>> hi everyone this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. why, clues to a motive in the chattanooga shooting. what we know about the suspect and the 74 marines who were killed. death in texas. a woman pulled over for a traffic stop, dies days later in police custody. the case of san sandra blantd. bland. iran from within.

ali velshi, in this history making week. nina simone. the legendary singer and civil rights activist. and we begin with the shootings in chattanooga and the intense focus on the young man the fbi says murdered four marines. a portrait is emerging of mohammed yousef abdulazeez. a portrait and a transformation that people describe as a agree gairs younggregarious and changed person. hinted at the horror thatched that happened yesterday. lisa stark is in washington. lisa. >> before yesterday mohammed

abdulazeez was not on the homeland security radar. part of a widespread investigation. federal investigators are gathering every bit of information they can about mohammed yousef abdulazeez, to try to determine what turned a man described as nice and friendly into a murderer. they are treating this as a terrorist investigation. >> it would be premature to speculate on exactly why the shooter did what he did. however, we are conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether this person acted alone. was inspired or directed. >> agents have searched the family home, computers, cell phones. any electronics will be analyzed for clues. abdulazeez maintained a blog. the site intelligence group which tracks suspects like this said he wrote two islam focused

posts this last monday. in one he says, this life is short and bitter and the opportunity to submit toal to allah may pass you by. they believe he was inspired by the islamic state. >> they are permeating this country through the net and social media. it's very, very difficult to stop it. i believe yesterday unfortunately we couldn't. >> the fbi says it has not paid any firm connection to islamic state but say abdulazeez traveled overseas. >> we are inspecting all travel he has done and asking intelligence partners throughout world with any information they may have concerning his travel while overseas. >> reporter: the new york times is reporting that abdulazeez spent seven months in jordan last year but won't

confirm that. if this was an inspired lone wolf attack it's the kind that authorities have been worried about. >> loners to lions a cause greater than themselves. this ideology is winning. we don't have the counter-narrative out there. there is a message that we're not getting out there and there's a ideologic war we're in. >> reporter: in this case, there were apparently no red flags. abdulazeez only run in with police was in april he was arrested for drunk driving and was to appear in court later this month. and there are reports out from the associated press that back in 2003 abdulazeez applied to work for a nuclear power plant in ohio. he was brought in temporarily while they did a background check. the company says he failed that background check. they are not indicating why that

was. john. >> lisa thank you. and we are learning more about the lives lost. four marines who gave a collective 35 years of service to this country. the oldest was 40 years old. the youngest 21. they are remembered for their courage and their sacrifice. roxana saberi is here with that, roxana. >> john people have been sharing stories onsocial media. onsocial media. on social media. plagflag hangs over in sergeant sullivan's honor. this one reads he was our hero and he will never be forgotten. please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. thank you tommy for protecting

us. staffer sergeant david wyatt was a staff sergeant, and won nearly 20 awards during his career. in one be post, a family members says there is no sleep tonight she responds, none. photo hung on the wall of honor since he became a marine. squire wells 21, was from the intushed offrom thesuburbs of atlanta. friends called him skip. dennis pettigo a chattanooga police officer was shot in the ankle and in stable condition. pettigoe put himself between the

gunman and police officers to keep them from getting hurt. >> rox oofn, thank you. hundreds packed a church in chattanooga to honor the fallen marines. more than 20 congregations were represented. allen schauffler is there to tell us about it. allen. >> reporter: john, more than a thousand people we figure here at olivette baptist church. mayor of chattanooga as well. a smattering, a handful of representatives from the muslim community in this area as well. we talked to spoke around town and we heard sadness anger bewilderment, very much stunned doing whatever they can to find some way to get past it.

