All language subtitles for America Divided s01e04

Previously on America Divided.

Where do I go out there?

Go out here and take a look. Do you feel
like Purdue is responsible ultimately

for the heroin epidemic?

Absolutely. Purdue Plummer committed a
gross act of negligence.

This disease is hollowing out suburban
and small town America.

Welcome back to the show. Fans of not
being able to go to the bathroom without

your birth certificate scored a victory
when North Carolina's governor signed

HB2.

New law that people must use bathrooms
of the gender on their birth

certificates. Bathrooms. A lot of people
are talking about bathrooms. I signed

that bill because if I didn't, the
expectation of privacy of North Carolina

citizens. PayPal today canceled plans
for a 400 job expansion. Could lose

roughly $2 billion in federal funds.
That violates the federal civil rights

I told you we weren't done with 2010.

My name is Zach Galifianakis.

You know, as an important celebrity,
I've been called a lot of things in my

life. Inspiration, genius, visionary,
the guy with the beard from that movie.

But the label for which I'm most proud
is North Carolinian.

And genius.

With so much love for North Carolina, I
have to say these last few years have

been confusing.

North Carolina used to be all about
basketball and barbecue, but now...

Now it seems like it's all about
bathrooms.

I thought talking about people using the
bathroom was a job for comedians.

Why are they so obsessed with bathrooms?

Is all this shouting about bathrooms
really about something bigger?

So I call Ari Berman.

Ari looks like your girlfriend's little
brother, but he's been writing books and

magazine stories about North Carolina
for years. What's up? Well, I'm watching

all this stuff that's going on in North
Carolina, and it seems like the tensions

and the energy keeps getting worse and
worse and worse. Now there's this

bathroom thing that's going on. And from
there, you know, there were lefties,

there were righties.

But we all kind of, there was a balance
back then.

Why now does it seem like there's just
the shift in one particular direction?

Well, in 2010, Republicans took control
of the state for the first time since

1896. A ton of money.

pumped in to local races that really
swung the outcome. And that was, in many

ways, the untold story of the election.

And we saw a dramatic shift to the right
like we had never seen before in North

Carolina history.

Democratic Party essentially collapsed
in North Carolina. It's one party rule,

and so the only opposition to their
policies is really in the street.

This was led by the North Carolina end
of Lacey Heath.

The fact is, the NAACP is not just
organizing in the big cities. They're

organizing in very rural, very white
parts of the state.

They can say, it hasn't always been this
way. We're a state that invested in

public education, in the environment,
that cared about voting rights, and now

we're moving backwards.

After my call with Ari Berman, I want to
know why all of this is happening to my

home state.

All this stuff that I'm hearing about,
Is it all connected?

And for me, this is not about Democrats
or Republicans.

This is coming more from a North
Carolina point of view.

It's kind of a southern point of view.

It feels like somehow that North
Carolina lost its way.

It's a system that effectively sweeps
millions of poor people into second

status. Did we invest in those
communities?

No. Instead, we declared war.

What we have today is a wealth gap that
is

huge.

The working class has been hammered.

These are human beings. These are
people.

What can we do to get that point across?

telling us that we're not doing enough
is causing us to explode.

It is not a matter of opinion anymore.

It is clearly exposed.

What do we do? They can only win by

dividing America.

We know that the way things are working
are working at all.

That's right.

If you just keep pushing.

If you just keep trying, if you refuse
to let the nightmares have the last say,

eventually the dark will break, the sun
will come out, and you will be in a

brand new day.

If there's no struggle, there can be no
progress.

You started working in this area 20 how
many years ago? At least 26, I think

maybe 26 years.

And there wasn't heroin here then?

Oh, no.

But the only thing we had was domestic
violence. You know, people get drunk and

then they fight and that's it.

Right. But when this heroin started,
that's when we started getting the

burglaries and the shootings and
especially robbery.

When did you start to go like, oh, this
is an epidemic?

I would say within the last year.

Uh -huh. We started getting a lot of
overdose from heroin coming in.

We were not prepared at all.

As I ride along with Officer Willie
Hooper on his nightly patrol, he tells

that overdoses are transforming the work
of the police.

In the battle to save lives, the police
rely on Narcan.

an anti -overdose drug that can bring
someone back from the brink of death.

But as addicts overdose again and again,
Narcan has done little to slow the

epidemic.

