crimes did flawed lab work take away their freedom? >> i was 18 when i went in... when i came out i was 50... you don't get it back... >> shocking truths revealed >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america major foreign policy speech from president obama. how he sees america's new role as the world's leader. also, a deeply personal take from the va scandal from a vet who received no help when he was at a breaking point. plus what's it like to hold the life of the world's powerful man, it's in your hands? plus, the life of maya angelou. i'm antonio mora, and this is "consider this." more on what's ahead.

>> president obama revealed a major change in foreign policy. >> to more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold. >> many feel assad's roll in power would be better. >> i'll work to ramp up those for the syrian opposition. for terrorists and dictators. >> secretary of defense chuck hagel has ordered a review of the health care system. >> secretary shinseki, i call on the congress to fire him. >> maya angelou has died. >> she is the say i guess all the odds. >> i had something to do in this world. >> after months of accusations of feeble leadership and his handling of international crises and conflicts, president obama sought to counter his critics wednesday on a commencement

address at the u.s. naval academy at west point. demand he it working through multilateral institutions and in concert with allies provided a force multiplier that made america stronger particularly in response to russia's meddling in ukraine. terrorism remained the most direct threat to u.s. at home and abroad and al qaeda's central leadership had been decimated, its decentralized routine needed more came to defeat. >> up to $5 billion, to maintain, facilitate partner countries on the front lines. >> the president also proclaimed his belief in american exceptionalism and leadership. responding to criticism that america had often been stronger

to others. >> america has no peer. the do not come close to the dangers we faced during the cold war. >> for more i'm joined from washington, d.c. by ambassador james jeffrey, a former u.s. ambassador to iraq, deputy u.s. presidential advisor and fellow at the u.s.ing institute. i'll start with you, ambassador, did you hear anything new in wednesday's speech aside from his call for billions of dollars for new counterterrorism which sounded likes new money for old allies. decision. in addition, he did say that he would up the amount of military assistance to syrian rebels, rather than through intelligence agencies and you have to take this in context with his decision which was a semi positive decision to keep troops

in longer in afghanistan. president obama line on how he looks at the world and how he think. >> talking about counterterrorism and the threat for terrorism, al qaeda's expand he defusion around the world and how that has made it stronger, during the election it was all about getting rid of the central leadership and not these affiliates. you just wrote a piece is up titled america's epic yemen fail. americans from pakistan to nigeria are taunting the governments there, trying to hunt them down with american help. >> i think they feel the initiative is with them, whether we are talking about boko haram in nigeria or al qaeda in the asian peninsula or al qaeda in the splawm ic islam ick magrab.

they all feel the united states doesn't have commitment to send in troops to stop them. which is what president obama is saying, we're not going to send in troops to stop them. i think he's right on that but he ceant get -- can't get on message enough to determine that the united states is going to stop these in time. >> calling president obama's foreign policy consistently bad, this was after the afghanistan pull back that you referred to. they mentioned the pullout of iraq, the decisions to not intervene militarily in syria, the libya intervention without leaving any troops there to help out. how do you see it? >> i basically agree with the washington post editorial. all of these are tough decisions. taken by themselves you can make a case for president obama's position in any and all of them. taken as a system, taken as a series of decisions they are worrisome because we have

threats in the world that are even greater than al qaeda. al qaeda needs to be combated. i don't see it quite the way he does. i do see the growing power of russia, the growing power of china the continued mess in the middle east taken together as an even greater exist tension tengs existencial threat. >> if we had gotten out of iraq soonesooner afghanistan sooner,e point is not being isolation heist. he is right, you can't be isolationist in today's world. but some other countries are going to have to help us do it or do it themselves. >> he seems to be taking a middle ground . >> that is a leadership problem and that is people don't want to listen to middle ground.

