Transcripts For ALJAZAM Talk To Al Jazeera 20141014

Killed her. He was involved in founding the whitaker peace and development to help youth. He grew up in South Central l. A. Amid the violence. He won an oscar for his betrayal of idi amin in the last king of scotland. He learned swahili and how to play the accordion as the dictator had. Im driven by my fear of not knowing. Im trying to get information to do it in a unique way. He talks about ration relations in america. He was falsely accused of theft and thrift in new york. I wasnt doing anything. He made a mistake, saw a guy walking out and decided to do this. The actor reflects on the late robin williams. It was tragic. You know, an amazing loss. Hes a beautiful person. An amazing mind. Forest whitaker joined us at our studios in new york. I want to talk about the whitaker peace and World Initiative and u. N. E. S. C. O. And all the work around the world. First, what in spired you to do this . As a child, my first touch with the conflict of war was with my cousin. He went to the vietnam war as a kid. He came back, he lived in my room. He was totally changed by the law. It affected him to this day. I think that that understanding fuelled me, and then there was a bunch of incidents in my community. I lived on east 4th street. The black panthers had a soup at the end of the corner, they used to pick me up and invite me to the breakfast programme. I remember as a kid going by and seeing the building blown up. Then behind my grandmothers was the s l. A. , actually. Where they caught the s l. A. Famous for patty hurst and bank robberies. Yes. I remember walking to that building as a kid. I think that started to affect me, and then with the birth of the gangs in los angeles, seeing them move from the bridges to the parus to the lights and other gangs. That affected me and caused me to change my life. At one point i had difficulties with a gang, and my mother decided to send me an hour away to school, actually took about two hours on a bus, hour in a car. That affected my life. This touches with conflict, started to affect me. When i start to work with child soldiers. That happened. The idi amin movie, is that where you were exposed to what war does to children. It was. There was a place in the north of uganda called hope north. A friend of mine was running it, and i starred working there, and i started to talk to the children soldiers, and started to realise and hear parallel stories for the gang members that i knew at home. I started to recognise my connection on a global level, in a deeper way and see myself in others, no matter where that was, and started my work there. I have been working with them, had a programme. We have a programme at hope north in the north of uganda, and we are finishing the training facility. W p. D. I in uganda, and in south sudan the focus there is on the children, the children who have suffered through conflict while, for example, efforts that you have in mexico are more focussed on gangs. You are really looking at the general effects of violence on children and what you can do to improve their lot in life. Well, youth in general, i guess. You know, and how particularly in these conflict zones, possibly 70 of the people are youths. We train them in conflict resolution. We have i c. T. , computer technologies, eriksson and zane supply computers and connectivity so they are connected up. Life skills trauma release. And product development. So they initiate projects in their communities to transfer the communities, they transfer themselves, too, in the process of shifting the environment. You are really hands on. I read you travelled 1015 times a year to these areas. You got back from south sudan, which is one of the scariest places in the world right now. You got 15 of the population displaced. Theres a threat of famine for millions of people. Its a terrible place. What are you seeing there . Its difficult. I mean, we went there as an organization before the counter conflict. We were there in december 2012. And we had chosen in three states, john lee, upper nile and unity, which we thought were sort of the fragile states inside the country. And we started to train youths in jonglei state. They did a great job. Unfortunately the war broke out, the civil war. It scattered people. Because of Technology Training and human training, they started to help people get to safety. They acted in some ways as a First Response unit by helping friends across ethnic lines, because its not only a political issue, but an ethnical issue. Tribal. So they activated that. When they came in, we worked with them to relocate or help them get situated as best we could. And started working in the protection civilian camps. Our largest project has moved to eastern equatorial, and we are training a new group of youth leaders that will go back to the communities, initiate training and projects inside of the communities. Im really excited about them. The efforts are important given the suffering that is going on. You saw the suffering to the infamous Lords Resistance Army and joseph kony, and the trauma that the child soldiers have gone flow is horrific. I heard stories from them, working with them, being with them, getting to know them. One is about a child soldier abducted with his mother and father, and they had been travelling, the parents carry loads, and when they were too tired not at first the mother, they took her to a tree and killed her. Same happened with the father. At one point later, after he became a lieutenant and a strong officer, he escaped and buried his gear, gun, clothes and went walking. Found people that would feed him. He felt uncomfortable. He decided to go back to pick up the gun and weapon, and return because of the loss he couldnt fit back into his community, his world. He was confused about his emotional self. Hed been eight years in and didnt understand how to readdress the world. Its unusual, and other stories are different. I worked with something called children not soldiers, which is with a special representative for children in conflict, and we are working with disarming youth. On the last trip we met with the president to talk about disarmament of children and they signed an agreement to reaffirm their commitment and met with the soldiers to talk about disarming children in unity state. The Organization Works on a lot of different levels. Its difficult to describe. The trauma that some of the kids have gone through over the years. Americans are becoming increasingly isolationist because the wars