one chattanooga mosque cancelled prayers today urgeing to attend a nondenominational service. >> we are here to show owrn e-our condolences for these people. it is so sad. >> we have suffered a loss but all is not lost because we look to the lord for help. we are crying out to god for help for these families for community for the whole world. >> on the nearly empty summer campus of ut chattanooga, flags are at half-staff. students who might share a classroom with them, struggle why it's happening and why it keeps happening. >> it's on everybody's minds but just a couple of weeks ago we were talking about south carolina. we have the sandy hooks the

aurora colorados. >> just any sin he committed wanted to kill, i'm sorry he had to go through that and felt like he wanted to do that. >> in the trim middle class neighborhood where abdulazeez grow upgrew up, in an all night session removing evidence with the shooter's family. >> you can be anywhere, in a resort at a soccer game, there's no way you can't do anything about it. it just happens. >> karen jones says mohammed abdulazeez, his parents and sisters lived next door for 14 years. good neighbors. and a good kid. what he did shocked her. she says, the transformation to a killer shaking her confidence in her world. >> our hearts broken. they're broken. and it just makes you want to hold onto your children a lot

tighter. but this is the best place to live. best place. >> reporter: the second shooting scene where 74 marines and the shooter died the flag memorial grows. a mourner leaves behind the lord's prayer while across the street a hopeful sign proclaims, chattanooga strong. and we talked to person after person after person today who said this isn't chattanooga. very concerned about the nature of their community. and the appearance of this community to the outside world just over and over and over again, this is not chattanooga. john a community very much stunned by what happened today. >> allen schauffler, thank you. the pastor of eridge messed eridge methodists church,east ridgemethodists

church, what are you concerned about tonight? >> i think what we need to think about and what we need to remember is this guy was just one guy. and out of a huge muslim population, i know many muslim people who are absolutely -- almost all of them are absolutely fantastic and completely dedicated to peace and love. and that most christians in this community are dedicated to peace and love. and dedicated to jeefts. jesus christ and we're called to pray for our enemies and for our loved ones who do us harm and this community is coming together, i think chattanooga strong means chattanooga for loving one another, for praying for one another, that is what these peace vigils are about. not only are the people who got shot and killed victims the shooter got shot and killed too

but he's a victim because of whatever it is that happened to him in his life that caused him to hate. and hate makes us victims. we're all victims of hate and we're all lost and we're all broken people and we're all loved by god no matter who we are. and i think we have to remember that and i think that's what keeps us sane and i think that's what keeps us strong. >> a painful time for the people of chattanooga obviously. can you talk about the emotions that you're hearing from your parishioners? >> the emotions i'm hearing from my parishioners are a combination of confusion much of frustration. but also people are sick and tired of people who hate. and they don't want to hate. and they don't want to be the haters. and so we are praying for peace. and we're praying -- we're praying for sanity. i mean when you think about it, james holmes, i don't think he was a muslim.

dylann roof, not a muslim. this person just one in a billion people. just happened to be a muslim. so it's not something -- it's not a muslim problem i don't think. i think there is some sort of problem, we're a broken and hurting people. we're a lost people and we need to remember, that we're all human beings and the things that make -- the thing that makes us truly human beings is when we understand each other we get to accept each other and we learn to listen to one another once we get to know another person we learn to like them, we learn to love them and that's what i think it's all about. that's what makes chattanooga strong that's what makes america strong, people strong and christianity strong. jesus did not discriminate. jesus spent time with people who were the hated people of his time and those were the people that followed him and understood

him best because the other people wanted to discriminate and jesus didn't discriminate and we're not so-called to discriminate as well and that's what makes us strong. >> reverend kenneth sawyer, good to have you on the program. while authorities are calling the attack an act of terrorism. plus the mysterious case of san sandra bland pulled over by a police officer for a traffic violation, found dead in a prison cell three days later. and a wildfire, burning in california live pictures, we'll talk about that as well.

>> and the california highway is at a standstill right now after a brush fire jumped a freeway highway 15 in hisperia,

california near san bernardino. major link between los angeles and las vegas. nearly a dozen cars and trucks caught fire. live pictures here. authorities have shut down several tree way lanes causing traffic to back up about they're trying to put the fire out dropping water from above but it's still burning strong and the wildfire is going as well. officials say it started has burned at least 500 acres. now, to texas where what began as a traffic stop ended in tragedy. the driver a 28-year-old woman was taken into police custody. days later she was townd in found in a jail cell, dead. what happened and why, erica pitzi reports. >> local officials say sandra bland killed herself in police custody. the medical examiner agrees. but her family says that's not

