♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, the appeals court rejects donald trump's claim of presidential immunity with major implications for his election case. amna: the mother of a michigan mass shooter event found guilty of manslaughter. geoff: and a look at the slow recovery efforts in turkey and

syria one year after a devastating earthquake. >> international organizations should come and see how earthquake survivors are living in the camps. the conditions and needs we face. we only dream of a life in which we have a small portion of dignity. ♪ announcer: major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour." inuding kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the john s and james l night foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. announcer: and with the ongoing support of these individuals and

institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to "newshour." a federal appeals court in washington has rejected donald trump's claim of presidential immunity for actions he took trying to overturn the 2020 election. amna: the unanimous three-judge panel wrote "former president trump has become citizen trump." this clears the way for his federal trial on conspiracy and obstruction to a

-- to move forward but mr. trump , is expected to appeal the ruling which could further delay the case. william brangham has been keeping track of all the developments and joins me now. it's good to see you. this was a long-awaited ruling. what do we need to understand about how the judges ruled here? william: this was a clear setback for the former president. a unanimous ruling from the three-judge panel and the first time an appeals court in our history has ever been asked about presidential immunity and the judges forcefully pushed back on each of the former president's assertions. they ruled in essence that donald trump has to face trial in federal court on these charges that he tried to subvert the 2020 election that he lost. his argument all along reported that all the actions he took leading up to january 6 were part of his official duties, and thus he should be immune from that. the judges flatly rejected that

and i will read a quote from the ruling. they wrote, "it would be a striking paradox if the president, who alone is vested with the constitutional duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," were the sole officer capable of defying those with impunity." this is right in line with a poll we are going to release tomorrow showing that 65% of americans polled say donald trump should not have immunity from prosecution. strong majorities of democrats and independents believe that way. interestingly the partisan flip on that is nearly the reverse. republicans, 68% of them think donald trump should be immune. amna: so what happens now? we have previously mr. trump will appeal. what is the timeline? william: trump has until monday to appeal to the supreme court. everyone believes he will do that. the question is, will the supreme court take up that case?

if they decline, this immunity ruling stands and the case goes back to the judge who can restart it. it has been frozen waiting for the ruling all along. special counsel jack smith says that case could take two months to prosecute. let's look at the calendar here because things get complicated. if the supreme court declines, march 4 is when this was supposed to start. that's been delayed. if the report the clients to do that, the trial could start this spring. but if they decide to take that up, things get really crowded. later this summer in july, six months from now, the presidential campaign well underway in july, the republican national convention in milwaukee. four months after that is november 5, election day. if that trial date gets slid down, donald trump is in the middle of the presidential campaign and by law required to

be in court facing federal charges. there would be enormous pressure on the judge to punt or push that off to accommodate his campaign. very little indication she would do that. one of the arguments legal analysts have been making his it seems like donald trump has wanted to delay this all along and push these office far as he can so that a ruling and/or verdict can happen after the election that would not impact voters, or in trump's ideal world, push them into the next year so that if he were reelected, he could then determine attorney general could dismantle cases against him. amna: william brangham with the latest in mr. trump's ongoing legal cases. you can see more of our poll online including what americans think about trump's immunity claim at pbs.org/newshour. ♪

stephanie: here are the latest headlines. a major storm that pummeled california is blamed for at least seven deaths across the state. in southern california, watches on for more flooding and landslides, but the record-breaking storm is starting to let up. the downpours also triggered nearly 400 mudslides. today, some of those inspecting the damage saved the storms are a reminder that climate change is real. >> we are having record highs in the summertime, and then these incredible storms we've never had before that they are calling once every 100 year storms. we've had two of them since august. stephanie: los angeles on more than half its yearly average rainfall during the two day deluge. in the middle east, hamas has reacted to a new proposal for a cease-fire in gaza and the key mediator says it is positive. this would include an extended pause in fighting and release of

israeli hostages. the prime minister of qatar announced the hamas response today alongside secretary of state antony blinken who is in the region. blinken says there's a lot more work to be done. >> i will pick up that conversation tomorrow in israel when i am there, and we will be working as hard as we can to try to get an agreement so we can move forward with not only a renewed, but an expanded agreement on hostages and all the benefits that would bring with it. stephanie: blinken did not characterize they hamas response but in washington, president biden called "a little over the top," and did not elaborate. the new york times reported israeli intelligence believes at least 32 of the 136 remaining hostages in gaza have already died. authorities in kenya charged a cult leader with the murders of 191 children.

