bengazi. the opposition has been calling for a million man march to oppose gaddafi. heavily damaged buildings show how intense the fighting was. the city hospitals are struggling to cope with the many injured in recent violence. even though many of the old symbols of power have been destroyed, many fear that gaddafi may make a final, desperate counterstrike. >> amateur videos of civilian protesters are managing to find their way out of libya on to the internet. we obtained these images purporting to show unarmed protesters in the tripoli districts. these people are being fired upon by an seen them in on friday. other video that is too graphic to show indicates several people

were shot dead in the incidents. there's also footage of what appears to beat a ransacked police station. it is covered in anti-curve gaddafi -- anti-gaddafi graffiti. our correspondent is in the libyan city. we announced what he is hearing about reports of shooting in the capital. >> i am hearing that. people tried to organize a bigger march after friday prayers. they're trying to crush it by any means. they're shooting with light ammunition. >> we spent a lot of time talking about the fighting in the east of the country. we're getting reports about fighting around the capital in the west. what are you hearing about that? >> that is exactly what is happening.

you can see how nervous gaddafi is. he came out again and asked his men to go out in the streets with arms. he seems to be cornered now. there are scenes in his own capital with people demonstrating and people shooting of the demonstrators. >> we have heard about migrant workers fleeing libya to europe and egypt. what is the situation of sub- saharan migrant workers? we've heard that many are being targeted as mercenaries. because they're black, no. libyan think they are automatically there to fight for gaddafi. >> gaddafi hired mercenaries from sub-saharan africa. that turned into a problem for the sub-saharan africans living

here. there is a large number of them. the people do not distinguish between the mercenaries and the people living here. it is a huge problem for any sub-saharan african living in libya. >> that is our correspondent reporting from eastern libya. united nations security council is meeting this hour to discuss the situation in libya. one of the strongest calls for it to take action has come from libya's own deputy ambassador to the u.n. he has abandoned the regime and describes muammar gaddafi as a madman. we will keep you posted about developments in new york as soon as we get them. the u.s. says it will impose unilateral sanctions on libya. the announcement came after news that the e.u. is set to deploy its own set of sanctions. a formal decision is expected early next week. the german foreign minister held talks on the issue with his

italian counterpart on friday. the e.u. package is said to include a ban on arms and other goods that could be used to harm civilians as well as a travel ban and assets freeze for members of the gaddafi family. i spoke to our correspondent a short while ago in brussels. i asked if he could confirm that sanctions would be in place by next week. >> yes, something like that. i doubt that will affect colonel khadafy one iota. it is all the european union can do to express its displeasure. the foreign policy chief said the suspension of the trade deals that he enjoys, maybe if he had not been given those, maybe he would have toppled earlier. it was an interesting insight. she said that is where they are and they will move on from there.

that will be imposed. everyone is saying in brussels, where will we be by the time we impose sanctions? things could change dramatically. it is a moving target the international community is trying to aim at in tripoli. but there may be no khadafy regime by monday morning. -- >> there may be no khadafy regime by monday morning. can we realistically expect nato to get involved in libya? >> not really. the nato chief said they have no mandate to interfere or intervene in tripoli. they would need united nations mandate to do anything. they are discussing possible humanitarian aid missions. there's also the possibility of the deployment of military ships in the mediterranean region. there is also possible help with evacuation. there's no question of nato

forces intervening in libya at this moment at all. a preparatory meeting on the basis that things are changing all the time. everyone needs to keep up to speed on what is happening and what may need to be done. >> thank you very much. steve is here with business news. >> saudi arabia it is boosting output because of the uprising in libya. they're boosting output by more than 700,000 barrels a day. the crude is selling for $112 a barrel. light sweet crude is at $98. reuters news service says saudi arabia has increased output by 8% to 9 million barrels a day. the german telecommunications giant reports a surprising fourth quarter loss in 2010 because of special taxes and fierce competition.

