the rockaways could miss. kaelyn forde, al jazeera, new york. . >> i am richelle carey. "talk to al jazeera" is next. check out our website, aljazeera.com. keep it here. >> it's something that i was father.

>> he founded the whitaker peace initiative to empower youth in fragile communities. he grew up in south central l.a. among gang activity? >> making people aware of possibility did is sometimes lacking in violence, poverty. >> he won an oscar for his portrayal of the ugandan leader. to prepare for the film, he learned swahili and how to play the accordian just as the dictator had? >> i am driven by my fear of not knowing. i am trying to get enough information to be able to do do it in a true way. >> forest also talks about race relations in america. he was falsely accused of theft and publically frisked in new york. >> allotted of people of color have experienced these kind of discrimination the. is this this guy decide dodd this. >> the actor reflects on the late robin williams? >> it was tragic, you know.

amazing loss, a beautiful person, amazing mind. >> he joined us at our studios in new york. >> i want to talk about the whitaker peace and development initiative. i want to talk about the unesco, all of this work you are doing around the world. i want to start by asking you. what time inspired you to do all of this? >> as a child, my first touch with conflict of war was with my cousins. my cousin went to the vietnam war when i was a little kid. he came back. he even lived in my room. he was totally changed by the war. and its affected him to this day. so, i think that that understanding fuelled me. and then there was a bunch of incidents in my community. i lived on east 49th street. the black panther used to have a stoop at the end of the corner, they would invite me to the breakfast program. i remember going by and seeing their building blown up and then, behind my grandmother's was the sla, actually s where

they caught the sla. >> family for patty hearst? >> yeah. i remember walking through that building as a kid, and i think that started to affect me and then with the birth of the gangs in los angeles, and seeing them move from, i think at the time it was like the brims to the parus to the crips and the bloods and, of course, many other gangs but that affected me. even like caused me to change my life because at one point, i had some difficulties with a gang and my mother decided to send me an hour away to school, actually, took about two hours on a bus and and an hour in a car. >> and my life. i think this touches with conflict started to affect me and then when i started to work with child soldiers later -- >> did that happen when you went to uganda to film the last king of scott sfland is that where you were more expose today what war does to children? >> actually, it was, yeah. there was place up in north uganda called hope north.

it was just in the form avian stages a friend of mine was running it i started to work there and talk to children soldiers. parallel stories here gang members i back home. i started to recognize my connection on a global level in a deeper way do see myself and others no matter where that was. i actually have a program, wpi or whitaker peace and development has a program in hope north and one in gulu, we are finishing the training facility there? >> wpdi in uganda and south sudan, the focus there is on these children, kate children who have suffered through conflict while, for example, efforts you have in mexico are more focused on gangs. so you are really looking at just the youth in general, i

guess, you know, in these conflict phones, possibly 7% of the people are youths. we have for tenants, conflict, tra transfo transformation, computer technology, my partners supply partners, connectivity for them to work so they can get connected up. and life skills, trauma, release. also, project development. they testimony themselves in shorting the environment. >> you are hands-on. i read you travel 10 to 15 times a year. you just got back from south sudan which is one of the scariest places in the world right now. you have got 15% of the population displaced. there is a threat of famine for millions of people. it's a terrible place.

what are you seeing there? >> it's difficult. i mean we went there as an organization before the current conflict. so, we were there in december of 2012. and we had chosen three states, john lee, upper nile and uti, which we thought were fragile states inside this country. it scattered people. but because of the technology training and help

people. initiating training. >> efforts are so important given the suffering going on there. you saw the suffering in uganda, the infamous lords resistance army and joseph koni a lot of people know about. the trauma these child soldiers have gone through. >> i have shall heard so many stories with them, working with them, being with them, getting to know them. i think one that's interesting is about a child soldier who was abducted with his mother and father and parents carried loads and when the parents were too fired, they took her to a tree and they killed her and then the