139, go ahead.

That's correct, we're on our way.

Do you feel like the number of ODs that
you're seeing is going up?

It's definitely going up, 100%. And the
fatality rate is going up, right?

Bring your medic down the alley. They're
going to move the cruisers out of the

way.

How much Narcan they give her?

What I'm learning about undocumented
people in the Rio Grande Valley applies

them everywhere.

They live life on a nice edge.

They know that millions have been
deported, so they're insecure,

exploitation.

Doing jobs no one else will.

They make these sacrifices so that their
children can have a better life.

But I'm hearing that over the past few
years in Texas, Many families have been

living in fear that even their American
-born children, citizens of the United

States, are at risk.

These women are telling me that in the
past several years, across the state,

registrars who issue birth certificates
stopped accepting the matricula

consular, the kind of ID undocumented
immigrants carry.

even though Texas used to accept it and
other states still do.

Nor do the registrars accept the
certificate of live

birth.

I'm finding this really upsetting a
birth certificate is so basic it's your

proof of existence

The thing you need to get all other ID.

What's going on here?

Is Texas trying to make the next
generation stateless?

Y ellos cómo se sientan, ¿no?

Pues, a veces es triste y difícil
porque, pues, mi niño abraza a los

Dice, tú vas a ir a la escuela igual que
yo. Dice, aunque no tengas el papel.

Es muy difícil porque a veces nosotros
estamos, a veces quizás en las sombras.

Y no contamos lo que en realidad pasamos
como...

But the undocumented families are
fighting back.

They filed a lawsuit against the state
for denying their babies the citizenship

guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.

Just like with those voter ID laws,
Texas says it's trying to prevent fraud.

But even the judge in the case calls
this fraud an imaginary concern.

Attorney Jennifer Harbury says it's all
part of an anti -immigrant campaign.

Just like the whole offensive notion
that immigrants are having anchor babies

they can stay here.

How do you see this issue of anchor
babies?

in relation to the Constitution and to
the 14th Amendment?

Well, it's preposterous. And let me
begin by saying, you know, my father's

family and my father himself are all
immigrants. They also came here running

from extinction, let us just say.

So I'm an anchor baby then, right? But
under the Constitution, the Due Process

Clause, 14th Amendment, it says anyone
who is born in the United States is a

citizen of the United States, period.

If Harbury's right, then how can the
Texas policy stand?

And will it?

I grew up around mountain people, and

they're about as conservative as they
come.

So if the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People has

chapters in these mountains, I want to
see these folks for myself.

Sure enough, this NAACP chapter is a
little short on the C, unless you count

cake and coffee.

I'll just grab a piece of this and we'll
chat.

All of it's free?

It's a donation.

Oh, a donation.

You know, there's always a donation box
somewhere.

They always try to get you.

Well, thanks for having me.

They have as many reasons to be here as
there are members.

Voting rights. School cuts.

Medicaid expansion, turning back of
rights for women and gay people and

Americans. Really, though, they are all
sitting at this table because for them

it comes down to one thing, and that's
the influence of money and how they

it's hijacked the state.

But couldn't this just be the
Appalachian version of hippies smoking

love in hammocks, and complaining
because the other side of North Carolina

for once?

After the meeting, one of the members,
Tracy Deaton, tells me that if that's

what I think, then she has someone I
need to meet. Her father, Leroy.

Like most of the folks at the meeting,
Tracy was born and raised Appalachian.

And like most dangerous extremists,
Tracy is a high school librarian.

She joined the NAACP when the
legislature targeted education for deep

education has always been one of the
most treasured institutions in North

Carolina. My family has been in Mitchell
County for my kids' ninth generation.

Huge advocates of public education.

Both my parents taught school, my
husband's parents taught school.

So I became really involved and vocal
with the attacks on public schools.

That was sort of my tipping point.

Any of the parents talk to you about
this stuff and agree with you?

The parents I have spoken with are
frustrated because the resources have

really cut as far as the bigger class
sizes. They tried to do away with

teacher's aides last year, and their
salaries were frozen for six years.

My family is deep in local politics. At
the time when all this started

happening in North Carolina, my dad was
a commissioner.

My brother was on the Board of
Education.

My mother was on the City Council.

Under what party?

Other Republicans.

Yeah.

Hi. Okay.

I understand that you and your family
come from more of a Republican

Right. People just choked when you said
that.