and people seem to want to pull back from the rest of the world. What would you fell people about why its important to support projects like what you are doing . I think its important because you what is occurring in other places it affecting you in different ways. First of all, on a human level. What you see crossing you, it is a part of the reflection of your life, your environment. Whether you see it on a tv screen or right whether you can touch it, it affects you in some way. The laws of nature make it that way. We have to recognise that we have to change those things in order to maybe the whole lines better, because its our environment, our world that we are talking about. The community of man, you know you have been described as an optimist. Thats what you are coming across as right now, even though the fact that you have seen some of the worst of human suffering. Do you see yourself as someone who is hopeful, who is optimistic about the future, even in these terrible places . I am optimistic, i have seen people go through some of the deepest tram dis you can imagine tragedies, you can imagine. People who have been forced to do things they cant recount, and cant sleep through the night. But they go on. All the nameless heroes fighting. You see a smile, who you see a child playing, you know, inside of what some might consider rubble. But they consider their joy, and they feel good. They feel happy at the moment. We have to celebrate the human condition, even in the tragedy. We have to look and zero in on the problem, and give a solution, and offer it, you know, opportunity to flourish, to grow, like a plant does, like a flower, you know. Its there. You can see it from an eye. You can see if from the deadness in the eye of a kid that you work with. You dont see the light. Two years later you see a light and, there it is. Hes got it, found the place again. So how can i not be hopeful. They transform themselves, you know. We have to, like, recognise that their transformation is a part of our own, as human kind. You are watching talk to al jazeera, coming up on the programme, Forest Whitaker says he tries to find sympathy for all the characters he plays on screen even if they are murderous dictators. Im antonio mora, and my guest is Forest Whitaker. Hes working with children affected by conflict as a u. N. E. S. C. O. Special envoy and with the Forest Whitaker peace initiative. Lets talk about transformation, when it comes to you. You referred to your childhood earlier, and how there were gangs and issues you grew up in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in Southern California, and by high school you ended up having to travel long distances every day from one of the roughest neighbourhoods in Southern California to one of the richest in Southern California to go to school. How transformational was that . Pass. It was different, engaging in a new culture, going to a school on the beach. It was so different. It allowed me to experience a breath of not just opportunities, but, like, the possibilities, you know, that it offered out there. My mother made that decision. Your mother was a teacher. Mum was a teacher, and i was in some difficulty, and she made an executive decision to send me far away and make sure i was out of harms way. In a way, you saw what how your life can be transformed. Did that, do you think, in the long run help you to think i can do the same for other people. It did. Making people aware of possibilities is something that is sometimes lacking in violence of poverty. Do you know what i mean, of not having, and, you know, then seeing the difference through my life, you know. Clearly an important time for you, and obviously your mum did a great job. Polytech. U. S. C. , drama. When you started, you were recruited and you played football. I did. And you had a back injury. I did. And talking again about transformation. How big a deal was that. Did that change your life. All of a sudden football couldnt be the main focus any more. Yes. I had to have a scholarship to go to college. It made me redefine what i was going to do. I woke up one day not able to move. So then i looked at the other things that i was excited about and ended up moving into music and, you know, acting and stuff like that. I had no idea you were a singer. I had a music scholarship to u. S. C. Not only were you a singer, you were an opera singer, a tenor. How did your football friends like, doesnt seem to mesh well with the stereo typical Football Player. In high school it was a big joke. Theyd go to the play, id sing in the play and it was a source of ridicule, like on the football field. Specially if i had to do dance numbers or Something Like that, you know. The Football Player doing the dance. Yes. Must have been fun. And then you go you do drama, and your acting career takes off almost immediately. Yes, it did. I started working when i was in, for sure, college, second year college. A lot of my classmates were working too. I went back to the conservatory, left town. I was worried i wouldnt become a good enough actor. Came back and worked again. I was working since i was 19. You were at richmond high. Yes. Which i had forgotten until i read that. You were in a bunch of iconic movies in the 80s, in the colour of money, with paul newman. In platoon, oliver stone directed that and in vietnam, with robin williams. Yes, i was. By the time you were 30 you were an established actor. Yes, i was fortunate. I worked hard to get better and had a couple of opportunities. I was still going flow, you know, the same struggles of surviving the life and stuff like that too. Talking about getting better, then you get to play Charlie Parker in bird. Clint eastwood directed that. You won best actor at cannes, again, before you are 30. Nominated for golden globes. Was it a heady time. Did it go to your head . No. I mean, i think i was always so critical. I was just blown away, you know, by the experience. Working with clint i had never done publicity for a movie, and you are thrown into an arena where there are thousands of people. I took my brother and he said i heard someone say you might win the award. Im like, really . No. I was really innocent kid, you know. You were a hardworking innocent kid. Yes. You threw yourself into the role of Charlie Parker, you learnt to play the sax and lived a spartan existence, is that something that you have a reputation for, delving deeply into the characters you play . Yes, i dived into that and lived the character most of the time. My interest in acting was to