they were among more than 400 bodies found buried in a forest. today mckinsey and 29 co-defendants denied the charges in court. prosecutors say he urged followers to starve themselves and their children so they could go to heaven before the world ends. back in this country, president biden headed toward an easy win in nevada's democratic presidential primary. the republican side of the contest was only symbolic, since the votes won't count toward delegates. instead, all will be decided in thursday's caucuses, when former president trump is the only major candidate taking part. and on wall street, stocks moved slightly higher as interest rates eased on the bond market. the dow jones industrial average gained 141 points to close at 38,521. the nasdaq rose 11 points. and a passing of note. country music star toby keith died monday after a battle with

stomach cancer. the singer-songwriter rose to fame in the 1990's with overtly patriotic -- at times controversial -- lyrics, an outspoken personality and scores of hits. here he is performing "should've been a cowboy" on tv in nashville, in 1995. it became the most-played country song of the decade. >> ? should've been a cowboy i'd be wearing my six shooter riding my pony, on a cattle drive ? geoff: toby keith was 62 years old. still to come on the "newshour." the senates bipartisan deal to fund ukraine, israel and border security teeters on the brink. investigators unveil new details about what caused the alaska airlines blowout. and joy-ann reid's new book on the extraordinary lives and love of civil rights leaders medgar and myrlie evers.

announcer: this is the "pbs newshour," from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: for the first time ever, a parent has been convicted in a mass school shooting. jennifer crumbley today was found guilty on 4 counts of involuntary manslaughter. her teenage son, ethan killed 4 students -- madisyn baldwin, tate myer, hana st. juliana and justin shilling, and injured 7 others in 2021 at oxford high school in michigan. the gunman was sentenced to life in prison without parole in december. his mother now faces up to 60 years in prison and will be sentenced in april. for more on the verdict and broader legal questions we turn to a law professor at the university of michigan. thank you for being back with us. jennifer crumbley told jurors it was her husband's responsibility to keep track of the gun.

she said she saw no signs of mental distress in her son. how was the prosecutor able to convince the jury that she crossed into involuntary manslaughter? >> you were right in some ways that she tried to blame the empty chair, a defendant that is not around. perhaps that's not surprising. this was meant to be a joint trial. it was separated at the lowest last last moment. many of us speculated there had been some legal questions where one of them thought the other could be held more liable or painted in a worse light. ultimately what jennifer could not convince the jury of is that even given the legal principle that you are not responsible for someone else's acts, she had so many troubled moments and damming facts, when she walked out of that school house knowing her son had a gun and having had administrators ask if she wanted to take him home, that she could

not have intervened somewhere along the way and saved four lives and seven others from injury. geoff: these are the first parents in u.s. history to stand trial for a mask school shooting. james crumbley, her husband, will be tried on the same charges next month. what precedent does her conviction set? >> you want to look at the specific and the general. for him, this is as big a punch to the gut as you can imagine. obviously not just because his wife has been convicted, but given the closeness of the fact, it is ominous for his legal chances. i will be interested to see whether or not he decides to go to trial or decides there are some facts that are sufficiently distinguishing that he isn't looking at the same thing. obviously a different case and different jury but close facts. for people more generally, both

underscores how troubling the facts were but also underscores how worrying it might be for any set of parents. the parents who is working hard to keep their son out of gang violence, or keep their son who is struggling with drugs or alcohol from taking a joy ride and how that will play out once prosecutors have this new tool, is something that i think the defense really hope that juries would hold onto. lastly, i want to point out that there are going to be some people who are convicted that we never hear of, people who, with this precedent facing them, would rather plead a lesser charge now that prosecutors have this new tool in their arsenal. geoff: let's hear from craig schilling. he's the father of one of the victims, justin, and he spoke to reporters after the verdict came in. >> doing due diligence with your child, it is your choice to have a child, and you cannot choose to not take care of your child and not nurture your child. you cannot choose to take your

