death is in good evening, -- tavis: good evening, a conversation tonight with sean penn. he has devoted much of this time to a nonprofit called gp haitian relief organization. sean penn was named an ambassador at large by the foreign minister at an event that raised millions in relief effort. thank you for joining us with a conversation with actor and humanitarian sean penn coming of. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it is not just a street or boulevard, but a place where wal-mart stands together with your community to make every day

better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: tonight marks the first show from our new studio here in los angeles as we continue our first week of our ninth season. i cannot think of a better way to inaugurate this new set then with a conversation with sean penn, the oscar winner who is a tireless human rights advocate who has spent much of his time in the past two years on the situation in haiti appeared he is now an investor at large to haiti, given that distinction over the weekend by haiti's foreign minister.

here now, a quick look at some of their wonderful humanitarian efforts. tavis: had been a year. happy to have you back -- happy new year. happy to have you back on this program. let me start by congratulating you on the weekend. i heard you guys raised a good amount of money for your work in haiti to be honest with you, i

was surprised when i heard the figure. not because you have not done good work, but that figure belies the fact that people, to my mind at least, have haiti fatigue. yet you raise millions of dollars last weekend for your work. >> yes. we had a wonderful organization, cinema for peace, with the notion to put together the fundraiser. and the people that worked on it, the people that posted on behalf of it, did an extraordinary job in putting together people. it turned out that there's a lot more good will to be tapped. sometimes, i think it is just refocusing people on an issue. haiti is such an important one in the united states. once people got into that room, something very powerful happened. we were surprised. tavis: how do you refocus people on your porschpush for an issuee

haiti? had he refocused people two years later, especially after americans are suffering a poverty that we have not seen since the great depression? >> one of the great supporters that we had at the event, oprah winfrey, has some coverage going on on her new show on the 29th of this month and on the first of next month. she also was a very inspirational force. the videotape she provided force at the fund-raiser. but you have to show the connection between the interest of the united states, the humanitarian interest, and accomplishments pipe that can be made. we have some very good partners in haiti. we are able to show that there's

a dynamic use of a sustainable use of the money that is coming in. we have a capacity to make them any work very quickly and very effectively in haiti. and haiti itself is starting to merge with the works. certainly, there is the foreign involvement in support of haiti. and like any place else, governance is key. haiti, in the middle of this devastating time, was able to take on a status quo political system and put forward president martelli, who -- for us who were there on the ground, it was really clear that this is the candidate that they were looking to have the president. i think there was enormous morale boost and in a kind of historical way where they were able to challenge the status quo, they, meaning the people of haiti. so now, we have the benefit of a

very decisive leadership. it is a difficult one. it is difficult because the constitution is dictatorship reactionary. so much of the power is in a parliament that is also adjusting to a new world dynamic. we see great strides happening now. as i have said, when i talk and show examples of the work we do like at the fund-raiser, this is that pivotal moment where the support that the government gives its people and the sorsupt that we give the government and its people, they need that financial backer. some funds that have already been appropriated is very slow moving. the people themselves in haiti

can see the vision. especially when there has been criticism about how slow some things have gone, the real problem was not the earthquake. it was poverty itself. this is a poverty earthquake. so now what is happening is -- what the earthquake did was traumatized the people. we have seen world events where very few public buildings have been reconstructed since katrina. in a country that is not an economic superpower, this can be very difficult. the people of new orleans had kind of gotten over the trauma and they were able to take on leave and start to make things change and happen. that is the case now in haiti. we are seeing some momentum as a result. tavis: i want to pick up on a couple of things you said. number one, you mentioned

president martelli. to your mind, how did the controversy surrounding the election -- not just the controversy, but the fact that the country had to take a moment away from the rebuilding efforts, away from the revitalization efforts to focus on who the next leader of the country would be -- that election was held against the backdrop of the aftermath of the earthquake -- to what extent did that break to focus on the presidential elections impact the amended terrene work -- the humanitarian work? >> of course, it did in packet. -- it didn't impact it. we had a sudden spike -- it did impact it. we had a sudden spike in colorado. there was a new color outbreak. -- we had a sudden spike in