they want to be inspired by action or retreat from action. we don't want to adjust things as circumstances require which is pretty much what he's saying. >> ambassador you brought up the multilateral issue. president obama said if we don't lead, nobody else will. but then much of his talk was about collective action, multilateral action. what is america's role here? >> well that's all good and as chris said, we do have a problem with the american people. i don't think it's as serious as it was when we had hundreds of thousands in iraq without a known mission. we do need to work with allies. bill clinton did that. if we are looking for amiddle ground i'd take bill clinton, not barack obama. does it against iran, coas kosovo, bosnia, they did require america

moiblgzin mobilizing people in the u.n. to pass resolutions. >> well can ambassador is right about the clinton administration but the important thing to remember is that all those actions were taken by clinton before iraq and before afghanistan and before the exhaustion that people feel about these wars now. >> americans are really talking strongly about the president and how he's projecting weakness not strength. senator bob cork he, the ranking republican saying, is it because they see a president who i think they don't believe will back up statements with actions. chris. >> well you know the republicans never saw a tax they didn't hate and war they didn't like. i think that's just more of the same. they basically are saying, they don't even say how you going to pay for it?

i mean are they going oback a $5 billion fund to fight terrorism? i do you believ doubt it. even though the war in iraq cost $2.5 billion a week. these kinds of political sniping i don't think is going to help. president obama needs to find a way to inspire the american people and also to articulate global policy as part of a narrative that people believe in not just a situational response to events. >> one positive narrative ambassador was about ukraine. saying that the multilateral efforts there have worked. and that they have improved the situation there. do you agree? >> absolutely. but? and there's always a but with this administration, taking the decision to pull all of our troops out of afghanistan in two years regardless of the situation will be seen by putin as another example that regardless of where the president will not see things through if there's any political pressure or need to use the military. he will apply that to the

situation in the ba ba baltics, well done but it has to be done in global perspective. >> do you think china or russia will rethink things based on today's speech? >> they will find themselves, they will think that the americans are still very reluctant to use military force. again you cited american exhaustion. i am can exhausted by american action in afghanistan. student belong term commitments of hundreds of thousands of troops without any particular mission and with a lot of casualties. they don't seem to be very exhausted when obama went into libya, with wouldn't be exhausted if he went into syria. >> mexico? >> where? >> i guess we'll leave it there but a lot of latinos wondering where the president is on the

many issues in latin america. >> as well they should. >> thank you both. one of the president's most vexing policy problems is syria. more than 100,000 people have been killed and many millions more have been displaced in a civil war going on for more than three years. in that time moderate opposition fighters have been begging the united states to help them fight. against bashar al-assad. instead, assad has grown command over the country and will surely win the election later this week. >> we should not put american troops into the middle of this increasingly sectarian war, i believe that is right decision. but that does not mean we shouldn't help the syrian people stand up against a dictator who bombs and starves his own people. >> but what kind of help is the president talking about?

joining us from washington, d.c. is ubaay shabandar, ubay, good to have you back on the show. president obama said he was going to increase efforts to help the opposition. he wasn't at all specific. he talked about sending aid to syria's neighbors and coordinating with allies. what do you expect in aid and will it make a difference? >> i think a key statement made by president obama was that there is a recognition by the united states that the moderate opposition represents, as president obama put it, the best alternative, to not only the assad regime but to the estremists, operating in syria today. i think this represents an important potential reflection point, given the recognition as stated by president obama in his

west point speech today, that only by strengthening the moderate forces on the ground that are fighting not only the assad regime but al qaeda forces that have expanded in syria can can the united states not only help the syrian people in their fight for freedom and liberty and at the same time, deal with a growing threat that not only threatens, regional stability but american and reejt interests at the same time. >> in an almost by partisan vote -- bipartisan vote, national security advisor susan rice skirted the issue when she was asked about it today, a background briefing to reporters did the same thing, no specifics about whether the obama administration was going to provide training or equipment to the rebels.

>> there's growing talk here in washington, particularly since the 25-to-one vote in the senate armed services committee to train and equip the modern syrian army regarding what the united states can do in terms of significantly expanding and train and equip effort to the moderate syrian army to not only against the assad regime but to fight al qaeda's factions as well. we are seeing a significant level of discussion within policicpolicy making circles, rg this matter and certainly the momentous vote by the senate armed services committee last week, keep in mind that the howpt howpt house of representatives must also vote for it. optimistic.

