>> i'm walking you guys! >> all i wanted to see was her walk, it was amazing. >> probably the most profound moment was when i stood up. these were emotions i had been dreaming about for so long. thank you. >> techknow, proud to tell your stories on al jazeera america. >> that is special edition of "talk to al jazeera." we are looking back at the best interviews we did on the channel, the people shaping our time and the way we look at the world. sharing reflexes on struggles in america from movie director spike lee. daughters. >> to feminist icon steinem?

>> i hope whatever i am is useful to the larger, huge movement that this is. >> we laughed with richard lewis? >> that's a great question. therapist. >> balrina misty copeland's tearful wishes? >> i want the ball aworld to be given the respect it returns. >> the cryative force behind game of thrones? >> did it have to be? why couldn't it have been five king dotcoms. >> david foster composed for us? >> i went over the piano. i went, oh, after the love is gone, what used to be right is wrong ♪ >> we heard about mass incarceration and the death stevenson. >> we created distance between the people we put in jails and prisons and the rest of us. >> liberian leader ellen johnson

surlee and her drive on advance women's rights. >> this country is over 100 years old. now, we want to change. now we want to see what a come with do. >> we feature the ethiopian-born, swedish raised chef using his passion for community. >> whenever an opportunities to give back and hire, i want to hire a more diverse kitchen. >> this is the best of "talk to al jazeera." there was no bar too high for this balrina. misty copeland became the first female african-american dancer. copeland was one of six children raised by a single mother. she stumbled into the pal awofford at age 13. she had natural talent. however, copeland had to fight for the right to dance, eventually even suing her mother for emancipation. these are just some of the challenges a balrina faced as she rode to the top and along

many. >> did you ever envision that this is what your life could be? >> no. no. it's still hard to accept that it's a reality. i don't know. again, i am so, like, humbled and grateful for the background that i have had and the situations i have been through and just the elite standing and that i want to forever be able to give back to ballet what it's done for me. and that's the constant battle i have within myself and proving myself to the ballet world and getting all of the expos you're that i have been getting that it's not about something that people -- someone wanting to be famous because i never wanted that. i want the ballet world to be

given the respect is that it deserves and to be seen by more people for so many to experience the beauty that i have received from the ballet world, and with every opportunity and every incredible thing that happens still such a shock. >> overwhelming? >> it's over whelming. i never step outside of myself and think: that's me. it's like that's a proud moment. that's the girlie mentored. that's her. that's ballet and it makes me so proud to be a part of it. >> a constant refrain in your book is this poor little brown girl, for the little brown girl. that's a constant. it's clear that that's what motivates you. that's what drives you, and i am sure there are little brown

girls who meet you who probably get pretty emotional when they see you. >> yeah. >> i can't imagine the pressure that i would imagine that it's got to be kind of an honor, too. isn't it? >> i don't feel any pressure from that at all. it's the same way i -- i look at mogensen and how emotional i got, just hearing her story being the first african-american ballet dancing in a major ballet company to experience what she went through in the ''s . i saw myself in her and i know that's what they are seeing in me. and it pressures me to keep going, to keep setting an example for them to push as hard as i can to make it as far as i can in the ballet world so that they will have an easier path. >> spike lee emerged as a director and actor in the 1980s. films and documentaries are a window into urban america.

his latest memory, shirak show cases the decay of the chicago south side. it's a satire as gun violence is an epidemic and tougher national laws including background checks are needed. sarah hoy spoke with lee in the studio in brooklyn, new york. >> talk to me a little bit about why now? >> well, chicago is the southwest side of chicago is like the canary in the coal mine for gun violence. new york city is .3 times the population of chicago. so ken wol mont co-wrote this script and we knew it had to be chicago. just by choosing chicago, we choose the biggest, then everything. kevin and i tried to do this film six years ago. it wasn't final for it six years ago. the time is now.

