Sometimes it takes an old friend to help you see things in a new light.

New Orleans natives Wynton Marsalis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician, and Mitch Landrieu, mayor of the city since 2010, have been friends since playing the trumpet together in high school. One day when discussing New Orleans’ 2018 tricentennial celebrations, Marsalis raised the topic of Confederate statues, which have recently ignited passionate—and sometimes violent—national debate. [Learn why the U.S. Capitol still hosts Confederate memorials.]

“Wynton said to me one morning, ‘I want you to think about something,’” recalls Landrieu in a conversation with Katie Couric as part of Couric’s six-part documentary series, America Inside Out, which discusses the controversial issues confronting today’s America. [