[captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. first up tonight, the inspiring story of juan luis alcivar, who joined the u.s. army despite the fact that he was not even a u.s. citizen. in 2007, the sergeant was shot and wounded and awarded the purple heart. he was sworn in as a u.s. citizen, and he has become a public face for the thousands of foreign-born people serving in the u.s. military. also tonight, anika noni rose drops by, and she was in

"dreamgirls" and in "the no. 1 ladies' detective agency." they are both coming up right now. there are so many things that wal-mart is helping people to do. looking forward to build stronger communities and relationships, because with your help, the best is yet to come. nationwide insurance bradley supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve economic conditions. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ and from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: sgt juan luis alcivar joined the u.s. army back in 2005 despite the fact that he was not a u.s. citizen, born in the dominican republic. he was shot and wounded in iraq and awarded the purple heart. at a ceremony at walter reed medical center in washington, he was sworn in as a u.s. citizen by homeland security secretary janet napolitano. he has an inspiring story. sgt slcivar, good to have you on the show, sir. does it feel the same on this side? >> it feels a little bit different, a little bit different. my comrades make a little more fun of me now. it is good. tavis: your nickname is ac. why? >> they call me ac, which is

short for air-conditioner. he could not pronounced my last name, which is alcivar, and he called me into the office and called me air-conditioner, and from then on, it's stuck with me. since 2005. so airconditioner got shortened to toaqc. -- tavis: so airconditioner got shortened to ac. tell me about your background and how you came to turney are made without being a u.s. citizen. how did that happen? -- how you came to be in the u.s. army without being a u.s. citizen. >> i was raised until i was 14, moved to upstate new york, went to college at hudson valley

community college. after that, could not afford to go to school anymore. i worked six jobs, and from there decided, you know what? i saw a lot of the guys doing -- just joined the army, during their part, and i had been here for 20 years, -- doing their part. and i felt i was part of this country, and i owe to this country a lot that i decided to join, and when i decided to join, i decided to pick up the 19 delta cowberries doubt, which is combat arms, and from there -- 19 delta calvavalry scout. went to iraq in 2006 and got hurt, and now i am a u.s. citizen. tavis: i want to talk about after injury, but first, i want

to get an idea about what you thought you owe to the country, by your own omission -- admission. you felt like he belonged to the nation and wanted to do your part, like you owe to the nation -- you felt like you belong to the nation. you cannot even afford to finish your own education. what did you mean by that? >> just being -- i was here for 20 years the and i had been through the school system -- i was here for 20 years. i had been through the school system. for some reason, just being here and just with all the friends i had made, all of the people i had met, you know, i just cannot stand aside and say, you know, and let this go by," i am not american. this is not my war." after college, i thought this was the right time for me to

join in. tavis: any reason for the army as opposed to the other services? >> at first, i wanted to join the air force. you know, after talking with them and everything, it was fine, and the air force is a great branch, but i do not know. i just really wanted to be in combat arms. i wanted to be in theire be helping out. for me, i think combat arms was a way to help out. god bless them. for me, i wanted to be out there searching, kicking in doors, -- tavis: so that combat arms, as you put it, doing the full nine, you got cards. tell me about your injury. how did that happen -- you got harmed. >> we had eight base in a little

town -- a base. we had to go and do our mosque monitoring, what they would call their church, and usually, they would at a speaker and yelled out what they would need to put out for the church, and they would at times put out negative slander towards the military, like "kill the military, to be anything like that, and we are going to go down there and go checking. we were coming back towards down, in the middle of town, and usually, it was around 3:00 in the afternoon, and the sun is bright out, and there is a school, and there is no little kids. usually, we know we are safe when we have little kids come towards us and have little kids outside, and for some reason, there were no kids. it was a friday afternoon, bright, and there were no kids, so we knew there was something that was going to happen, and we

got about 600 meters away from our patrol base, and we were searching in a place where we had found three before, and we started searching. i was in the rear. security, kneeling down, -- i was in the rear point security, and i heard this pop, and as soon as i heard this shot, i felt this burning in my leg, and it was instantly, i was down in the ground looking up, and i am, like, "whereas just happens?" i realized my leg was shattered. -- "what has just happened?" one man came over and dragged me out of the line of fire, and they called of the humvees. they took me back to the patrol base and sent me on my way. tavis: what condition was your leg in, and what happened at

walter reed? >> basically, the shot went through the back of my thigh, came in, shattered my femur, and, actually, the bullet is still stuck in there at this point, and i have a rod replacing my whole femur, because it was shattered, so they took it out and replaced in with a rod, and i have a screw in my hip. and all of that was done in germany and at walter reed. right now, i am pretty good. i can walk on my own. i walk with a limp, but it is getting better. hopefully, in the next couple of months, i will be able to lightly jog. tavis: two questions, and i will let you go.

