At the core of today’s big issues, Anna Deavere Smith says, is the question of justice.

Question: What causes do you feel particularly strong about?

Anna Deavere Smith: There are many, obviously. The environment, war, poverty. I’d take just those three. But I suppose where I’d end up having to come forward, given, again, the limitations of my experience, the limitations of my lens, is that I’m always interested in justice. I’m always interested in what are we going to do when it isn’t fair? How are we going to help the vulnerable? How are we going to keep power in check? How are we going to keep people from the grips of their own narcissism? How are we going to do that? How are we going to remind them that we live in this thing together, and part of our enterprise has to be about making this thing habitable?

Recorded on:08/22/2007