own interests over your child, especially when it comes to mental health. geoff: it raises the question of what you spoke to earlier, what this means for parents. i would i guess rephrase the question, what does this mean for gun owning parents in particular? >> part of what's going on here is our deep divide in the country about the role guns play in our lives. i think there's some sort of families that heard you bought him a gun for an early christmas gift, especially young man who's been struggling with mental health issues, and you did not keep it under lock and key? that for some families is shocking. indeed, it led to michigan passing new laws about gun storage. for other people, guns are much more part of their lives. guns are kind of part of the background firmament, and it's frankly not unheard of, or even unusual to get your kids their first gun. i think we as a country are going to have to really wrestle with how ordinary we see guns. this case also represents an

effort to widen the scope of blame and responsibility. what other implications might that have? we saw recently an effort to issue lawsuits to file against gun manufacturers. >> those have been long going lawsuits. every time there's a visible event, we wrestle with the question. even though the conviction is unprecedented, there have been a few other incidents where clarence -- parents pleaded guilty to negligence when they left the gun layg around. these school shootings are so much a heartbreaking part of our everyday experience, and frankly they're going to make prosecutors angry and perhaps even opening to either litigate

and find someone who is guilty, and you might think in the worst cases, for them to make themselves known in their community for career reasons. geoff: ekow yankah is a law professor at the university of michigan. thank you so much for your insights. >> thank you for having me. amna: the senate border compromise unveiled fewer than 48 hours ago has already hit a legislative wall. senate republicans today announced they will block the long negotiated proposal that would address the border crisis and provide aid to ukraine and israel. the bill drew sharp opposition from house republicans who spent much of today debating whether to impeach the homeland security secretary. lisa desjardins and our team have been working sources in both chambers. she joins us live to report on where things stand. lisa this bill has not even been , debated and debate has not

even begun over this border deal and reporters are already blocking it. why is that and how final is the block? lisa: this is a moment of logical disconnect. it seems it's there to debate on the bill but when senate republicans met behind closed doors last night and today, they decided to not support opening up the bill. there are a few reasons for that and part of it has to do with the pressure on them over the border. a lot of it has to do with election year politics. there's debate on the roots of the border crisis itself, but when it comes to the reasons this middle offering a solution was pulled, republicans looked at each other and sort of blamed each other for it. >> we wanted to secure the border and that's why we were voting no. this does more harm than good. that is not james lankford's fault. that's mcconnell's fall. >> things have changed last four months and it has been made

perfectly clear by the speaker that he would not take it up even if we sent it to him. i think that's probably why most of our members think we ought to have opposition. >> they did not send us a border security measure. they sent us a supplemental funding proposal that has immigration reform, but not real border security reform so it's a nonstarter. lisa: a lot of blame going around. clearly there is something else at work here. democrats on their part including president biden saying what happened is much more simple. >> all indications are the bill will not move forward to the senate floor. why? a simple reason, donald trump, because donald trump thinks it's bad for him politically and he would rather weaponize the issue then solve it. lisa: there's not a plan b for how to deal with the border

crisis or ukraine funding. the house may take a vote on a separate bill on israel funding that may not pass. we are not clear what happens on any of these issues and if there can be progress on any of them in the coming days or weeks. amna: as we mentioned earlier, a rare vote planned in the house today to impeach the department of homeland security. where does that stand? lisa: we are waiting to see if the house republicans even bring this up. this is the previous vote closing out, they are expecting to bring this up next but i have to tell you from my reporting, i don't think house republicans have the vote to pass it. there is an incredibly narrow margin in the house for republicans. they can lose only two members and past things with only republican votes. we know at least two members against this.