net profits came in at 1.7 billion euros. the company said the negative numbers do not reflect overall performance and say that profits will stabilize again this year. >> in the past, the foreign subsidiaries have been a reliable source of profit for the concern. that is no longer the case. losses in greece coupled with the restructuring of the human resources division cost the company 1.9 billion euros. telekom is losing customers to rivals in the united states. >> we need to expand and improve our high-speed internet and cell phone networks and improve our image with customers. we need to broaden our range of telephones. we have not included the iphone. that has driven customers away. >> the mobile internet

operations have grown. now almost 60% mobile customers use the smart phone. tablets are a growing market. the company wants to make sure customers can stay connected in the future where ever they long of -- where they log on to the net. >> the one to make half of their money from new services and not the telephone business. electronic filling stations and kiosks are new ideas. the company has hired an executive from california. he will start searching for young, creative companies for them to cooperate with and buy out completely. >> volkswagen announced record profits of over 7 billion euros for 2010. that is almost eight times as much as a year earlier. volkswagen sold over 7 million vehicles. the company strives to become the world's leading carmaker. it currently ranks third behind

toyota and general motors. here is our markets reporter from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> traders have been able to have good news with the oil prices coming down. they have been relieved that the dax could recover again. shares have been favored. the market speculates that the swedish company will come out with a bid. telekom missed expectations and shocked with the dividend cut. >> we can start with the blue chips in frankfurt. the dax closed at 7185. the eurozone flute stocks advanced 1.2%. the dow jones industrials are also higher. the currency markets have the

euro at $1.34. the bank of russia it is increasing its main financing rate to 8%. it is the first time the central bank has raised rates since the financial crisis began more than two years ago. the bank of russia is trying to combat rising inflation. much of that has been driven by rising food prices. inflation in russia averages 7%. >> violence ignited by the disputed election on ivory coast shows no sign of abating. supporters of the incumbent president and his rival have been fighting battles on the streets of the main city. hundreds of civilians are trying to get out of the crossfire. the battles have spread to the capital and the west of the country. he is refusing to hand over power to the internationally

recognized winner of the november elections. in germany, hundreds of people attended the funeral of three soldiers killed last week in afghanistan. their deaths bring the total number of german casualties in afghanistan to 48. >> chancellor merkel and the defense minister joined the mourners for the emotional funeral ceremony. the three men were shot dead by someone they thought was on their side, and afghan soldiers trained by the german military. it was called a cowardly attack. he called for continued support of joint operations with afghan security forces and said the approach was paying off. ♪ >> we will stand fast on this difficult road. we owe it to those who have been killed or wounded. we owe it to our soldiers deployed in afghanistan at this hour.

>> the soldiers carried the coffins out of the church. hundreds came to pay last respects to the men. the soldiers and in due to return to base in this same bavarian town next month. >> voting has been under way in ireland. the country is electing a new government. becomes weeks after the prime minister dissolved parliament. the election expects to bring big changes to the political landscape. campaigning has been dominated by debate on how to rebuild the economy after ireland was forced to accept a multibillion-dollar bailout out from the european union and the international monetary fund. opinion polls suggest the new government will be led by the opposition party. voting is expected to continue until late friday evening. the space shuttle discovery is continuing its fight to the international space station.

after 30 years of service, it is the last mission for the world's most troubled space press. -- most traveled spacecraft. astronauts are on board with cargo and supplies. there's also the first humanoid robots in space on board. the iss will use it to test out robots react to zero gravity conditions in our space. the top story is the situation in libya. there has been another message of defiance from libya's leader. gaddafi appeared at green square in the capital of tripoli on friday afternoon to tell crowds of supporters that he will die on libya's soil. he blames the unrest on foreigners. he says he will arm his people to fight back and crush the enemy. huge parts of libya are out of

his control. in the eastern part, thousands of people turned out for friday prayers. it was the first since the opposition groups seize control of the city. i will be back in one minute with our in-depth report on libya. stay with us. >> curious, bold, dependable. just like us. dw-tv -- quality first.