>> do you think that because al qaeda affiliates have taken over so much territory in syria that the u.s. administration is now sort of changing its tune? because the opposition has asked for help for more than three years and we've seen any occasional gains by the opposition reversed by the assad forces over and over again. >> well, as u.s. senior administration officials have been keen on saying lately, the assad regime is viewed as the primary magnet of terror and a primary magnet for these extremist force he in syria. but at the end of the day it is not only the growth of the forces but the systemic forces that have been leeched by the free syrian army forces. >> do you really think that? there has been a transition says john kerry, with divisions between the rebel groups have

those ended, are we going to be able to vet exactly where weapons might go to make sure that they don't get into the wrong hands? >> well, we must also keep in mind that just earlier this month, the commander of the free syrian army general bashir was here in washington to provide those assurances to president obama and the pentagon and the state department and the national security council that prior to this visit by the syrian opposition that a large gathering of leaders of the free syrian army had met in southern turkey to unify their ranks. the syrian opposition answer unity has strengthened, to serve as a capable partner with the united states and other allies is there and they are ready to fight the estremists.

>> if it is the case, if you get training and the equipment is it too little, too late? many has said that assad has already won the war. >> assad ask absolutely not won the war. the revolution, you cannot defeat an idea. and we must -- at the same time the free syrian army has made some impressive gains on the ground both on the coast and on the southern front. so while there may be a fluid situation on the ground while the assad regime may gain some territory you can only do so by policy. at the end of the day, you cannot owes a policy that has risen up for its rights, for an ability to take back their country. and so while there may be some setbacks, revolutionary forces have made clear that the fight will go on. >> ubay shabandar, good to have you on the show to let us know what's going on in syria. so much for thank you for

your service. the va all but told him, thank you for being expendable. busted in mississippi for sneaking into a nursing home, shows a deep division in the major senate race for republican party. what do you think? join us on twitter and our facebook and google plus pages. >> al jazeera america presents the system with joe burlinger >> the dna testing shows that these are not his hairs >> unreliable forensics >> the problem the bureaus got is they fail, it's a big, big deal... >> convicted of unspeakable crimes did flawed lab work take away their freedom? >> i was 18 when i went in... when i came out i was 50... you don't get it back... >> shocking truths revealed >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america

>> an alarming independent report released wednesday from the department of veterans affairs, inspector general's office, confirmed recent allegations that the phoenix veterans. with the average delay lasting 115 days for initial primary care appointments. in the words of an iraq war veteran whose experiences began

with the va in his childhood as the son of a lieutenant colonel. soengineers are ex pendingable n war. and forgettable in peace. thank you for being expendable, has also written for san francisco chronicle, he's also a frequent contributor the esquire. the scandal over delayed treatments has really put the failures of the va on center stage for the whole country, you said it didn't surprise you one bit because you've had to deal with this your whole life. if this is common with our military something going on forever why did it take this scandal to call attention to it? >> we don't really care about what happens to our veterans. we kind of want them out of sight, out.of mind. we want them for welcome home

hero ceremony but we forget and don't care what happens once the ceremony is over. >> this is an important commitment to our veterans and when you see what's going on it's really horrifying. you write that you thought it was a miracle that you survived iraq and you now think it's a miracle you survived the va. you had suicidal thoughts when you returned and you ran into a brick wall trying to get help from the va. >> several times i was at a real low dark point in my life and i was at a point where i was like you know i need to go down to the va and get some help. and when i made the phone call, every time it's like they put you on hold. then when you finally imetd through, they -- get through, they transfer you to the wrong person. they tell you it's almost two months for an appointment to see someone. and you know whenever i say is that the soonest you can see me? they say yeah, that's the

soonest, they swill explain, they have all these soldiers coming back from the war flooding the va system and they just don't have the people to take care of all the new veterans that are enrolling now in the va for help. >> and you write about how when you finally did get to see someone and you were drinking -- you had a cup of coffee and the reaction you got from the doctor was incredible. >> yeah, i mean at that -- i remember that time. i was i had a friend i said colby you need to go down to the va maybe they can help you. and from previous experiences i knew not to call the va because they will just put you on hold. i went do you conto the emergency room and finally saw someone. i was -- had a cub of coffee, she said how many cups of coffee do you drink in a day? she said maybe a pot, two pots. she told me to cut back on my coffee and come back in a month or so and see how i feel.