What do you mean by that? I changed my
affiliation from Republican to

unaffiliated. Right.

Walk us through when you came to the
point where you're like, I cannot be

associated with this group.

There were several things that played
into it. They started picking away at

educational system. And teachers became
the whipping boy. Education became the

whipping boy.

The other thing was some of the health
care issues.

And it really became personal.

I'll try not to get emotional.

Tracy and Sam have a very autistic
child.

And the demands to meet his needs
medically, socially, family,

everything is just tremendous.

And as an example, when he had to go to
the dentist and he didn't understand

that they're going to put a mask on your
face or they're going to put a drill in

your mouth or they're going to do this.
He was uncontrollable, unconsolable.

So they needed to put him to sleep.
Well, insurance wouldn't pay for it.

And it was $750 or so to have him put to
sleep. So they had to put this child in

a straitjacket.

Tracy had to get at his head and hold
his shoulders and head. And Sam had to

to his feet and hold his feet.

Leroy tells me there was a bill proposed
that would have made the insurance

companies pay for the kind of care his
grandson Zeke needed.

That sat on our senator's desk, his
committee, for three years.

But what made you connect that dot?

that the reason Zeke's not getting
proper care is because of what's

going on politically.

Politically, that they're taking care of
Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

That's who finances their campaigns.

I mean, see where their campaign
contributions came from, and you're

see pharmaceuticals, and you're going to
see insurance companies. They're all in

bed together.

And we're talking to people that used to
be Republicans.

Yeah. You too. Yeah. Yeah. And still
want to be a Republican. So this

that you're saying to me seems like
common sense.

It does to me too. No matter if you're
lefty, righty. Righty, we're all humans.

We're all humans.

That sounds more like the North Carolina
where I grew up.

But it seems like you can't take it for
granted anymore that North Carolina is a

place that educates its kids or takes
care of its disabled.

It feels like some kind of basic decency
is missing from all this.

The problem is, I'm still not any closer
to really understanding why.

Maybe I'm not smart enough to figure it
out for myself, but I found someone who

is.

It's been a couple of weeks since my
trip to Dayton, but I'm still reeling

the experience.

I learned so much about the origins of
the addiction crisis, but now I want to

know, why Dayton?

I've read that two economists at
Princeton University have come up with

intriguing insight into the crisis,
which might hold the answer.

A connection between the rising death
toll and middle America's economic

decline.

Professors Anne Case and her Nobel Prize
-winning husband, Angus Deaton, have

long studied inequality, poverty, and
health.

So the mortality rates in middle age in
all of the European countries and among

Hispanics and blacks in America has been
falling at about 2 % a year.

And that's been going on for 100 years.
But in the late 1990s, among white non

-Hispanics, the rates started to rise at
about half a percent a year.

So the rest of the developed world
continuing to fall, suddenly you see

wedge building between whites in America
and all of the sister countries we

might compare ourselves to.

When you had that moment of discovering
that it was higher there, was that

surprising? You know, at that point we
almost fell off our chairs because this

is not supposed to happen. We really
thought we must have made a mistake.

So give me an idea of what the scale of
this problem is.

From year 2000 to 2014, if the death
rates had stayed at what they had been

1999, about 200 ,000 people in middle
age would not have died.

And that's why it's equally split
between men and women.

Cancer and heart disease continue to go
down. So we think, okay, it must be

traffic accidents that have gone up, or
it must be murders that have gone up.

They're still going down. And then there
it was, and it's accidental overdoses.

Almost in lockstep, suicide and drug
overdoses are going up in tandem.

And cirrhosis and alcoholic liver
disease have also risen really

When we put those together, we think of
them as being all deaths of despair.

Is it about the decline of working class
jobs?

The working class have been hammered
with a high school degree used to be

to get a good job with benefits, with on
-the -job training.

A lot of those jobs went overseas, and
they're not coming back.

Sandra, one of the moms I met, says
she's gone to Edinburgh City Hall four

and still hasn't succeeded in getting a
birth certificate for her baby.

She's hoping things will be different if
I come with her.

All things that if you're undocumented
are impossible to get.

So then parents who are undocumented but
their children are born here in the U

.S. can't get their kids birth
certificates?

But isn't that enough to be considered
an American citizen that you were born

the United States?

I'm not denying that at all.