the national order of police came out with a letter saying that in their view he has helped things, he is someone who respects law and order. those republicans who want to impeach him say majorca sets at -- has a willful disregard for federal law and he lied to congress as well. mayorkas denies that and he says it's political. a real test for republicans. a major effort for tonight. we should know in the next hour or so what happens. amna: the latest on capitol hill, thank you. now to discuss why republicans are blocking this border and national security bill, i'm joined by republican senator kevin cramer from north dakota. good to see you thank you for , joining us. i want to ask, a week or so ago, you were asked about negotiations in an interview and you said this. you said, if we don't try to do something when we have the moment, all those swing voters and swing states for whom the border is the number one priority have every right to

look at us and go, you blew your opportunity. so you will vote to block the bill. in your own words, are you blowing the opportunity for a border bill? >> first of all, a week ago we did not have text of the bill. this process has been bad from the beginning, too secretive, not transparent, but all of that said, james lankford did a masterful job and nobody could do it better in negotiating with what ends up being a bill, anything with two sides that are narrowly divided. some things we like and some things we don't and some things the other side likes and doesn't like. all of that said, now we have the text and the opportunity to look at the text. as leader mcconnell said so well, ironically they are trying

to impeach the secretary of homeland security which would be dead on arrival. if that's the standard, there's not a lot of point on spending more political capital when there is other priorities, even in this bill that have to get funded like support for israel and support for ukraine. so it is a culmination of politics, moving parts, changing narratives, for sure. the biggest issue is the process. that's what bothers me. four months of negotiating in good faith, but largely in secret, leading to final text and then chuck schumer wants to put on the floor right away. let's proceed to the measure immediately, before everyone has had a chance to read the text and compare it to either hr two or current law -- amna: if i may, you say the process bothers you. there are lead negotiators in the room. my understanding is you and other senators have been briefed

along the way and had the details. so it was not entirely secretive. i want to put to you what the president of the border patrol council said. he said this is better than the status quo and no one can argue it's not better than what we currently have. why wouldn't i support it is what he says. go ahead. >> it's an important point because in the world of divided government, incremental change is better than no change. the substance of this bill, there's an awful lot of generosity for legal counsel, illegal aliens, open ended dollar amount that could be problematic. sanctuary cities. here we are going to reward the factor that tracks people in the first place to run this risk. it is not a layup one way or the other. i would agree with brandon jed

that it is an increment in the right direction but does it keep us from doing more good things in another format? i don't give up on this. i would love to move forward with the bill and work on it and amend it but that political will is not there right now. the pragmatic approaches in my view would be to deal with ukraine and israel and indo pacific and middle east in general. we have a lot of demands on the military we have to meet. and then maybe take the border peace. i met with the border patrol today. this is much better than hr two, there are no resources in hr to to do the things that the houses -- house says they want to get done. i think there is still room to perfect this and make it better. even with our democratic friends. i think we should continue that. amna: let me ask you if i may, we know former president trump has had an outsized influence

publicly and privately. without that influence, with this have moved forward? >> i don't think it changes stuff in the house -- amna: but what about for you? would it change it for you? >> it does not change one way or the other for me. i've been supportive of the process moving forward in trying to get tweaks to it all while donald trump was saying no. i do think in the house he has an awful lot of influence. understandably, by the way. it is not irrelevant what the former president demonstrated he could provide border security and contrasting with the current president who's done nothing except to let 10 million people illegally into the country and waved them through. this is pretty clear-cut looking at the two men running for president who does the better job. i'm saying as senators, we have to make up our own mind with the fact on the ground and the very good point and has beena

very involved with the committee working on this, which is why you see the types of resources and support that they have for the bill. amna: let me ask about the ukraine funding which is tied to border funding. in december, there was a closed door meeting. you were quite strident, with the administration leaders and military leaders, saying they should push democrats and convince democrats ukraine was a vital national security issue and therefore mcats should give -- democrats should give on immigration concessions. so if ukraine was vital enough back then, why not now? >> we can prepare to move forward hopefully with ukraine's support apart from this. remember, the reason we have the border piece into the supplemental is because people who did not want to support ukraine insisted on it. i love the fact that we had an opportunity to secure our border as well as ukraine's.

