i'll see you again in an hour. hour. >> on "america tonight": >> why has this become your issue? >> it's just a piece of who i am, has become completely by accident sort of a prominent thing in my life. i literally just wanted to get my parents back home. >> special correspondent soledad o'brien, chronicles the history of a famous resident ten years

later. and amelia boynton as she remembers that taish da terribln selma. >> he finally hit me in the back of the neck then the second hit fell me. >> good evening thanks for joining us, i'm adam may sitting in for joie chen. tonight the nation mourns the loss of a civil rights pioneer. amelia boynton. she became the face of bloody sunday 50 years ago, in selma alabama. "america tonight" sat down with her in one of her last interviews before her passing. ordinary people like boynton who finally made their dream of change, a reality. ♪ come by here lord ♪ come by here >> you can never remember selma

and forget the bridge. here, where the jefferson davis highway leads town and heads north to montgomery is where the first steps of the last long journey in the fight against jim crow began. >> come by here my lord ♪ ♪ come by here >> and here, a local woman barrel known outside her alabama home town became the image of bloody sunday, seen around the world. ♪ oh lord come by here >> amelia bitcoin clearly recalls the terror that day. as officers tried stop the marchers demanding the right to vote. >> beating them with sticks, with billy clubs, anything they had. they began to beat them, the

people, and they did everything they could to get the people to run back, while they were beating them. >> reporter: on the peddis bridge, amelia bitcoin faced the renegade sheriff. >> he hit me on the back of my neck, the back ever my shoulder. and it hurt, but i didn't know what to do. i had no idea what i circulate do. then the second hit felt me. felled me and i fell to the grown. that ground. i was unconscious. >> an officer pumped tear gas into her nose 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." >> but amelia boynton didn't die. there is the never-before published emergency room log of good samaritan loss. among 17 injured, amelia boynton tear gassed, along with others beaten that day inspired another movement. you're 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. >> there may be some tear gas

ahead. >> 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 capital. 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've gotten used to it. i've been back here a number of times. and i've 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. >> olson joined two other white

ministers, orloff miller and james breed for a quick meal. >> place was jam packed. i guess they ran out of everything but chicken fried chicken there. >> they found themselves surrounded by white agitators. >> do you remember what this is? >> yes i do. they called out, primary thing they called out was "hey you niggers." we whispered to each other, just keep walking, just keep walking. >> a sickening crack as something slammed into reed's skull. >> i heard that club hit jim's head. >> olson was at reed's side as he 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 ... he went unconscious. >> two days later, jim reed was dead. at selma's ame church protest turned to fire and it spread across the nation. >> thousands of people gathered in places like boston 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 proposal olson sees echoed today. 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 faith meet to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. >> such was in lexington and concord and cell pla. selma. >> there long suffering men and women peacefully protested their denial of rights as americans. many were brutally assaulted. one good man, a man of god, was killed. >> what is the jim reed, 70

million americans tuned in to see johnson urge congress to pass the voting rights act. despite an invitation, dr. king did not attend. he was at brown ame giving reed'reed'sreed's eulogy. >> may cause the whole citizenry of alabama, extreme. >> come back ♪ ♪ come by here ♪ >> justice has traveled a slow path. toward that bright future dr. king spoke of here. the marchers finally did make their way to montgomery. johnson was able to force through the voting rights act. amelia boynton lived to see her

community guided by black leaders and in time a humble pastor from a faraway place was remembered on a corner where he became a martyr. >> that's the guy you remember? bow tie? >> not at all a commanding presence. >> not heroic. >> not heroic. not heroic. >> he didn't intend to be. >> no he didn't. >> not a hero, just an everyman who, because of consequences, leads him to a street corner in selma. the sacrifices of just a few people can change history for all of us. so jim reed did not die in vein. >> no. no. >> well, the. >> -- >> i don't feel that this is all

in vain. i people i feel it is a step in. >> 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 end of the story. >> ♪ come by here o lord come by here ♪ >> that was joan joie chen repo. amelia boynton was 104 years old. coming up, the story of wendell pierce, a new orleans native determined to pick up the piece is after hurricane katrina devastated the area. history hasn't told the whole story, learn more at aljazeera.com/americatonight.

>> in our fast forward segment a detention deadline. as violence gripped central america last summer many chose to flee and set their sights on the u.s. that following surge overwhelmed border agents and it strained president obama's border strategy. about 1400 of those who fled are currently in detention facilities. "america tonight's" christof putzel spoke to one mother whose

time in detention was marked with difficulties. >> translator: i thought that they would give me asylum quickly and that i could soon leave with my family. >> reporter: gladys du bone wanted to save her family from the violence of criminal gains. forcing gladys to come up with a $5,000 ransom. her dream of finding asylum in the united states stalled as soon as she and katherine crossed the border. three-year-old katherine vomited blood l all over her clothes. >> translator: they cleaned her up and told me to give her sufficient water and make sure she gets rest. >> reporter: how long did you see a doctor? >> four days. they didn't paying attendance until at last she looked appeal, not eating, without color.

>> the incident took place here at the burkes county detention center. some of them have been detained for more than a year. have immigration advocates say that undocumented children and their parents used to be released on bond after a short time. but following last summer's wave of unaccompanied minors the u.s. government changed its policy and started to detain extende de families for extended periods. >> a u.s. judge is demanding, the government issued a statement disagreeing with the order but still determines to

detain until further notice. ten years after hurricane katrina. and tomorrow on the show, "america tonight's" lisa fletcher examines the demand for transgender surgery and how american doctors aren't making the cut. the cut.

