steve grisies wife is one of six bay area people including color purple author alice walker on board. >> yeah i'm concerned. i've been concerned from the beginning because they've been making threats of violence. >> reporter: why didn't you go on board? >> because i'm a coward. >> reporter: marin music teacher jewel stayed behind to be the coordinator of the trip. and several hundred activists who say they want to deliver aid to the palestinian people. >> indeed it's political. it's about the human rights of the people of gaza. >> reporter: the u.s. ship audacity of hope left with great fanfare earlier today from greece. only to be escorted back to shore a short time later after a brief send off at sea. the ship is carrying thousands of letters of well wishes to the people of gaza. >> we're the mailman. >> reporter: last year's flotila ended with commandos stopping the fish to seize what they called humanitarian aid. officials say the flotila is a bad idea. >> gaza is ruled by hamas. which is a terrorist organization according to the european union and the united states government. an

so many women had gone before me-- ntozake shange, you know, jessica hagadorn, toni morrison, alice walker. so i knew what was coming. i wasn't surprised. anytime you air out so-called dirty laundry, anytime you dig into the bowels of a culture, people are going to accuse you of being a traitor, accuse you of stereotyping. but for me, i was lancing the wounds, i was cleansing the deepest... the deepest, darkest parts of our soul, and i was doing what we needed to do so that we could live, i thought. >> hinojosa: there was a time in your life, you were still a young person, when you suddenly realized that the life that you thought you had led, which, you know, you say pretty kind of typical african american middle class, and suddenly you start realizing that you... you start remembering that you were not only physically abused by your dad, you were sexually abused, and that your mom essentially abandoned your family. >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: and you said you almost went into having a nervous breakdown, but that the art saved you. >> exactly. i don't know if it's that just one-two, but it's i

>>> bay area protesters on board a ship bound for the gaza strip including color purple actor alice walkerevented from sailing out of greece. they spent the day with bay area reporters who are anxiously watching the develop. >> this was command central today for news about the float. steve greece has waitenned kathy sheets is on board a u.s. ship. >> they've been making threats of violence. >> reporter: why didn't you go on board. >> because i'm a burry. >> reporter: she stays behind as media coordinator for the hotel try to break israel's sea blocking and deliver a to the palestinian people. >> it's difficult and about the human rice and the people at all. >> the u.s. ship had audacity to make more earlier today from greece. it don't like to be escorted back from shore. the ship is carrying u.s. sweaterred to palestinian. >>> last year it ended with israeli commando voiding the strip. 9 activists died. each side blamed the other for starting the violence. today officials at the israel compound says, the potential of bad habits. that's how it was for somebody else. which is terrible organi

>>> bay area protesters on board a ship bound for the gaza strip including color purple actor alice walkerted from sailing out of greece. they spent the day with bay area reporters who are anxiously watching the develop. >> this was command central today for news about the float. steve greece has waitenned kathy sheets is on board a u.s. ship. >> they've been making threats of violence. >> reporter: why didn't you go on board. >> because i'm a burry. >> reporter: she stays behind as media coordinator for the hotel try to break israel's sea blocking and deliver a to the palestinian people. >> it's difficult and about the human rice and the people at all. >> the u.s. ship had audacity to make more earlier today from greece. it don't like to be escorted back from shore. the ship is carrying u.s. sweaterred to palestinian. >>> last year it ended with israeli commando voiding the strip. 9 activists died. each side blamed the other for starting the violence. today officials at the israel compound says, the potential of bad habits. that's how it was for somebody else. which is terrible organizati

and they were asounded that i wanted to teach ishmael reid and cecil brown and barry beckham and alice walker toni morrison. they were not teaching those courses. somehow those normals of the '70s and '80s have dropped out. those novels relate more to what you're talking about. i think there are novels that students can relate to more easily because they're dealing with subjects that may be not quite as old as some of the weeks -- books that you're talking about. >> we'll take one more question. >> thank you all for coming today. >> two more questions. [laughter] >> nice catch. [laughter] my name's khalil muhammad, i'm the new director of the schaumberg, and so this is a real honor to be here. >> [applause] congratulations. >> my question has to do with postracialism or the age of obama. a moment in which the kind of authentic black voice seems to be buried along with the n word as a creature of the jim crow era and everything that came before. what i'm wondering is, um, if black people are disappearing from networks as i think we talked about, and the issue of creative control, um, is one th

others, including pulitzer price winning author alice walker, insisted this was a win. >> i'm feelingse i wanted to be sure the people of gaza would know we made a movement toward them. >> reporter: while all of this was happening the greek government, which formally opposes israel's blockade of gaza, announced it would not let the flotilla sail because its mission was too dangerous. the activists say greece is being bullied by israel. the passengers aboard the "audacity of hope" expected there would be a mission to stop them, a confrontation. they thought it would be with the israeli defense force and hoped it would take place a lot closer to gaza. phil black, cnn, off the coast of greece. >>> all right. a quarter past the hour now. a billion dollar industry just got bigger. same-sex couples in new york are not the only ones smiling about the new law that makes their marriages legal. >>> at 19 minutes past the hour now. the number of people living in states that allow same-sex marriage essentially doubled last week when new york made those unions legal. that means the billion dollar