The headlines donald trump is visiting california with record wildfires still burning. He claims the fires are the result of poor forest management, not Climate Change. His election rival, joe biden, says the president s policies are contributing to natural disasters. Bill gates has told the bbc hes confident the United States will step up in the fight against coronavirus. He admits his country has made mistakes, but believes progress can still be made. He also dismissed conspiracy theories about a vaccine. An International Team of astronomers believe theyve found the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on the planet venus. Theyve detected traces of a gas in its atmosphere which is normally produced by living microbes. Theyve yet to find another explanation. But the temperature on the surface of venus is more than 400 degrees celsius. It is about liz30am. Now on bbc news, its time for hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. Racial discrimination is americas wound that will not heal. And in this president ial election year, with donald trump in the white house and black lives matters campaigners on the streets, well, race could be politically decisive. My guest today is the Award Winning black actor and activist alfre woodard. In her latest movie, she plays the role of a warden responsible for executing prisoners on death row. So, for her, which comes first, her art or her activism . Theme music
alfre woodard in california, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, im happy to be with you. Right now, in terms of your own professional career and in terms of the politics of the United States, which matters more to you your acting or your activism . Well, i cant separate them. I am a storyteller. And storytellers have been telling the tales of the tribe since we first stood up on two legs around a fire. And the mission, the call that is given us is to keep the lore of the tribe, or the community. Now we know were one worldwide tribe. And to lift that mirror up to the community so that they can see themselves, hopefully understand themselves and move forward. So, the charge is still for the health of the community. So, thats why i act. Thats why i tell stories. But do you never feel like you have to make choices one or the other, because you are a very busy woman and there is a finite amount of time. Do you ever feel that you actually confront choices about how to use that time, whether it be political and activism based or whether it be to pursue, i dont know, the next big film project . Well, for a woman, we can do a lot of things at the same time. I even raised my children being an activist and an in demand working actor. As my sister told me, she was a School Principal at the time, that i rang her weepy one night, i had the big scene the next day, and mavis, my baby, was very young and she was crying in the middle of the night. Not the next day, the next four hours. And i said, i dont know what to do. She said, well, you have got
a healthy baby, you have got a job, and sounds like you got it all. You just have to stay awake for it all. Your latest movie, at least latest in the sense that its in the uk right now and obviously was made in 2019 but an awful lot has happened since 2019 to make the movie industry sort of suspend operations for a while, but the movie im talking about is clemency. And in clemency, you play the lead role of bernadine williams, who is the warden in a prison. She is the woman responsible for efficiently executing prisoners on death row. That is herjob. I am just wondering how much of a challenge it was for you to get inside a job which im guessing would run contrary to every single fibre of your being. Well, you always ask yourself
why the story is being told. And you trust. Thats why you should only really say yes to really good scripts. And you trust that the film maker will take all the different performances, all the different parts of the story and youre part of a whole. Myjob is to find that prison wardens reality. Everybody wakes up in the morning thinking how can i accomplish it . How can i order things . How can i make things better . Especially at this point in my sixth decade, i like to have my prejudices overturned, and i remember when our producer and chinonye was our brilliant film maker. And she took me on a prison tour in ohio. We went to about four prisons, womens medium and mens maximum and medium prisons. And the women that i met there
completely overturned my idea of what a prison warden was. First of all, the only thing i had in my head was those sort of sadistic people that we see in movies, but i hope Everybody Knows that a lot of the people that they have seen traditionally in movies, the characters brought to life, are not real or realistically rendered. Taking on the project, did you need the movie to feel like it was in the end a sort of campaigning movie against the Death Penalty . If you hadnt believed that, would you have not taken on the project . Any film that campaigns in any way or prescribes how they want an audience to feel is not a picture that im interested in. I think that if youre telling a story well, youre leaving it up to the intelligence of your audience. You trust that they will make the right decision, so thats what im saying. I bring a character to the life, no matter how i feel about that person or that persons point of view. I have to bring that point of view fully to my film maker to let them shape the story. You know, theres nothing worse than an actor having one foot on the dock and one on the boat, sort of winking at us that i know better, isnt this person not awful . Again, you are not doing your job if youve done that. So, those people watching and listening around the world who have not seen the movie, i think it would be terrificjust to play a little clip where you, as bernadine williams, are clearly facing the reality of putting another man to death. Lets just have a look at one short clip from the movie. You can be with the chaplain the entire day. All the way through the procedure. You will have to take your clothes off, wear the shirt, the pants, the shoes issued to you. When its time for the procedure, you will be walked to the chamber. 