>> why? >> well, the film begins with emergency." > "this is an emergency." "gun violence is something that affects every american. we have to get out of the thinking that this affects any certain people, nay certain neighborhoods. violence. >> although there may be .1 type of life on southside or the westside or another part downtown on the magnificent mile, you still have over 400 actual murders so like you said, this affects everybody. by going to chicago, you being there, filming there, do you see a tale of two cities? >> i mean those lines are said by samuel jackson. it is a tale of two cities. those familiar withtha, that's the charles dickens novel, and, in fact, the martha took place on black friday was a clear

indicator that there is a people being affected who were furious about this tape, those rooms by, to say the execution of laquan, the murder of laquan, sixteen shots, our first day of someone's june 1st, a last day of film was july 9th. during that time, first of june to july 9th, while we are shooting, while we are filming shirak, 303 people went, 65. >> 331? >> six got murdered and for 9-year-old ty sean lee is in to an alleyway. i don't care what his father is, what his father did. he's a gang member. not no 9-year-old should be

world. he specially not the united states of america, the so-called becon of democracy. >> since "al jazeera america" launched, we have spoken to some of the biggest names in the music industry. artist akon has sold millions of records worldwide. the newsition, song writer and producer was born in the u.s. but spent much of his child hooded in senegal. et cetera an activist and a fill an though partnership who turned sights on helping africa. his project, akon light in africa is working to bring soar countries. >> every country, is like he is a music guy, you know. it was always that, but we came prepared for answers to every question. we also came prepared to execute. we didn't come into these countries with an idea. we already put together full team, if you will infrastructure. so for the from the moment we came in, we came in creating pilots. we didn't ask the country.

we put up our own in the president. talking? >> it depends upon the pilot, you know, but we allow them to choose if they wouldn't want it first. to give them the scope of work, how we work and so on and so forth. after that, they were all in full belief and we continued and afterwards. >> angela kitchens talks to us about her latest al burment "e" she has seen in darfur's camp. the b 52 singer champions causes ♪ sister, you have the world on your shoulders, and as you, you play with toy soldiers. >> peter gabe reel, most know him for his music but he is the kobe founder of the human rights organization: witness. he e quips and trains people tom use video to document abuses. he spoke to ali vel. >> he was watching you deliver a ted talk where you talked about an incidents when you were a

child and you really, you enjoyed trees and bushes and foliage but you were taken there against your will. >> no. i was bullied by a group of kids. i don't know. i can't remember how old i was. it was probably 7, 8, something like this. and they took all of my clothes off and mucked around and these were people that i thought were my friends. so it was shocking on a number of ways, you know. it wasn't too bad at school. it was a school i went to later which was worse but it was still a traumatic event for me. and when i try and sit with people who have been tortured or loved ones blown up, you know, i don't have anything in my experience really to compare to that, but i've got just, you know, a little hint of something when the world isn't what you you. >> it was a combination of the world not what you expected to be and some shame and some sense

that people won't maybe believe >> yeah. i guess and i think that was one of the things that astounded me was the human rights world when i first encountered it is that it was pretty easy for people to have horrible experiences denied, buried and forgotten. those in power got away with enormous amount, and it seemed that there was a factsastic opportunity with new technology coming, particularly cameras, of getting evidence that would make sure that some justice was achieved. >> your mission it was say, if we could use this new emerging technology, the idea you could get cameras into people's hands, this was in the '90s. >> yes. >> video cameras and teach people how to safely document things that were happening, injustice that was being committed, that all of the sudden you take away that idea happen. >> yeah.

and it's very post he want, you know, we can see a ton of really powerful stuff in text, but whether we see a video, it becomes emotionally undeniable and even though we know now you can fake it in films, there is still, i think we are pretty good judges of authenticity. >> later in the show, we will bring you mobi and simmons, two heavyweights who are advocates. legendsary musical composee who has been nicknamed "the hit man" for the countlets awards he has won, with tony harris we look at a few hits and a few misses and more than 40 years in the entertainment industry. >> the by graphical sketch. did you start playing at 5. >> yeah. i had parents that way, you know, nurturing and not too pushy and that was perfect. >> i haven't heard you talk much about your parents. >> yes. >> my father was an amateur