What I'm saying is, if she is a mother
and she's not a U .S. born, then this is

what we require from her.

And so her next option is what?

In a case like this, I can refer her and
have her send all the documents that

she's got to Austin, see if Austin will
accept that.

Okay.

Is there anything that I can help you
all with? Yeah, actually, yeah. I'd love

for you to clarify this document.

If you go through the state of Texas,
yeah.

Then they will accept that ID and other
forms of proof of residence?

Yes. And when did they start handing out
this form?

It's been years.

Well, she's been here four times and she
said no one has ever given her this

form or explained it to her. She
probably didn't ask the right questions

don't know if...

She understood or not.

These are in English.

Do you have the applications in Spanish?

These applications are in English. Let
me see if we have it in Spanish.

Okay. Thank you.

Apparently the state does not

operate in Spanish.

So it has to be translated.

Okay. That seems crazy, doesn't it?

State of Texas.

Attorneys for the family suing the state
told me that parents have mailed in

these exact documents and still have
been denied birth certificates.

Months later, Texas agreed to settle the
birth certificate case and loosen up

the ID requirements.

Attorneys for the families believe
they've won a victory, but say they

won't know for a while.

The state has nine months to comply with
the agreement.

After my time in the mountains, I'm
hoping Gene Nickel can help me get to

bottom of the changes I'm seeing in
North Carolina.

Nickel is a UNC law professor who has
made speaking up for North Carolina's

his mission in life.

So, of course, the Internet trolls say
he's a fraud and the legislature wanted

him fired.

We have in North Carolina the fastest
growing poverty rate in the country.

And we have folks who took over the
government four or five years ago and

decided, looking at that, OK, here's
what we're going to do.

We're going to usher in the largest cut.

unemployment compensation in American
history. We kicked 100 ,000 people off

food stamps. We're going to kick 500
,000 people off of Medicaid.

And then studies out of Harvard indicate
that that single decision means that

every year, probably 1 ,000 people in
North Carolina are going to die.

The world is upside down in this
theology.

It seems completely opposite the way it
needs to be.

I think it's fair to say that we have a
government which is presently operating

in bold contrast and opposition to the
fundamental values of the people of

Carolina. But not to get too political,
because I'm just a serious journalist. I

know, I know.

That's right, bad Jesus.

Yeah, some people know me from The
Hangover. Those days are long gone.

How do these people get in power? What
is the...

When we step back and look at these
policies and we go, how were we fooled

tricked or how does that happen? How
does it happen? Well, you know, part of

is money and politics. The relationship
between money and politics drives our

politics, makes political leaders and
campaigns more congenial to those who

powerful economic interests. There's
just giant social study that's been

released, finding once again that the
interest of the bottom quarter of

Americans.

Has no impact.

Not a little impact. Not underrated
impact. Has no impact on the outcomes

of the legislative process in the United
States Congress.

Citizens United sort of blew the roof
off.

It said for the first time in American
history that corporations can spend

unlimited amounts of their treasuries on
American political process.

The dollars spent by large corporate
interests in our politics.

They're very wise investments. They pay
heavily. In North Carolina, they

typically want two things. One, they
want tax breaks, but they probably weigh

even more heavily on the regulatory
side. So they want to make sure that we

don't have what they consider strangling
regulation.

So one of the ways that plays out in
North Carolina is powerful economic

interests trumping environmental
concerns.

After listening to Case and Deaton, I
feel compelled to return to Dayton.

As I pass empty lots and boarded up
buildings, I keep hearing Anne Case's

deaths of despair.

It's hard to reconcile what I'm seeing
with what I've learned of the city's

past. The Silicon Valley of its day.

Dayton once claimed more patents per
capita than any other U .S. city.

It was a thriving middle -class
community.

But beginning in the 1970s, the kind of
work that once made middle America

thrive began to disappear.

Dayton held out longer than most, but in
more recent decades, its industry and

its population began to dwindle.

Now the city and its workers have
struggled to find an economic future.

We are excited to have you here to learn
more about this great opportunity to be

in on the ground floor with this
growing, innovative, global company.

Thank you. All right. How's everybody
doing?

All right. Good?

All right.

So our facility is the world's largest
facility for making automotive

glass. It's right here. Right here in
this area.

After we hire you, you're going to be
put under like a 90 -day probation

It's $12 an hour.

Once you become a Fumio employee, you
automatically get $12 .84.