possible. more than 100 protestors from hemple hempstead gather. sandra bland just arrived to start work at her alma mater. temple university. an officer stopped her for not using her signal. she became combative. at one point police filmed the witness, at the arrest. how bland ended up being thrown to the ground is unclear. authorities found her dead in her cell. the medical examiner ruled it a suicide. the justice of the peace who was called to the scene said she

used a plastic bag to hang are herself. >> i pronounced her dead. i did see a dark mark somewhere on the neck. >> but bland's family questions that account. they said the sandra they knew would not have taken her life. >> outgoing, truly filled with life and joy. and so when you think through circumstances that have been shared with us through this point it is unimaginable. >> investigators in texas say they see no evidence of foul play. >> we have reviewed the video and at no point in the video does it appear that anyone goes into that cell and harms her in any way. >> the waller county district attorney points to this video that bland said she made in march that shows she may be suicidal. >> i'm suffering from what you may be suffering from now. a little bit of depression as

well as st. patrick's day. ptsd. >> bland's lawyers want to meet with investigators in texas. >> we don't want to demonize that community. what we want to do is understand what happened. >> the trooper who pulled bland over has been on desk duty for violatingviolating procedures. be officials are investigating the incident. >> in houston keisha, why did you attend those protests? >> well thank you so much for having me. and it's important that the voices are heard. that somebody is standing up for what we find are these injustices that are happening. it is not okay to slam people

down on the ground while they're handcuffed and kneed in the back as we saw in the pool party incident and other incidents that are happening around the country. >> so i know you participated in protests and you went to baltimore recently. and this you protested today. and you're an activist involved in this issue. but when you see the video of her talk about the fact she had depression and maybe ptsd, what runs through your mind? >> well, a lot of things run through my mind. we all get depressed. this is a human condition. depression just doesn't happen to some and not all. so as part of life, you have your ups and your downs. this depression happened in march and all of a sudden now when she is going back for a new job that you know her life is just falling apart because she got arrested? there were things that she was looking forward to. if you want to say about the depression then she was also

outspoken about police brutality and things that were happening. >> uh-huh but is it possible that she took her own life? >> i am not a medical examiner. i am not anywhere in that field. i wasn't there that day so i'm not going to answer that question. >> what do you want people to know about this case? >> i want people to know that there seems to be a trend going on right now. and it is where -- and i'm not going to say that it's just a black issue or a white issue. it's a human rights issue. the police are here to protect and to serve. not to abuse not to overstretch their power. and not to break a community or break a people down. >> keisha, it's good to have you on the program. thank you again for sharing your insight. we appreciate it. >> now to colorado and the trial of james holmes on thursday, the jury found him guilty of the mass shooting in 2012.

those same jurors will decide whether holmes gets life without parole or death. paul beban is in colorado tonight. paul. >> it's been a little more than 24 hours since that resounding guilty verdict 165 times we heard guilty read over and over in the courtroom. this is really the first time in three months of the trial and really three years since the crime itself that this community has had a chance to catch its breath and evaluate what has happened. i spent some time today with really truly inspiring people, sandy and lonnie phillips. their daughter swres ca jessica was 24 when she was killed in the aurora theater. in order to attend the trial every single day they have been in the courtroom day after day. they are living in a camper not far from the crows courthouse in

centennial. what it with was like to be there day after day and what it was like to be there for the verdict. >> when the first guilty came out it was like, you could hear the room just whoa and the tears started. and there was such a relief to just be able to take that first deep breath in three years. and -- >> first breath in three years? >> yeah, it really svelte like the first deep breath in three years. >> reporter: was there ever a time when you had to leave the courtroom? >> oh, many times i left the courtroom when it was jessie's autopsy. i knew i didn't want to see that. i knew what her wounds were. ness ironically, there was a break right -- i ron cli there was a break right afterironically

therewas a break right after jessie's autopsy, and even the hardened media were coming out broken. it became my daily job you go up you get to the courthouse, you have a cup of coffee, you go in the courtroom, that was it. >> you do it. >> you do it. >> yep. >> in fact i can't imagine not doing it. >> reporter: and john holmes is of course facing a potential death penalty but interestingly pardon me, james holmes is now facing a potential death penalty but interestingly sandy is not concerned about the outcome. what she wanted was is thability, what she wanted was a guilty verdict. let's take a listen. >> knowing that the killer would never see the light of day again.