piano player and he sort of taught me a little bit, but they allowed me to have classical less options. we didn't have any money but we weren't poor. it's that old story. i had a great upbringing. i had six sisters, and my mother was a homemaker, and my father worked hard, and i got a great work ethic from both of them. upbringing. >> yeah. first song you learned on the piano? first song. now, i am taking you back. >> well, the first jazz chord i learned. okay. ♪ and i thought i was so cool. >> the man jumped up. what chord is that? >> like a c69. first song probably was maybe pat boone's wonderful world? >> really? >> we talked about that, too. >> when you think about your forming, did you form your first band or did you join a band? >> we formed it. and, you know, i was

the guy. i would knock on the door it was a schoolteacher in the 5th grade. and performing it for the whole school. he pushed me a little bit whiplash. right? so it turned me off. so i didn't start writing songs until i was 23 or 24 which is very late, you know. >> what was your first song? >> well, the

first hit that i -- first hit that i wrote was a co-write with a friend my named real". >> cheryl lin? >> the man noise his stuff. >> yeah. >> wow? mid 'centers, i guess, i started writing seriously but didn't get on the hit train until knee preeven 8. >> trailblazers whose revolution areas bold inovations and determination has had a profound impact in our world. next, we will hear about the fight for women's equality from feminist moment icon, steine

back on nelson mandela. to celebrate mythically and enthusiastically the great contribution he made in their lives.

i think that spirit of nelson mandela is embedded deeply in the heart and soul an consciousness of south africans. >> that's why i have hope this country will realize some of the ambitions that nelson mandela had for it . >> i am richelle carey. this is our final show. the last three years, we have spoken to people who are working in uncharted territory. okonka was the first prosecutor court. he told us about his work to get the court up and running. and he told us the legal body is breaking the cycle of impunity >> two couples were on the battle of the front lines of marriage equality. it was a case that went to the supreme court ellen johnson surley, the president of linebiera, the first female head of state. >> julian bond, we caught up

with him around the 50th anniversary of the march in selma, alabama and to gloria steinem, an icon and leader of the feminist movement. >> you said before the feminist revolution would take about 100 years. so by that estimate, we are about at the halfway mark. there are clear gains in this country. women make up about half the workforce. women tend to i hope more college and advanced degrees. they are increasingly the bread winners. do you think film nests are still needed? >> let me just take what you just said. okay? yes, there are more women on campus than there are men by a little bit right now. why is that? it's because women are trying to get out of the paint color ghetto into the white collar ghetto. a blue color union diop job still pays more than either one. >> what's a pink colored ghetto? healthcare. they are kind of all of the jobs that we can't outsource because

they involve personal service. those are very, very sdprop positionatley female. now her situation is worse than in my day as an individual because she is more likely to graduate in big debt and she will make one or $2 million less over her lifetime to pay back the debt. i am not trying to be discouraging. i am just trying to say this is real life, you know, and we don't have equal pay. >> why don't you take ownership of some of the gains? >> i do. statisti statistics. right? women in their 20s who start out are actually, according to the pew research center, making closer to like $0.93 to the dollar, which is closer than they ever have before there are these gains and i think some wonder, you know, why don't women like you who worked so hard in this movement take a

step back and appreciate that positive? >> i think mainly we don't because they keep saying the movement is over as a way of getting rid of us having children is a socially useful event. we need to think not only about equal pay. we need to think about paying for the work of care giving that is 90% done by women. and it has no economic value what so emp. you know, we need to have a tax policy that attributes a value to that work whether it's done by men or women. at replacement level. that's deductible if you pay taxes and refundable if you don't. right now, a third of the work in the country, which is care giving work, is done 90 or more% all. >> not even called a job? >> i mean home makers are still called women who don't work? excuse me. they work harder than

anybody. >> have enough men objected to the realities of the women's movement, or has it led to men feeling displaced and confused about their role in society today? >> you know, i don't want to speak about men as a lump just as i don't want to speak about women as a lump. some men have completely understood that it's their deliberation, too, that the masculine role is ridiculous just like the feminine role is ridiculous and dehumanizing and keeps you from expressing all of your human qualities. so they are feminists for their own sake as well as for women's sake, and they say, wait a minute. i want to see my kids. i want policies in the workplace that let everybody be parents, men as well as women. i want to have an equal relationship and partnership, you know, with a female or a male human. you know, i don't want to be lonely. i don't want to be isolated. >>