same thing with the father but at one point later, after he became a lieutenant and a very strong officer, he escaped and he buried his gear, his gun, his clothes and went walking. he found people that would kill him. he decided to pick up his guns and his weapons, you know, and return because of the loss, he couldn't fit into his community. he was confused about his emotional self. he had been eight years in now and didn't understand how to readdress the world. this was unusual because there are other stories that are quite different. i started working with something called a children of soldiers, you know, which is with lil lila zuriga for children in armed conflict and working with disarming youth. we met with the president to talk to him about disarmament of children and a day later, they signed an agreement to reample their commitment and we met with the solids in the field and then the unity state to talk with

them about disarming their children there as well. so the organization works on a lot of different levels. >> it's difficult to describe just the kind of trauma some of these kids have gone through over the years. you know, americans are becoming increasingly isolationist because of the wars we have been involved in and people just seem to be wanting to pull back from the rest of the world. why would you tell people why it's important to support projects like you are doing? >> i think it's important because what is occurring in other places is affecting you. so many different ways. what you see across from you is a reflex of your life, your environment. whether you see it does affect you in some way. the laws of nature maybe make it that way. we have to rectifies that we have to change those things in order to make our own lives

better. it's the community of man. >> you have been described as an optimist. you really have seen some of the worst of human suffering. terrible places. i am optimistic. they are 40sed to do thinks they don't want to recount and can't sleep through the night for. fighting across their face who you see a child playing. a joy and they feel good.

opportunity. to grow. because it's there. you see it. off the top, to see if it is: they transform themselves, you know. we all have to like recognize it. that you are you can to al jazeera. forest whitaker says he tries to find the. murder russ.

. >> i am antonio mora. forrest whitaker, a unesco special envoy with the whitaker peace initiative. >> let's talk about transformation. when it comes to you. you referred to tour childhood a little bit earlier, you know, how there were gangs and issues you group up in a rough area and having to travel long sdaftsz every day from one of the roughest neighborhoods to one of the richest neighborhoods in southern california to go to school. how transformational was that? >> it was so different, engaging in a new culture from carson to

like palisades, from the beach, it was so different but it allowed me to experience the breadth of now not just opportunities but the possibilities, you know, that are offered out there? >> your mother was a teacher? >> my mom is a teacher. i was in some difficulty. she had made an executive decision to send me far away and make sure i was out of harm's way. >> you saw what -- how your life could be transformed. did you that, you think, in the long run sort of help you think, i can do the same for other people? >> it did. i think, also because, you know, making people aware of safety manuals possibility at this is something that is lacking in violence of poverty, you know, of not having and the difference

for my life. >> clearly an important time for you. obviously your mom did a great job going to grade school to poly technic. >> a lot of schools. >> urn recruited and played ball. >> i did. >> you had a back injury. >> i did. >> and talking against about transformation, how big of a deal was that? did that change your life much? because all of the sudden, ball couldn't be your main focus anymore. you had i had to have go to col

doesn't steam mesh very we are with your stereo typical football player? >> high school was a big job. they would go to the play and it was a source of all kind of ridicule on the ball field especially if i had to do dance numbers or something like that. you do drama and your acting career takes off almost immediately. >> it did. i started working when i was like for are sure college. diack to conservatory because i left town because i wasn't going to be able to, you know, to become a good enough actor if i stayed in town and tried to work. came back and started working

again. i was working since i was like 19. >> fast times at richmond high, which i had forgotten you were in color of money with paul newman, you were in platoon, which, of course was a great vietnam movie. oliver stone that. in good morning vietnam with robin williams. >> i was. >> how was it to be that successful that quickly? because by the time you were 30, you were a pretty established actor. >> i was really fortunate, you know. i worked hard to try to get better. i had a couple of opportunities. i was still going through, you know, the same struggles talking about getting better, then you get to play charlie parker in bird, clint eastwood dread that. >> right. >> you are winning best actor in the cann festival before you are 30 years old, getting nominated for golden globes.