no matter what, he's gone. he's a dead man you know? for all intents and purposes, whether they give him a life sentence or death sentence he's a dead man. he will die in prison one way or the other. >> reporter: and sandy and lonnie plan to stay that camper on the road and travel to other communities that have been visited with this kind of trauma try counsel people and steer them towards activism, so no one else will have to walk in their shoes. sentencing phase begins next wednesday in arapaho county. >> it's very, very difficult obviously, paul beban, thank you very much. coming up next, the investigation into the chattanooga shootings. new details on the deadly shooting spree and the killer's background. plus iran's new complicated

relationship with the united states, where they can help each other and where deep divides remain.

>> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. chattanooga shootings. new details about the victims. the suspect. and clues about a possible motive. iran's influence. will the nuclear deal bolster tehran's clout in the middle east and around the world? plus, the spillover effect. the company responsible for an oil spill helps manage the cleanup. why critics say it's a dirty way to do business. >> we are getting a bit clearer picture tonight of mohammed yousef abdulazeez, and the four marines that federal officials say he gunned down in chattanooga yesterday. the investigation has turned to the alleged attacker's background and the search for any clues on a possible motive.

bisi onile-ere is in chattanooga. bisi. >> john, the gunman was not on any threat list, so authorities are digging deep to determine a motive. they are searching through phone records and others things searching for clues. i'm told it could be a white before authorities have all -- a while before authorities have all the answers they're looking for. 74 marines zed investigators provided more details about how the -- four marines dead. vectors provided more details about the attack. >> officers began searching and located the gunman driving down the highway. chattanooga police officers immediately began following and chasing that vehicle between first and second locations. eventually the officers encountered the suspect at the

second location. >> authorities say the suspect had two long guns and a handgun some that were purchased illegally. they describe a violent gun fight between them and the suspect. >> thee officers were under a tremendous amount of gun fire from this individual yet they continued to move forward against this target and engage him and eliminate that threat saving numerous lives throughout this community. >> born in kuwait, police say he was a naturalized u.s. citizen. a devowt muslim with a passion for mixed martial arts. but vectors say they have not determined what motivateabdulazeez ormotivatedabdulazeez or if he acted alone. >> let me make perfectly clear we will treat it as an act of terrorism until i it was determined one way or another asas an act of terrorism or

another event. >> in the final days of ramadan. the president basam issa told al jazeera they received a call from abdulazeez's father friday night apologizing for his actions. >> he was in the dark on what his son had done and he is very deafdevastated. he actually apologized for what his son did to the community in large and to the muslim community. and i told him that we all feel distraught. we all feel shocked. and to basically pray to god that we all as one community come together. but that's the one time that he called me. saying that he's shocked.

>> reporter: the community was mourning the loss of the four marines killed. gunnery sergeant thomas sullivan staff sergeant dave wyatt carson holmquist and squire wells. it has brought the community together. >> you come together as a community, family, nation, we learn from it, we work together and we move forward as a community. >> the fbi is asking anyone with information to contact them. and says that they are already following up on 70 leads so far. and yesterday there was a woman we're told possibly a relative of the gunman who was seen leaving the gunman's home in handcuffs. the fbi said that was done only as a precaution, that no one has been arrested in this case. in the meantime the navy center

here behind me where those four marines were killed continues to grow. john. >> bisi thank you. tyler jett is a reporter who broke exclusive stories on the shooter's family today. tyler, welcome. tell us a little bit about what you learned about the shooter's family. >> reporter: yes, john, a 2009 court file shows the mother filed for diverse. and cited a very abusive household. she said that she had been abused physically in front of the children at a she has been abused in front of children. that she had been abused with the children in the house. she said that the father also abused the children physically and mentally as well, it was very difficult on the family. the mother said she had no escape. she said she had no money. the divorce filing was dropped about 20 days afterwards, they signed a postnuptial agreement

and in the agreement the father agreed to give the mother $200 a month on the fourth day of every month, he also agreed to go to counseling. >> are think living together do you know? -- are they living together do you know? >> we don't know at this time. >> your reporters also talked to neighbors . did they give you any insight or had they seen any signs of these sorts of problems that you described? >> they did not. they, you often hear in these kind of communities when an event like this happens i can't believe it happened here and i can't believe it was him. they said the family was very nice devoutly religious said the family was pretty quiet they said that the shooter was quiet as well but seemed pretty nice. he would go on walks with other members of the community. he would give people rides and that kind of stories. they said they never heard anything violent about him. he didn't have a violent history until now.