she is a famed climatologist. jane goodall. in addition to her passion for animal did, the anthropologist has spoken out about climate change and environmental conversation. john seigenthaler spoke to her pansees. >> what's the most interesting thing you have learned about chimpanzes? >> how much like us they are or how we are. the shocking but very fascinating thing is when i realize that like us, they have a dark side. >> made them sadly seem more like us than i had thought before. but they are capable of violence, brutality angeled the kind of you primitive war. >> can you take me back to the beginning? you were secretary for anthropologist lewis leake. that's where you got your start? >> that's where i got my start. >> how did that happen? >> when i was a tiny little

girl, i wanted to study animals in africa. i fell in love with animals. he married the wrong jane. i wanted to write books about animals and everybody laughed except my amazing mother who said if you really want something, you will have to work hard and take advantage of opportunity, and you will get there in the end. so, i got invited by school friends, saved up my money working as a waitress, got out to africa, heard about lewis leake, went to see him at the museum. i wasn't asking for a job, but he took me around. he asked me hundreds of questions, and because i had gone on learning about africa animals and spent hours in the natural history museum in london, i could answer many of his questions, and he just secretary. >> he is a man whose imagination has entertained millions. game of thrones mastermind arthur george r.r. martin

created a process.

welcome back. i am richelle carey. this is a special edition of talk to al jazeera. we are remembering some of the best interviews we have shared with you. in a moment, you will hear from mobi who went from being a relative unknown to one of the most important electronic dance music performers. he sat down with lisa fletcher. first, russell simons from music to fashion and social action. the do you recallal influence and a strong advocate for justice. he spoke to "al jazeera america." >> we were on twitter talking about hoffman's death and your perspective sort of drug laws

you said if he were alive today would he go to jail or rehab? the war on drugs has done more to destroy the fabric of the black community than anything we can think of. >> the war on drugs from taking innocent diseased people, locked them up, educated them in criminal behavior and dump them back in the hood with no hope. at that became jail culture. you learn. you are educated in how to do things you never would have done just by -- and whites and blacks, don't they use and sell drugs at the same rate? you can't have like drug laws when we were ending those laws, 94 and a half percent of the people are black or brown, incarcerated under the rockefeller drug laws in a state which have not 95% brack and

brown. >> be in. >> number 52 came out of the enclose's closet before the draft. it started a little firestorm, i think it's fair to say? >> people are suffering. people are -- people need to wake up consciousness it's always the same thing you have a voice, say gays should get the rights we want for ourselves theress expect we demand for ourselves we should give to others. that's a simple mantra. i want to be able to get married again not now. >> lights hear what news you are

go ahead. >> i want to get married again. people should have the right to get married. >> you were catapulted from being a relative unknown to being at parties with a-list celebrities and musicians. what was that experience like for you? was it as gratifying as people on the outside may think it was? >> i will compare it to a really intense drug experience meaning -- and i am -- i will out myself as someone who has had really intense drug experiences. i am speaking from experience. at the beginning, it's great, you know. it's magic because all sides of the like i may have spent my entire life in relative obscurity and then suddenly, everything got a thousand times better. suddenly, i was dating people who wouldn't have ever even spoken to me or acknowledged me. suddenlyists invited to things

that i didn't even know existed. for a minute, it was great. but like with any drug experience, it just goes downhill from there. and then you have that period of like -- let's say it's like the years 2000 which was like for me the height of dating success fame, wealth, et cetera, like everything was humming along and it was wonderful. but then, sort of issues started creeping up and you start realizing, well, i am still a little depressed, and i am still anxious and so you think, okay. i will drink more. i will date more people and i will go to more parties them it gets worst. you think i must be doing it wrong. he need to shift that up. kind of like rearranging the

deck chairs on the tie tantic. eventually, just realize that, you know, garagerous dating, going to the right parties, et cetera, these can be fun but they are not doctor -- they won't sustain you. it's like junk food or cocaine. george r.r. martin pinned the thrones. he started writing the series in 1991. when the t.v. show began, as he said, all bets are off. it's a massive success. martin talked to david shuster about creating such a sophisticated plot. >> for people who are not familiar with your work, the series takes place in an imaginary world. there is a struggle for control of the kingdom. this dine atistic war is a plot line and the others, sort of super human characters and the exile

