tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. immigration activists and their daylong conference on the west coast am a and discussing -- and the hope discussing immigration reform, our conversation with erika andiola. her mother and brother have deportation status. she will be joining marielena hincapié, one of the hosts of the daylong symposium. then a conversation with nathan east about his new self-titled cd. he will close our show tonight with a performance. we are glad you have joined us. as conversations and a performance from nathan east coming up right now. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: before we get into our conversation with our guest tonight, the epic battle for the civil rights act will be our guest on wednesday. he will be a wednesday -- on

wednesday night. we celebrate 50 years since the passage of the civil rights act. in some similar legislation. president obama has promised to look into options for more humane approaches to our immigration policies. in light of the fact that under his administration there have been more deportations then in any other previous residency -- presidency. activists met to consider new strategies to change policies. among them erika andiola and marielena hincapié which convened the conference. good to have you both on this program. we commemorate and celebrate 50 years since the passage of the civil rights act and the voting rights act and here we are 50 -- 50 years later in need of some meaningful immigration reform

for millions of americans whose status is in jeopardy and not clear. give me some sense of what url -- you are doing. >> thank you. the timing is important because we brought together 42 grass-roots organizations and from the south. the issue is playing out severely in the south like in the civil rights movement. it is about the future of our nation and what it means to be a citizen and what it means to have full citizenship. we have 11 million people in our country with children with deep ties to our community. completelyically being marginalized and being deported as you said under this administration in record numbers. we are about to break the 2 million mark. this is more than all people deported in the last century alone. it is a disgrace and this is a

level of deportations that we have. >> how do you explain that russian mark i guess you cannot because you're not brock obama or eric holder. the president had some comments after meeting with congressman gutierrez. he has been pushed on this really hard as he should have been given the number of votes fromcked of both times run your community. how do you juxtapose i am a friend of the hispanic committee but i am deporting you in record numbers on the other hand? rex the president has the legal and more -- moral authority to take the administration and change the deportation policies. i have some hope that because of the grass-roots pressure including many of the groups that were here we will be able to get those changes done over the next 30, 60, 90 days. >> what has been henry -- his reason for not doing that russian markey has the opportunity to use his pen to do this.

it is not up question of will cool skills. a question it is not of his political skills. what does he have the authority to do? rex i think he is waiting for action. hand going to use his exciton immigration. he has been allowing speaker manner to act. if the republicans do not act and enact immigration reform, they will be held accountable. this is about the future of their party disappearing. they are anti-immigrant, anti-women. the president, politically he believes that congress needs to act and he is waiting on congress. that is fine. you also need to act right now. this government should be able to work on a parallel strategy just like we as advocates are working. >> what is he doing that he is

not doing while he is waiting on congress to do what it ought to do? rex the first thing is to extend the protection to new arrivals program for the people who are here. as long as the government as analyzing these cases on a case-by-case basis, legally, this administration can change the law and say they're going to exercise discretion and use resources in a more fair, humane, and fiscally responsible way as well to make sure that these current policies do not lead to more racial profiling, more it dissemination, and to restore some order to our system. >> i saved the last few minutes of my conversation for you. you are the living epistle, the example of what i mean when i say it is a moral question. take your time. tell me your story and your mother and brother. what happened and where we are now in your journey. >> for sure. i myself am something who has

been called a d.r.e.a.m.er. i was 11 when i was brought here. i came with my mother and my siblings. through college it was harder because my status. through that and going through -- arizona has anti-immigrant laws that do not allow students to get in-state tuition. i am from arizona. going to arizona state university. we started coming out of the shadows and telling our stories. soad been so out there and protected and all of a sudden, after i get out of my first job ever with my social security , ourr that i got through

home is raided. they take my mom and my brother in front of me and my younger brother. to me it was certain like a wake-up call that i do have protection in social security but my family is so vulnerable. tot really -- we were able stop my mother's deportation. we had thousands of calls and positions to the white house and dhs. through that we were able to turn the bus around that had my mom and it. tavis: your mom was literally on the bus headed to the border. >> literally on the way to mexico. that is when all the pressure and this is all overnight. they went to my house that i -- 9p.m. and she got released at a.m. the entire country mobilized and we were able to put some pressure on the white house and dhs that they had to call the driver to go back. tavis: what is the status of

your mother and brother at the moment? >> my mom has a more difficult case. she has something called a reentry to charge. ofis what is keeping a lot immigrants from fighting deportation cases. her cases ordered so she was ordered to be deported. she was given a stay. in that year she is going to be .e. and it will.c be under their discretion whether they want her to stay more. my brother has a different case. it was because he was there that he was taken. he will have court and the judge will decide what to do with him and we are still waiting for that. been: has your mom working since she was in this country? rick she was working when sheriff arpaio, he did a raid. he rated some parks and she was working there. our house has been raided

twice. they took my uncles. throughout my story and my personal experience we have dealt with the problems this is caused. we lame a lot of time arpaio and -- state our ste government. the administration has helped enforces laws. tavis: let me close on the snow. where can i do you listen the any hope? you place i am not an optimist but i am a prisoner of hope. you can see something i feel something that things will get better. c about thisimisti but i am a prisoner of hope.

