and non-exposed children didn't different from each other. she remembers the baby's born in the epidemic. >> i used to think that cocaine was a fertility drug because we

would have two babies a year but it was sex for drugs. and this was the life that so many women were leading, that that was an overwhelming memory. >> reporter: a study of philadelphia hospitals published in 1989 found that one in six new borns delivered at philadelphia city hospitals had mothers who used cocaine during pregnancy. where were you and what happened when you went into labor with jamie? >> i was pregnant with my daughter and i was in a crack house, and i could feel the cramps. >> reporter: what is going through your head? >> what was going through my head was i wanted to get high. >> reporter: no one knew for sure what effect it would have on these babies. the ground breaking research on crack babies was completed here. the doctor who was the time of neonatology spearheaded the study of more than 200 babies born between 198 9d and 1992

the height of the crack epidemic. why was this something you wanted to study? >> we were hearing all of these studies about in animals about the dangers of giving cocaine to pregnant sheep and there was a lot of basic science showing what happened in the brain when cocaine was given. so we were really preparing for the worse. >> reporter: leading to her concerns were the reports from her peers. >> we had reports of psychologists saying this is going to be a biologically inferior underclass might not even be able to dress themselves. a lot of drama. >> reporter: after 25 years of research she found there were no differences in the health and life outcomes between babies exposed to crack and those who weren't. what made a difference for those babies was poverty and violence. >> we have a lot of information

about the children and in particular the home and it turns out that the children who are scoring at or above average has more nurturing, and cognitively stimulating home environments regardless of cocaine exposure didn't make a difference. it was much easier in the lay of the land at that time to be panelling joertive about drug use rather than deal with public defender's officerty oopts >> i tried to make vitamins while i was using and make an appointment and get to a prenatal appoint when i could. you want to. i have never met someone in recovery and i'm talking about [ inaudible ] recovery who said oh, i wanted to use, i wanted to have a crack baby. >> reporter: karen jumped at the chance to enroll in the study. her daughter jamie born in the midst of our mother's addiction has battled the crack baby label

her whole life. >> when you heard the world crack baby what is your reaction? >> i immediately get defensive. it's a another stigma another box to put me in. i felt like i had my life written off before i loved it. >> reporter: despite her mother's addiction, she is set to receive her bachelor's degree. unlike many children with a parent battling addiction, she has the support of her extended family who took her in and cared for her while her mother got her life back on track. she says doctor hertz study validated what she always believed. >> miss karen said being in the study was the first time somebody saw her. >> she was a whole person.

everybody has got their demons. her demons were at -- seen in the public eye, but we all have our demons, and knowing that helps us respect people. they are just different things. >> god bring us serenity to accept the things that i cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference. >> sarah this seems like a remarkable conclusion to the study given everything we heard back in the '80s and into the 90s. is this researcher concludes that crack has no impact on pregnant women and on their pregnancies? >> absolutely not. the doctor in this piece has been criticized for saying this might even give license to using drugs while pregnant, which she says is absolutely not the take away from this study at all. what it is showing is listen, although there has been this

drug use, and the people in this study were at full term and they all had a fair chance if you will. we're not talking about premature babies. these were full term women who had been using throughout their entire pregnancy. so they started them off on the same page if you will. so there are affects, alcohol, marijuana, tobacco use, all affect pregnancy. but long-term with that scary thought of saying listen we're going to have to take care of these children throughout their entire life just simply isn't true. >> this points to reporting has changed so much. you don't hear crack reported about anymore, is that because it is not as prevalent? >> absolutely not. crack use is alive and well in philadelphia and other cities throughout the country. even when we were filming this there were people coming up to

us that clearly were doing drugs. you can take away crack, but you still have poverty. regardless of whether it's in the headlines or not. it is still there and being sold. >> sarah hoye thanks so much. this weekend on al jazeera america, the real story behind america's war on drugs, our special freeway: crack in the system airs this sunday at 10:00 eastern here own al jazeera america. ♪ next sales are electric for one of america's newest vehicles. we fast forward to find out why tesla may have to hit the breaks. later hear the long march to justice took its first steps on a bridge. >> you are ordered to stop stand where you are. a return to selma 50 years later. and hot on america tonight's website now, the keeper of america's grimmest death toll

her dark family secret and how a hit man inspired her work. that's at aljazeera.com/americatonight. ♪

in our fast forward segment, the future of car buying. newcomer tesla motors has rolled into some significant roadblocks, chief among them older competitive companies, which have been trying to short-circuit the electric car maker's sales. a top exsec explained why to adam may. >> the fully loaded is a $100,000 modern marvel. able to travel 300 miles on a charge. arthur blake from atlanta, georgia bought one of the first 10,000 to roll off of the line in california. tesla was the dream of elon

musk, the businessman who dreamed of changing the american car, and the way we buy them direct from the manufacturer. >> he wanted to make an electric vehicle that didn't suck. >> reporter: did he succeed? >> i think he -- he succeeded wildly. i think he even surprised himself as to how well it turned out. >> reporter: but another unwelcome surprise a battle with major car dealership organizations. they want tesla to conform to the traditional model of selling cars, through independent dealerships or else. will there be a day where teslas are for-sale in all 50 states? >> certainly that's our intent. >> reporter: tesla vp spoke to "america tonight." >> we have been mischaracterized in a lot of the media and some of the dealer associations as -- as trying to destroy the dealer system to eviscerate the

dealer system and, you know, what i say, is look if the dealer system is that week in and of itself then it can't tolerate competition, then it is probably not as good as all of these dealers argue that it is. >> now fast forward. georgia lawmakers trying to pull a plug allows tesla to sell directly to customers. expect the next road to lead to court. next the voice of the righteous. ♪ come by here my lord ♪ >> and the call for justice. ♪ come by here my lord come by here ♪ ♪ oh lord come by here ♪