\ >> europe is watching the events in the middle east and north africa. not everyone is happy with the changes. there is concern that the upheavals and revolutions could force thousands if the millions of africans to flee their homeland and crossed the mediterranean. the southern rim of europe with italy, spain, and greece are already sounding the alarm. >> safety at last after 100 kilometers on the open seas.

these migrants arrived at the italian island last week. they hope will be their gateway to europe. it is hard to say how many migrants have arrived in recent weeks. some estimates say of to 7000 come from chinese alone. more than 1000 in a single night. many italians. the migrants will soon be arriving in the hundreds of thousands. the german government says the european union should help italy but that it does not want to take an economic refugees. >> distributing the refugees around europe cannot beat the solution. most of these people are fleeing neither political persecution or war or anything resembling civil war. that means that the decisive task is to help mediterranean states secure their borders. >> opposition parties say that

european union member states have a duty to take in refugees. >> it is not about building higher walls. it is about acknowledging and dealing with the chaotic situation. we need to stop building defense systems in cooperation with dictatorial regimes. >> countless migrants from across africa are languishing in libya camps only a tiny minority managed to make it to the e.u. mediterranean states would like to keep it that way. the german foreign minister says the priority is to create conditions where africans want to stay at home. >> we cannot take the mem in. we have a huge interest in stabilizing the political situation in north africa. when the people realize that democratization leads to growing prosperity, they will stay at home.

>> that might work in the long run. the problem is more urgent than that. what's in the short term, we're in a situation where we must temporarily take and refugees. we must take great care to establish whether they may be fleeing political persecution. >> most of the migrants are simply looking for a better life. the influx from tunisia could be followed by another from egypt, algeria, or libya. the e.u. must decide how to deal with new arrivals -- and fast. >> all member states seem to agree the best idea is to try to stem the flow of refugees into europe. the european union agency was created to coordinate border security among member states. it organizes patrols of course of entry into the european union. the patrols have the authority

to stop boats carrying illegal immigrants even before they reach e.u. borders. the next report takes a closer look at what they do. >> a europe with no undocumented refugees. that is the aim of the european union members as stated in the lisbon treaty. this is the joint border control agency. it records and investigates every suspicious object on the horizon. it scans all of the e.u. outer borders. >> we have been able to provide the impact that has lowered the numbers of regular immigrants. we are able to provide better situations than one individual member state. we have a network of all of the european union member states. >> they have no helicopters or police officers of their own.

when a member state calls for help, they coordinate border protection operations using offices across europe. there from france, portugal, and spain. they are patrolling the border between greece and turkey. every year, around 30,000 people cross the border from turkey into greece. that number has decreased since the patrols began. the agency is also helped to reduce the number of people crossing from north africa. frontx is hoping to do that near the italian island. these agents have begun patrolling the area hoping to stem the tide of refugees from tunisia. refugee organizations have criticized the operations. >> they are under the umbrella of fighting immigration. they are exactly the same. they have the same effect on the

rights of people to seek asylum in europe. >> aid organizations say member states should let more migrants into the e.u., but those calls fall on deaf ears, especially in northern europe. much of the funding for frontex comes from those states. they want to continue keeping immigrants out. >> how concerned is the european union about the influx of migrants from northern africa? >> is a big issue. it is dividing the member states. their six regions that are concerned that other member states share the burden. if there is a huge flow because of the domino effect in africa and the middle east, they can pass on what they cannot handle to other states. there was a four-hour meeting in

brussels yesterday. they could not agree. the big six said you cannot expect us to bear the burden of all the migrants flooding into their countries. germany and the u.k. say that there have been about 5000 migrants from the collapse of the tunisian regime. they predicted extra influx from libya but that has not materialized. most member states are saying not to create a problem. the german interior minister said not to provoke problems by talking about them in advance. where are the millions of immigrants? it is on hold at the moment. >> it sounds like a policy of wait and see. we do have reports that the european union will decide early next week to impose sanctions on libya.

what can you tell us about that? events are moving so fast that anything could happen. as things stand, there will be sanctions imposed on libya. on the ground right now, that is not going to have an immediate impact. the european union and international community is finding ways to put pressure on the regime as events are unfolding. the only thing he can do is threaten with the use of sanctions. it is obvious colonel khadafy -- gaddafi will not be listening to that. we seem to be generating activity in the event of the downfall of the regime. we want to move in and put democracy in place as swiftly as possible. >> thank you very much.

that has been our in-depth report. you are watching dw-tv. stay tuned for more news after this. ♪

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i adr in '96 how is she." you know, "how wee her vible?" and you really wanted... you wanted people to see a character like precious... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...and see her.