looking the other way. john banner has made it clear that this is nothing comprehensive will get through the house. in anrying to get a sense election year where you think the energy, the tracking is going to come from to get anything done in 2014? >> the change will come administratively. i want to echo erika's point about her mother. the fact that this administration has the ability but the question is do they have the political will to, at the very least say that they are no longer going to deport. they will illuminate the category of those who came back and reenter the country simply because they were desperately trying to be reunited with their citizen children. the fact that today, a mother who gets to ported, -- deported, if she does not make her way back, she will use her -- lose her parental rights because that child will be put into the foster care system and put up for adoption.

it is a human risk that immigrants are willing to take. it is what i have hope in. i know the kurds will continue, the resilience will continue and that under the new secretary of the department of homeland security, i am hopeful. i am hopeful that we will get the changes that we are asking for administratively and there is no time left. this is time for action. this is the moment where this administration, president obama needs to start worrying about his legacy. what will he be remembered for throughout history? in a: >> he is safely second term and he will never stand for reelection again. what is have to lose? >> absolutely nothing. we are demanding actual changes now. not three months from now, not six months from now. tavis: thank you for your work and leadership. we hope the conference was good today. good to have you on the program. --tank you for having us

thank you for having us. tavis: a conversation with nathan east. stay with us. nathan east is one of those indispensable go to musicians who other artists rely on when they are carting their albums. he has laid with eric clapton, over streisand, stevie wonder, and on and on. dafyou saw him perform with anpunk. east."his cd, "nathan congratulations on your solo project. you have played with anybody who is a buddy. -- who is anybody. what has taken you so long? how did you get into this as a profession? you have a talent or gift. how did this become your profession?

i was 16 i toured the country with very white and the love unlimited -- barry white and the love unlimited orchestra. tavis: that is my top list of names for a company, accompaniment. the raylettes. wonderlove.de what a great name. the love unlimited orchestra. >> that says it all. and they were cold. the firstry was brother who turned me onto a real appreciation of strings. >> he had gene page doing all those arrangements. that was supposed to be a vocal song and the arrangement with the strings was so strong that they took the lyrics off and let the strings. it was amazing because barry, he was a national superstar.

we played the apollo theater and madison square garden, in detro it. tavis: did your mama know where you was? >> i know. it was early days. tavis: you get your start with barry. how do you work your way into being this studio artist that everybody wants to plan their project question mark >> funny enough, jean paid to did all those arrangements was responsible for just all these songs. here ranged for the jacksons and elton john and streisand. he would call you and you would see all the session guys. ray parker and the heavy hitters would be on the dates. they would go, there's this guy named nate. word travels and next thing you know you are working every day. it was fantastic. tavis: i tavis: if i put you on the spot

because i'm about to. or four were three riffs you have played that you are really proud of and nobody .as heard, give me the song >> one riff is a song i had a chance to write with phil collins, "easy lover." tavis: everybody knows that. give me another one. >> that is impressive that you sang it. "changesong of the year, the world." with kenny logins. tales" with anita baker.

tavis: the piano work is incredible. in your cartride and you hear it, are you still impressed customer >> i still get excited. and my kids get excited. tavis: let's talk about your project. this is the first time you have done this. what did you want to get across on your first project? >> i wanted this to be a celebration of music and friendship. very simple, you know, been doing it for now 30 years plus. we know how music affects us. you know where he you were the first time you heard earth wind the way of the's world." you know where -- music is one of the things that becomes the soundtrack to our lives. over the past 30 years i have made friendships with people

like i, donald and eric clapton ericchael mcdonald and clapton. this is a celebration of these friendships and what we have been doing. it is simple as that. tavis: how did you decide what to put on in terms of the tracks? you got a good mix on here. >> it is difficult. we cut 26 songs. it is kind of like choosing the best picture out of a 36-year-old roll of film. you go in there and obviously i wanted to have the songs that feature my buddy. stevie wonder, that is a no-brainer. a couple of his songs are on their. tavis: and sir duke. >> i was fooling around with "america the beautiful." your rendition is beautiful. >> thank you very much wanted that to be almost like another

anthem. know we could sit here and rag on everybody, every party for the rest of the show. i wanted to just celebrate what is great about this country. so i thought let's put a little bit love back in there. back in the conversation. tavis: what did you learn about the bass as lead instrument question mark >> as a bass ng lead, iyiin needed a bass player. tavis: so you called your brother. noah plays on the record with me. tavis: it is a family affair. if you have known someone as long as i have no nate --

known nate. he does it so well. he is out with his own project. called nathan east. me let him convince you with his own sound. "daft east performing funk." michael thompson and some guy named ray parker, junior on ontar, and steve ferroni drums. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. here comes nathan east. ♪ ♪ yeah ♪

♪

♪ tonight were going to celebrate ♪ ♪ just dance, let the music take your mind away ♪ ♪ dance, let the music take

your mind away ♪ ♪ it's now or never, baby ♪ ♪

♪ tonight were going to celebrate ♪ ♪ just dance, let the music take your mind away ♪ ♪ it's now or never, baby ♪ ♪ tonight were going to celebrate ♪ ♪ just dance, let the music take your mind away ♪ baby ♪now or never,

♪ [applause] >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with author dr. saladin ambar. that is next time. we will see you then.

♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

hello welcome to this is us. i'm rebecca king reid. we are in the santa cruz harbor. it's a 65-foot catamaran on which school children take a field trip they never forget. a science cruise on the monterey bay. we will find out more later on in the show. we will also meet the man behind the sea odyssey program. and we'll visit the strait veerous of surf board shapers doug. he has been shaping boards for years. finally we head off to class. surf class that is with veteran big wave su