good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. and more than 3 million of them are women. tonight first a conversation with the author maria shriver about her life's mission to one day eradicate the disease. then singer, jazz me a horn makes her national television debut with a conversation and special performance from her album of social call. we've glad you've joined us maria shriver. coming up in just a moment. ♪

♪ and by contributions to your pbs station viewers like you. thank you. please to welcome maria shriver for this program. you've been on a mission to wipe out alzheimer's disease which effects people from all walks of life but disproportionately impacts women. >> thank you for having me here. >> tell me about the genesis of your work on this issue. >> my father, sergeant shriver was diagnosed in 2003 and he was as i've said many times, the

smartest human being i'd ever met, the most finely tuned brain of any person i'd ever seen and everybody who knew him would agree with that and so watch that up close, to watch someone lose their mind, to lose their ability to know what a fork or a spoon or even who you are, it's really an incredible experience to go through. so i started as any journalist would asking questions trying to understand what was happening in our family but also in my father's mind, in his brain and to try to understand it myself and then try to do something about it. >> couple questions come to mind. one is, when you discover the answers to the questions that you were asking, when you get the data, does the data provide any sort of comfort at all? >> i didn't get the data. i had to go out and find the data myself, which was really an interesting experience and that's how i came to the conclusion or brought out the information ta this discriminates against women, that women are two-thirds of all

the caregivers in this country and as i went around the country asking doctors why, why women, everybody would be like i don't know, i don't know and that has spurred me to try to fund research into womens' brains to try to get that answer which i think will help men and women and help the country. i think that any time you take an issue and try to find answers and get involved, it helps you feel less powerless in a situation and i have found that with everything, the more empowered you can become, the less desperate or despair you feel. >> what's it like, how do you process your father not being able to recognize a knife or a spoon as you said earlier. that's one thing and that's horrible, i can imagine, but when they don't recognize you. >> yeah. >> that's a mind blower, yeah. so when your father or mother sits across from you or your spouse and says, who are you? and i'd say i'm your daughter,

daddy, i'm maria, i'm your daughter. oh, who are you? i'm your daughter, you're my father. so that's kind of an unbelievable experience and what i learned about having a parent with alzheimer's was to be much more present in the moment. i watched caregivers and others in this space i learned what love is in a whole new way and i learned to be patient and accepting and to go with the flow through this, but i also became a warrior in this space because i want people to understand that this is a disease that's coming to every door in this country and that we don't have a government that's really focused on this. it's going to wipe out our health care system. we need to fund it more on a federal level and that's why i was excited to see bill gates just recently say that he also thinks this is a primary issue in our country and he wants to put money in it.

i'm hoping that people from all walks of life get involved with this disease. >> they heard the same thing i just heard, it's coming to every door. what do you mean? >> it's coming to every family, every economic group, every -- people of color, twice as likely, women, twice as likely and people are unaware of what alzheimer's is. we just did this big poll and the crisis of awareness was stunning to me because i've been out there talking about it as have others and somehow it's not landing. somehow people are like, wow, women are more vulnerable, wow, i didn't realize that the government was going to pay for this if i get a mother or father who will get this. we have 10,000 people in this country turning 65 every day, right now the baby boomer generation and a vast of majority of them are going to end up with alzheimer's and we have -- we don't spend as much as money trying to find a cure

for alzheimer's as we do trying to find a cure for cancer or aids but this one is care giving 24/7. there's no survivor when it comes to alzheimer's. there's no remission. there's no survivors in these walks telling us a story of wow, i was a part of this experimental drug run and i'm all better now. we don't have that yet and we need to find something that will enable people to continue even if they have it like you do when you have aids. >> i take your point about not comparing illnesses or diseases. >> people don't want you to take money away from one or the other. >> but there's enough money to go around. >> that's what i said. >> we are the richest country in the history of the world. the question is, why not alzheimer's? >> that's the question i've been saying and i just testified in the congress and i think i'm excite the because this is a bipartisan or nonpartisan issue and there's now growing interest in this disease.