tigarian daughter who seeks the return of her ancient throne? why those three main plot lines?? >> the two out going ones, things are going north. and her dragons are, of course, the ice and fire of the title in king's landing is more blaits upon historical entsdz, historical fiction. loosely drawn from the wars of the roses and some of the other conflicts around the 100 years war of course with fantasy twists. one of the dynamics i started with was the sense of people being so consumed by their petty struggles for power within the seven king dotcoms, within king's landing, who is going to

be king. who is going to be on the small council? who is going to be determining the policies that they are blind to the greater and more dangerous threats that are happening far away on the periphery of their king dotcoms and, of course, you can see that all through history. it's a common dynamic that takes place in history. the greek city states before the birth of christ, you know, fighting with each other, squabbling with each other even as phillip of macedon built up his armies to conquer them all. you see it in modern times, political struggles in france under the third republic while the nazi threat is rising but french politicians would almost rather befriend the nazis than each other. maybe they are lessons in the modern day, too. who knows in we have things going on our world right now

like climate change that's, you know, ultimately a threat to the entire world, but people using as a political football. you think everybody would get together. something that can wipe out possibly the human race. i wanted to do an analogue not specifically to the modern day thing but as a general theme with the structure of the book you started off with nine different characters and points view and expanded that to 35. how do you do that? >> there are days i wonder if i bit off more than i can chew. >> after the break, two men who are changing society very different but significant ways. brian stevenson is a lawyer and activist working to reshape the justice system. chef marcus samuelsson is transforming new york through >> ali velshi, getting to the heart of the matter.

>> what if there were no cameras here, would be the best solution? >> this goes to the heart of the argument. >> people out here are struggling and just trying to get by with whatever they can. >> new york city has a higher level of inequality of wealth than honduras and india. >> people need to demand reform. >> it's coming together little by little. >> we're making it the best that we can. >> we're not deterred. we're building a historic project here. >> how big do you see this getting? >> we're trying to get a feel for what the people of iran are thinking right now. >> the galleries and the art and the parties, everything. it's getting better. >> greece is this close to running out of cash. i went there to show you first-hand. >> if you paid taxes, you expect to having something back. >> the city is a powder keg at the moment. >> we're back square minus one. >> now it's time for something different. >> this is the entrance to the global seed vault. nations around the world contribute stashes of every kind of seed imaginable if something really bad were to happen, humankind can start all over again.

>> all year long we are continuing with our conversation on america's middle-class. >> i'm on a mission that i have to keep. keep this business going. >> the middle-class is a reflection of a city's economic health. it fuels the local economy like it's been doing here at philadelphia's italian market for the last 100 years. >> these are middle-class people who decided it's much better to come back here and they're working to fight to make changes. >> proud to tell your stories.

food. >> you are talking about food that's produced with pesticides and herbacides, foods that have antibiotics in them like meats and poultry. and so -- and foods that have a lot of salt and sugar. so what you are doing is you are feeding people, you are feeding

people but you are not really feeding people something that's good for them. at the same time as we may be feeding more people, there is the obesity epidemic. there is a health issue. you may not pay upfront but you are going to pay out back. >> that is chef alicewaters, famous for pioneering organ i can ingredients we spoke to ethiopian-born swedish rayed most recognizable faces in the cull inary world. he felt honda to be living the merge dream but with honor comes responsibility which is why he said he is giving back. >> you are an american living the american dream. >> yes. >> every american at one point, >> yes. >> running. a lot of work. >> yeah. >> you are also african born. you are an african-american? >> i am an african-american. >> being an american today, educated or financially successful or not is a complex thing, perhaps more complex than

it has been in a few decades. discussion? >> of course. >> being a black man is a blessing to me. being an african-american having my spirits and roots in africa is a blessing, and being able to have windows into three or four different communities is something that i feel privileged to. the world today is more layers, more complex because, also, there is more challenge to talk about it. right? but i also realize the opportunity and my responsibility as a black man. it's very important to me to hold high standard, not jubeing a chef but being an employer, very serious and i have been -- reshaping the narrative of what a black man can be in the 21st century. it's very important to me.