>> exactly. i though novel by ralph ellison, the invisible man. and i remember contemplating visi tinvisibleinging her tofeae man. e invisible man was about a man who is n sn t dinant culture. and i was thinking precious ist. even by the underclass she is vibl people have done everything... me away, forget that i exist." so begano e almost as a responsibility, you know, as a you know, that this was... i was going to slay these dragons that keisle and the dragons were denial, embarrassment, and ignorance, you know? we... many of us in the african american community were ashamed

of precious, you know? she wasn't our... >> hinojosa: she was a loser. type, you know what i mean? she wasn't a winner. she was what we had been taught to think of, also, as ugly. she was... you know, in allhi ce taught to think of the darkest of our people as ugly. she also was not a fashion model in terms of physique. you know, she didn't have long, flowing hair. so there were a lot of things erth p h ia tery that would cause her not to be seen. but even more than that, the way that anyone is seen and acquaints themself with a larg culture is through language. and in a certain kind of way, precious didn't even have language to express hersel >> hinojosa: which was an amazing thing about the book. i mean, so many people now have seen the movie, but i always tell them, "you have to read the bo." because you write this book as if you are precious. >> exactly. >> hinojosa: and so you're

writing it the w s aan illiterate teenager would write. it's a dialect. >> exactly. >> hinojosa: how did you do that? >> well, you kw,orea i've... for years and years i taught adult literacy. and i taught teenage f16 and up to women in their 70s and 80s who had come back to school because they wanted to learn to read the bible. and they would keep notebooks, and a lot of... some of what you see in the movie, like the dialogue journal going back and forth. and... but a lot of my students would... due to life rcumstances they would disappear. you know, i wouldn't know what happened. maybe they would go back to the dominican republic, maybe they would go back down south. d eyou lvee e notebooks. and that would be all i would have. and i would just pore over it. and i would... you know, many of these students i fmede, intense attachments with. sometimes i would even go to their homes to try to find out where they had went. and i couldn't, you know? d tre i was with these notebooks, which eventually i

just bundled up and gave back to the administration where i was teaching. bur mohs wlduspo over these notebooks. >> hinojosa: and there were horrible, horrible things in these notebooks. >> there were horrible, horrible things, but there were also woerl in, ke"ian finally read, and i was able to open a checking account, and now i don't have to give my man my money no more." things like that, wondrous things, you know what i mean? that wle... you know, i would get them young adult versions of the bible. soers esregis men who have basically been controlled by their priest or their preachers, now taking mmd wt. ogos rd themself. so there were some wonderful things, and then there were the stories, the stories of the abe,hetoesf e ridicule, you know, the stories of just... there was a black historian who wrote a book, carter g. woodson, and he said. w talking aut the

psychology of the oppressed. and said if there was no back door that often african americans, because they'd been trainetoo to the bk door, would make a back door. you know, they would go to the back of a house, even if there was no back door. and that translated in the movie and in the book to these students who would... i would have to make a circle, because they would always want to sit in the back row. they would always want... >> hinojosa: want to be invisible. >> they want to be in the back, as far back as they could get. and so that whole thing of being in a circle where they can see and where they can be seen... and then they would write about that, you know, their self consciousness, and not feeling that they had been beautiful. and, you know, some of the ones who were more open would just write me and ask me, "am i beautiful?" you know what i mean? and i would say, "yeah, you're beautiful," you know what i mean? just things like that. and so their souls would open up, and we had deep confidentiality agreements. you know, i said no one, unless

you... you know, unless you threaten to ta yr own fe or someone else's life, no one will ever see this notebook. >> hinojosa: so they were really able to be entirely honest. >> there was a deep intimacy, and that comes through in the... not so much in the movie, but you really see that in the book, where she... precious reveals things like her status, the abuse, you know, what was happening with her mama, things... the unspeakable. the unspeakable can be written. >> hinojosa: and you actually say it has to be written... >> it must be. >> hinojosa: must be written over and over again. i'm thinking about the character of mo'nique. what was it like for you... whoa. because what a total transformation... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...of this woman mo'nique. i mean, her own personal story of allowing herself to be transformed into this monster. talk about what it was like to see mo'nique onscreen, and also about that very untold story that actually i reported about in the 1990s, which was about