$12 .84.

Plenty of opportunities, ladies and
gentlemen.

Plenty of opportunities.

Here's the railroad tracks.

And nothing really has moved into this
area?

No. I mean, other than FUYA.

This whole area was basically GM. I
mean, at one point, like city blocks

city blocks.

How many jobs would you estimate that
this supported at one point?

I'm sure well over 10 ,000 people.

Smaller manufacturers, which there's
quite a few around here, too, that were

like part suppliers.

Right. So when the truck plant closed,
they closed.

And then because they closed, this place
closed. And it's this domino effect

that ripples out from the center of GM
for miles and miles, frankly, and I'll

update the mechanic down to, you know, a
pizza place up the street.

This whole area used to live or die
basically by this plant.

Matt Clark is an organizer for the
IUECWA.

the union that represented workers at
the storied GM Moraine truck and bus

plant.

It is now home to the Chinese auto glass
manufacturer, Fuyao.

This bar that we're in right now would
normally be a pretty hopping place.

it was. I mean, you know, the first
factory job I had was almost right after

high school. I got hired in right next
door here at Moraine Assembly.

And this place was crowded.

It's changed drastically.

And by like 2006, plants are closing.

So now all of a sudden, people can't pay
their mortgage.

At the same time, you can't sell a house
because the housing market is crap.

So then you end up with all these
foreclosures. Everyone starts bailing

right. Now what you have is abandoned
houses.

everywhere all through Dayton. And
abandoned houses means, you know, an

unfortunate element growing within that
drug use and this influx of

drugs, particularly heroin.

If I'm wanting to stay in Dayton to
work, where am I looking to get one of

jobs that's like a job where I can have
some kind of house and a family? I think

that's... It's increasingly difficult
here.

Obviously, the new employer that's moved
into the old Marin Assembly Plant is

doing foo -yow. I know quite a few
people that are working in there. When I

to those people, they say, this is
nothing compared to what we had, and I'm

making half of what I used to make.
Let's talk about the young people.

What are they looking forward to? What
are their expectations, the 2 .5 kids in

the house and all that stability?

It doesn't seem like that's out there.
It's not.

They probably had parents that worked at
those plants or other family members or

grandparents, whatever the case may be,
and they see what happened.

I mean, let's be honest. If I'm an 18-,
19 -year -old kid in Dayton, if I was to

drive over here and drive around here,
it would not look like a bright and

shining future for me.

I think, unfortunately, there is a sense
of despair and a nasty sense of anger.

I think in terms of almost feeling...

betrayed in a way. And I think a lot of
people in this country right now have a

hard time placing that anger. Right, but
I see this generation really paying the

price. A lot of them that we've met that
are the ones that are dying of heroin

overdoses. I don't know how it gets
better just yet.

I'd like to see something done about the
illegal alien problem that would be so

sensitive and so understanding about
labor needs and human needs that that

problem wouldn't come up. As we have
kind of made illegal some kinds of labor

that I'd like to see legal, we're doing
two things. We're creating a whole

society of really honorable, decent,
family -loving people that are in

of the law. And secondly, we're
exacerbating relations with Mexico.

They're talking about putting up a
fence.

Why don't we work out some recognition
of our mutual problems, make it possible

for them to come here legally with a
work permit, and then while they're

and earning here, they pay taxes here.

And when they want to go back, they can
go back, and they can cross and open the

border both ways.

Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. didn't
quite open the border. But as

president, each did extend legal status
to millions of undocumented immigrants

living in the U .S.

So how did we go from that to this?

Listen, we should enforce the law. How
do we enforce the law? Yes, we should

deport them. We should build a wall. We
should triple the border patrol.

When Mexico sends its people, they're
not sending their best.

They're not sending you.

They're not sending you.

They're sending people that have lots of
problems.

They're bringing drugs.

They're bringing crime.

They're rapists. And some, I assume, are
good people.

criminals and rapists.

I've seen multiple studies which
indicate that violent crime among

immigrants is actually lower than in the
general population.

I need to talk to someone who can
explain the attitude shift.

So I'm going to meet with Dan Stein, the
head of a group called the Federation

for American Immigration Reform, FAIR, a
lobbying group based in Washington, D

.C. They believe we're letting too many
people in.

both illegals and legals.

Given where I've been, I decide to start
with the babies.

You've used the term anchor babies.

