you even choose what to mend when so much has already been destroyed? you?w do i think it's a question a lot of people are asking themselves. you pick up what people do and , because in many cases you have no choice. it's a question that is at the core of any disaster. something lost. brag that yous are a macarthur genius, and when they give you this high honor, you can do anything you want to do basically, yet you have chosen to keep this story of

and the complexity of haitian life and challenges and ups and downs which we will get to. you have made that the centerpiece of your life's work at least today. willu expect that continue? is that what you are at thegetically offering epicenter of your corpus? >> there are so many stories. so many stories that even in my own life i feel like i could explore more deeply. an artist should never say what you will do for the rest of your life. so far it has been an honor to tell the stories we have been able to tell. they are not often told in this

perspective from somebody who knows the inside and the outside. i am happy to be part of this with people trying to tell more complex stories about haydee. -- katie. -- haiti. think it is?u >> we know them more than we know people in our own lives. are privileged to go deep in the soul. you cannot walk away and say i don't know you.

it's another in-depth way of looking at individuality, which is so often denied. think literature, art, music, and all these can reach people more deeply in a profound way. tavis: there is death and destruction. not you whether or about haydeerative can change, will change. if so, how does that happen? >> it has to change.

more voices. it needs more voices from within. it needs all these stereotypical views overturned, and how do you ?verturn them to raise voices from the haitian but also therience narrative itself, the way people are living, these have to change, because often our stories are written -- they are decided i the outside, -- by the outside, so because he be -- haiti has this history of great i thinkies in the past, we are always looking to that next step. half the population of haydee is

under 25. is under 25. there will be a change of course. tavis: let me move from fiction to nonfiction, to what is haiti.ng in real life in has the relationship changed at all in the era of obama? it was pretty much delegated to the state department. u.s. intervention has always been forceful. we want you to take out your leader. off. has been hands there was some response after -- earthquake thomas

whatquake, and in terms of is happening. there are the parliamentary elections that are two years late. those interventions are always too headed and to what you want kind of situation. one has to be very careful. >> there is obviously a relationship. this, butaware of there is this law taking place in the dominican republic. happening. >>s

passed athe high court ruling in which they considered anybody who was born there from 1929 on who did not have a dominican parent is in transit. migrants or the majority of immigrants who have ,een there for four generations and youome stateless, could be removed at any time. people are picked up sometimes he does they are dark skinned.

on the other side. it is something for anybody who goes on vacation in the dominican republic for knowing these are happening that you have close to a quarter of a million people who are by atially a stateless irreversible,o be so they cannot try to reverse it, because you cannot essentially make four generations of people stateless. consider yourself made aware. the new book is called "claire of the sea light."

good to have you on the program. thanks for coming on the program. coming up, comedien rick najera. stay with us. latinos may be the fastest- growing ethnic roup, but many still feel marginalized. he is an award-winning writer, actor, producer, and he has "almosta memoir called ."ite good to have you on this program. there is a serious story that is the back story. you had a near-death experience. i wonder if you might tell me the story.

experience.trange i collapsed at home by myself. i hit my head and nearly bled to they found me. number 10 is i can still drink and drive. they said i may not come back normal. my wife said, that's good. you never were normal. i was as close to death as anyone could ever come. because of that, i said i want to write the book. clear? >> i was not clear. in the book i said, this is how

you died. my wife told me i came out of it and started telling jokes. they were not great jokes. the nurse came up to me. i motioned for her to come here. do you know how to get a man out of a coma? give him viagra. it was such brain damage. my jokes were not as sophisticated then. >> nurses can be a tough crowd. i have a lot of people visiting and very concerned.

my wife said, you have to stop working so much. we have to take many jobs. ask, how dout to not to work so hard, which is what got you in this coma in the first place? >> a lot of times you create your own work. that is what i learned from whoopi goldberg. we all start with one person shows. since we couldn't go through the studio, we went through the back door, which was theater. my father went to vietnam during the war. i said, when did you go to vietnam?

he said, during the holiday. the tet. said, a lot of overtime. mexicans have an extreme hard work ethic, so when a job does come, we tend to take it. i am learning to be more >> i expectout it. everyone will ask about how things are changing. there are two or three networks. >> robert rodriguez has his own channel. advertisers are lied to for a number of years. there is a large group of spanish, but there are a large number who are in both worlds.

market tory hard understand, but it is a huge 2 trillion in buying power. it is amazing. >> does latino humor crossover? it's funny or not. >> does black humor crossover? broadway, and they said, latinos on broadway. i was the first show that was success will. -- successful. i was in a nightclub, and they said, you are a funny man. surrounded at a nightclub. i saw your show. hilarious.