both are important together or separately and i remain committed to that. i think the administration waited way too long and moved too slowly. maybe they would have won the war by now. it is still in our best national interest to provide them with legal aid. i would like to see them strip some of that direct government support and rather focus on helping them win the war. that is what is in america's best interests. amna: publican senator kevin cramer joining us tonight. good to see you. >> my pleasure. geoff: boeing is one of the two aerospace manufacturing giants in the world so it's troubles are a major issue for the aviation industry and they were once again front and center today.

concerns are growing over boeing 737 max jetliners following a series of safety and quality control issues. last month, a door panel blew off in alaska airlines 737 max nine jet shortly after taking off from portland, oregon. no one was seriously injured. the faa grounded 737 max nine planes after the incident for inspections and repairs. today the ntsb released its preliminary report and investigators believe several bolts had been removed to repair rivets on the frame that had been damaged in the production process, but the missing bolts were never replaced. the weeks since that incident have brought other issues. on sunday, boeing set a supplier found improperly drilled holes on window frames in undelivered max plains. in december, boeing alerted airlines to inspect the 737 max airlines for loose bolts after

two planes were missing the parts in rudder control systems. in 2018 and 2019, the flight control software systems led to deadly crashes in indonesia and ethiopia that killed 346 people. boeing fixed the system, but that issue grounded the max jets for nearly two years. this morning, the head of the faa faced questions before a house committee about his agency's oversight. >> looking back in the aftermath of the max incidents, i can't help but thinking the faa had a lot of trouble walking and chewing gum candidly. they really struggled carrying out all their duties. >> whitaker said the faa's working to get more inspectors in facilities to have better oversight. >> we will have more of a surveillance component much like you find on flights where inspectors are on the ground talking to people in looking at the work. >> ed pearson is a former senior

manager at the boeing factory in washington and was involved in the development of the boeing max airplanes. what exactly did you witness? >> i witnessed an environment of incredible pressure being placed on manufacturing employees. those employees that worked on the factory floor, by executives. we saw that pressure leading to process breakdowns in the production system. >> what was the response from senior leadership when you raised concerns? >> they did not want to hear it. the only thing they wanted to hear is how fast planes can get out the door. unfortunately it is the same metric from today. we have seen this for the last six years. >> in an interview on cnbc last week, the boeing ceo address concerns about safety issues and oversight of suppliers. >> we will learn from it, and yes the subject of how we interact with suppliers will be

a subject we will work out for quite a long time. geoff: boeing declined our request for an interview with the ceo. shortly after the ntsb released a report, boeing issued a statement saying "an event like this must not happen on an airplane that leaves our factory. they are putting new processes in place. let's go to our aviation correspondent miles o'brien. boeing is facing scrutiny for problems with quality control, larger issues with corporate culture. you had the blowout of the alaska air doors in january. you had those deadly crashes. what accounts for it? >> this is a company in a heated competition with airbus to maintain market share and right now it is losing. certainly since the twin max accidents, they've lost a lot of market share so there's a lot of

pressure to produce aircraft. anytime you have that pressure to go fast, it always -- almost always runs up against safety. when you have a situation where a door is taken off, there's not a checklist or paperwork, that the parts are not even properly cared for or inventoried, you have a system that's broken, and the company admits it. geoff: there's a question about the faa's role. the chief told lawmakers today the current system is not delivering a safe aircraft and it's not working. so what does accountability look like for that agency? >> at the heart of this is with -- something they call organization authorization. that means employees are given authority to inspect and certify the aircraft. there is an obvious conflict of interest.

this has to do as much as anything with the fact that the faa does not have the resources to put inspectors on those factory floors, actually looking over the shoulders of these workers, so there's a fundamental concern here about whether the faa needs to have congressional authority, appropriations, and more money to put more inspectors in the field or at least create some kind of third-party that doesn't have a dog in the hunt. geoff: i have to tell you, the former boeing senior manager i spoke with, he said he would not fly a boeing max plane under any circumstances and he advises his family and friends against it as well. does the flying public have reason to be concerned about flying on one of these jets? >> i suppose you could make an argument that right now, that aircraft is among the safest in the fleet given the amount of scrutiny.