Can you tell me what you mean by that
term?

It's an anchor. It's a grappling hook.
It's an attachment.

It's a foot in the door. And I don't
understand why that's derogatory, by the

way, but some people seem to feel it is,
but it's descriptive of the fact that

it provides a foot in the door. I think
people come to this country and then

have the babies so that they won't get
kicked out.

there are many, many reasons why people
come to this country. Nobody comes to

this country devoid of understanding or
information about how U .S. law works.

I recently saw a clip of the 1980
presidential debate between George

Bush Sr.

and Ronald Reagan where they talked
about immigration and spoke of...

undocumented immigrants in this country
being good people, hardworking people,

people that we should find more kindness
and compassion.

I mean, these are the words that came
out of these two conservative heroes'

mouths. What has changed so dramatically
that

between then and now?

It isn't fair to attribute border
anarchy.

to compassion.

It's not a compassionate position to say
that anybody can just run into the

country and be expected to be treated
like everybody else.

The conversation around who these people
are has gone from

hardworking immigrants who are here to
make a better life for themselves and

their children to something very, very
different in this present day. First of

all, 1980 was a very long time ago. And
I'm here to tell you that the American

people have been incredibly hospitable,
generous, and open in going through some

of the biggest demographic changes in
any nation in the history of the world.

And here we are today having a debate
right now over whether or not the

government even has the credibility to
control our borders.

Okay, so the reality is that at the
moment there are 11 million or more

undocumented immigrants living in this
country.

What is your wish for that 11 million?

What would you, if you had your way...
Some of them could probably stay. Some

them will have to go home. So are you
saying they should be removed?

Well, not all at once, but there's a
process by which you encourage people to

leave. Some people would be put in
deportation proceedings. Some people

back home.

Nothing about the law, nothing about
Congress, nothing about the American

have ever said, the way you immigrate
here is to break the law and then wait

around for the next amnesty program.

I guess we're at an impasse.

Where I see refugees and people
struggling to make a better life for

children, Dan Stein sees lawbreakers,
pure and simple.

But could it be that cut and dry?

I'm going to be meeting a young woman
whose story I've heard is anything but

straightforward.

In North Carolina these days, it's easy
to forget in the middle of all of our

political battles, we've been fighting
an environmental battle, too.

When you take a closer look, though, you
quickly understand that, like so much

of what I've seen since I came home,
it's hard to separate one from the

A spill in North Carolina, thousands of
pounds of ash dumped into the Dan River.

One of the largest spills of coal ash
ever reported in American history.

Officials estimate that as much as 82
,000 tons of ash were released into the

river. And it's been spreading ever
since.

So I didn't know what coal ash was
either, but if you think about it, it's

of simple. Coal ash is what is left
after you burn coal.

This stuff has been piling up for
decades.

They keep a lot of it in what are pretty
much lakes of coal ash mud.

In the big spill, one of these coal ash
lakes dumped into the Dan River.

The ash contains heavy metals and
hexavelic chromium, the Aaron Brockovich

chemical, and it's kind of radioactive.

If it's in your groundwater, it is
probably a pretty good recipe for cancer

heart and lung disease.

The coal ash belonged to North
Carolina's governor, Pat McCrory's

former employer, Duke Energy. His
administration has, over the last year,

shielding his old company from lawsuits
filed by local environmental groups.

So sorry about this, but here are some
numbers that I learned about Duke and

Governor McCrory.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory
worked for Duke for 29 years.

The year before McCrory decided to run
for governor, Duke gave the Republican

organization that helps governors get
elected $15 ,000.

The year of the coal ash spill, they
gave that same organization $3 million.

And here are four more numbers. I'm
sorry. Stay focused.

After the spill that poisoned the Dan
River, the state fined Duke, a $23

company, a little less than $100 ,000.

That's like someone making $60 ,000 a
year and getting fined 30 cents.

It seems to me like the $3 million, that
was a pretty good investment.

When the Duke Energy Plant began its
operations in the early 1970s, fly ash

would fall on our land, rooftops of our
homes and our vehicles and cover them

worse than the pollen in the springtime
around here.

We could write our names on the cars
because it was just that thick.

As a child, I had problems with my
bladder.

My mother developed heart problems.

They ended up causing her death on
September 28, 2014, of a massive heart

attack.