>> tyler, a lot of information was made of the shooter's blog. tell me what you have heard about the tblawg. >> it's speculative about what it means. both on monday. a couple of days beforehand they both discussed islam but a lot of theoretical things, theoretical things. he said things like you have got to dedicate your life to allah which is not a lot of things the christian wouldn't say which would be you would be wasting your life by doing other than dedicate yourself to the christian life. it would be difficult to take that and extrapolate over to a terrorist attack or anything like that. >> what do you know about how he got the weapons and actually what weapons he had? >> well, about the weches, weapons is that there was at least three. the fbi special agent in charge

said today that there were two long guns either rifles or shotguns and one handgun. now local sources have told us at the times free press that there were two ak .47s and two handguns. the fbi has not confirmed that for us. >> chattanooga strong behind you on the sign. obviously, a very difficult day for chattanooga. tyler thank you very much for sharing the story with us. >> reporter: thank you john. >> now that there's a deal on iran's nuclear program the white house has the task of selling it to skeptics. john kerry will go to dubai next week and defense secretary ash carter to saudi arabia. at the white house president obama met with saudi foreign minister. in addition to iran they focused on how to make the middle east safer. saudi arabia's primary rive in the middle eastrival inthe middle

east is iran. ali velshi just got back from tehran and here is his report. >> iran considers itself a superpower in the middle east and it wants the world to give it the respect it thinks it deserves. and despite agreeing to curbs on its nuclear ambitions iran's regional influence is bound to grow as sanctions are lifted and its economic isolation ends. >> it's time for american leaders, some european leaders to realize that vaughn a iran is a major player, they need to live with it the same way they live with russia with china why not with iran? as soon as they do that they will encourage forces in iran that are willing and able to accommodate western interests.

>> one thing that iran is eeg store helpeagerto help the west with is confronting i.s.i.l. both iran and the u.s. back the iraqi government in the war against i.s.i.l. fighters but in neighboring syria where i.s.i.l. also controls territory iran and the u.s. work at cross-purposes that's because they back opposing sides in syria's civil war. in fact in almost every contentious area and faceing the world today iran and the u.s. are on opposite sides. nowhere is that more apparent than in the straight of hormuz. a strait of waterway that connects tanker traffic from the areas of the gulf and the indian ocean. 21 miles separates iran from the countries of the arabian

peninsula. let me give you an idea how strategic a choke point there is. troos the strait thereacross the straight, there are marianna military installations. the u.s. navy is escorting american flag ships through this strait and they've started doing it for other vessels too. besides military force iran has many ways of wielding power and influence in the middle east. uses its soft power to win the hearts and minds of people living in the region. >> iran has a natural soft power in the hearts and minds of the shia populations in this part of the world and internationally. it's like the vatican for the catholics. >> iran uses both military and soft power to give backing to shia parties in conflict zones throughout the middle east.

in lebanon iran last long backed hezbollah in its battle against israel. the iranians have become a life line for bashar al-assad. and they led crucial and military support to iraq's shia dominated government. more recently, iran has weighed in on the side of houthi rebels in yemen triggering a sectarian proxy war with sunni-dominated saudi arabia. while these developments may alarm the ufs u.s. and its allies in the region, willing to use its influence in cooperation to solve the myriad problems consuming the middle east today. >> today iran has emerged as a major player. the islamic revolution has a lot of influence in many parts of the islamic world. there are a lot of different areas where iran ask play a very prominent role in sorting out