there is a whole generation of african americans that what i think about the civil rights movement and the fact that i canina restaurant in harlem, when i think about how low hurdles and for giving americans have been to someone to me coming here as an immigrant with $200 as a black man and today, being able to have a restaurant like red rooster, that's the best of america on all sides. that's the audience coming to support it. that's the work ethic, but it's really the hope. that's what america is supposed be. when i think about incarceration rate of black men, that's the worst of it. >> there are close to 3,000 inmates on death row across the country. lawyer and author of "just mercy" that the sdprop slavery. >> it's easy for me to fall into the trap of saying slavery happened so long ago that i don't feel a relationship to it. >> uh-huh.

>> but in your family, your much more connected to it than i realized. it's impossible in today's time. >> my granted mother was the daughter of people who were raised by -- who were born into slavery. i mean my great grandparents were enslaved. i think for all of us, the legacy of slavery is still around you see because the great evil of american slavery was this narrative of rachel difference when we read the 13th amendment >> it doesn't talk about that ideology of white supremacy. it talks about 40sed labor. >> we don't end slavery in the worst part of slavery in 1865. slavery doesn't end. it just evolves. it turns in to decades where we use that same narrative to justify terrorism. perpetrated against african americans throughout this country in brutal public spectacle lynchings. what we did to african-americans between the end of reconstruction and world war ii arrivals anything we read about in the mid east today perpetrated by isis. we strung people up.

we mutilated them, cut off parts of their body and took home as souveniers. we moved it indoors and created a criminal justice system that person pet waited that. civil rights, we haven't dealt with the hard parts of our history of segregation. we like to celebrate the civil rights movement. we talk about it like it's this triumph of heroic black people doing historic things. they did do some extra overhead things. there was opposition to civil rights. there was resistance to civil rights by elected officials and if you don't know that resistance story, if you don't know how that continued past the 1960s into the 1970 did, you can't understand mass incarceration and excessive punishment today. >> when we come back, comedians whose tragic life stories have been a defendant never ending source of

this is the best of "talk to al jazeera" charlie chaplainlan once said life is a tragedy seen close up but a comedy as a long shot. blaine pryor spoke to us? >> the punc rocker phase where my dad threw me out of the house because he was going there are no pung rockers in this house and i was like, dad, there are hookers in this house. >> comedian and writer of palestinian dissent uses comedy. >> you got me. you are so tricky. it was a bomb. be careful. okay. just kidding. >> richard lewis has been finding laughter in sorrow for more than 40 years.

he spoke to antonio mora about how his unhappy childhood has been the best source of material for his sold-out shows. >> you have been dubbed the prince of pain. you describe yourself as the best sparring partner i can have. so use the anxiety or does it actually make it better? >> it's a good question. i haven't seen my therapist in quite awhile. it reminded me. but. that's aircraft that i owned. even though i got sober. i got more grateful. i got more spiritual. still, when i hear ladies and gentlemen, richard lewis? >> and my goal is to make people

laugh, first of all, i am not entirely not depressed amount of the time. happiness is overrated. nothing is here but life itself. when people say, hey, hey, hanging out with the stone or, you and i used to work for the collintons a lot when he was running and gore and you are in the white house. hey, hey. time out, man, you know. i suffered fromgression . i have obsessive come pupulsive disord disorder. it's all about my art until i met my wife and then it was taking care of her. my sister has four kids, three grandchildren. i tried to be some model. you? >> not until they are