cholera. there was a new cholera outbreak. president prior to the accident was a lame duck president. you had project initiatives and millions of dollars online. it is difficult for donors to put money forward on programs that may not be continued once a new administration comes in. i think haiti a understood and the world community understood that, despite everything, it was necessary to get on with that and also for a sense of normalcy and the empowerment of the haitian people and forward motion for the government appeared in the short one, it was difficult. there was social unrest. there were pockets of minimal violence. mostly, what you found was an

incredible amount of civil protest. we had about 250 thousand people in the streets of port- au-prince supporting martinellm. he was included in the runoff. initially, he was third and the streets grows up. where the the region's historical trigger some violence, there were some incidents. and it did slowdown the progress of cholera. they continue the movement of supplies for cholera while these streets have roadblocks and problems that make it impossible for doctors to move supplies and personnel. but it was the right thing for haiti appeared it had to happen.

the organization of american states did a look over of the election. they were able to influence a legitimate inclusion of then candidate martelli who then became president martelli. tavis: speaking of security, did to them or have you any time in all the trips to have made to haiti and all the time you spend , have you or do you feel your own personal security threatened? >> not at all. it is an extraordinarily civil place when you consider the desperation that come in any place with this kind of poverty. i can think of american cities where the people might be much more compromised. one thing you do not have been

haiti is anybody on crack. anything that is completely unpredictable. even at the worst times in haiti, the violence, the lack of security, it was largely predictable because it was politically tide. they are beginning to see improvements. katie, like any place, has its security problems -- haiti, like any plans, has its security problems. it has a globally acceptable rule of law. the president has spoken about this. as a foreign worker in haiti, speaking for myself, speaking for the workers in our organization, they are 95% haitian. but even foreign workers, we have had very minimal security

issues. it is a place that can be visited if only there were hotel rooms built for people to stay. tavis: you mentioned in the duvalier museum. we know that he is back in the country. -- duvalier regime. we know that he is back in the country. what does it mean or has it meant politically, socially, economically, culturally to have a baby doc who was a dictator in that country back in the country? >> i want to give a little context to that. i have met both of them and have worked side-by-side with both presidents. haiti is coming just mathematically speaking -- when you have 9 million people, from an american point of view, you

can look at it as a city. it is a small town where there is still deep loyalty throughout a lot of schools of thought and from various times. so i think president martelli has been not only shrewd but practical. there is a kind of sense of reconciliation that is not formalized, but understood and accepted. haitians are haitians and there is an inherent loyalty that for gives an awful lot. tavis: even baby doc duvalier? >> i met former dictator duvalier in a restaurant a week ago. and he was accosted by people in the restaurant. -- and he was unaccosted by

people in the restaurant. you're looking at someone who is connected to -- i have staff members who lost family members to that regime. it is really not for us as americans coming in or foreigners coming in to make that moral judgment about whether or not a culture is willing to reintegrate people. as for a political threat, i think it is very understood that duvalier represents 9. tavis: 0. >> that is my opinion. tavis: so we need not worry about a political renaissance of duvalier. >> i do not think so. tavis: you have hit on something fascinating. i take your point that we have no business taking a nose into their affairs. we have done that too many

times. and sometimes in the wrong places, wilwhich is another conversation. what is it to your mind about the haitian people that allows them to be so peaceful, as it were, toward this man -- to use your word "unaccoste." i have not heard any word of him being accosted on the street. what is it about the people that allow them to except his return? is it because they are that for giving a people? is it that they have other things on their mind? is it let bygones be bygones? is it about truth and reconciliation as you mentioned earlier? given all that he did come including killing people, just let it pass? >> i would put it this way. i will use an american context. i think that we could -- and i