number one, you will not be on the front line of duty in termsn you -- the thing that you wanted to get in the first place. is that your home? would you like to get back out there again, even after this incident? >> i do not mind being out there. it was just one incident. it just happened one time. you know, it could happen again, and it may not. to me, i enjoyed being out there be a is a great experience. to me, it was a great experience -- i enjoyed being out there. it was a great experience. tavis: you are not going to play again on national television. i am not going to set myself up for another one. his name is sergeant juan luis alcivar. i know how to get out. sergeant, our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, and whatever you want to do in the

army, we wish you best block. >> thank you for having me on the program. -- we weswish you the best of luck. tavis: many non-u s-born people are serving in the military. up next, a former "dreamgirls" star, anika rose. stay with us. please welcome anika noni rose, a tony-award winning actress. she now stars in one of the most critically acclaimed shows on tv, "the no. 1 ladies' detective agency," a show that airs on hbo. >> when someone says secretary, an image springs to mind a somewhat tight skirts who will very soon be disgracing herself under the desk with her boss in

ways that only god knows how she can still look at herself in the mirror. i cannot tell you the number of times i applied for jobs and found myself in competition with a girl in the 42% in a very short skirt, and every time, it is the short skirt that gets the job. it is the way of the world. >> it is the way of the man's world, but this is the number one ladies detective agency. tavis: first of all, great show, and who knew you were so funny? when i saw the first episode, i was, like, oh, my god. we have talked over the years, and i had no idea you could be so funny. i could see the humor in it when i first saw it. >> you know, i really wanted to do it. this was the first thing that i did after "dreamgis," and i

wanted to do something completely different, and you do not get much different, so this is the anti. she is quirky and weird, and i loved the script. tavis: a woman who is attracted to an anti-glam role. >> it is so much about that person and who that person is and what their life is about, which is not to say that glam role ares not about the person, but i think there are a lot of different things -- which is not to is notglam roles -- which is not to say that glam roles are not about that. tavis: what you are saying is that you get bored being cute

all of the time. >> you are not going to track me. -- trap me. tavis: it is a great show. let me let you tell the story of the show and the character that you play. >> i play mama, and the show is about a woman whose father has died and left her a lot of cows. çshe sells them and opens a ladies'ç detective agency. in botswana, where there are no detective agencies, nevermind run by a woman, she is a trailblazer. tavis: same thing. >> i addition to be a secretary, and i get the job, -- i auditioned to be a secretary.

they are very different people. grace is very uptight. she is very tightly wound. she has gotten the highest score at her school of secretaries and botswana, but she has been ignored for most of her life, usually because of the way she looks and other things, so this is the first time that she is really been recognized for the things that she is doing and the ability that she has, for her intelligence, and it is a coming out for her, of sorts, and as much as she comes out, which is not a lot. tavis: so you have given us a sketch of the character, so you go where to do research to play this character? >> i read all of the book, and i read some books before i auditioned, which gave me a base. before i auditioned, i went to

d.c. to visit the consulate for botswana, and they were closed. that did not work out. tavis: you call, your agent calls and says, "i am annie e. casey foundation -- i am anika noni rose." you do not just show up. >> i was excited. i actually ended up talking to people later in the week at the consulate there, and i did not tell them what i was talking to them. i wanted to hear as they spoke, so i just asked them questions about their country and took that in and use the that -- and used that, but basically, there was so much information in the book and in the script, which was written so well. i went to botswana after i got the job to figure out culture

and not to offend somebody when i went there. educated at africa. to the point wherde boats one is a country, but we often do not realize -- botswana is a country, but it is easy to think that like we have states, oh, yes, we are going to botswana, but it is a country. you are talking about people who are very proud, and very able, to take care of themselves without that hint of having known the feeling of being downtrodden. tavis: what did you make of the people of botswana? >> i love to the people. they are very generous people. -- i loved the people. they are not quick to smile, which is interesting, which is not out of the coldness or a shutting out.