more and more people experiencing it first hand. when i will went and testified, democrats and republicans, on the committee said, you're right. we shouldn't let this president cut nih funding for this. we need to increase it more. more and more people coming forward, men, women from all walks of life and say, this is a disease that we need to get a handle on. this is a global crisis. there's a huge interest in the brain. people want to understand it. we want to learn about it. we can see it now through technology whereas five years ago we couldn't see it. we can understand how it works. this is an explosive, exciting new field and i think the understanding alzheimer's, how it starts, when it starts is 20 years in your brain. people don't realize that. they think it's something you start to get at 70 or 80. that's wrong. that's why we're trying to focus on women in their 40s and 50s who might be menopausal, that's when it begins. >> you referenced the fact that

it hits women. why women? >> we don't know why. i have my own theories. it's maybe tied to being perry menopausal or tied to the x chromosome, tied to childbearing years and the amount of time you spend after childbearing years. there's a lot of questions and very little answers. they're looking at inflammation, type 3 diabetes, they're looking at women of color, latino women. so there's a new interest in this space which is exciting but we don't yet have the answer that's i would like us to have. >> any information about whether or not the disease is hereditary. >> yes, there is a small portion of that. people think that i don't have to worry about it because it doesn't run in my family. that's wrong. so your genes are not your destiny so it means if you have the gene, it doesn't mean you'll get it, it means you're more vulnerable. if you don't have it, doesn't mean you're not going to get it. >> since your father had it, are you afraid --

>> absolutely. you should be afraid. we should all be afraid. i think this is for me having worked so long in the womens' empowerment space. this is all my work coming together because this is an economic issue, it's a professional issue, it's a personal issue, it's a partner issue. this is an issue that corporate america needs to get involved with because women are dropping out to care for loved ones. they drop out of the system, they lose income, so this is a huge financial issue for men and women. it's a huge kind of family issue because family's want their loved ones to take care of them and yet they don't have that conversation. they don't put aside money for a loved one to take care of them. they don't even have that conversation so i'm hoping over the holidays, perhaps, people will sit down with their parents and ask them, do you want me mom and dad to take care of you if you were to get it? do you have any plans? have you set aside any money? do you have a vision for how you want to get older? these are conversations that

every family should be having. >> so i hear you and i saw the data in preparing for our conversation that most persons if asked want to be taken care of by a family member as you just intimated. are we prepared to do that? >> no, because we haven't had that conversation and it shows that millennials are the most anxious about it and they know the least about what the government takes care of or doesn't take care of. it's almost like a civics lesson or health care lesson to know with a is provided, what isn't provided, and we don't have an educated care giving force, people don't noel the difference between alzheimer's, or parkinson's or stroke. these are conversations that i think bring us closer together because you are able to talk to someone about their most basic fears and most basic needs. >> i'm holding in my hand a coloring book. i still love coloring books but this is called color your mind. tell me about this book. >> it's a coloring book i did

for people with alzheimer's. and it's coloring because coloring is good for the mind, but it's chock-full of information for caregivers about what people who have alzheimer's or other cognitive dimensions need, what can improve their life, music, the role of exercise, the role of nutrition. these are all things that we're learning now has an impact on the brain. what you eat has an impact on the brain. whether you exercise or not has an impact on the brain. music has an impact on the brain. meditation has an impact on the brain. i've tried to put a lot of information in here but it was also a tool because when my dad was sick we ended up playing with blocks tarp meant for 2 and 3-year-olds. we didn't have a coloring book. i was always struggling to find something that we could do together. the children's books that i've written, even this, is all with the notion and the hope that it's something you can do with someone you love.

>> let me close by asking whether or not given the space that we're in, giving the hearings that you just participated in and what you bring on capitol hill, are you hopeful? >> yes, absolutely. i've never been more hopeful. as i said there are more people that are interested in this. we've learned a lot more about this disease. we can see the brain now in ways that we couldn't see it and i think that people like bill gates are stepping up. they're seeing this disease first hand in their own families. they see how devastating it is and they see how blessed they are if they have money to be able to take care of a loved one and how millions and millions of people can't and this is something that doesn't, you know, discriminate against anybody. it just comes to everybody and we as a country, the greatest country on earth, the richest country, the most innovative country, the most inspiring country, we can wipe this out. we have done it before. and we have the best scientists and researchers in the world and i think if we come together we

can really figure out what this is and how to stop it. >> thank you for leading in that conversation, maria. >> thank you for having me. up next a conversation with and performance from jazz singer mia horn, stay with us. welcome, mia horn. with a name like that you're destined to have a career in music. her debut album is titled a "social call," an honor to have you on this program. >> thank you for having me. >> she's going to perform later so don't go anywhere. with a name like that how can you not be in music. >> yes, sir. >> does music run in your family? who? how? >> my mother sings in the choir at church. my grandfather's the pastor. he also plays guitar.