do not mean by any means to make a comparison of human rights abuses or killings, although there is an aspect of that historical here -- what is it in black america that will so easily accept the violations of don king to those who he represented through their boxing careers? the exploitation of some young fighters? yet he is able to function on this extremely high level, be totally socially acceptable. it is because there is an understanding that there has been a history of such repression from those that he also becomes an example of this saying to white america or to prejudice america, hey, we can run a show, too. and if some of the people -- he himself -- there is an example

that a rise can be there. whenever you have a focus depression, as it has been in haiti, between that -- between the symbol of leadership that still rises many haitians up, where you're talking about duvalier or martelli, the people who have lived on $1 or $2 a day still see a simple pellet that they aspire to be a part of in some way. on the other hand, what is less acceptable in the long term is that there are a lot of people still involved in government who were deeply invested with any of these candidates -- any of these former leaders that you talk about. and the accountability of that leader would be the accountability of them. where president martelli, as i

said before, has been very smart about this, all of the emphasis now will have to be moving forward. haiti cannot afford to do righteous accountability that one that we very rarely fulfilled. we set in wall street and would happen with richard nixon and so on. it is finally not that different. but it is far more tangible and contained. one of the big challenges going forward will be that this government needs to be empowered because it has a chance to establish a rule of law that will be 04 all parties. right -- will be for all parties. this is an entirely broken

system for the poor. tavis: we will have you for part two of his conversation tomorrow night. i appreciate you giving us a much time. i want to move from baby doc to heiress deed -- to are stide. he was run not by the haitian people or escorted out by the u.s. government. we can have that conversation another time. in either case, he was in south africa for several years and he goes back to haiti now. unlike america, we have ex- president's that live here. you serve your term and you go back to private life. in this case, in haiti, both of

these ex-president's were run out. both of them are now back in the country. you say that baby doc poses no threat, you believe. >> i would say that he, as a presidential candidate -- tavis: fair enough. i took the that is what you meant. does aristide who was democratically elected a couple of times, does he pose a threat to president martelli? >> ultimately, aristide will have a productive contribution to make outside of politics. he is a highly intelligent man. tavis: a former priest. >> he is currently invested in one of two campus universities in the country in training medical personnel.

there is a partnership of their in terms of the partners of help offering residencies to those students. i think there's no question that aristide can provide an important contribution. tavisas in any country, in amern terms, someone who was gone just a few years ago, we would probably remember. they would hava larger presence in our conscience and the conscience of the youth. in haiti, he is a little bit of history. that does not mean that he does not have an influence. he has an influence. if i think the party still has a

strong influence in haiti, a particularly strong in floods in haiti. but, again, one of the reasons -- strong influence in haiti. but, again, one of the reasons that martelli has very quickly -- i can say that both presidents duval and aristi de spoke very highly of the quick learning of president martelli. i do think that there is a place investment.'s more than that, president duval, who you brought up the model of jimmy carter for example, this

is somebody who can beat an extraordinary elder statesman because his greatest area of expertise is and what has been the most neglected sector in the haitian economy. that is the sector in agriculture. he is not only in expert, he is quite passionate. it is clear to people that he does not have future presidential aspirations. i hope that president martelli will continue his solicitation of counsel in duval. tavis: i will end this conversation now. but there's a much want to talk to about tomorrow night. how about 80s. -- how about a tease. i want to know from sean penn if the money ever arrived in haiti. i want to talk about the works

specifically that you're doing and where you think you're making the greatest progress inside of haiti. frankly, for those of us who are sean penn after fans, there is more hollywood were to come out of this guidy. we will talk more about all of that and then some tomorrow night with sean penn. you promised to come back tomorrow night? >> absolutely. tavis: until then, good night, los angeles. thank you. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley pbs.org. tavis: visit our website at

pbs.org. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it is the cornerstone we all know. it is not just a street or boulevard, but a place where wal-mart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. thank you.