tavis: so you fit right in. >> yes. tavis: exactly. >> a friend of mine there told me, because i was on camera, and nobody was smiling, and i was," what is up?" and they said that we do not smile because the camera is out. we smile because something brought it up. i thought that was fantastic. it is very honest. the people were so excited. everyone was so helpful. if i asked someone to say a word again or what something is or just to read, and i will take different passages and the book and ask somebody to read it just to hear the sound, and everyone was helpful, and i loved it. tavis: you guys were there for months. >> yes, last year, we were there for four months. tavis: i could never connect

with her because she was in botswana. are you ever going to come back? what is it like being in africa for the first time and being there for four months at a stretch? >> well, the first time we were there, we were there for 4.5 months. it was liberating. i really love learning about other people's culture, and i met with people from so many different tribes and summit in -- and so many different areas that i was taking in people and they are and what makes them move the way they move, and it is a completely different way of becoming a different energy, so for me -- in that first goal round, i only actually filmed for 12 days, -- in that first goal round -- go- around. tavis: you get paid for 2.5 months, but you work for 12 days. that is the kind of job that i want. >> i was learning the sounds and

movements, and i was learning some of the language, as well, and i attribute that to anthony that he really wanted us to be there to be able to take on a feeling of that place. tavis: erase the name anthony. -- you raised in the name and city. sydney pollack. both deceased -- you raised the name anthony. >> i never met sydney pollack. he was already very, very sick. anthony's de3ath was a complete shock -- death was a complete shock. he was a lovely person to work for. he just -- and i think you see it in the pilot -- he had such a love for this people and the land and the story he was trying to tell, so he did not want to

turn it into a fairy tale, and he did not want it to be about the negatives, which so often, i think, happens in africa, and i was so thankful for that, and we have not yet felt the loss of that kind of the creative force. i do not think that we know yet what we have lost. nobody was creating in the way he was doing it. tavis: as you were talking a moment ago about being there for four months of last year, it means then that you were there when obama was making his run, right? so a two-part question. what was it like? what do you remember being in africa for four months when he was making the run back home. that is the first part of the question. the second part, what do you recall, what do you take away from being outside of america and looking back on it during this historical period? does that make sense?

>> yes. it was very interesting, because the news about us away from us is a much more free piece of news, so -- tavis: that was very diplomatically put. that was a slap at the american media. she cuts you, and you do not even feel it. >> it was a very interesting thing, because it was clear to me what was going on here, and i do not know how clear it was here. it was clear to me how on ready sarah palin was, how i should never have even heard her name in that race -- how unready sarah palin was. nobody else was fooled and other places. -- in other places. i have also never seen people so excited. i mean, when he won, i was called on the set at 6:00. i am never late on set.

but i was like 40 minutes late. tavis: all black folk were late that day. >> people were so excited. i am talking about black africans, white south africans, afrikaners about the possibility of what this means and what this man is bringing not only to us but to the world. when i saw the news, and i saw ireland partying, china party, people from all walks of life, i think it is really important -- china partying, people from all walks of life, i think it is really incredible. i was proud. i was really proud of america. tavis: as many of us were and are, and you should be proud of

the work you are doing in the show. it is a great show. i was so pleased that i got a chance to check it out. it is called "the no. 1 ladies' detective agency," and it stars a wonderful cast of characters with anika noni rose. you are in the states now? >> we do not know what the scheduling is. we are finishing up the disney project. tavis: that means you are near the ends. >> yes, i will be going in to fix some vocal things -- near the end. the princess, that is me, and it is so thrilling to me. tavis: the animation? >> i loved it. i loved it. it is a different kind of challenge, because you are in it by yourself -- i love it. kids do it all of the time.

they play every character in their fantasy, and they are doing it. tavis: it is like being a 3- year-old, me and my partners here. glad to have you on the program. that is our show for it tonight. catches on the weekends on the -- catch us on the weekend. we also have our podcast. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi. i am tavis smiley. join us next time. we will see you then. there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but mostly, we are

looking forward to building stronger communities and relationships, because with your help, the best is yet to come. nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance. working to improve financial literacy and economic power meant that comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ and from viewers of pbs like you. thank you. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--