w. kamau bell hosts "united shades of america" on cnn as he travels across the nation to meet with diverse communities. now he's teaming up with the communities. now he's teaming up with the oakland symphony toer of his favorite music. great to have you on the show again. >> thanks for having me. >> what was your reaction when they said we have this great idea, we'll do a whole series of concerts based on their play list. and hey, we want you to be the first one? >> hope i don't ruin it for everyone else. this is a series of things, and i hope my songs are good enough to stand that test. i hope michael morgan doesn't go, oh, you don't listen to good music wrchlt where is kaeperni? >> and quite a list you chose. >> that's just music. that's in the category of music i like. i've liked music and art across genres. i'm a comedian on a show on cnn. so for me, if a song moves you, it's a good song. >> and you have a wide range of interests as reflected in your comedy, you're often know as a sociopolitical comedia you were at indiana university on martin luther king jr. day, talking about his leg

w. kamau bell. as a comedian, i've made a living finding humor in parts of america i don't understand. now i'm challenging myself to dig deeper. i'm on a mission to reach out and experience all the cultures and beliefs that add color to this crazy country. this is "the united shades of america." >>> america never ceases to surprise me, and the many different ways it chooses to define and redefine who is and who isn't a citizen. the indigenous people of this land were, ahem, given citizenship, but they don't have the right to buy land on the reservations that they were, ahem, invited to live on. my people's citizenship was doled out over the course of years from not at all to, before you vote, can you please read this, to you can be president, but just show us your birth certificate. and nowhere in this country is that strange citizenship clearer than in puerto rico, which is a commonwealth or a territory or -- okay, it's not a state. see, that's the problem. i don't even know what puerto rico is or how it got to be whatever it is. and do puerto ricans even want it to be what it is? hon

w. kamau bell. as a comedian, i've made a living finding humor in the parts of america i don't understand. now i'm challenging myself to dig deeper. i'm on a mission to reach out and experience all the cultures and beliefs that add color to this crazy country. this is "the united shades of america." to explore the vast topic that is latinos in america, i'm in los angeles. los angeles has a population of 3.8 million people, and nearly half of them are of latino descent, and the rest of them are kardashians or married to a kardashian or waiting for a kardashian to get divorced so they can marry them. i'm looking at you, khloe. normally when i go to l.a. i go to hollywood or beverly hills for my big-time show biz meetings with my big-time show business agents who never return my calls. big-time. but this week i'm going east, east l.a. and boyle heights. those neighborhoods are just slightly more latino than the rest of l.a. byghtly, i mean they're both well over 90% latino. east l.a. and boyle heights

w. kamau bell. as a comedian i've made a living finding humor in parts of the america i don't understand. now i'm challenging myself to dig deeper. i'm on a mission to reach out and experience all the cultures and beliefs that add color to this crazy country. this is "the united shades of america." after the first season of "united shades of america," i got a few suggestions from viewers about where we should go this season. by suggestions i mean people tweeting things like, you go to places like camden, new jersey, portland and san quentin and talk to black people, but i bet you wouldn't go to appalachia and talk to white people. usually i respond, how did you get a tweet so long and why is your voice sound like that? today i'm responding, oh, yeah, i'm going to appalachia. is it appalachia? huh? maybe we should start right there. what do i call this area of the country? >> appalachia. >> appalachia? >> we say appalachia, are we wrong? >> you say tomato i say tomato. >> if i say appalachia, i'll lo

w. kamau bell. as a comedian i've made a living finding humor in the parts of america i don't understand. and now i'm challenging myself to dig deeper. i'm on a mission to reach out and experience all of the cultures and beliefs that add color to this crazy country. this is "united shades of america." ♪ >> ah, the san francisco bay area, my home. when the producers told me we were shooting our next episode in the bay, i couldn't wait. so many stories to be told here. the tech industry is pushing working class people out of san francisco. oakland is the birthplace of the black panthers. hell, bruce lee even lived here. well, the producers looked at me and said the four words no person ever wants to hear. you're going to prison. right across the bay, just 12 miles from san francisco, sits san quentin prison. one of america's most infamous prisons. this place locked up the best of the worst, from serial killers to presidential assassins to maybe the worst husband of all time. but it has also been home