0r five officers will restrain you to the gurney. A medical professional will prepare you for your injection. Officer will insert the metazoline. That will render you uiicoiiscious. The second drug is bromide, which causes paralysation. The last drug is potassium chloride, which will cease heart function. At that point, medical personnel will confirm the execution complete. Now, if you want to talk to the chaplain about this, later you can, but do you have any questions . Do you have any family that would like to claim your body . If there are no family members that wish to claim your body,
your remains will be laid to rest in a plot here on our property owned by the state. I think im right in saying that you shot the entire movie in under three weeks, and i think you said that there was no way you couldve gone on for very much longer in terms of the shoot because it was so intense. Was it a very difficult film to make . We shot in 18 days. And sometimes we had to replace people, especially in the Death Chamber scenes. We had a couple of guys that were triggered and they couldnt carry out the task. Everything was done to detail, so we recreated those Death Chambers, the executions. And we had our consultant who choreographed it all for us has put more people through the process than anybody in the world,
because he had worked in four prisons that were the most active in the states, death rows. So, for me, the filming of it was focused. It was intense, but it was focused. We had. They did bring a psychologist, a psychiatrist or a Mental Health person, i dont know what their degrees were, to the set to make sure people constantly had somebody to go to. And i had the privilege of meeting with some condemned men. And once that happens, you walk away from that, you have a. Lives are in the balance. So, its very you just bring your skills to it. You know the notes to play the music. You show up, you stay focused and you know what matters. You do that anyway in any role youre playing. But, uh, some. When you know peoples
lives depend upon it, it gives you a focus that you dont even have to manufacture. This movie, without giving too much away, most definitely does not have an upbeat ending. It is a very real, a very intense and a very bleak ending to the movie. And its an extraordinary scene for you to play through at the very end. Youve called the Death Penalty, this is a quote ive taken from Something Else you said, the scar on the soul of our nation. I am just wondering whether you think clemency the movie, for those people who see it, will actually change any minds or do you think it will simply entrench americans who clearly have very different views about the Death Penalty in their divided, different positions on it. You know, right now, the majority of americans when theyre polled, are against the Death Penalty. And they are understanding that state sponsored murder is paid for by their taxes. And so, when people think i have nothing to do with it, you have everything to do with anything that happens in your society when its taxpayers money. And so you have to do with it. Every time someone is put to death ritualistically, then it diminishes us individually to know that that has happened in our name. Im going to stop you, and that is an interesting idea that you can make a movie that is unrelenting and uncompromising in its portrayal of a reality, and frankly you work in the entertainment business, but one couldnt really describe that movie as entertaining. Its intense, its gripping, in some ways its horrifying and depressing, but its not entertaining. Do you think. Well, you know what, i dont feel like i work in entertainment. If i could sing or dance or do Something Else,
it might tend that way. Im in the moving image business, and the moving image is the most powerful tool, i think, in the history of man. One of the most powerful right after the wheel. Whoever controls that moving image has an effect on the collective society as a whole and a very visceral effect on an individual. Because when we sit and watch, we watch alone. People think, oh, theres 5 Million People watching. They dont know each other, theyre not watching together and not an entity. You receive things on your own. So, thats a powerful thing for people to reach another person to just get them to reflect. You made the film in 2019 before the killing of george floyd in minnesota and the phenomenal sort of rise of the black lives matter movement. Not just a national campaign, but it has become a Truly International movement