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>> and welcome back. he's best known for his role as detective bunk meierland. morel. even as he's risen from the ranks in hollywood, wendell pierce never forge forgot wheree came from. he went back to pick up the pieces and hadn't stopped since.

special correspondent sloa soled o'brien chronicles his journey. >> for actor wendell pierce this was a devastating and defining moment. >> it was as if someone had poured black detergent in the house and lifted it and shook it around. and it was like a death of a family member. >> it look like armageddon. >> nearly wiped out the home where pierce gratitude up in ponchartrain neighborhood. >> where you could get a house you lived around a golf course. >> pierce was one of three sons, born and raised in one of new

orleans african american post war neighborhoods. worked at a neighborhood university. >> people tell you you're rich when you live in ponchartrain park, we spent 30 years to pay it off. part of an american dream. >> reporter: skiing that dream destroyed by the storm shattered his parents and led pierce on a journey to rebuild his neighborhood. >> we owed it to my parent's generation to make sure it came back. >> it started with a promise to his parents. >> i wanted my mother and father to come back home before they died. that's the truth. that was the first impulse. i want to get them back in that

house before they die because they've worked their whole life for it. >> reporter: over time his ambitions grew to rebuilding his entire naked. he founded the ponchartrain community neighborhood. 125 affordable energy efficient houses, like the house he built for himself sitting at the end of the block. >> we built 35 homes so far and we have about 12 families in them. >> does it feel not enough? i mean 12 people in ten years? >> we have the houses. we have the programs. we have developed them and it's just now coming to a point where they're starting to realize that, they have now just started to increase the limitations of who can have assistance to come

into these programs. >> reporter: pierce's commitment to new orleans is apparent on stage as well as off. we caught up with the actor in new york for his most recent gig, brothers from the bottom, a play about gentrification in new orleans, written by jackie leamed. >> you are coming frojackie alexander. >> in the play we talk about how after katrina and the neighborhood is can displaced and everyone's gone the music of the neighborhood and the people here in your neighborhood is also gone. so for me, chris wants to bring that music back, that life back. >> it reflects your personal life clearly. pierce tells me his role in brothers from the bottom was a

perfect fit. >> why is gentrification so important for you? when people don't see eye to eye about gentrification, and the work you've done in new orleans has been part of that argument over gentrification in new orleans. >> the things that causes conflict in gentrification is because it's not inclusive. you know it's development and economic development and progress at the expense of people who have been there for years. >> is progress at the expense of some people worth it? >> no. >> if the alternative is no progress? >> i believe that the two can coexist. that you can satisfy those who have been in the neighborhood before, it can be inclusive. >> pierce got interested in acting at an early age. >> this is how we greet each other every night before the play. >> i love if you get that line

right! >> for me acting is about creating a world so strong that it induces a behavior. >> you believe it while you're in it. >> i believe it. >> he took theater classes in high school at new orleans center for creative arts. he went on to study drama at the prestigious julliard school in new york. he has won multiple ward awardsr his acting work. but the 52-year-old is perhaps most notable for his role in the hbo crime series the wire. >> first line in my obituary will be playing bunk moreland on the wire. i was bunk on the wire.

you know? ♪ >> he start in another hbo drama, tremay, about a group of new orleans artists rebuilding their lives post-katrina. pierce played an artist. >> you played the trombone? >> very poorly. i can at least fake it very well. i know my first solo in tremay. >> starring in tremay meant he could spend time in his home town again. something he calls divine intervention. >> i got to spend the last four years of my mother's life with her. i literally held my mother in my

arms the last moments of her life. so here we are. >> before his mother died pierce was able to fulfill his promise and bring his parents back to their restored home. his father still lives there. but the larger mission of rebuilding the neighborhood has not always been easy. two years ago, the salvation army pulled almost $2 million in funding from pierce's foundation, citing a lack of progress. >> to lose a grant was, you know, unfortunate. it's not the end of the program. >> reporter: also a grocery store billed as healthy food for low income shoppers that pierce helped open in 2013 shut down a year layered. and ten years since the storm, there are still blighted abandoned hoamed in his neighborhood like this one. it sits next to one of the flood elevated homes that his group

built. >> i look at this house and it's a reminder of the issues we still have to deal with. a broken pipe underground, infrastructure is still -- we lose 50% of our water in new orleans. still an issue. >> reporter: while some outlying neighborhoods are on life support downtown new orleans is thriving. as his city continues to wrestle with what to restore and what to bring back, pierce says he understands why downtown was restored first. >> i believe that's common sense triage you know? it's the heart of the economic center of new orleans so make sure that it is back up on its feet. at the same time, real triage is, you don't cure a cold before you take care of the gunshot victim. and that happened when they just gave up on areas of the city. >> it's a battle he continues to

fight through his philanthropy and his art. pierce brought the play, brothers from the bottom, to his home town where residents came out to see their native son and where issues of gentrification, community, and the soul of the city after the storm, are still raw. >> i could not think of a better place to do the play, to have the discussion, than in the community where the discussion is the most important. in new orleans. >> reporter: why has this become your issue? i mean you are on the stage, in new york, broadway, you're in films and you have other gigs that probably take up a lot of your time. >> trust me, i ask myself that a lot. what happens is when it's happening to you, it's hard to ignore. my parents live here. my friends live here. it's a piece of who i am. it's become completely by

accident sort of a prominent thing in my life. i literally just wanted to get my parents back home. >> soledad o'brien reporting. and that is "america tonight." tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can also talk to us on twitter or our facebook page and be sure to come back because we'll have more of "america tonight," right here, tomorrow. tomorrow. is created an outdoor community center. >> changing the city one block at a time. >> i'm out here to encourage them, to tell them there's a better way.