i did not realize it crossed over to other new yorkers. latino humor is based on humor. funny is funny. tavis: one will we be this familiar with latino comedians? you can do this all day with black comedians. him fluffy. e are all working very hard. i am working on an animated roject. i put gabe in my show. he had never flown first class. he had an opportunity. let gabriel fly first class.

isold the stewardess, he julio iglesias's son, but he is not good looking. if you can make his time and so special. gabriel gets off the plane. first class is amazing. they were so good to me. i said, that is first class. i was going to say paul rodriguez come up but everyone knows him as p-rod. >> i know a friend of mine developing a show, and i tell you, he is a good-looking kid. we both had good-looking children. we don't consider ourselves good-looking.

out looking good. that kid is handsome. tavis: tell me a bit about your journey in this town. you are still on it. journey yout the are on and whether or not it has been worth it to have to go through all this. >> i think about that. if i had called myself rick rivers, would my career have been different? call myselfnt me to that. it is the road less traveled, but i take understand and we are has made myge tribe life more interesting. rightk i chose the choice.

kids are half anglo, half mexican. i call it spanish language waterboarding. theas given them a love of culture. if you love your culture, you are able to love other cultures. it is about being inclusive. where i get in trouble. , ilusive, exclusive debate fret sometimes that members of play with community this notion of assimilation. to be so want inclusive that you sacrifice.

>> they called him the white hispanic. it looked like he assimilated pretty well because he was americans.the white you are always going to have that in every culture. unclee calling people tom's. we are calling them tio tacos. is very culture that defined, but we are also able to .et other cultures the guy that gave me a job was nan wayans.ns -- kee \ they included me in that world. you have to keep true to who you are. it's not that i am changing because i am ashamed or don't respect my culture.

andght have sushi at lunch lunch, butey's -- at it is still part of my culture. are driving your reality, you will be fine. tavis: the new book is called forced white: confessions of a latino in hollywood." on, and it isou good to see you. hat's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. >> 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 director steve mcqueen about his new movie "12 years a slave."

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.

>> funding for overheard with evan smith is provided in part by mfi foundation, improving the quality of life within our community. and from the texas board of legal specialization, board certified attorneys in your community. experienced, respected and tested. also by hillco partners, texas government affairs consultancy, and its global health care consulting business unit, hillco health. and by the alice kleberg reynolds foundation and viewers like you, thank you. >> i'm evan smith. he's a legendary political figure from a legendary political family who spent

22 years as the mayor of chicago. the longest serving chief executive in the history of one of america's great cities. he's the honorable richard m daley. this is overheard. ♪ >> mr. mayor, welcome. >> thank you. >> great to have you here and an honor to meet you. >> thank you very much. >> you've been out of office for two years of. about. you were in office for 22 years, but in public life for much longer. you were eelectric to the state senate in 72. really for almost 40 years you served in public life.

do you miss it? does it feel like the two years you're not where you're supposed to be? >> no, i enjoy a commitment to public service. it was a great calling and i thoroughly enjoyed my years of public service. in springfield as a state senator working on all types of legislation. >> right. >> and then in turn as a prosecution bringing victims and the community together with law enforcement. then as mayor which i loved to be mayor. and to me we need more people to be public servants, not a democrat, not a republican. >> we seem to be discouraging, among young people particularly. >> you do see that and we have to redefine what public service is all about. >> we denigrate, we talk about how government is bad. >> we have classified it as bureaucrats and we have to get beyond that because i firmly believe a government is as good as the people who basically want to be a part of it. and not just elected office, but going into government, whether it's a short period

of time and to look at things that can be done. >> i take about you having been in public life for almost 40 years, but the reality is you went into the family business. [laughter] in some respects you were in public life and you were part of politics going back to before you were running for office. >> right. when i decided to go, i was a lawyer, decided to go into public life. i went to see my father and he said you go home and talk to your buy and make your own decision. remember, you have to live within your means. you're a public servant. and your campaign money doesn't belong to you. so when i left office i gave all my -- i had 500,000, i gave it all away to community groups. >> it didn't belong to you. >> you're not there for the purpose and campaign money is for public purpose. it's not for a personal purpose. >> you acknowledge, mr. mayor, that we've connected the two conversations we've had already. one of the reasons people denigrate public service and running for office and

getting into publics is there are people who treat that as their personal stash. people who get into public office and they abuse the public's trust. >> i think what happened is over the years is that both parties had a strong -- whether it's a city, local, state, and now it's all washington. we have moved everything, all our dialogue, all -- everything issues to washington, d.c. it was never intended -- cities were founded first, then states, then the national government. and we moved everything, whether it's business, labor, all issues stem from washington, which i think is a mistake. i think grassroots, there's people out there that deal with issues and we have to respect people. but once money gets involved in these issues and each issue is a separate issue, then i'm running for office for that issue only alone. and from my viewpoint that takes away the holistic approach of looking at quality of life issues. and what we have done is we