♪ on this anniversary weekend, just a handful of names, selma, the edmund pettis bridge bloody sunday are enough to bring us back to those days of the civil rights movement. we look back tonight to mark the 50th anniversary of extraordinary courage shown by ordinary people. ♪ come by here my lord come by

here ♪ ♪ come by here my lord come by here ♪ >> you can never remember selma, and forget the bridge. ♪ oh lord come by here ♪ >> here where the jefferson david highway leaves town is where the first steps in the fight against jim crow began. ♪ come by here my lord come by here ♪ >> and here a local woman, barely known outside of her alabama hometown become the image of bloody sunday seen around the world. ♪ oh lord, come by here ♪ >> said amelia is 103, but she clearly recalls the terror that day. as officers tried to stop the marchers demanding the right to

vote. >> beating them with sticks with billy clubs, anything they had. they began to beat the people and they did everything they could to get the people to run back while they were beating them. >> on the pettis bridge over the alabama river, amelia boyton was one of hundreds to face the brutal forces of a renegade sheriff. >> finally he hit me in the back of my neck the back of my shoulder, and it hurt but i -- i didn't know what to do. i had no idea what i should do. then the second hit fell to me and i fell to the ground. with that i was unconscious.

>> even then the torture didn't end. an officer pumped tear gas into her eyes and mouth. >> then somebody came and said to the state trooper, there's somebody dead over there. and he said somebody's dead? if anybody's dead we're going to let the buzzards eat them. >> amelia boyton didn't die. this is the never-before published emergency log at good samaritan hospital. among the 17 injured. amelia boyton tear gassed. her image on front pages across the country along with the others beaten that day, inspired another movement. you are a minister from the north, a white guy.

you had no stake in this. why did you come? >> i knew that things were wrong in selma. i saw the broadcast of bloody sunday. >> hours later clark olson heard the call. martin luther king, jr. asked the nation's ministers, black and white to join him in selma for a march to montgomery, the state's capitol. it wasn't just a show of unity. king knew that white ministers would keep the nation's attention focused on selma, and put more pressure on president johnson. though no one could have predicted what came next. >> you are ordered to stop stand where you are. >> is it hard for you to be here now? >> i have gotten used to it. i have been back here a number of times, and i have gotten used to it. but there still is within me that old terror. >> nearly 50 years after bloody

sunday, we walked with clark olson on the block that changed his life. >> this is walker's cafe. >> reporter: he joined two other white ministers, miller and reed for a quick meal. >> the place was jam packed i guess they ran out of everything but chicken -- fried chicken, by the time we got there. >> reporter: moments after the trio left the cafe they found themselves surrounded by white agitators. >> do you remember what they said? >> yes, i do they called out -- primary thing they called out was hey, you niggers. we whispered to each other, just keep walking. >> a scuffle, panic, and the sickening crack as something slammed in reed's skill. >> i heard that club hit jim's head. >> olson was at his side as reed faded.

>> i held jim's hand and he squeezed my hand tighter and tighter and tighter. as the pain worsened in him. and then his hand relaxed and he went went. he went unconscious. >> two days later he was dead. protests turned to prayer and the fire that time spread across the nation. >> thousands of people gathered in places like boston and chicago and new york and san francisco, and so on. thousands of people gathered just to keep vigil, and then when he died again, thousands of people gathered.

>> it's a moment olson sees echoed today. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. >> hands up i can't breathe. >> what do we want? justice! >> and now as then the president spoke for justice. >> i speak tonight for the dignity of man -- >> president johnson spoke. he said that there are times in man's unending quest for justice -- >> history and fate meet to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. >> such was in lexington and concord, and selma. >> there long suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as americans. many were brutally assaulted.

one good man, a man of god, was killed. >> that was jim reeb. 70 million americans tuned in to johnson urge congress to pass the civil right's act. doctor king was not there, he was delivering reed's eulogy. ♪ you are to come back here ♪ ♪ oh you are to come back here ♪ >> justice has traveled a slow path towards that bright future dr. king spoke of here. ♪ oh lord come back here ♪

>> the marchers did finally make their way to montgomery. johnson was able to force through the voting right's act. amelia boyton lived to see her community guided by black leaders, and a humble pastor from a far away place was remembered on the corner where he became a martyr. >> but that's the guy you remember. >> that's the guy you remember. >> bow tie -- >> yep. not at all a commanding presence. >> not heroic. >> not heroic. not heroic. >> he didn't intend to be. >> no he did not. >> not a hero just an every man who might have lived and died a quiet life had it not been for the tragic coincidences that lead him to a street corner in selma 50 years ago. instead gym became a reminder that the sacrifices of just a few people can change history for all of us.

so jim did not die in vain. >> no he didn't -- >> even when you hear ferguson. >> no. no. ♪ you are to come by here ♪ >> i don't feel that this was all in vain. i feel that it was a step in history. ♪ come by here my lord ♪ ♪ come by here ♪ >> for me to have been there is a great thing in my life. but i know that's not the end of the story. ♪ come by here ♪ ♪ oh lord, come by here ♪ history remembered this weekend and forever in selma. saturday at 9:00 eastern an american legislative exchange council -- "america tonight" memory. come back we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. ♪

it's a power struggle between bosses and yub i don't knows with the american worker caught in the middle. i'm ask labor secretary tom perez what the decline of organized labor could do to your paycheck paycheck and job security. i'm ali velshi and this is "real money." ♪