>> building a better bay area. moving forward. hi there. i'm christine zee. you're watching getting answers on abc7. every day we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. today every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. a new documentary today coming out tomorrow exploring the challenges and blessings of being mixed-race. 1000% me growing up premieres tomorrow on hbo. he will join us to talk about what inspired him. plus a teenager lending her voice against the battle against childhood brain cancer. we will meet the singer-songwriter who could be

the next taylor swift and the cofounder of the pnoc foundation. but first, san francisco svb has collapsed -- what happens to your deposits if you do business with first republic do business with first republic? joining us live to talk about this and more is an professor at cal state east bay. thank you professor. why that first republic bank fail -- why did first republic bank fail? >> there are several reasons. basically a lot of customers, they had a lot of wealthy customers that started withdrawing their deposits because it was not insured beyond $250,000 the f

would ensure and they had a lot more than that. when they found out about signature bond, they panicked and started withdrawing their money and that started the panic and the run. basically, after that first republic had made a lot of long-term loans, especially mortgages. but they were earning about maybe 3% of that, but borrowing money for their operations at about 5%, so losing money there. basically there was a compounding effect, what led to this collapse. kristen: i wonder, this being the third bank to collapse after silicon valley bank, also based here, and signature bank based in the east coast, could moore scale -- more banks fail? >> for now, there is some degree of stability.

but at this stage, small banks are more at risk of failure than the bigger banks for the same reasons i mentioned. at that some of the interest rates being low, they made these large loans, and significant amount of their portfolio where these these lar. but now the cost of doing business is more expensive so they have to borrow money at a higher rate. so they are at risk and we see the sign of that. but the regulators are trying to assure them that there is no reason to panic because they are going out of their way to build amount and to secure the customers' deposits. kristen: you mentioned regional bank -- banks like bank are more at risk.

industry as the j.p. morgan ceo said today? >> j.p. morgan chase and similar brands are very large. they have significant amount of deposit. therefore if there's any kind of a panic, they can afford it because they have these deposits. they have already started contacting these customers and letting them know that their deposit is safe. fda c is now going beyond $250,000 to assure them that their deposit is safe. so the chances of another collapse or bank run happening with chase and other big banks is very low. kristen: when you say going beyond the $250,000, how much? >> they haven't specified how much. but the have basically said they are even willing to cover more of the customers' deposits beyond the $250,000. i think what they are doing is ensuring customers do not

withdraw their money. if it comes to that, we will cover it. kristen: is that for individuals or institutional customers? >> this is essentially for customers whose deposit is more than $250,000. euro call first republic had very wealthy customers both in terms of those who deposit their money, the creators o startups as well as those who borrow money. from what i recall mark zuckerberg took a loan of about $6 million for his house and got it at a 1% rate. kristen: is the fdic recommendation for a permanent raising of the bank deposit insurance to prevent bank runs? >> > with their $250,000 minimum. but they may go beyond that. yes. kristen: would they need

congressional action to make that happen? >> well, regulators are having to do something. i'm not familiar with whether congress has approved that or not but president biden has come and praise them for what they have done. which gave me the signal that they will have support. kristen: speaking of congressional action in congress, partisan gridlock seems to be preventing a bill to pass to raise the u.s. stud limit -- debt limit. what happens on june 1 if congress does not get it done? janet yellen warned of dire consequences. >> there will be dire consequences. if we fail on our national debt, that would be a disaster. but i honestly don't think it's going to happen. consistently the previous decades we've seen that we always come up with this problem and the government at the last minute just raises the debt. i'm pretty confident that it

will not happen. kristen: we have done this dance before, as you've said in the past, we have skirted it last-minute. if a nation like the u.s. defaulted on its debt, what would the consequences be? >> that would basically be the collapse of the u.s. economy. our national debt is almost as big as our gddp, tens of trillions of dollars -- gdp, tens of trillions of dollars, that would not be a happy day for the u.s. economy. kristen: hopefully a day that we would avoid at all costs. professor, thank appreciate your time. we will be talking about

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kristen: the percentage of people who reported being mixed-race ranged from 5% to 7% in bay area counties in the census. mixed heritage does come with challenges. that's the focus of a new hbo documentary by the emmy award-winning former host of cnn's "united states of america," comedian and author kamau bell. >> two people ever confuse what your race is? >> i got everything but my own pretty much. every single day. kristen: joining us tell us more about his documentary, "1000% me: growing

up mixed" is w. kamau bell. it's always good to see >> good to be seen. thanks for having me on. i'm occasional cohost of your show. kristen: that is fair to say. you are not mixed -- but your daughters certainly are. so this is a personal journey for your family, right? >> this started with me and my wife before our daughter was even born. we realized she was going to have experiences that we couldn't relate to because she was going to be in this category called "mixed." we are so fortunate we live in the bay area with a lot of mixed folks around me and a lot of mixed people in our lives so we knew that they would have people to turn to that were not their parents, but it started us questioning about it. as sammy got older, we she had a lot of mixed race friends. i was like, are they drawn to