different conflicts resolving outstanding issues. particular in dealing with peace and security in the region. >> ali velshi, al jazeera. >> you can see more of ali's report, iran behind the deal, sunday. the last of the beach pipeline rupture is almost complete in california but there are questions about the cleanup process and the private contractor that handled it. jennifer london reports. >> reporter: on a hot summer day in the southern california sun, the beach is back in business. closed for nearly two months, after an oil spill fouled the gaviota coast just north of santa barbara from a distance, the sand looks clean but if you

look at the coastline tar is still watching ashore. >> looks like you are still seeing some oil. >> we are seeing, some, i'll be careful where i step. >> it's the huge release of oil all at once that is nearly impossible to clean up. >> you have the immediate release which is the stuff you see on the beach and the stuff you can't account for. so in two years from now or two months from now when stuff keeps washing up on the beach who's going to clean it up? and it's the principle. it's not whether or not that tar blob is threatening humanity, it's the principle of holding them accountable. >> we want to make sure they come back and clean up their mess. >> janet wolf, city council councilwoman, she and other local leaders have been critical

of the cleanup from response time to questions about how clean is clean. >> there is a lack of trust and we still -- we're not done. yes, the oil has stopped coming through the culvert. but the cleanup operation is not done. >> they have also questioned whether the company responsible for causing the spill should play a role in managing the response effort. as part of unified command the oil company partners with a group of local state and federal agencies. its common oil spill protocol but the so-called cozy cleanup reprelationship does not play well with wolf. >> we assume that it's being looked at objectivity with all parties. but -- objectively with all parties. but any clear thinking person would understand having the responsible party in this case the polluter be part of that to determine if your beach is clean

is i would say inappropriate at best. >> do you feel as a county supervisor you have been able to be involved in the cleanup operation? >> what i will say is this: and that is that the unified command gives you or me the impression that you are unified you are all working together for a common goal. and what this has felt like from two days after the spill is that the coifnt does not have -- the county does not have an equal seat at the table. you might even say we're sitting at the children's table. it definitely feels to me an imbalance of power in this unified command which is so unfortunate. we should all be working together. >> we have returned to refugio beam. we did reach out to plains for

an interview which they declined but 135 miles south of the spill atsenat san pedro federal regulations require the responsible party be part of the process. >> how account public trust them? how account public trust that the information that's coming out is accurate and it's independently verified? because i think everyone looks at the polluter and says, it will in your best interest if this story doesn't get out in its entirety and if you manage the information being released. >> so i just have to stress that although the responsible party is part of the unified command they're not directing the response. they don't have any authority. >> reporter: still this leaked internal document signed by members of unified command and a plains employee did show a concerted effort to control information given to the media. it recommends scheduling interviews with handful of

neutral to positive reporters to help tell the quote progress story. kelsey bruger a reporter from the santa barbara independent obtained that memo. >> it's kind of creepy to be named on that report, they're going to turn it around into a story that makes them look good. >> i'm familiar with that document and during the whole response, we had a joint information center. and really, the goal of any joint information center when you have a big response is to get the story out. >> what story? the story that the cleanup people want to get out that everything is going well or the real you story? >> the real story was what we did for the response, what we did to get out there and how effective we were at times. that's the story we wanted to get out there. >> i don't sit in unified command but i sit on the outside and i see the information that's coming out. and as a county supervisor i

know the information that we're trying to get. and we're not getting it. >> reporter: with the cleanup operation almost complete the answers may not come soon. the evidence is now in the hands of investigators. but what is certain: there's still oil in the ocean. leaving those who love this stretch of coast to wonder when it will wash ashore. jennifer london, al jazeera gaviota coast california. >> and this story out in california as well, a live look at a brush fire that is burning in california near interstate 15 near san bernardino, set fire to cars and trucks. about 20 were damaged. some people walked away from their cars. other people have begun to drive their cars away but the traffic has been shut down there. they sthutthey shut down several mystery way lanes. it is the main highway between

san diego and las vegas. it has burned 500 acres and continues to burn in the hills around san bernardino. now to south africa, where children are given a quality education. the entire student body there and teaching staff there made of refugees living in south africa, many shunned from the locals when they ended up there and a system that just wouldn't let them get ahead. >> a lot of demand from the parents, who are refugees in south africa and were having difficulties of registering their children in the local schools. >> well now the arbor street school sees about 100% graduation rate, everybody graduates, along with their test

scores puts the rest of johannesburg school system to shame. >> we'll have that next hour. we'll be right back.

