this is gene roddenberry's vision, the starship earth.hy i began social media has been altered or motive. i came across an extraordinarily gifted composer in a broadway theater, all places. we talked about the subject of the internment of japanese americans during the second world war. and i told him that i had always on thatto write a play subject. and he thought it would be a great subject for a musical. i'm a musical theater fan, but i never thought of a musical. it was a brilliant idea. toad been on speaking tours corporations, universities, governmental agencies, but it is intellectual. and to really get people to empathize, you have to hit them emotionally. in music has the extraordinary power to do that. >> let's go to a clip. ♪ i teach you,ongs how mountains can be moved. "allegiance: a new american musical." >> is coming to broadway. that is what gave rise to my activity with social media. here's a subject that is still too little known and even less understood, and it is a rather shameful part of american history. and here we ha

gene roddenberry, i think you said he wanted a multicultural cast. how did tha that happen, and hod you get there? >> gene wanted to use star trek as a metaphor for so many things about our times, then and today. he said the star ship enterprise was the metaphor for the star ship earth and the strength of it lay in its diversity, coming together and working in concert as a team. we were all contributing our unique vantage point or our history or our talent, to the workings of that team, to meet that common chelg that we have. and -- challenge that we have. and so it was very intentional to cast the way he did. the captain was a north american, played by a canadian. the european representation was by scotty, scotland, played by an yiesh canadian. irish canadian, another canadian and i represented asia and mccoy represented the south of the u.s. >> how did you get the job? >> my agent called. rather a normal way in hollywood. i went to a meeting with a man named gene roddenberry, i didn't know him from adam. the thing my agent told me was, it was a pot

and the roddenberry family, to hop into a single person device, electronic autonomous helicopter, to take from point a to point b, people say, where are flying cars? they are coming. in the united states it may be a luxury, but in places like africa, where there are no roads, or the roads are out because of a flood, you're toast. africa skipped the land line phone generation, went straight to mobile. imagine if africa skipped roads and went straight to aerial. crazy ideas, right? tell people the biggest market for smartphones would be africa, they would tell you you're nuts. >> good to see you pal. >> good to see you too. >> i look forward to doing this for many more years. . >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city with are a look at today's top stories. a deal signed between the government and opposition of ukraine, but some worry the deal won't end the violence. but was it even a true compromise? one of the foreign ministers who brokered the deal said if the opposite session don't accept the plan they will all be dead. >>> protests in venezuela are spreading as the o

and the roddenberry family, to hop into a single person device, electronic autonomous helicopter, to take from point a to point b, people say, where are flying cars? they are coming. in the united states it may be a luxury, but in places like africa, where there are no roads, or the roads are out because of a flood, you're toast. africa skipped the land line phone generation, went straight to mobile. imagine if africa skipped roads and went straight to aerial. crazy ideas, right? tell people the biggest market for smartphones would be africa, they would tell you you're nuts. >> good to see you pal. >> good to see you too. >> i look forward to doing this for many more years. >> audiences are intelligent and they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. >> entire media culture is driven by something that's very very fast... >> there has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void... >> there is a huge opportunity for al jazeera america to change the way people look at news. >> we just don't parachute in on a story...quickly t

and the roddenberry family, to hop into a single person device, electronic autonomous helicopter, to take from point a to point b, people say, where are flying cars? they are coming. in the united states it may be a luxury, but in places like africa, where there are no roads, or the roads are out because of a flood, you're toast. africa skipped the land line phone generation, went straight to mobile. imagine if africa skipped roads and went straight to aerial. crazy ideas, right? tell people the biggest market for smartphones would be africa, they would tell you you're nuts. >> good to see you pal. >> good to see you too. >> i look forward to doing this for many more years. >> he's the man who brought a generation to warp speed. although george takei is perhaps best known as playing lieutenant sulu on star trek, he has a decades long career, and recently wrote and start in a musical, regarding japanese internment. something he has an intimate knowledge of.