and campaign as well. Race is not really highlighted in the movie clemency, but it is there as a reality. The reality being that disproportionate numbers of black men are on death row and right the way through the system, disproportionate numbers of black men are incarcerated, are involved in violent interactions with the police, etc. Black lives matter, how do you feel about weaving that into your artistic life right now . And let me just speak the name of Breonna Taylor as well. We dont speak our sisters names at all, and we are still waiting for justice, for the uniformed men who put her to death to be held accountable. Right now, i dont know anybody. Its one of those moments where. Black lives matter goes back seven, eight years. Its in the consciousness of mainstream now. And youd still be surprised how many people cant say black lives matter. Those are the same people, i guess, that would say that the sun does not come up in the east wherever you are on the planet. And the reason we have to say it, and then everybody can fill in whatever belief, you know, the subcategories about it, about black lives matter, is because since. Since the african first set foot on this continent, on this stolen land in 1619, it has been a slow. Right now, we were all shaken by the 8 minutes and 46 seconds of the public execution
of george floyd. And it shook people who had never. Who had their ears closed or their focus in a different direction. I am very interested in your own background because you were born and raised in tulsa, oklahoma. You, as a girl, lived through the Civil Rights Campaign of the 1960s, which of course deeply divided cities like tulsa and saw some violence on the streets, which im sure you witnessed asa girl. Is it your contention that actually not very much has really changed for African Americans from your girlhood in the 1960s to the reality of young black lives in the United States today is that what you feel . No, that isnt what i feel. There has been change. The important thing is that we are part of a continuum. As an African American, you know that your life
is to keep the struggle going, is to wage the struggle. We never work, we dont have a history of working to see necessarily all the things were fighting for at the end of a day. You fight that struggle, you wage it because you are in your position because somebody waged that struggle a generation, two generations before you. So, you join that. And right now, wejust said goodbye tojohn lewis for now, the most one of the most remarkable human beings of putting the mirror up to america and charging it to either stand up or move out of the way when we talk about the values that we say we believe in as americans. So, right now, black lives matter, that generation that has that spans generations has stepped into
the moment of continuing to move that struggle forward. Let me quote you some words from the director spike lee, who said this recently he said, its not like youre just born angry. Black people in the United States are angry because they live every day in this world where the system is not set up for you, as a black person, to win. I am just interested in this idea of anger. Do you carry real anger in you . Is that your reality . I dont carry anger because that means that someone has defeated me. One of the things. I get kissed off sometimes. But as soon as i do, i get strategic. Theres nothing that assuages helplessness, anger, fear, any of those things better than getting active because thats where your power is. Thats our only power is collective activity. Alfre, you dont come across as angry. And youre certainly not looking angry,
but im looking at a quote of yours where you said, hollywood is one of the last strongholds of segregation in america. You were very much involved in the oscars so white campaign, and youve made it very plain that you think there are still real issues with race in hollywood. If that doesnt make you angry, im struggling to think what would. Wait, first of all, i was not so involved with the oscars so white campaign. Its not that i. Were just not talking about that because thats not me. I cant get lumped into that. The truth is the truth i dont have to be angry about the truth. The truth should make the people who are perpetuating it, it should make them feel something and their friends should feel angry that their friends perpetuate these kind of things. No you dont. You know that thing where you will say, we have a black problem. They say it all over the world, you know you do it in the uk. You have a black and brown problem. No, the problem is with white people. Any time theres sort of a crackdown on black life, the taking away of civil rights, human rights, access, it is because we are strivers. And it is a response to. Why do you think we have that guy thats in the white house now . It was a response to having an African American president who actually was taking us forward. I want to end by talking about what you just said, described as that guy currently occupying the white house. Youve made your political loyalties very plain for a long time. You advised and worked on sort of culture issues with the obama campaign, and i know you are now doing a similar thing with the biden campaign. You are clearly politically very committed. I even worked for mike dukakis. You go back a long way. But heres my question to you. Given that you are from the state of oklahoma,
where i dare say probably the state is going to vote for donald trump in 2020 come what may, do you see it as your role to try to speak to the people who vote for donald trump, as well as those who are adamant that the guy needs to be removed from the white house, or is your role really just to maximise the efficiency of the vote from your community and other communities forjoe biden . Is bridge building any part of your vision for america . Well, you know, honestly, i am a strategic campaigner. Again, you tell the truth. You talk about what will move the lives of americans forward. The majority of americans. Anybody. So, if people cant understand when somebody states a policy, that how it affects
