tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with senator bernie sanders from vermont. beting under business would to decide whether there would the an immediate strike on syria. other issues include immigration and the looming debt ceiling. a will then pivot to conversation with writer michel jackson, whose new autobiography, "the residue ," takes a look at what it

is like to grow up under extreme conditions. we are glad you joined us. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ♪hank you. ♪ congress reconvene on a vote

whether or not to begin military but it is not, the only issue congress has to tackle. there are other issues, the looming debt ceiling among others. have you on this program once again. let me start with the news on where and i don't know this puts us. let's start with your news first. you tell me what harry reid told us about this pending vote, and we will talk about what kerry said about assad. i understand it, majority leader reid was going to introduce a cloture vote tonight. what he has just announced is he will not do that. he wants the president to be able to meet with members of the senate tomorrow as well as speak

to the nation, so there is a delay in that, and obviously, there is some important news and i think the news in terms of russia leaning on assad and the possibility that he will now make available to the international community their chemical weapons. that: it is the case secretary of state john kerry for stated at a press conference byt syria can avoid attack putting chemical weapons under international control. now we are told the minister will explore that option. russia apparently used diplomatic back channels to put this in motion, so the white house as i am told is confirming the president stand behind the statement secretary kerry made that if in fact they put these chemicals under international control, military strike,

it is onthat might be, hold at the moment. news agencies called the statement a gas. -- gaffe. i thought it was pretty calculated. what is your sense of secretary kerry confirmed by the white house? >> my senses it is good news. the devil is always in the details. finally russia is jumping in and a construct of way. -- in a constructive way. they have a lot of influence on syria. if they can force syria to acknowledge they have chemical of all, to second allow the international community to secure those hugens, that would be a step forward. >> you are in washington.

you have been there a long time. there would be a lot of spin about what happened here. every mind whatever back channels russia will use. be spin this is another example of the president trying to back down. he is going to congress for the and if youe needs, turn over the weapons, we will not strike you. is this the president backing down? it is hard for me to imagine anyone making that statement. that has been the goal all along. if i have strong reservations about the united states of america acting involved in a civil war in syria, and about 95% of the e-mails and phone calls my office is getting, people have concerns, but to say the president is backtracking if

the end result will be that syria allows -- its weapons to be controlled by the international community. that's a huge victory. there are two issues. one is what happens going forward, which is if you are willing to put your chemical weapons under international control, that is a beautiful thing, and we welcome that, but there is a second issue, and that is the first issue the president said he wanted to address, and that is to punished syria for having already used these weapons and killed their own people. are we saying that punishing us assad is not a priority? >> as someone who is not enthusiastic about getting in a war at all for all kinds of

reasons, i think it will be seen by the entire global immunity as a wonderful thing erie, that -- local community as a wonderful that if you can get chemical weapons out of syria without the united states getting involved in a bloody war, i cannot imagine too many people thinking that is not a good step. tavis: i am sure every network is covering this ad nausea him. let me move to what congress is not getting around to doing because they are foreclosing on the rest of the agenda. i mentioned some of those issues, so let's talk about what congress ought to be working on. >> in the real world there is no separated from another issue, and one of the many reasons i have deep concerns about american involvement in a serious civil war is that it

would push to the side the serious problems facing the middle-class and working families of this country. right now the united states congress get the 10% avery ability rating because people are furious. favorability rating because people are furious. unemployment is close to 10%. youth unemployment is close to 18%. the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider. problems, andus people are saying, deal with these issues. protect the middle-class. addressed addressed the issue of poverty. do something about global warming. do something about big money and the ability to buy elections. syria, itinvolved in

is much less likely we will deal with these issues. when i talk to people, they say, we have got to create millions of jobs in the country. from highating school, kids graduating from college who have a difficult time getting employment. if you don't get a job for the first two or three years, when you get the job that does not match your qualifications with a college degree, that impacts your entire life. american people are saying, let's create jobs. let's deal with the fact most of them are part-time jobs. at a time productivity is n't it we arehy is i creating good paying jobs. tavis: the numbers were abysmal, nothing to be happy with the numbers we saw on friday. let me ask you point blank if

you think this president, with docket,ill on the whether he has time to really do something about the issue of jobs in america. >> the answer is the a radically absolutely. theoretically, absolutely. will he? i have my doubts. you have a democratic body that is pretty weak. but you have a republican party that is far worse, which wants to cut social security, medicare, etc. what the president has to do from a political perspective is not very complicated. he has got to stand with the american people, 70 or 80% of them who want to create jobs. he has got to raise the minimum

wage and fight for that. he has to address global warming, but the republicans on the defensive, stop talking about the world of post-partisan republicans do not agree with for one second. what pains me is republican ideology is not supported by 10 or 15% of americans. they want jobs. they want to raise minimum wage. they want to make college affordable. they want to improve our health care system. has got to dodent is rally the american people. as long as right wing extremists control the house of representatives, i worry about the future of this country. >> let me talk about the issue

of immigration reform. my read on this says, if you don't get immigration reform passed this year, it doesn't happen in the obama era. it. is how i see syria, the looming debt ceiling, the issue of jobs are serious issues. i don't know how you even get to immigration reform this year. too many republicans next year have too much at stake to come across the aisle and deal with immigration reform. hype, i did not see if the president did not make it a greater priority how it got done. do you see that?