30. okay. talking about your family. your good friend larry david, he says that you use shrink as much as teenagers use like, and shrink. you go after your parents in this book, especially your mom. you write, the worst audience i ever had were my parents. my mother tried to switch me at birth. after i was born, my mother asked her friends to breast feed me. >> yeah. >> how much of a role did your mom play in your dark hughmore? >> what do you think? here is the deal. i made and wdz my mother. she was very ill-. she had a lot of emotional problems in her late 30s, on, until she got old, and i tried my best to understand it. but again, realize, back, you know, when she was having her problems, i was an actor, an addict. so, i couldn't have

been easy either. so when she really lost it at the end. >> my sister -- my older sister and older brother, she was with her and made sure she would get the best care, and so did i. all of us tried to do what we could do. i remember something when she was in the hospital near death. she didn't really know who she was at that point. i grabbed on to her and i said, look. i was far from perfect. but i love you. please forgive anything i did. and if you -- and if you can because i forgive you for everything. i mean i did. and i do. yes hold on to it. and i said, just squeeze me. you have to understand this is at a point where she was insane basically and she grabbed my hand and squeezed it, you know. and i always remember that. but that doesn't mean that i can't mine those feelings because we

did have are a tough relationship and i am not comic if i am not telling the truth. comedian rather. >> actress rose e pierret uprooted her from the life she and put her in a catholic children's home where she was often abused. despite the odds she succeeded becoming a published arthur and an academy nominated actor. she sat down. >> abuse in the early years was really striking, abuse from your family, abuse from some of the nuns in the convent you were september to. as a toddler, you were three years old. did it feel sometimes was hurting you? >> no. there were certain people that were supposed be taking care of me that were hurting he. as a child, everything was very clear to me. it was confusing at first. who is my mother? who is my aunt? why am i here? who are these people with the funny scarves on their head.

>> the nuns? >> the nuns. but once i started to assess the station, okay. it wasn't a place where everyone who worked there, an of the nuns, priests, counselors were bad and abusive. there were a handful of them. but there were some really great wonderful people. so i didn't view like that. plus i had my aunt in my life and my cousins who were wonderful who i thought were my sister who i call in the book my sister/cousins or cousin-sisters. and i think that those 3s years with my aunt helped me understand that there is good love out there. special. >> times with your aunt, are the real bright >> yes. >> story of your childhood but then there are the times that sister

renatta. and one day where she slammed your head repeatedly against a locker was she a propo typical nun or as sadistic as she seems to be? >> i think she was a little bit more sadistic than the standard strict nun. >> was there one particular incident besides the locker incidents that would exemplify what it was like bein convent? >> wrn time me and the girlie called crazy cindy, we were in trouble so we had to clean the entire bathroom at six years old. when i mean the entire bathroom. this is a bathroom in a home for children. so there are six circumstances, three bathroom stalls, three to four shower stalls and then the

entire floor. so, we were there for a good part of the day wifound the could have syrup. it was mostly alcohol. so we had gotten tipsy and we turned on the radio in the bathroom we weren't supposed turn on and we were doing our ---ists diana ross. she was a supreme. then i was david ruffin and she was the temptations and then i was the pipps so she took gladdis knight and by that time, sister renatta comes in, starts scream can and yelling at united states >>, tells us to hold out our hands and she proceeded to whack them and then told us to turn them over and whacked them again to the point where it was cracking and there was blood and the stinging and it was so hard and terrible, the pain, then she had the gall to say, now go back and finish cleaning. and i said, with what?

our feet? and it was crack. she just smacked me across the face and backhanded and it was, i think like three or four slaps so it was adding insult to injury. then we had to go the girl, crazy cindy started cursing and sister renatta thought it was me. bloody hands, stinging. i am trying to not touch the soap because it's burning and she takes the soap out of my hands and sticks it into my mouth, tells me i have a potty mouth. >> you were six. >>ists six. what was -- part of my personality is i couldn't stop laughing because while she is shoving it in my mouth, i am noting and there are bubbles coming out of my nose. so, i couldn't stop laughing so, you know, i drove this woman crazy. i drove her crazy. comeback.

>> i had it right there. the timing was impeccable. >> you were always a ham? >>ists a ham. no. i was not a ham. i was ham and cheese served on a platter. i was ridiculous. >> that's it for the special and last edition of "talk to al jazeera." thank you very much for watching and for sharing these stories with us. we leave you with a look now behind the scenes with our crew. carlos ab leta, maria kaiez and executive browser jennifer finn

russia says one of its attack helicopters like this one crashed in syria killing two pilots. hello you are with al jazeera live from doha. also al-qaeda has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb near a football stadium in aiden and elsewhere in yemen people are getting much needed truce that largely holds for a second day between saudi-led coalition and