i think i was also critical of the work. i was blown away by the experience. i had never done any publicity for a movie and now, an air e a with thousands much people. i took my brother with me. my brother said, man, i heard somebody saying you might could win this award. really? no. you were a hard working innocent kid because you threw yourself into that role with charlie parker, learned to play the sax, kind of lived sort of a spartan existence. is that -- was that sort of the beginning of, you know, something you have a reputation for of really, really delving deeply into the characters you portray? >> yeah.

it was exploring how it was connected to other people. when i pull away the layers of a person's life to get down to the core, at the core, there is a light or something that connects us all. i put the stuff back up on top. but it helps me go on a journey of trying to understand this individual and find out what his connection is to me. i think that philosophy, which is my real reason for doing my a acting, is the same philosophy i approach the other work that i do in the field, too. >> i thought it was fascinating talking about the layers, the kind of work you put in to becoming edi amin. i learned swahili, learned the accordancy, all sorts of time in uganda talking to people who knew him. how important is that for your process to go that? still only some characters that require that? >> yeah. all characters require the same amount. you know, all of them require

the search and the journey find the core. but tingle what it's about like to be an african-american. i wasn't raised in africa. understanding the politics around it and little things about who he was, what created his fears, what were the real world things and what were the imagined things that fueled him to make some of the choices that he made? it's like that journey, i am pushing, pushing to understand that because in a way, i am driven a little bit by my fear of not knowing. so, i am trying to get enough information to be able to do it in a true way. >> that's the way i push on. >> incredible to acquire that knowledge you played another character where you were a mob asass in. >> yeah.

ghost dog. >> "ghost dog." you not the nicest guides in the world obviously. how do you find because you know you said. this you try to find something that's sympathetic in anybody. >> not that i am trying to find something synpathetic. i am trying to find the reason. everybody started with a core, something good and experiences are life start to dictate the behavior and who they are and what they become. they made me what i am to humanize the character. it's that spot you find that allows you to connect to other people because they say, i have this or i know that or that's like me. you know. it's that journey. a conscious effort to think of him in a good way because i initially kind of do think of him as the human, you know. >> is that what let's you play just this incredible variety of characters whom you have played from film to television? i think back to the crying

games, one of your first big starring successes, these characters are so incredibly different. >> i really enjoyed that. we actually shot the film like i think it was two weeks, my character, you know. and when i went there, my driver, he gave me his voice. he said i learned how to speak with the right accent through him. you know what i mean? and through his experience, i was able to figure out the character in a lot of ways. >> still ahead on "talk to al jazeera" forest whitaker was accused of shoplifting at a high-end deli in new york. he talks about the incident and what it says about racial equality in america.

it's the american it dream. it's what the constitution says. until it's acquired, until we are able to gather it, you know, and have it, the country has never become what it's supposed to be, never become what it says it is. we can see these things happening all the over the place. i produced it from last year called a frugal station that explored that with certain elements of the tragedy that happened with ofblingar grant and what happened with him, all of these things influr he knew us. we look at jail rates and things of that nature. how many people are in prison. you know what i mean? we are looking at almost one out of 2.3 million people, people of color, black, you know, black individuals you have to recognize there is a disparity,

there is a problem and that we have to try to address it in some way that others don't have and that this exists and you have to heel it in order to reach truly what we are trying to become, to evolve, to become the america or country, the place that we say we would like to be. >> you are trying to take that dream and opportunities to kids around the world. it's a pleasure to have you with us, forest. best of luck with your efforts. they are important ones. >> sure. all right. ♪hi. richelle carey coming up at the top of the hour on al jazeera america, screenings for people who could be carrying the ebola virus. stopping the disease in west

africa. major battles against isil underway in syria and iraq today. one woman's determination to die with dignity resparks a national debate. an exclusive look inside north korea all of that straight ahead on "al jazeera america." keep it here. today on "power politics" here come the collintons: this is all about whether you show up. >> they are trying to help democrats keep control of the senate. >> can i get a selfy? >> and in many states, they are building up ious for hillary in 2016. on the republican side, get ready for jeb bush. >> one thing about florida is, it's a purple state. >> in focus, the georgia senate race, the key issue, outsourcing jobs. >> i am proud of it. this is a part of american business, part of any business. >>hr