i'm like lady, you don't get it. i have weird thoughts about maybe jumping off a bridge or something. you know i need some medication, some antimedication, antidepressant or something. she was telling me the story about how they used to prescribe all these pills to veterans but a lot of them would get looked on these pills, or they would commit suicide or do something so they were cutting back on giving people pills. and i remember like, you got to be kidding me? and i walked out of the vaiz kind of worse -- va kind of worse off than when i entered. what am i going to do now? i've had good experienced with the va but that was one point where i was like, you got to be kidding me. >> you do say if you want to get attention from the va the only hope to get it quickly is go to the emergency room? veterans. if you are in bad shape don't even bother calling them.

just go down there. >> your experience with the va began long before your return from iraq. your father is a vietnam vet. you saw as a child how inefficient the va could be when you needed to be treated back then. >> yeah, i mean my memories of the va is just waiting in the lobby for hours and hours and hours just sitting there with my dad. my dad he doesn't like waiting in the lobby either, you know and he just wants me to -- one story was i was sick and the doctor asked me on the scale of 1 to 10 how bad are you, i was like i don't know, 6 or 7, put my name on the list and went to the lobby, my dad says if you don't tell them you're at least a 10, we'll sit around all day waiting to be seen. >> and you said this scandal may be the best thing that ever happens to our veterans. are you really hopeful that this could be what it takes to get the veterans the help they need and deserve?

>> i don't know if it's hopeful but i hope this raises some hell and get people angry and pissed off. it's pretty pathetic if you are really in bad shape and you go down to the va for help and they tell you we can't see you for a couple of months or eight or 12 weeks and you know we ask a lot for our soldiers, you know? they go out there deployed away from their families, multiple deployments and they come back and i think we owe it to them to you know make sure that you know they get treated you know? >> we certainly do. and i hope that we can be hopeful and that something will be done. colby bezel, ugh thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> the unfolding scandal in the veterans affairs department may go on to haunt the obama administration throughout the political year. meantime the democrats are haunted by the specter of a hillary clinton presidential campaign nap could be anything but.

nasty primary fight in naps still has a week to go. for more i'm joined by miecialg shore. as always good to see you. let's start with this inspector report from va, really damning, talking about delayed care, manipulation of records at the phoenix va hospital, one veteran is calling for a congressional investigation, scandals in the obama administration. the president himself though in this case is saying this is extremely troubling. is this a scandal that will have legs? >> yeah, i mean i think it's a scandal that will have legs because it's real. i mean this is really happening. benghazi is in the minds of a lot of people not a real scandal. while this is affecting every one of every stripe who has served in the military. it's not just in one city. it is not one va facility. we heard today about phoenix, 115 days for your first primary care visit. they had secret lists, dark

lists, shadow lists of veterans, so some wouldn't find out how long they were waiting. actually, it should be a 24, 25 day wait, that even sounds like a lot. you are going to hear lots much calls for eric shinseki to resign, step down. this is not the kind of problem with one firing, not osay he shouldn't leave, i'm not advocating that. but very often there's a feeling antonio that you get rid of the captain and everything will be righted on the ship. that is not the case, it is a big, deep problem at the va. >> it's been around for a long administration. it is biting some republicans too. republican senator richard burr of north carolina criticized veterans groups who are not calling for eric shinseki to resign, saying they're too cozy with the va. they have accused senator burr from failing to show up for

testimony on veterans health care. >> this won't transcend politics but it ought to. better. this is an opportunity for everybody to come together and figure out what the problem is why it is happening and work to make it better. whether it is senator burr or acre shinseki, everybody could work together. in these kind of cases if nobody can come out a clear winner, in other words if everybody wins there's not as much political currency unfortunately. >> i'm not talking 2016 too early -- >> never too early antonio. >> plit coaz had a piece -- politico had a piece this week, that was wary of hillary. she's way lady of polls among democrats, way ahead of all republicans. what struck me is de val patrick, the governor of massachusetts was quoteabout

worrying about this inevitability issue. thought that was trained. >> strange. question. what happens if she does or she doesn't. the democrats who are wary for hillary ought to be careful because after that their bench thins. that's exactly what the republicans want because they are coming at there with a pretty thin bench themselves. what if we get too cocky? what if what happened in 2008 happened to hillary again, and it doesn't work out well and there isn't a barack obama waiting in the wings. i also think it's something else, something new th to talk about. >> the president's big speech at west point. the washington post was critical of the president in an