>> i think you make a fair argument. i voted for immigration reform. lot in that bill i worry about. you are going to see hundreds of thousands of entry-level workers from around the world coming into the united states, and i worry what that means for low income kids in this country being able to get jobs. i think people say, nobody can work a computer. i think weighing the pros and cons until they got a billion and a half amendment, i ended up voting for it, but i think your point is if we do not get that passed very soon, and this is where the syria business worries me very much. if we don't get it passed now and we get it into the election

season, i suspect we will not get it passed in the obama term. tavis: i know you have got to run. i know there are serious issues that take up your time. insight.ou for your >> thank you very much. moment a a conversation with mitchell jackson. mitchell jackson battled the kind of difficult childhood that often derails young minds before they get a chance to succeed. he had his own brush with the law, spending time in prison for selling drugs, but he turned his life around, getting an mfa in creative writing from in why you

-- from nyu. he has created his first novel, and everyone is talking about it. it is called "the residue years." it is getting outstanding reviews. >> thank you for having me. of your reasons for writing, and he does not get the respect he deserves, james baldwin, one of your influences. tell me how baldwin influenced your wanting to do this. >> i read "ghost on the mountain." i identified with that. way james baldwin was able to enter the interior lives of people and ask questions of how and why rather than just what. was like, i could do that.

i spent a good deal of time trying to knock off james baldwin. that it seemed like he was more concerned with creating the emotional and intellectual lives of his her his. -- his characters. about what did he say that part of the country? >> i connected with him later on when i really started to read him. started to read, if you when he talksow, about the poverty in harlem, it is the same team going on. going on. he seems like a genius but also a fortune teller. people are still infatuated with the same themes. girls are still having babies like they were having. i think baldwin was able to see the broad view of what was happening in the culture.

i have always been one of those people who was trying to ask tom a why is this happening. -- trying to ask why is this happening. tavis: tell me about grace. grace is a character. it is semi-autobiographical. there is a palette of people in my life i use. my mother,st like who struggled with addiction from when i was 10 years old until my 20's. one thing i felt like was a turning point in the novel when i realized it was not just the thatory -- son's story, it was the son and the mother's story. glad you went there,

because i wanted to ask, how is your mother handling the publishing of this? it is one thing for her son to write a book that is getting critical acclaim, but they character is in large measure based on her, and that is a difficult wing to come to terms with. how is your mom handling her business being put in the streets? helpful when i was writing it, but she said, i hope our story is able to help everyone. she was like, secrets can really harm you, and i hope by us telling this it does some good. tavis: there is a powerful line i want you to explain.

the impact it is having on your mother, and you are trying to hold on as rest you can. say, i'm going to sell drugs myself. the line is, don't anyone care about my mama. why should i care about anybody ?lse's mama i am going to sell some drugs, make a little money. powerful for me. be au don't want to victim. you feel by selling drugs you have your fate in your own hands, but really, you don't. it's kind of an empowering thing to be able to take care of some dings. -- some things. tavis: it was arresting to me.

let me fast forward because i cannot do justice to this in the time i have here. you're in college. somehow you work through that. way intoou find your college, and your junior year of college you get arrested for selling drugs, and you go to prison for 16 months or so, and that's where you start to discover your gift for writing. take me back to school and how you process being in college one .ay and in prison the next >> it was a long process. i didn't have a record. i thought, maybe i will get probation. once i found i was going to prison it was disheartening, because i thought i disappointed people. some people do it because they feel it is their only means.

felt like i disappointed the people who believed in me. if you had opportunity and intellect, why didn't you do it? early on it became a means of support for my family. then it was like an identity. people stopped calling me the basketball player or the schoolboy, and they started seeing me a different way. it was not going to end unless something bad happen. tavis: tell me about your time behind bars. >> a lot of it was pretty useless, playing basket all, dominoes, but at some point to i said, i have to make something of this.

that is what i started scribbling on loose leaf pages. there was no one who compelled me to do it. it was like, i am here now. to make the most of this? how am i going to make the most of this intellectual experience? tavis: was this the first time you found you had this gift in prison? >> i didn't even know i had a talent for it until i was in graduate school. i used to scribble notes when i but never a story. i never thought about being a writer, just notes. tavis: what do you make of that, that you could put out something that is this well-received, and you never even thought of yourself as a writer? come to their gifts later on, and i am fortunate evil encouraged me, and i

believed in them before i believed in myself -- people encouraged me, and i believed in them before i started believing in myself. tavis: why the decision to do this as a novel rather than nonfiction? >> at the time i thought, i could get people in trouble. i still have to mind the hood ethic. you cannot run around mensching on people. fiction gave me a kind of leeway that being chained to the truth did not have. it works for the best. whose what are your boys names have been changed -- what are they saying about the book? >> people are proud. some of the people doing the illegal things might not even be home any more. i don't if they read it or not. them thecouple of

book. if you are locked up for 17 years you are probably thinking your decision-making is not the best. they probably see a little truth and caution. do you go back? >> i went back last spring and talk to those guys. it was really a powerful moment. your motheraid expressed to you what she wanted as a result of this book. it you hope will come of this? who does not a guy normally read, this will be the one book they pick up. it's great if the new york times picks it up, but i am trying to speak to those guys, because i think there is so little they

gravitate to, so i hope there is an honest conversation. tavis: everyone is talking about this. it's going to be one of the books of the year. it's called "the residue year " ." by mitchell s. jackson congratulations. i'm glad it was so well received. i assume you're going to do some more writing. >> yeah. >> it was great having you. thank you for watching. as always, keep the faith. -- >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org.>> join us for the first of two conversations with the

incomparable bb king. that's next time. we will see you then. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more.

hello and welcome to "this is us". this week we are coming to you from the san jose fire museum. this is a 1931 mack fire truck. it is just the beginning mpth later in the show we will show you literally tons of historic fire equipment that served san jose throughout the years. you will also meet three local heroes, a helicopter pilot who fought a number of blazes, a pilot who saved 155 lives when he landed his jet airliner on the hudson river, and a fire captain whose search and rescue part senatorship will melt your heart. we have a lot of great