it's hard. >> al jazeera's mike viqueira joins us now from washington. the president went on to referring to having his hands on the nuclear codes. have you ever heard the president talk in those terms? >> no, i haven't, and i did think that was interesting, as well. he mentioned the nuclear codes, sending a 21-year-old into a firefight, a couple of other, making sure the banking system doesn't collapse. the president doesn't usually allude to all the pressures of the presidency and big job he has, partly probably because he doesn't want to inflate himself or appear somehow conceited in going about his daily duties. i thought that was rare and very interesting. it's interesting to hear the president reformulate his answer when it comes to donald trump and having a democratic successor in the white house. not long ago, he was asked if he thought a democratic would succeed him and being able to carry on policies and executive orders, as well as the statutes passed. he said he had confidence in the american people to make the right choice and choose a democ

. >> i met a young man who was in prison outside of-- of washington, d. c. he is 18 years old. he says, once you become-- you get committed, which means being sent to jail-- they give you services. >> he says they give you-- they give you a job, you get a tutor, you get mental. >> baltimore is home to the performance artist. it's an appropriate setting to research violence and economic despair. >> i think that-- that poverty is now considered some kind of a disgrace, some kind of a pathology. >> smith has received countless accolades and awards. in popular culture she's best known for her tv work on nurse jackie and the west wing, and films like the american president. >> i think that, you know, michael douglas was a good president, but martin sheen was a really good president too. >> i spoke to anna deavere smith in new york. >> your work outside of mainstream television tackles some of the biggest social issues facing our country right now. i'm wondering how you're influenced by your own childhood. growing up in baltimore during a time of segregation. >> well, i guess two thi

and going to places like washington d.c., where we have a huge ethiopian community. the reason you had to leave ethiopia, you and your mother tuberculosis. >> yes, it was common at the time. sometimes in life, the worst saving. for us it was our ticket to get adopted. my mother didn't survive. but, you know, it's one of these things that i always think about what if. but i'm happy that i got the opportunity to be raised in sweden, and i love sweden, just as much as i love new york and ethiopia, i feel like i have three homes. >> what is the what if, if you had grown up in ethiopia? >> i come back to my village, and chances of me being a farmer, and being just - being that where, you know, just completely different life. i have been fortunate and act work with may passion throughout the world, whether i've been to japan, australia, switzerland, and i've had the fortune to live out my passion. and there's not a lot of people that can say that, and make a living of that for over 20 years. if i live in ethiopia, i would have done something else. just wouldn't most likely

don't think that in your office in washington, in london, in paris, in brussels, that you'll be implementing policies which will be helping us more here than us are concerned. if you look at our families here, every congolese that lives here they will tell you that everyone, somehow was affected by the war. how do you think that people who are in europe will be or in u.s. will be more caring for us than ourselves? because we need more peace than anyone else. this is our land, this is our country. this week on "talk to al jazeera" sinner song writer natalie merchant >> i stumbled into this as a way of life. i had no intention of being in a band or a singer. it happened to me by accident >>> she has rerecorded her break through solo album tigerlily, but this time with a twist. the essence of the songs remains unchanged >> i think tigerlily, a song like carnival is not political. >> but it is taking the critical look at the way that we leave >>> the former lead singer of 10,000 maniacs have recorded almost a dozen albums, including one for children. are you crying my little one >>> the parent o

denzel washington, samuel l. jackson, and wesley snipes. they all presented me my oscar. and during my speech i made a couple statements. one's that the entertainment industry is way behind sports, as far as diversity goes. it's easier for african american person to be president of the united states of america than president of a hollywood studio or tv or cable network. >> and why does that matter? >> because image... images matter. and if we're not in the position, we're not in the room then we don't really have a say. if... here's the thing, we go... i'm... i'm glad we got black stars. that's great. but they're not really in the... woven into the fabric of decision... decision-making in... in hollywood, or the networks. and also this is beyond hollywood. it's television, it's newspapers, it's magazines. we have to be in those positions where we have a vote... you have a part of the decision. we have a say. and we're... and that's not the case now. >> but here you are, you know, all these years later. does it still frustrate you that it... nothing's changed? >> i can't s

. >> i spoke to moby in washington, d.c. >> you got about 20 million albums sold worldwide, 1.3 million followers on twitter. you're called the pioneer of electronic music. for a guy who never set out to be famous, how did you end up so famous? >> i think it's a combination of, like, fortune favoring the well prepared, and fortune favoring the well prepared, who are incapable of doing anything else. (laugh) meaning for years and years and years, my career as a musician just didn't work out. but i'd never had a backup plan. so a lot of my friends who wanted to be musicians, they also had, like, they were lawyers, they were accountants. they knew how to do other things. so when their music career bottomed out or never happened, they just went and did the other thing. but i never had that as an option. like, my options were, keep making music, and keep trying to have some semblance of a career, or work at denny's. you know, and as a vegan working at denny's would just be horrifying. >> yeah, that's not so good. that's not so good. is there something about being all in, though, that leads t

so we started playing one day a week-- really, on the weekends, at an indoor facility, washington park field house it wasn't an indoor facility; it was a basketball court that had basketball lines, volleyball lines, tennis lines. >> you were playing tennis-- >> tennis. >> on a basketball court? >> absolutely. so you're talking about lightning fast. >> yes. >> it was a group lesson. and-- you know, i started there. and then, one day a week, we went to another boys club-- on the west side. then the old town boys club, where they had a net set up. and so, i developed a fast court game at a very early age. i was a serve and volleyer for a reason. you didn't really want the ball to bounce so much-- >> that's right. >> on a basketball court, right-- >> and skid and shoot through, right-- 'cause they-- >> yeah, yeah. >> played my first tournament, which was the ata nationals, in new orleans. so, mind ya, i'd been playing tennis for a year. my first tournament is in new orleans. so we get in the car, and we drive down to new orleans. and i'm playing in the ata nationals with-- you know, a thou