editorial. the reception he was given seemed tepid. >> the president was talking about you know international cooperation, which as nice as it is, is also a dull conversation to have. it's carter-esque in its delivery and that's never good when you're a president and never good for politics. you are probably going ohear a good deal i would ge of criticism coming from abroad to this is feature particularly from israel. however this is sort of what his doctrine is, antonio, to try to use the international organizations, u.n, use sanctions as much as he can, not send people into combat. i think what you will see what will happen in ukraine coming on the heels of what has happened in iran will determine a lot of what the legacy of this president will be. hard to tell you.

>> hard to say for his moving forward, if east not received well internationally, it will hurt his international policies if popular opinion follows. let's get to a couple of interesting local races. texas. tea party dan patrick defeated david dewhurst. lieutenant governor. we have seen republicans going more established candidates. texas different? >> texas ask a little bit different. you're totally on point antonio. important position, you are the head of the state senate. you also get to appoint committee members when you're lieutenant governor. dan patrick has said, he talked about the type of committee members he would support fm david dewhurst has lost twice. he

was the heir apparent to kay bailey hutchinson. antonio isn't that i don't think big a deal. i think conservatives are so far to the right in texas anyway that there tea party and the conservative right of texas republicans right now, this is a conservative state and you see conservatives winning. >> mississippi, we're seeing a battle between thad cochran and tea party republican chris mcdonald. there was obig scandal brewing there, a conservative blaring was charged with taking pictures of senator cochran's wife who has lived for 13 years in a nursing home with dementia. mcdaniel's. this is getting ugly. what happened to ronald reagan's

don't speak ill of other republicans? >> i think antonio this is one of the uglier races. a lot of people are talking about this as the last stand of the tea party. it really isn't but their last chance to pick off a sitting senator. like they did to bob bennett in utah and richard luger. i do think though that this is the place where they have a chance. the last polling in this predates that ugly scenario that had the taping made in the nursing home. the last polling had cochran down by four points but every other poll had cochran up, and some of them significantly. it is the one to watch because this is where the tea party can actually pick off one sitting senator. that seems to be their mission. >> we'll talk about it next week, michael, always good to have you. >> antonio, thank you. straight ahead, playing

wally ball with the first president bush. and hoirl clinton is technically unemployed but she still outranks most women on the planet when it comes to >> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

>> every saturday join us for exclusive, revealing, and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. rosie perez >> i had to fight back, or else my ass was gonna get kicked... >> a tough childhood... >> there was a crying, there was a lot of laughter... >> finding her voice >> i was not a ham, i was ham & cheese... >> and turning it around... >> you don't have to let your circumstance dictate who you are as a person >> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >> the president of the united states has some of the most well-known vehicles on the face of the planet. the iconic blue and white of air force 1 and the imposing limousine known as the beast. but few sights can match the

power and grace of the green and white of marine 1 lifting off from the white house lawn. joining us here in the new york studio is u.s. colonel retired ray frenchie larue. u.s. 1, four american presidents, one proud marine. one amazing helicopter. he recounts his experiences piloting some of the most important people in the world and possibly one of the most famous helicopters in the world. thank you for joining us. >> good to be here. >> you see marine 1 landing with ronald reagan and that changed everything? >> it did and i've always had that aspiration, just to become that commercial pilot. still had that romantic idea of flying and started out to do that on my own and realized really quickly that the resources needed to do that were not going to happen especially in a big family. >> expensive to get that training? >> very competitive.