women who are perpetrators of sexual abuse against their own children. >> exactly, exactly. it's interesting. many, many women had come to me, and they had done, like, one-woman plays of push. some women had done it in amsterdam, france, a young woman here had done it as an mfa thesis, as a one-woman show. and they would come to me, and literally they would always say the same thing-- "you know, sapphire, that section with the mother?" and i would say, "yeah, that section with the mother." "we left that out." so... >> hinojosa: they just really didn't want to... >> they just... they didn't touch it. it would not be in their text, and it would not be in the performance. >> hinojosa: it is so not talked about, that women can be perpetrators. >> so i was totally prepared for mo'nique to leave it out, or for lee daniels not to have that in the movie. and for mo'nique... i didn't

know mo'nique was going to go there. but i had an inkling. i met her on the set. she hugged me, and she said... i forget her exact words, but she said something like, "i'm going to do this, and if i ever get off track, mommy, i want you to let me know." and it just went into my heart. i said, "this woman is serious," you know what i mean? but because i was unsophisticated, and i didn't know what the dailies were, you know, i didn't know anything about filmmaking or anything, so i didn't know that at the end of each day's shooting they show the dailies, what has been shot. so the first time i saw the film was just like everybody else. i was in a... >> hinojosa: you're kidding me. >> even though i had had a cameo and been on the set, when i saw the film in its entirety it was in a screening room with other people. and i remember i was just dazed, and i was... i thought, "this is some of the best acting i've ever seen in my life. this woman is phenomenal."

and she went there. she was fearless. >> hinojosa: oh, she went there. >> and i just felt that... >> hinojosa: she was horrible. >> i felt she was true to my... true to the text. she was true to the text. she took these words, and she made them alive. and i just thought, "this is phenomenal." and i was scared, because this was the first screening, and i was like... you know, and lee was talking, because it's a different movie then, you know? and i thought, "my god," you know, "we're going to cut this." and i thought, "oh, my god, i hope he doesn't cut mo'nique." this is perhaps some of the best acting in modern cinema. >> hinojosa: now, she did win an oscar. >> she sure did. >> hinojosa: and you were there, actually. i saw you right when you were... >> i was there, i was there. >> hinojosa: sapphire at the oscars! >> and when i was... when i was flying in, i was... you know, there was, like, no doubt in my mind that she was going to get it. you know, and i also... i really thought lee should have gotten best director, and that we should have got best picture. >> hinojosa: well, i was rooting

for gabourey. >> and i was also rooting for gabourey. >> hinojosa: because when i saw that performance... and gabourey does an amazing job of being precious. >> exactly. >> hinojosa: but the moments where gabourey goes into her fantasy life, and suddenly she's got these, you know, boas, and she's, like, a queen, that's when i was like, "oh, my god, she has got to win best actress." >> exactly. >> hinojosa: because that's when you see the depth of her. and she didn't win best actress. >> i was deeply disappointed. >> hinojosa: how was she? how did she handle that? >> i think she's handled it as any 20-something would, you know? like, she knows there's going to be a next time. that was the other thing. i thought, "if there's a good part to this, and there's not really, it's that she's in her 20s, and that now there will have to be other major films for her." >> hinojosa: do you trust filmmaking a little bit more now in terms of... >> you know who i trust? i trust myself. i... you know, i did the right thing.

all those people i told no, i was correct. you know, madonna wanted to do the film. i mean, all kinds of people wanted to do... >> hinojosa: madonna. >> yo. so... and there's nothing wrong with those people. >> hinojosa: that's right, i had heard about that, that she was trying to... >> and she's a brilliant woman, but what does she know about race and class? this movie had to deal with race and class. there were a lot of people who came to me, and i talked with them, or i had them write me, and i looked at what they were putting down, and i said no. and then lee came, and i said no too, but then i saw monster's ball, and i saw monster's ball, and i said yeah. he's fearless. here we have a black woman falling in love with a white man who has helped to execute the black woman's husband. he's not afraid of offending people. he will go there. so it was like... and then i said, "yeah, he can do it." >> hinojosa: how do you... i mean, i think probably people will say... >> and i was right. >> hinojosa: right. and people will probably say, "wait a second. but sapphire wrote this book, and she's written all this poetry.