each other, what are they talking about? kristen: can we talk about what they have in common? as you said, there are many different types of mixes here in the bay area, what is the common theme you notice about them, the way they perceive themselves and the way that society relates to them? >> those of us who are not kids think of them as being have one thing or have another thing or a quarter this and a quarter that, and all these kids think, i'm both, i'm this and this. up with a title, he said, i'm 100% black, 100% filipino, and 100% a person. kristen: i love that. kids are the smartest. can we actually show -- i think we have that sound. let's go ahead and roll that. ♪ >> is there anything you mixed race people should know? >> is having the opportunity to have a deeper connection to more cultures.

kristen: i think that's what you ar referring to, we are all of this and all of that, we are 200% or a thousand percent. >> that's how it works, these kids see that there's just more and more. they all say it in different ways. but they don't see themselves as being part one thing and part another thing, they are just like, if my debt's black and my mom is white, i am both of these things fully. kristen: your kids see it that way, too? >> for sure. we celebrate kwanzaa. christmas, christmas eve. we do all of it. kristen: i'm a polis a major, so you are safe with me. math there. what about other people? are there conflicting messages from others that say, you've got to choose? >> kids between the ages of seven and 10, at that age, they

still feel they have control over the world of they are being raised -- if they are being raised in a supportive environment. but once they got to haeckel, there's a young woman named kayla and here in high school, you start to hear about the outside world through social media and the school and kids suddenly feel like they have to pick a side or they are not black enough even if their parents are black, so there's a point where the outside world starts to come in and tell you to pick a side until you you are wrong. the hope for this is we curate a film that opens up and of conversation that the outside world stops doing that. kristen: yeah. i wonder if that is a particularly acute issue for kids who maybe look more lik one of their parents, there is the expectation the embrace that side more. kristen: -- >> kaelin is in a position where she is a quarter korean, her mom is half korean, half black, i'm doing the halfing because it is quicker, her dad is half black

and half white, people think she has everything but that, so how do you claim your korean status one korean still see u.s. korean, people start to say, no, you're something else, you are filipino or latina -- so that is the sort of ethnically ambiguous nowheresville, difficult place for people to be if they are not allowed to speak for themselves or their spaces. kristen: it out. do you think -- going through this, are you more convinced than ever that people learn racism? >> am convinced -- let's be clear, racism is a construct that america invented and fine-tuned. before america existed, it was all nationalism or country of origin or tribe of origin. america invented this concept.

i do think categories that we have, a lot of kids talk about the boxes they feel conflicted about checking, you have to figure out where you want to be in these boxes in these boxes and you have to sometimes defend that, which is the thing that i like to get away from. it's possible to be more than one thing. it's possible to be conflicting ideas. and these kids are able to do that easily. kristen: did they talk to you about what they appreciate most or what they don't appreciate about being mixed? >> that's funny i mentioned the boxes, a lot of the boxes came up. one kid and here is 15 and he's got a younger sibling, he says, when i was their age, five years younger than him, he said there was only three boxes, and he sort of feels better about the fact that there are more boxes. but kaelin talks about how frustrating those boxes are. we talked about the census. there are now 63 different boxes on the census, but there are still races that are not

represented. middle easterners are supposed to check white. that makes no sense and a post -- in a as long as this country is run by racial categorization, we have to add more boxes. until we can dismantle white supremacy, this is what we are doing. kristen: you talk to bay area kids obviously. i wonder if they have a certain perspective because of the fact that they are pretty common here and very accepted here. if we were to go say outside of this area. do you expect different responses, different experiences? >> there was the idea that we would travel around the country but we realized we wanted to keep this to one hour, and if we visited the country, we would've shortened every story. it does tell an interesting bay area story. even though these kids live in the so-called bubble we are proud of sometimes, they still

experience racism. -- [laughter] kristen: you ask and you get it, that's what happens when you're a friend of abc7. >> my goddaughter carter is in this. she talks about how she's not seen as a member of her family when she's out with her family because she's mixed, she's adopted by two white moms, people don't see her as a member of her family, and this is in the bay area. kristen: that is so challenging when you have that divide between members of your own family. but in this age of division, it is so us versus them. what role do you think mixed kids play? >> i really think that we just -- one thing i've noticed on social media is that a lot of times, anybody who identifies themselves as mixed, if you look

at the comments, they are being attacked as pick a side, why do you want to be white, why don't you claim your other race? what we are doing is limiting their ability to speak to their issues and their lives and whatever problems they have which is not good. we shouldn't be controlling people that we. i hopefully think that we can learn from them, because we live in a racist society and a society that is about race at every level. and these people are looking at it from a very distinctive viewpoint. there's a lot to be learned from them. also let people talk. that's how you learn, by listening to other people. kristen: you are so right. i really need to stop talking and just listen. [laughter] >> your job as a talking job. so don't stop talking. you can keep talking. everybody else shut up. kristen: ok. that's great. i love that. this looks so fascinating. just the parts that i saw, the kids are just so precocious and they can really lead the way. i hope everybody will check it out. "1000% me: growing up mixed."