my grandmother played keyboard or she did before she passed. everybody. >> you were raised in a black church. >> yes, sir, baptist. >> baptist. how does that upbringing influence you now because it's almost impossible to talk to a black artist certainly of a certain age who didn't grow up in a black church. how does that influence your stuff now? >> it's like you always have to know where you came from and where you're going. for me it's like it never left. the church never left and i am the church, you know, i am a temple, i am a vessel for god so when i was in church singing especially as a child, i was always telling a story about my life and telling about the good things god had done for me and even though i sing jazz now it's still the same thing it's just in a ifferent way. the message is still coming down, you know. >> how did jazz end up being

your lane? >> somebody asked me how can you have a name jazz mia horn and you not know anything about jazz and it was true for me. jazz was boring when i first started listening to it, i was 13 or 14. i don't want to do that, you know. >> yeah. >> after a while, i started listening to saravon and billy holiday and i was like, oh, my gosh, i want to do that. i tried to hear all kinds of things and go into different places. i had a teacher who teaches it at booker t. washington. >> that's where laura jones went to school. >> yeah, yeah. i have a lot of respect for him. he gave me a couple of cds. this is going to save your life and it changed my life completely. people don't know.

the real pioneers of the music and started to like eat it in a way and digest it and it became a part of me. >> yeah. it must be surreal as a child to be listening to saravon and you win that competition. >> yeah. >> how did you process that? >> it was -- it was a lot going on so i didn't really have much time to process it. i just -- i was hoping that i was making my ancestors proud and i think of saravon as an ancestor. i didn't have time to think about it. i was just honored that i won. >> you go on and win the monk competition. >> yeah. >> when you're on stage

performing in these competitive environments and you look out and you've got judges -- who are you judges. >> patty austin. dee dee bridgewater. there was so many of them. >> and herbie of course very much involved in that for years. when you're on stage and you're a youngster -- >> freaking out. i was absolutely freaking out. i was freaking out. i had to -- i had to say jazz, this is a gig, don't think about them because if you think about them you're going to lose it and drop the ball. just think of it as you're performing in new york just like you normally do, don't worry about it. otherwise i definitely would not have won. >> that's a lot of intimidation. tell me about a social call. tell me about this project.

>> well, it is entitled a social call for a reason. it definitely is a social call. my thinking is that my grandmother she said this -- i say say this because her spirit is still alive for me, you are responsible for the generation before you and the generation after you. so i took that to mean my children and my mother's generation. so that means i have to reach forward and push my children but i also have to reach back and grab my mother's generation. there might be some things that might be beneficial to the older generation like social media, using it as a platform for your business but if they don't know how to use it, that's what my job is to teach them and there's also some things i can teach the youth and help them grow to the future. that's what i'm trying to do with the social call. people make the world go rang. >> you kill the rendition. just a great song. >> it is. it is.

>> and the idea is that bringing something together to where the old school generation can appreciate it but my generation can appreciate it as well and the future generations. people make the world go round, there's a lot of poetry and dialogue that speaks out about what's going on. nuclear plants leaking into streams. modified organisms in the food. police brutality and there's a swing of the album that the old generation gels with. there's a little bit of hip hop in a way, the way that i'm speaking poetry and things of that nature, it's all like a boiling pot to bring everybody close together to knock out the divide and conquer. >> she can show you better than i can tell you. the project is called a social call. her name is jazz mia horn. with a name like that what else could do you and this is her national television debut.

i'm honored to host her on this program tonight and i know there are a bunch of folks wondering the same thing i wonder. give me a full-size of jazz mia in this outfit. you made this? >> yes, i did. thank you. >> she sings and sews. i'm going to let -- make room for her to prove to you that she's an all star. up next she performs the medley, lift every voice and sing and moaning from her debut project once again it's called, a social call. good night, thanks for watching and as always keep the faith but don't move because here comes jazz mia horn. ♪ ♪ lift every voice and sing ♪ till earth and heaven ring ♪ ring with the harmony of

liberty ♪ let our rejoicing rise higher as high as the listening skies ♪ let it resound, loud as the rolling seas ♪ sing a song, taught us. sing a song, pull out the hopes that the prism has brought us ♪ ♪ facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won ♪ in the

morning find me moaning, cuz of all the trouble i see ♪ cares and whoas got me moaning every evening ♪ i'm alone and crying the blues, i'm so tired of singing these blues ♪ everybody knows i'm moaning, i spend days and nights ♪ but i pray, truly pray somebody would come and bring me relief ♪ i'm alone at home and crying the blues ♪ i'm so tired of playing these tunes everybody knows i'm moaning ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ i spend my days and nights on my knees ♪ yes, i spend my days and nights alone with my grief ♪ ♪

my knees ♪ yes, i spend my days and nights alone with my grief ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] for more information on today's show visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. that's next time. we'll see you then.

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