what do you mean she learned to trust herself?" people assume that you've always trusted yourself, that just by putting that writing down, that you trust yourself. and yet it's a process. >> yeah, it's a process. and to trust... you know, it's interesting, because you asked me earlier, had i done a lot of television. and i said no, and not because people haven't come to me, but because i didn't want to be exploited or made to look stupid or something like that. and so it is that thing of beginning to trust myself, and t myself, if i really have a sense of dignity and honesty, then i can begin to trust that other people will treat me with dignity and a sense of honesty, as opposed to the kitty kelley treatment or something, you know what i mean? >> hinojosa: so you actually feel... >> yeah, so i'm learning that. i'm learning to gauge who i can trust and stuff. >> hinojosa: and the interesting thing is that you... even though you've been highly criticized and targeted, you can still come out feeling... feeling good,

feeling like this was an absolute positive? >> i do, i do. i mean, i think it's good that we were... the people who criticized us, and the reasons that they criticized us, i wasn't surprised by. i mean, there is tremendous denial in american culture. we're a culture that idolizes youth, that spends millions and billions of dollars on trying to look young, but we despise, in some way, young people. so here we have to beg... you know, community groups have to beg for funding for our kindergartens and this and that, you know what i mean? so there's that paradox that we have this youth-orientated culture, but we actually don't really love young people. you know, we want to... you know, if people have enough money, they hire someone else to actually raise their children. we don't value them, and we exploit their bodies in a way that has never been paralleled.

i mean, the level of child pornography, the level of sexual abuse of young people, has gotten worse, not better, you know what i mean? so yeah, you're going to get criticism. people, instead of thinking i was talking about a worldwide phenomena of sexual abuse, people thought i was talking about black men. and that's so myopic, you know what i mean? but what... so i knew that that was coming. there were actually people... some people who i gave credit for more intelligence actually asked... put it in the new york times, why is gabourey dark? why did we pick a dark star? >> hinojosa: they actually... >> that's in an article by felicia lee. someone comments on the shade of gabourey's skin. these type of things you can't predict. we picked her because she was beautiful and she was talented. >> hinojosa: amazingly talented. the story that you also point out with push, the movie precious, is that... it's about

these community groups, these... you know, these community organizers. >> exactly. >> hinojosa: look at you. you're just like... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: because you want ople to... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...say, "you know what? if we actually see someone... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...who is entirely different than us... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...and we give of ourselves, we can in fact transform someone's life." >> exactly. and i really wanted to show... you have this dysfunctional family, a family of colored dysfunctionals, but you also have this functional community. you know, so the first person who... she has angels. you see that in the book. each blade of grass has an angel that tells it to grow, grow. and so the first person who comes to her, she's literally going to die if she doesn't get the baby out of her body. and it's the emergency service man, a hispanic man, who tells her, "baby, you've got to push to give birth, to give life to yourself." then she comes to her teacher, then she comes to her friends, then she has a halfway house teacher, she has a a social worker. there's a community, a functional community of working

class and middle class african americans around her who will help her live, who will help her live. so it wasn't just the story of a dysfunctional family, it was the story of a functional community that rose to save her. and i think that's the part that people overlook, you know? >> hinojosa: and it is overlooked. i mean, you've had to kind of say... >> i've had to, like, pound that into people. >> hinojosa: ..."it's about literacy, it's about empowering, it's about community-based organizations." >> exactly, exactly. the whole book is a tribute to community-based organizations. i mean, the halfway house. i mean, the most... one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie, i think, is where precious is dunking the baby in the water, it's a baptismal scene. i don't have a swimming pool. working class and poor people don't have access to swimming pools. that swimming pool is paid... that's a state-owned swimming pool. that's our money at good use, you know? the halfway house where she learns mothering skills, you know what i mean?

