a conversation with leading cultural thinkers ilan stavans and henry louis gates, jr. i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. professor henry louis gates from harvard, professor ilan stavans from amherst, welcome to our program. it's so great to have you here. >> it's a pleasure. >> thank you, maria. >> hinojosa: so you know, when we talk about african american and latino relations, people are living it on a day to day basis, but both of you kind of approach this from your academic perspectives in terms of literature. so professor gates-- we'll just call you skip... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: ...why look at this current important relationship through the prism of literature? >> well, i've added to the norton anthology of african american literature along with ten of my colleagues... >> hinojosa: this big book-- big, heavy book, yes. >> ( laughing ) it's the big bible. this... the mother ship of black literature. in order to enshrine african american literature in the academy. look, if you are from the whitest place in say, idaho and there are no black people around and yo