marine training, got to my first flight school and fleet squad squad rorch and realized it was hard to leave. >> -- squadron and realized it was hard to leave . air station as i was stationed at as a start ing off point. the motorcades and security there was a certain attraction to that and the rest is history. >> it's fine, the rest is history but making history ain't easy. >> it's not. >> it's nice to have that dream but it took a lot of hard work and crazy training and very, very few people are high enough ranked i guess as marine helicopters to even have a shot at this. >> right. and there's a lot of things that have to happen before that, as well. and the prerequisites, there's timing involved as well, and other gentlemen that were just

as qualified as i was. but you know, the short list gets shorter and then you get the call and you accept. >> and you got the call twice. at two different points in your life you ended up doing this. >> yep. >> and you flew four different u.s. presidents. the two bushes, president obama and president clinton. >> yes. >> what was it like, i've got the most powerful man on board? >> first was, one of the recogniz requisites, was you had to take the squadron pilot, you go to this unit knowing what the mission is and you can't wait to get into that seat and your first lift on the white house lawn for instance and everybody knows that those cameras are right there to the left so you'll always see the pilot look out to the left. but when you're landing that close to the white house or making that turn at the washington monument and flying directly at the white house and landing on the south lawn, i

miss it, i can tell that you. you never get sick of that landing. >> it must be a really imposing sitimposingsight. >> it is. >> the helicopter itself is described as being incredibly smooth. one of these helicopters goes anywhere in the world the president goes. >> it's a global mission we do travel ostensibly wherever the president travels to. the helicopter is remarkable only in the mission it has and the passengers that it carries. certainly there's fourth generation helicopters that are in the private sector today that might have more technology or be fancier inside but it cannot even come close or equate itself to the mission that this particular aircraft has or the places that it lands. that's what makes it remarkable. >> serl remarkable. and the mission involved not just flying at time. you had all kinds of calls from presidents to do all kinds of

things including playing wally ball, with president bush 41. harrowing bike rides with president bush 43. >> absolutely. >> you even flew pope john xxii in mile high stadium in denver. you went liking with the pope? >> there was a place in the rockies, st. malo's retreat, i don't know if it exists anymore but the catholic diocese of denver had it at one time. and pope john, when he had a few days off, we flew him up there and he was going to get an r and r, the event the pope had to come down off the mountain we were there. the staff, security said the pope is going for a like, you are more than welcome to come along. you don't turn that down. you remain apolitical they are

wonderful gentlemen but as a commanding officer, i forged a relationship with president bush 43. i was his last pilot and he was my last commanding officers. just some of the things he did on his ranch in texas as well endeared all the marines to president bush and i would say that's probably the favorite if i have to boil it down. >> i didn't mean in your like for all four, comes across quite clearly. but i would have guessed in reading the book that it was bush 43 who was the one you wore closest too. i know you're still occasionally in touch. >> yes. >> it's really a pleasure to have you with us. fun olook at this book. there's great anecdotes. >> great to be here. >> colonel ray frenchie larue. thank you for coming. >> you betcha. >> coming up. america says good-bye to a

literature icon. maya angelou. diane real reporting that brings you the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america.

families ripped apart...

>> racial profiling >> sometimes they ask questions... sometimes they just handcuff people... >> deporting dreams... destroying lives... >> this state is literally redefining what it means to be a criminal alien fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the doors... >> ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here... >> truth seeking... award winning investigative documentary series fault lines the deported only on al jazeera america >> today's data dive plugs into power. forbes released its new list of the 100 most powerful women in the world yesterday. they looked at four areas, money, media, impact and spheres of influence. michelle obama made the top 10, mary barra, is on the top 10 ceos. hillary clinton hasn't announced her presidential bid but she

still comes in 6th. brazil dilma russef yore seize 650 million citizens. melinda gates, and janet yellen is almost at the top, number 2 as the new fed chair . be angela merkel, and convene elizabeth, lady gaga is the young eggs at 28. her last album art pop flopped. but she brought in $50 million last year from touring. oprah is the highest ranked woman in entertaining, she's to perform in night mother on broadway next year.

beyonce, toche tops her husband jay z. the talent management and marketing firm , jennifer lopez itself. it is quite a list. we'll honor one of literature >> saturday on tech know. >> we probably ought to put the goggles on now. >> visionary technology. >> these goggles will help surgeons detect tumors that are less than one millimeter in size. >> life changing. >> these have the potential to revolutionize the way that we approach patients with mini cancers. >> tech know, every saturday go where science meets humanity. >> this is some of the best driving i've every done, even though i can't see. >> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. >> saturday, 7:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