>> true american original. a singer who became of a star an activist who risked it all for the fight for civil rights. a new documentary covers it all it says what happened to

ms. simone. .respects spoke to the daughter of the singer. >> it was a labor of love that my husband and i have been working on for about ten years. >> i want to shake people up so bad that when they leave a night club where i perform i just want them to be to pieces. ♪ got my hair got my head ♪ >> i made a pledge to my mother when she passed away that to make sure that she would be remembered properly in the way that she deserved and the way she would be remembered. >> i put a spell on you ♪ >> you've said she was one of the greatest entertainers of the time but she paid a price. what price? >> yes. oh my goodness her heart, her peace, her peace of mind. self-actualization awards, being rich, so many material rewards. and goals that many artists go for. not to mention their own

personal satisfaction. my mom forewent many of those things in order to stand up for what she believed in. ♪ no colored people in this country ♪ ♪ got to be second class fools ♪ >> in terms of the civil rights movement when her dream of being a classical musician, when her dream was pretty much into the toilet because of the color of her skin. >> this is a very difficult recount being for you personally when you think -- recounting for you personally when you think of what your mother went to. for those who don't know the history of nina simone, she trained as a classical musician, that was her goal. the owner of the club told her you have to sing. that began her singing career which of course led to her fame. but then there was a point where she made a very political decision shortly after the deaths of the four girls in the

birmingham church bombing. >> exactly. mom came from a very religious family my grandmother was a minister who didn't believe in the devil's music. when my mom had to single, she changed her name to nina simone so my grandmother wouldn't know she was singing nonreligious music. i equate my mother's career in two parts. one where she was was sing love songs and happy and part of her career where she got mad. she broke when those four limb girls were blown up in that church and she never came back. she became the revolutionary that we alt know and love and respect. >> at the same time, a lot of her music wasn't played on the radio stations which is how artists became famous at that time. >> yes.

and it depended on what she was singing. she recorded i loves you porgy it was all over. when she did the jazz tunes that were acceptable she got all kinds of recognition. when she decided to use the stage for greater good and to speak out against what was going on mississippi god damn, everybody knows what that was about. there were many times when those 45s were sent back cracked in two. a lot of times she end up being alone not only personally but professionally, to feel like she was doing something of meaning and using the platform in such a way that artists especially female artists of color at that time were not doing. >> today, how do you remember

your mother? >> i remember her with great love. i miss her. believe it or not, i do. i really wish that we could spend time together with me being in a place that i am now. being the more wiser adult that i am now. i miss her very much. i'm proud of her. and i'm really glad that my pledge to her has been fulfilled, that she lives and she lives properly, in the way that she deserves, in the way that she wants to be remembered. ♪ and i'm feeling good ♪ >> lisa simone kelly, thank you for joining us on al jazeera america. >> thank you. >> you can watch the documentary what happened to ms. simone on netflix. we began with the tragedy in

chattanooga tonight that's where we end. we have seen the tragedy but we have to see the strength as well. >> a city comes together with the eyes of the country upon it. 167,000 people the fourth largest in the state but for its people, a small town feel. the roots run deep in chattanooga. and when tragedy hits home, everyone feels it. in neighborhoods, in businesses and at the makeshift memorial outside the armed forces career center. comforting one another like this man and woman or reaching out to others with spirit and strength. ♪ amazeing grace ♪ >> that's what michael dexter is doing, singing "amazing grace" paying tribute to the lives lost as we see with laurie norman and her salute to the victims.

for all of chattanooga showing the world its courage unity and resilience. that's our broadcast thanks for watching. i'm john siegenthaler. del walters is next.

is. >> selling the deal. >> the best way for us to prevent iran from gaining a weapon. >> as president obama welcomes the first ally, saudi arabia's foreign minister. connecting the dots. federal investigators track the chattanooga's gunman's travel overseas trying to determine if he is at all linked to i.s.i.l. or any other group. remembering innocent victims. >> we must end this hatred. life