his role fighting for the children of conflict as a u.n.e.s.c.o. conflict for peace and reconciliation, the forest whitaker peace and development initiative that captured his heart. i sat with the oscar winner for a new edition of "talk to al jazeera". here is a portion of that interview. great to have you with us. i'm going to talk about the forest whitaker peace and development initiative, your u.n.e.s.c.o. goodwill ambassador. i want to start by asking what inspired you to do all this. >> well, as a child, my first touch - my cousin went to the vietnam war. he was changed by the war. it affected him to this day. that understanding fuelled me. there was a bunch of disments from my community. the blag panthers had a soup at the end of the corner. they picked me up. invited me to the breakfast programme. i remember as a kid going by and seeing the building blown up. that affected me. behind my grandmothers is the s l.a., where they caught the s l.a. >> famous for patty hurst and bank robbery. >> i remember walking to that building and that affected

it's his role fighting for the children of conflict as a u.n.e.s.c.o. peace and reconciliation group, and his own peace and reckon sill atry initiative that is close to his heart. i sat with him as part of "talk to al jazeera". this is part of that interview. great to have you with us. i want to talk about the whitaker peace initiative, and the younes coe ambassador role. -- u.n.e.s.c.o. ambassador role. what inspired you? >> as a child, my first touch in a conflict of war is with my cousin. he went to the vietnam war. he came back, we were close. he lived in my room. he was totally changed. the war. it affected him to this day. then there were a bump of the happenings in my community. the black panthers used to pick me up, invite me to the breakfast programme. i remember as a kid seeing their building blown up, how that affected me. then behind my grandmothers was the s l.a., actually. >> famous for patty hurst, bank robberies and things. >> i remember walking to that building as a kid, and that affected me, and then with the birth of the gangs in los