her friends, where she overcomes xenophobia, homophobia, where she gets a new world view, where she begins to see herself. that's us, you know what i mean? that's a functional, strong, healed community who is reaching out for one of their own who has been destroyed. what's negative about that? why should anyone be ashamed of that? why should black people be ashamed of that picture? >> hinojosa: so, sapphire, you were once a struggling artist, unsure about writing of your own poetry. wow. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: wow. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: how are you processing that? because it's a total, "whoop!" >> it is, it's a flip. >> hinojosa: you don't have to work. >> yeah, yeah. well, i do have to work. >> hinojosa: i mean, you have to work. >> i'm working on my novel right now. i do speaking engagements. and i'm taking some classes, hoping to be able to get into a ph.d. program. but no, i no longer have to work

at a fast food joint. i no longer have to go from harlem to the upper west side and clean white ladies' houses. so, you know, my life is really blessed. and in some ways, my life... now i can look back, that i don't have to do any of that anymore, and say my life has really been enriched by all those experiences, because i am a child of the working class. and i have an... because i've come through that, i will always have an allegiance to writing about the working class and underclass. and now i feel more than ever that i have a responsibility. and not a responsibility to produce what people want, but to keep telling the-- i love al gore-- the inconvenient truth, you know what i mean? and so that's what i'm... >> hinojosa: and you actually do love al gore. you said that that was a very inspirational moment for you, to see that. >> hinojosa: tell us about the novel that you're working on. is it finished?

>> it is. it is actually finished now. i was... as i was catching the... riding the acela up here i was doing some... you know, some... i had an editor look at it. so i was doing some little... you know, little bits and pieces here and there. so i'm hoping to be able to hand it in to... this is my own editor, but to hand it in to a publishing house and have it out by 2011. and in this novel, i have really tried to look at the life of young men, which is interesting for me, you know what i mean? so it was literally a world that i observed but didn't know. i tried to inhabit the body of a young man. this young man, he's a dancer. so again, i'm still looking at some issues of race and class, but also looking at what it means to be an artist in america. and also a thing that has impacted not me personally so much, but that i've watched a lot in my community, and i think we all live in fear of it, and

it impacts our behavior and keeps us in line. i'm looking at what it means to be homeless, what it means to... what that experience means, and how that has shaped so many men. >> hinojosa: and yet, you know what? we hear the numbers about homeless this, homeless that, it's almost, like, forgotten. so to wrap up, there are probably some young people watching this who may be surviving very horrible things. what do you want to tell them? >> i want to tell them hang on. hang on, don't give up. what we see with gabby, with the fantasies, is the ability to imagine a situation other than the one you're in. the kids who commit suicide and give up, in an odd kind of way, it's a lack of vision. it's because they think it'll never get better. and i want to say it gets better. it gets better. and one of the things i look back on, sometimes i just

marvel, because there were times when i was young when i was suicidal, and i... and right now i just... i just... i'm so glad i didn't kill myself. i'm so glad i hung on. i'm so glad i didn't kill myself. i came this close to not... to none of this ever happening, you know what i mean? i would have just been another statistic. you know, friends talking about, "remember so and so?" i'm so glad i hung on, i'm so glad i did not die. >> hinojosa: that's what i'm talking about. we are glad, too. thank you so much, sapphire. >> thank you. >> hinojosa: and congratulations. >> oh, thank you. >> hinojosa: continue the conversation at wgbh.org/oneonone. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo with the news at this hour. international search and rescue operations are continuing in christchurch, new zealand where

113 people have been confirmed dead after tuesday's earthquake. police say only six of the victims have been identified so far. they believe the unidentified remains may include some of the roughly 200 people missing. friday marked the passage of the critical 72 hour period since the earthquake, when the chance for vifl of anyone trapped in the rubble is said to fade rapidly. in central christchurch, japanese rescuers, australian troops and others are working around the clock to remove debris from the collapsed cantebery tv building. it housed a language school attended by foreign students including japanese. many people are thought to be buried under the wreckage. >> and we have a large challenge ahead to get through all of those buildings and make sure that any possible life is still a priority as far as their resourcing and trafficking goes. -- tasking goes. >> the earthquake caused

buildings to collapse across the city. many houses and roads have been damaged by mud and water gushing from cracks in the ground in a phenomenon called liquefaction. about 400 people expected to take shelter at the the stadiums, schools, and other evacuation centers for a fourth night. the restoration of power and other essential services is also taking considerable time. in libya anti-government protesters are calling for mass demonstrations across the country after friday prayers raising concerns about more blood shed.