i worry more about the system writ large. coming after the pandemic, we've had a colossal brain drain in aviation, control towers, flight decks and factory floors at boeing. a lot of experience is no longer there. couple that with unprecedented demand for aviation, air travelers want to get back on planes and seeing the world, and added to that you have the regulatory failure of the faa. they should have people looking over their shoulders and watching people put bolts back in hopefully, and ultimately they need to modernize the system. they delayed for many years, for lack of money and impetus, to modernize the system to make it safer. i worry about the system writ large more than i worry about a particular aircraft. geoff: thank you for putting this into context.

we appreciate it. here amna: one year ago today, a devastating earthquake laid waste to large parts of southern turkey in northwestern syria. tens of thousands were killed and recovery has been slow and agonizing, especially in syria where more than a decade of civil war already made life unbearable. we report on how syrians on both sides of the border are struggling to survive. >> in this small corner of northwest syria, more than 6000 people died in last year's earthquakes which struck in the middle of the night. but with few resources and all access to the area controlled by turkey and blocked by the assad regime, there's been limited recovery. half destroyed buildings still loom, overwhelmed and

underfunded medical teams do what they can to help the injured rehabilitate. this man lay pinned beneath the rubble of his home for 35 hours before local rescuers managed to dig them out alive. he was one of the lucky ones. with the border closed, rescuers had little equipment and no international assistance. though most syrians buried under collapsed buildings died waiting for help. it was too late for his parents and brothers. >> i lost my leg and i was very sad, but my greatest sadness was when i learned all my family had died. my life with my family was beautiful. i had a little brother and we used to do everything together, but he died. now whenever i see a small child in the road, i remember my little brother. i miss him so much. >> he lost his leg from the hip

down and his arm is nearly paralyzed. now he needs multiple surgeries he cannot afford. at just 15, he's learning to live with only half of his body fully functioning. he knows he's fortunate to have a prosthetic leg which costs hundreds of dollars and many others are still waiting for. but the rudimentary model is incredibly painful to use. >> for my entries, i used to play football. i loved it. now when i wake up in the morning, i can't fit the prosthetic rods. i'm not used to it so i end up just using crutches. i'm trying to get use to them but it hurts. >> his only surviving brother now cares for him. there is no work, but they found a small room to stay in. the alternative is a life spent under a thin tarp like their neighbors. much of the worst hit area remains in ruins.

with the economy already destroyed after 13 years of war, there's no money, and tight import controls mean scanned materials to rebuild with. 800,000 people are still waiting to be re-housed. they live in filthy, disease ridden camps, wading through mud and breathing in a toxic smoke from burning whatever they can to stay warm. this is not the first time their family has been displaced. they fled the country side after her son was killed in a russian airstrike. since then, they raised their three young grandchildren alone. the town was not home, but at least they had a roof over their heads. but when the earthquake hit, the new home collapsed. >> here in the camps, it is if we have moved from heaven to hell. camp life is hell but we have no options. where do we go? where should escape?

>> abdul recovered from his injuries but his wife can barely move her legs. they can barely afford to pay for the kids let alone specialist care. >> my husband helps me and brings me everything i need because i cannot walk. if i want to move, i crawl on my hands and feet. the children are deprived of their rights, clothing, food and heating. i wish they could live a better life. >> drinking is scarce while dirty rainwater floods the alleyways, soaking everything in the tent. even before the earthquake, most of the people living in this area needed help to survive. the influx of donations and aid after soon dried up. the world food program is ending the main assistance program later this year and last year,

the you in syrian aid budget only got one third of the funds needed. the family has had no help in months. they feel forgotten. >> international organizations should come see how earthquake survivors are living. the conditions we face. we only dream of a life in which we have a small portion of dignity. >> thousands of syrian refugees who had been living in southern turkey before the earthquake fled back across the border in its wake but conditions are not much better. far southern turkey was leveled and there's little left of this proud, ancient city. far more reconstruction has taken place on this side of the border but there's next to no help available for syrians. the dust from building debris here is so thick that it's difficult to breathe. a few meters away, dozens of syrian refugees are living in the rubble that used to be their homes. >> when the earthquake struck this tower block, it fell in