You can't drive two miles in either
direction of the power plant without

a family that has dealt with such
illnesses.

My father was a 32 -year veteran of the
Department of Environmental Quality.

I started with the division in 2004.

I was proud of my job, and I was proud
of my agency.

But I walked away from all of it in 2013
because I could no longer in good

conscience stay with an agency that was
being dismantled and redirected into a

pro -corporation, polluter -friendly
agency.

DEQ press releases these days read more
like a re -election ad than

environmental position statement.

We are just tired of people dying and
that's not necessary.

The people that are in position to make
decisions to move things are not

listening.

So evidently there's something else
involved that stimulate them and that

be money that is placed in their
pockets.

I serve as Duke Energy's Environmental
Affairs Director for North Carolina.

is a complicated issue, but we're
focused on trying to get it right.

The people are tired of this being
politicized. We are dying with...

undrinkable water, then we won't help.
We don't care about your re -election

bids or none of that. We won't help
because we're dying.

To see the heartache in my child's face
because she knows I'm sick,

that's heartbreaking for me.

I don't want the next generation to have
to face the same things that we're

facing now.

And that's why I'll continue to speak up
for justice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I had three strokes, and then I had a
heart attack.

I had to get cysts put in my heart.

These are the mounds of coal ash right
here to my left.

Covered with grass.

That's all coal ash underneath that?

Yeah.

Do you know most people on both sides of
the road?

Yes, I do.

The Harrison's residence right here,
their father had lung cancer. And

the house right here.

Him and his wife both passed away from
cancer.

Now we're getting ready to approach
Goolsby's trailer park.

They received do not drink letters.

This whole trailer park is contaminated
water.

And what's the explanation behind it?
They want to say it's naturally

That's what they want to say.

If they do know, then why?

Then what is that?

If they know and they don't care.

Money? Greed? The almighty dollar.

It's the root of all evil. It's what it
says in the Bible.

And I do believe it.

Because they'll do anything for it.

This is where my mother, Annie, is laid
to rest.

And as far as your mom's legacy and as
far as your mom, what do you think she

needs you to do?

Continue. I mean, I just can't give up.

It's that simple.

It's that simple.

Even though the birth certificate case
has been settled

for now, I hear that there are many
Americans who are struggling to prove

full citizenship.

And I'm going to meet a woman in New
York who says this happened to her.

Claudia Palacios is an activist for
immigrant rights and considers herself a

radical, which you might find surprising
because for years, Claudia was a United

States Marine.

What did you do when you were a Marine?

I was a combat photographer.

Oh, wow. So I would embed in different
teams and just capture what was

happening. Where are you from
originally?

My parents migrated to the state of
Texas.

So you're first generation born in the U
.S.? I am, yes. I'm first born and

first generation indigenous Mexican
migrants, yes. And were you born in a

of traditional Texas hospital?

No, I was not. Due to fear of
deportation, my mother chose not to.

give birth in a hospital.

I was born through a midwife, and
midwifery in Texas is very common.

They're allowed to file certificates,
and then those are presented to the

of Texas, and then you're supposed to,
like, get a vital record. It says that

you were born in U .S. territory.

You're granted, like, social security
and all these other things, but what

you're not granted is a birth
certificate.

So when you signed up for the Marines,
what documents did they ask you for?

This is actually the paper that I gave
to my recruiter.

And it's what was signed by the midwife.

I mean, this is enough.

And I joined as a citizen, not as a
migrant, not as like anything else. I am

a citizen.

When I joined the military, my mother
and little sister decided that like they

were going to migrate back to Mexico.
And at that point, I was in Okinawa,

Japan. I applied for a passport.

And that was the first time I was
denied.

It was unreal.

It was very unreal.

Claudia's story seems unreal to me, too.

But the more people I talk to, the more
I see that there's a whole class of

disenfranchised people living among us.

I thought it was a mistake. And I
provided additional information that

wanted, and there was just rejection
after rejection.

It's been a struggle of...

almost 10 years now.

There's paths for citizenship through
naturalization, through the military,

I don't belong to any other state. So
how could I start that process?

So I'm basically stateless.

What does that mean for your life
personally?

I haven't seen my mother and sister in
years.

Last time I saw them, I was still in the
military in 2010.

So it's going to be six years now.

If I'm viewed by the country as a
citizen, where does that leave me?

It's very scary.

Claudia's story is so strange and so
sad.