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>> when a poet dies, something hopeful in the american psyche dies. those words written about maya angelou from a friend could have been written by her, one of america's greatest poets. she passed away at age 86 on wednesday. one of the world's most influential women of the last 50 years was as varied as it was accomplished. poet, novelist, civil rights activist, actress singer dancer professor, historian, even the first black female streetcar count okayor in san francisco. her story, i know why the caged bird sings, became a movie.

broad her wide claim. bill clinton's inauguration, where she composed a poem. >> come you may face upon my back and face your distant destiny but seek no haven in my shadow. >> her words had meaning for a vast audience who never tired of her inspirational message. she posted her last message on last friday. they read, listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of god. joining us is legendary actress of diahann carroll, who start in the tv version of, "i know why the caged bird sings." it must be a terribly sad day as it is for many maishes. you were her friend, you played with her

on broadway, you played her mother in i i know why the caged bird sings. what is it you remember her moss for? >> i would think it would be her humanity and her courage. if she believed in something, don't argue. she has to take it through life, through friends, through each experience, until -- until it is exactly as she sees it in front of the rest of us. she presents it to us. the first time i saw maya, was here, really, in -- i any it was called yee little club. in beverly hills. it held maybe 15, 20 people. but i saw that she was going to be there. and i went, and i stood in the back, really nervous about how this creature was going to find

her path in this part of california. and the music started. and she came through the door. this tall, magnificent woman. no shoes. walked to the stage. with, i think, drums, i would say drums. and she turned and she faced us. and we were absolutely in the palm of her hand for next, oh, two hours. some songs, some stories, some -- she was incredible. >> one of the things people forget about her because of all her other accomplishments is she was a terrific performer. an actress a singer a dancer she was a songwriter, she toured internationally in porgie and best, and she played kunta ta

kinte's grandmother in the minute i series roots. what an incredible woman. >> her presence was a meaning unto itself. she walked into the room it wasn't necessary for her to do anything. you were still going to turn to watch her. she -- i was doing something a few years ago in canada. and i received a message from her that a car would pick me up at a certain time and i should come to this place. and so i did. i did. exactly as she told me to do. and she came out and she took me by the hand, took me into the little studio much like this and we talked for a long, long time about motherhood, children , men, life. i still didn't know exactly where we were, she hugged me put me back in the car but the only thing i received was the driver

saying ms. angelou told me to come to pick you up. but i trusted her. it's not easy for me to say that about anyone but i trusted her completely. >> in one wonderful moment let's take a look at it came on the oprah winfrey show where they played a clip of her performing in 1952. >> he gets going with miss calypso herself, maya angelou! ♪ ♪ ♪ >> loy, loy, loy loy poor, joey joey mo and joe run the kansas store telling from behind the door. >> it's great to see her face

diahann as she watched that. she had such a tremendous impact on so many, especially african american writers. tony morrison, alice walker, so many others inspired by her. i'm sure she must have taken a lot of pride by that. >> oh yes, she loved to pull people into her ring, her ring of greatness. and she was very happy for those who acknowledged that she was the leader of the pack. and we all became kind of a sisterhood. there's one over here in i don't know san francisco and someone over there in florida. but we just -- we could call each other and say, you know, i'm friend of maya's and that's all we needed to hear. >> she endured a really rough life when she was young, hardship, pain, poverty, rape as a young girl and you know one of the incredible stories for a woman with such an incredible voice she didn't even speak for

years after that rape when her rapist was killed. did she ever talk to you about that? >> no. no, there was really no reason for her to talk about that. she always talked about things that taught you something. >> but it was part of the movie and the book. >> oh yes, yes, yes. i played her mother in the film. it was so strange playing her mother, our age difference made it very pecular. but it was a throw pack, really. but no, i don't ever remember hearing her talk about what happened. >> a quick final word. what do you think she'd like her legacy to be? >> i think maya knows exactly what her legacy is. she made it slowly, carefully, planned, and able to communicate. i'm so glad we had her. it would have been lovely to have her a little longer.

but i'm so glad we had her. >> she wrote, "people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will not forget how you made them feel. i doubt that anyone will forget anything about maya angelou . diahann carroll, we appreciate you being with us. condolences, thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> the show may be over but the conversation continues. we'll see you next time. there's more to financial news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month? have you thought about how climate change can affect your grocery bill? can rare minerals in china affect your cell phone bill?

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