seconds. omar tried to rescue his wife and two-year-old son, but could not lift the heavy ceilings that crushed them. >> i tried to get them out, but i couldn't. he stayed stuck on him for five days with the rock on his head and he did not move at all. i stayed awake talking to them until 10:30 in the morning. i fell asleep and my wife was alive. i woke up and she was dead. i started calling her name but she did not make a sound. >> they died next to him, but his three-year-old son had disappeared. for weeks, omar searched hospitals across southern turkey. his former home had been destroyed and the rubble cleared but there was no sign of him. has thousands of other families search for missing loved ones, the turkish forensic unit tested and said is body had not been identified amongst those killed. >> they told me maybe he got

picked up by the forklift and he was covered by the rocks because he's little, but i don't believe it. my heart believes he's alive. >> omar is from aleppo. like many syrians, his permit to be in turkey has now expired and the authorities have cracked down. but if he returns to syria, he risks arrest or worse. >> i'm very of. -- very afraid. but if they want to deport me well my son is missing, they would have to kill me to get me to leave. what more can they do now that i've lost my boy. my future is gone. >> shrouded in his grief, he spends his days visiting the site of his family's last moments, comforted by a memento's of his former life against all odds, he's determined his son is alive. so he waits hiding in this tent bought on the black market, surrounded by street after

street of crumbling masonry. >> i always wake up in the middle of the night. i go for a walk. i look at the destruction and think, my god, what happened? why did this happened? >> a shattered life, one among thousands living through yet another nightmare, syrians on both sides of the border fearing suffering is all they have left. for the pbs newshour, i'm leila molana-allen in southern turkey. geoff: a love story helping paint a fuller picture of the civil-rights movement, that of medgar evers and myrlie evers. on june 12, 1963, medgar evers, a pioneering civil rights activist, was killed by a white supremacist out side his home in

mississippi. his murder thrust his wife into the national spotlight, becoming a freedom fighter in her own right. i spoke with author and msnbc host joy ann read who traces their lives in her new book out today. enjoy and read, welcome to the newshour. so she met medgar evers on her first day of college. what drew them together? >> it was in one sense just his approach. he was very aggressive. he ran up to her as she was leaning against an electric pole and said, you will get shocked. she was like, i actually did not need your help, because she was haughty and raised to be a certain way towards men. so it was partly his approach. there were a lot of guys sizing up the women but he was different. he was older, seven years older than her. he just had an air about him.

i think it was because he was a world war ii veteran and football player. each of those things were the things her grandmother and aunt told her to absolutely stay away from. in some sense it was also the danger. geoff: you use those relationships as a lens to explore the fight for justice and equality, the civil rights movement. what did that approach reveal to you? >> when we think about civil-rights leaders, we think of them as icons in isolation of their actual lives. but what these were were very young men in their 20's and 30's, none of the sort of greats we think of the civil-rights movement even lived to be 40. they lived whole lives including falling in love, having children, being parents and spouses. i want to to fill in the narrative about the movement to put in the context of the love it took. you needed the loving family

that would support you and allow you to do things that can get you killed. a wife that was willing to live in a house that could be firebombed. they knew how to train their children that their father could die and their mother could die and they could die. geoff: as field secretary for the naacp, that made him a target of white racists who at the time terrorized black people in mississippi with impunity. after his tragic death, his assassination, myrlie evers committed herself to the fight. she became an activist in her own right, she wrote a book, ran for congress, ultimately led the naacp. tell me about her second act. >> myrlie evers in some ways was the most reluctant of civil rights leaders. she did not want to do this. she just wanted to be with her man. she was a literal 1950's housewife and just wanted her man to come home every day and wanted to raise her children and enjoy her man and romance.

but that was not in the cards for her. when her husband died, she was in her early 30's, a young woman with three children to raise. she was also angry. one of the things that struck me when i interviewed myrlie evers is she can still access that palpable rage. she was not just sad medicare -- that he was dead, she is angry. she was determined to make sure his killer who was tried twice, with a hung jury's, she wanted to see him in prison for the rest of his life. it took her 30 years but she got it. she also wanted to see the naacp live up to its true aims. they had a fight with medicare about what he was doing. they did not agree with direct action and heated. she believed naacp had failed her husband.