eight -- it debuts tomorrow. >> yes, on hbo and hbo max. kristen: always great talking with you. coming up next, a northbay teen musician is lending her voice in the battle against pediatric brain cancer. we will meet the singer-songwriter who could be the next taylor swift and the cofounder of the pnoc foundation. we'll be right back. .

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kristen: the san raphael based pnoc foundation raises funds for pediatric brain cancer research. they are celebrating 10 years this month. this is also brain tumor awareness month. a 17-year-old has written a song called "nightlight" to raise money for pnoc. ♪ wow. i want to hear more of that. the release was timed to coincide with pnoc's 10 year

anniversary. joining us live now are writer and musician anna harrell. alongside bruce campbell. thank you for joining us. we will have to hear more about this song and of this song. but because this song benefits and celebrates pnoc, bruce, i want to start with you, you found it pnoc because of a very personal better that your son george went through, tell us about it. >> that's right. we cofounded the pnoc foundation after our son george was diagnosed with a large brain tumor the sizef a lemon behind his eye. fortunately it was in a position where surgeons could successfully remove it all, he will be 19 this month and he's a healthy freshman in college. but the journey taught us that brain cancer is the earliest childhood cancer. for kids who do survive, quality of life could be poor due to the

toxicity of treatment. many faced secondary diseases and secondary cancers. we wanted to help give every child the opportunity that george had to heal and thrive. that's what we established the foundation to raise money and awareness forend clinical trials. kristen: is that the main way or there are -- or are there other ways that you provide support for families via research? tell us about your work. the full-scale. >> pnoc focuses on what we call clinical trials. we take the latest findings in brain tumor biology, the latest research, and translate that into treatments and personalized treatments and therapies that are going to directly benefit children today that are faced with the daunting task of fighting this disease. kristen: i see. >> we have funded over 30 clinical trials. i hope to fund enroll children into those

trials were fighting brain cancers. >> anna -- kristen: anna, you wanted to contribute to this effort and wrote "nightlight." tell us about the inspiration. >> the inspiration for this song was mostly about childhood. i'm lucky to not have known someone personally in my family who suffered with brain cancer. but i do know what it means to be a child and the innocence and the importance of protecting that. i think as a society, that is something we should honor more. the innocence, the hope, the optimism that children have, so i wrote this song coming from that standpoint, from that viewpoint of keeping children protected and honoring childhood. kristen: i understand if people download the song, it does go to support pnoc? >> yeah. all the proceeds are going straight to pnoc.

you can download it on the suggested donation is five dollars but you can donate more and the proceeds go straight to the lifesaving research. kristen: i understand you are a musician in mill valley who has been gaining some attention and making a name. you have been performing in different places. i think there some opportunities where people can see you perform coming up, right? >> yes. in just two short be performing at the mill valley music festival on sunday. i'm so excited. i've got a great bands playing behind me and i am on the stage for 30 minutes. you should definitely stop by if you can. kristen: i know you were inspired when you were young by taylor swift. do you see yourself as going in that direction? >> you know, every young songwriter i feel loves taylor swift, but i've taken it in other directions. i really love fleetwood mac. i love joni mitchell. i love looking into history and

looking at the trends of history and historical some writing to kind of influence my own songwriting. kristen: fantastic. congratulations to you -- i was going to call you george, bruce. how can people get more information about pnoc? >> basically visiting our website, pnocfou ndation.org. we urgently need more dollars to help kids in the fight of their life. kristen: thank you both so much for joining us today, bruce campbell and anna harrell. we

kristen: thank you so much for joining us today for "getting

answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 p.m. answering questions with experts from around the bay area. "world news tonight" with david muir is next. have a great day. >> tonight breaking news. the deadly pile-up on an american interstate. more than 60 cars and trucks, at least 30 tow trucks. at this hour,or 30 miles of-5shut down. tonight the major dust storm blinding drivers. the chain reaction collisions just in. police reporting multiple fatalities tonight, part of an ef3 tornado in virginia, winds up to 115 miles an hour homes and structures damaged. also at this hour, the urgent search. what the fbi is now saying in the hunt for a man wanted for allegedly shooting and killing five of his neighbors, including a mother and her 9-year-old boy after they asked that neighbor to stop firing his ar-