them, health care. How can health be politicised . Well, you friggin well see how its politicised with covid here in america. So, again, im not. Myjob is not to convince people who dont believe the sun comes up in the east. Im not going to waste my time, you know, arguing with that or trying to influence that. What i am going to do is keep telling the truth with an open heart and keep making sense. But you strategise. You find out where your voters are. You go and talk to them. You dont lie. That was one thing that i felt that barack obama did very well, and i campaigned for him from day one was when he would change sides of towns or change states, the message never changed. Will we have to stay on point, will we have to fight . Will there be tears shed and probably blood . Probably so. But were still going to fight. We are going to move forward with joy, because you know what . When we move forward, and especially women, when women move forward, they bring everybody with them. They bring the whole family, the whole community, the whole nation. And look at us american women are the brassiest, loudest, determined and most opinionated women in the world. And we have not had a woman in that seat of power. That tells you something about us. And so. Whereas theres Women Leaders all over the world. And theres Young Leaders all over the world. So, we are kind of in our teenage years as a nation. And you know how you were as a teen. Parts of your brain shut down so other parts can grow. Yall been at it for centuries. And youre sitting back looking at us, but we ran away
from yall to seek individual freedom. So, thats why you cant get a son of a gun to put on a mask like, its my right, its my right to have this gun, my right to not wear that mask. So. But the thing we do have is we have the streets and we have our voices and we have laws. So, im just grateful to see americans being truly american, but what it means is you have to affect the minds, change the minds of your neighbours. You cant kick em out, so you gotta live with them. Theyre like family. All right, alfre woodard, it has been a pleasure having you want hardtalk. Thank you very, very much indeed. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Hello there. We had the warmest september day on monday since 2016. For many, it was a case of blue sky and sunshine. It was a beautiful september afternoon. Why am i showing you jersey . Well, it was jersey that had the top spot with 31 degrees. Not far behind was charlwood in surrey. That was the highest temperature across mainland uk, with london hot on its heals with 29 celsius. And the reason being, this area of High Pressure centred across europe thats allowing this southerly flow to drag in some very warm air all the way from africa. So were seeing temperatures unusually high for the time of year, but things will change subtly as we go into tuesday with weak weather fronts bringing some showery outbreaks of rain to start the day. Its going to be a relatively mild start, however. Double digits quite widely across the country. But there will be some rain, not the heavy, persistent rain that we have seen, and it will weaken as we go through the afternoon a little. More cloud into south west england, maybe south wales and north west england. Cant rule out an odd isolated shower as we go into the afternoon. But we keep, for many of us, dry, settled, sunny conditions, light winds and plenty of warmth to go with it. Temperatures again quite widely mid to high 20s. We might see 30 degrees perhaps nearer to east anglia through tuesday afternoon. Things changing again, though, as we go through the middle part of the week. It stays largely dry. Theres no significant rain in the forecast, but it will turn noticeably cooler. That is because High Pressure will stay with us, but its going to be centred across the north of scotland, and as the winds swing around in a clockwise direction, that means more of a north or north easterly over the next couple of days, and that means a notable difference to the feel of the weather in scotland, northern ireland, Northern England and, in particular, along those north sea
facing coasts. So that could drag in a few isolated showers and maybe even some mist and fog. Here, temperatures 13 to 17 degrees. Head further south, though, we mightjust see those temperatures peaking at 25 celsius thats 77 fahrenheit. High pressure is not going too far away at all. Another high moves in, keeping things very quiet indeed, but noticeably cooler as we go through the week. So no significant rain in the forecast, but temperatures perhaps falling down to where they should be for this time of year. Take care. This is bbc news. Im sally bundock, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Israel will sign an agreement today to normalise relations with the uae and bahrain in a deal brokered by president trump. President trump visits fire ravaged california and fans the flames of Climate Change debate. It will start getting cooler. Man chuckles i wish. You just you just watch. I wish science agreed with you. Laughter i well, i dont think science knows, actually. A lack of coronavirus tests in the uk causes concern as case numbers start to increase. At some point here in
the next six months,
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