continue to explore how i was connected to other people. When i pull away the layers of a persons life to get to the core, at the very core theres a light or something that connects us all. Then i put the stuff back up on top. It helps me go on a journey to understand the individual and find his connection to me. I think that philosophy, which is my real reason for doing my acting is the same philosophy approach to the other work i do in the field, too. I thought it was fascinating in talking about the layers, and the kind of work you do and put into becoming isi amin and idi amain, and how you learnt swahili and playing the accordion, and spend time talking to people who knew him. How important is it for your process to go that deep . Is it only some characters that require it. I say all characters require the same amount of depth. All require the search and journey to find the core. That search may not be difficult. I know what its like to be amin. And what it is like to be african. Im africanamerican, thats a big journey to take, and understand the politics and the Little Things about who he was, what made him, what created his fears, what were the real world things and the imagined things that fuelled him to, like, make some of the choices that he made. Its like that journey, ill pushing to understand that. In a way im driven a bit by my fear of not knowing. So im trying to get enough information to be able to do it in a true way. And thats the way i approach my work. Its incredible to acquire that kind of knowledge and delve into someone like that, a murderous dictator, a guy responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. You played another character, a mob assassin. Ghost dog. Yes, and these are kind of you know, not the nicest guys in the world, obviously. How do you find i know you said this, that you tried to find something that is sympathetic in anyone that you play. Its not that im trying to find something sympathetic. Im trying to find the reason. Everyone started with a core, i believe, of something good. The experiences of life dictates the behaviour, who they are, where they come. Im looking for the thing that made me what i am, that humanizes the character, and its that spot saying i understand that, i know that. Thats like me. Its that journey. Its not a conscious effort to think of him in a good way. It initially do think of him as a human, you know. Is that what lets you play an incredible variety of characters who you played from film to television and back to the crying game. Which is one of your first big starring successes. These characters are so incredibly different. Yes. I enjoyed that. We shot the film in, like, two weeks. My character. You know. When i went there, my driver, he gave me his voice. I learnt how to speak with the right accent through him, do you know what i mean, through his experience, and they figure out the character in a lot of ways. Still ahead on talk to al jazeera. Forest whitaker was accused of shoplifting at a high end deli in new york. He talks about the incident and what it says about racial equality in america. Youre watching talk to al jazeera, im antonio mora, speaking with Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker. I want to talk about the butler, a terrific movie. Robin williams was in that with you too. Sure. He played eisenhower, and you were in a scope with him. What was your screen with him. What was your reaction when you heard what happened to him . I know robin, it was tragic. You know, amazing loss. Hes a beautiful person, an amazing mind. Deep soul, you know. So its really its really unfortunate. I wish i could have understood or if i could, you know, maybe had been able to help. I dont know. The butler painted a portrait of american Race Relations for more than half a century. Where do you think we are today, especially in light of something that happened to you last year, which i did not know about, which was that you were stopped and frisked and accused of shoplifting at a highend deli . New york city where you had gone to pie yoghurt. Right. Certainly, i mean, racial equality hasnt been completely found. You know, people are always looking at differences and fighting it. I think that was really unfortunate event that happened, you know. It happens to many people. Many people, i think, mainly a lot of people of colour, experienced this kind of discrimination. Because i wasnt doing anything he made a mistake, wasnt looking, saw a guy walking out and decided to do this, you know. And its unfortunate that it happened. Its unfortunate when it escalates to someone being killed or whatever because of a misjudgment of character or stereotypes, or because of their own fear. Film obviously with the butler, it tries to move you through different ways to how we moved to where we are stood of socalled equality, and slavery from all the way through, and shows us the different ways to protest and continue to achieve or try to continue to achieve which is fairness of life, liberty and happiness, the american dream, by Martin Luther king talked about, the treatment that we should all be able to share in. Its the american dream, not the africanamerican dream, the american dream, what the constitution says. Until its acquired, until we can gather it and have it, the country will never become what its supposed to be what it says it is. We can see these things happening. I produced a film last year that explored that with elements of tragedy that happened with oscar grant and what happened with him. All these things influenced us. When you look at the gaol rate and things of that nature. How many people are in prison, you are looking at one out of 2. 3 Million People of colour black, you know, individuals are in prison. The other 50 is latin and black. There is a disparity and a problem, and we have to address it in some way. I think trying to look at all the different ways to do that, while recognising that we, as a nation have a lot of opportunities that others dont have, but recognising that this exists. And that you have to deal with it, and to heal it to reach truly what we are trying to become, to evolve to become america the country, the place that we say wed like to be. I know you are trying to take the dream and opportunities to kids around the world. Its a pleasure to have you with us, Forest Whitaker, best of luck with your efforts, they are important ones. True. Great to see you. And surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. 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