her goal when she died was -- when he died was to right the wrongs. geoff: one of the reasons i'm so happy about this book is because so much of their sacrifice has been overlooked by history. is that what drew you to the project? >> absolutely. james baldwin called him edgar, -- medgar evers, martin, and malcolm the great spirit when when you land in jackson, mississippi, you land in medgar evers airport. a lot of people just don't know why. a lot of people just don't know who that is. they may be heard the name but they don't know his story. to my mind, she was in many ways the most heroic civil-rights leader -- he was in many ways the most heroic civil-rights leader because he was operating in the most aggressive clan organization, in mississippi, that killed many. the most aggressive statewide apparatus that was a literal spy

organization that operated out of the governor's office, and the state legislature to spy on the citizens of mississippi. that existed nowhere in that state. he was the inaugural field secretary. i remember vernon jordan, i interviewed him for my first book. i remember sitting in his office and him saying to me that he could remember, he was close to medgar evers, he could remember being on the phone with him and he was crying saying, i can't do this. they won't sign up to vote. they are terrified. people are scared. they don't want to put their names on the naacp ledger and my bosses are insisting. sign people up and register them to vote, but they don't understand. they are in new york. this is almost impossible here because these people need to develop the courage just to walk into a department store. it is so terrifying just talking to a white person in the wrong way, it can get you lynched here.

for a lot of people, they forgot how much bravery it took to operate not in georgia, not even in louisiana or south carolina, but mississippi. geoff: what with the civil rights movement be without the influence of -- and sacrifice of myrlie evers and edgar -- medgar evers? >> you have to remember, the mike fight for the civil rights act rolled through mississippi. the most violent city in at a woolworths was at jackson, mississippi p the famous one where not only was flour and sugar dumped on this integrated group of people trying to desegregate the lunch counter, they were beaten. they were beaten and bloodied and left on the ground and it became an international story. that was one of the things that

provoked the kennedy administration to say enough is enough. the violence that went through the university of mississippi when it s desegregated was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. the incidents that took place combined with the alabama stand at the schoolhouse door were sort of the final last straw for the kennedy administration. kennedy had been a reluctant friend of the civil rights movement because he needed southern votes. back then, these southern states were still swing states. he really wanted to do a big tax cut. he finally said, i'm going to do it. the thing that i think people don't know is that kennedy used some of medgar evers' language. they shared that they were world war ii veterans. he understood the sacrifice of a fellow veteran. he was moved by the status. when he promised to do the bill, when evers was assassinated within hours after a historic speech, the person he gave the first draft to that bill was

myrlie evers. myrlie evers was in the white house with her children, still a grieving widow and the president gave her a copy of the bill and he promised her he would get the bill through. when the bill started to languish and take a long time, the march on washington in august was to push him to get back on track. dr. king talked about medgar evers and emmett till as two of the inspirations for that march. two of the people he talked about probably the most when he talked about the sacrifices. his original version of the speech he would give, he actually gave in detroit. there was a line that got cut out of the final speech that said one day, in the future, we will come to day when the sacrifices of emmett till and medgar evers would not have to be made. that was the first version i -- of i have a dream. it was ultimately cut out of the speech, but medgar evers was on

his mind, and myrlie evers was the only woman initially invited to the big speech. she was not able to be there because of a commitment, but medgar evers is infused in the civil rights movement. his contemporaries know it but today he's fallen out of memory. geoff: this book will certainly change that. joy-ann reid, always a pleasure. online right now, hear more about the sisterhood and special friendship myrlie evers williams shared with the late coretta scott king and betty shabazz. find it on our youtube and instagram accounts. ♪ amna: an update to earlier reporting. a vote in the u.s. house to impeach homeland security secretary alejandra mayorkas has failed.

republicans had accused him of not complying with immigration laws amid a surge of immigrants on the u.s. mexico border. a handful of republicans joined democrats in opposing the impeachment measure. and that is the newshour for tonight. geoff: i'm geoff bennett. have a good evening. announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. somebody's pocket, i thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of everything. have a nice day. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure.

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