tinues 50 years on. bob reynolds, al jazeera, montgomery alabama. this is where we say good-bye to viewers joining us in the united states. america tonight is up next for you. and the world news headlines up next for everyone else. wherever you are aljazeera.com has everything you need to know. 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. ♪ >> at one time i felt that selling cocaine was my purpose. >> as the amount of drugs grew guns came in. >> murder rate was sky-high. >> this guy was the biggest in l.a. >> i was goin' through a million dollars worth of drugs every day. i liked it. it's hard to believe that a friend would set you up. people don't get federal life sentences and beat them. >> they had been trafficking on behalf of the united states government. >> the cia admitted it. >> "freeway - crack in the system". only on al jazeera america.

>> these people have decided that today they will be arrested >> i know that i'm being surveilled >> people are not getting the care that they need >> this is a crime against humanity >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> what do we want? justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> they are running towards base... >>...explosions going off we're not quite sure... >> fault lines al jazeera america's

award winning, investigative series... on al jazeera america 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 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. "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 ♪

>> family members in danger >> he was staring in space drugged out... >> from the very people you trust to care for them >> it's killing people.. >> america tonight uncovers

the fda warning that's being ignored... >> these drugs are used for the convenience of overwhelmed staff >> the deadly nursing home shortcut you need to know about >> what about their rights? >> what really goes on when you're not there? america tonight exclusive investigation: drugging dementia only on al jazeera america 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 and job security. money." ♪