This is one version of a life without
papers.

You may find yourself stranded in your
own country with no way to see your

family.

And Claudia also reminds me that there
are so many people we hardly ever think

about.

They may be professionals, or pick our
food, or be a U .S. Marine.

They may not have papers, but they're
here, and they are part of our country

too.

I'm told I will see some fresh
approaches in one of the most unlikely

the city.

Called Twin Towers by the locals for the
two towers reaching up from St. Mary's

Church, the neighborhood was
traditionally a tight -knit working

neighborhood.

It's now the epicenter of Dayton's drug
epidemic.

Here I find two exceptional women
working to ensure the community's

As part of her work at the East End
Community Center, Emily Sirico takes a

message of hope out into the community,
telling anyone who will listen how to

find treatment.

Specifically in East Dayton, we have had
a lot of overdoses happen in the last

few months.

And so a team of us have been going out
to respond, to try to capitalize on an

opportunity with that individual to get
them into treatment.

I'm Emily. I work with East End
Community Services. Nice to meet you.

Ellen Mays walks the halls of Ruskin
Elementary, where she runs an after

program for Dayton's neediest children.

Her goal is to help a new generation
escape the clutches of addiction.

I want to welcome everybody to the third
annual Miracle Maker musical.

How long have you guys known each other?

Seventh grade. Seventh grade, yeah.

That's really fantastic.

I've been in this exact area with a
dealer, an addict, the police.

How do you guys see this community?

I see a group of people that want to
take their community back.

I spoke to Joe Hale, who's a lawyer
who's been fighting this crisis for a

time. And when I asked him what he felt
like could be done, he said he didn't

feel like there was a solution. What do
you think?

There is a solution to it, and the
solution is tackling poverty.

Living in poverty is trauma.

It's 100 % trauma, especially with
children.

Easton first started and they went
around to the community asking, what can

do for you? The family said, our
children have no dreams.

Give our children some dreams or show
them how to actually dream.

The goal is to give them the opportunity
to explore their talents, their

passions, what's going to prevent those
particular children from ending up in a

cycle of drug abuse.

I think that that in and of itself can
just be huge.

We have to take an integrated approach
to the problem.

Nonprofits are coming to the table. The
city's coming to the table. We have

neighbors coming to the table. We have
the hospitals, the sheriff's coalition,

all these different groups coming
together.

We can tackle this.

Giving up is just not an option
whatsoever.

And we owe it to somehow figure out what
we can do to make a difference in the

lives of others.

You don't walk away from a situation.

You do the most you can. And you
bring...

your whole power pack with you to do
that, you know?

Because collectively we can do much
more.

It sounds like the gentleman you spoke
to is feeling disheartened because he's

lost a battle, a pretty big battle. But
we might have fallen once or failed

once, but you get back up and you try
again until we find the solution. What's

the alternative?

For now, the determination of people
like Emily may be the only thing holding

the line against the epidemic.

On a cloudy spring afternoon, many of
them gather for the opening of a new

treatment center in the Twin Towers,
looking for shared strength and their

shared purpose.

They'll need it.

The cost of failure, of doing anything
less.

is only too clear.

Just

like

we ask addicts to do the hard work of
recovery, we too must do the hard work

fight this plague.

When I look at what we've accomplished
through this sort of collaboration, I

really do think everything is going to
be okay.

It's been a better part of the year
getting to this grand opening. I thank

all for being here today, and I hope
that this program and our efforts live

to all of our expectations.

I gave him four milligrams.

We've had 40 overdoses in the last two
weeks right in this community.

We've lost a thousand bodies in the past
four years.

And we're still sitting around the table
trying to figure out how to solve this

problem.

We got to quit kicking the can down the
road and blaming the feds and blaming

the state.

This isn't brain surgery.

How much heroin does he use? How long
was he in that room?

We are better than this.

I'd like to say help's on the way. Maybe
it will be.

But don't lose faith.

Stay strong.

Time on America Divided. People are
getting elected through unconstitutional

voting laws.

Why can we not out the people that are
in power? They drew the redistricting

so that Republicans couldn't lose any
kind of competitive election.

Aren't domestic workers protected?

What do you say to a family that says, I
can't afford overtime?

It is true that there is a limit to what
families can afford and handle on their

own. You're saying if they can't afford
me, they're not going to use me. It's

about money.