captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour, on this day honoring dr. martin luther king, jr., president-elect trump meets with king's son, despite a war of words with civil rights leader, congressman john lewis. then, mr. trump makes waves overseas, calling nato obsolete and signaling the u.s. may ease sanctions on russia. and, one man's journey to understand his hometown's call for a racial ban leads to insights into a still deeply divided america. >> we were raised with this notion that everyday america gets a little bit more just. i think in the research i learned, what often gets left out is that sometimes the gains of one generation are given back in the next. >> woodruff: all that and more

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> and with the ongoing support of these 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. >> woodruff: americans have spent this day honoring the life and legacy of dr. martin luther king, junior. it comes amid an open conflict between another iconic civil rights figure, and the nation's new leader. president-elect trump marked the king holiday by inviting the civil rights leader's son to his new york tower. martin luther king iii called it a "very constructive meeting", and quoted the president-elect saying he wants to reach out to all americans: supports-- i believe that that's his intent. but i think also that we have to consistently engage with pressure. public pressure. it doesn't happen automatically. my father and his team understood that, did that and i think that americans are prepared to do that >> woodruff: king steered clear of the trump feud with a civil

rights hero, democratic representative john lewis of georgia: >> i think that, in the heat of emotion, a lot of things get said on both sides. >> woodruff: the war of words began friday, with lewis telling nbc that trump's election was not legitimate because of russian meddling. the full interview aired sunday. >> i don't see this president- elect as a legitimate president. >> woodruff: lewis also said he'll boycott friday's inauguration. all told, more than two dozen members of congress now say they'll do the same. the president-elect fired back at lewis over the weekend, tweeting that he should "spend more time on... helping his district" and calling him "all talk, talk, talk-- no action or results." on cbs this weekend, vice president-elect pence also pushed back: >> to make a comment that he did not consider donald trump to be

a legitimate president, i think is deeply disappointing. i believe inaugurations are a moment when we should come together around that individual who has been elected to be president of the united states of america. >> woodruff: today, at a king day breakfast in miami, lewis ignored the trump criticism. instead, he issued a call to action to his listeners: >> you must have courage. you must be bold. and never ever give up, when you know that you're right. >> woodruff: for his part, mr. trump canceled an early plan to spend the holiday in washington and visit the national museum of african american history and culture. but the vice-president-elect was in washington, at the martin luther king, jr., memorial. president obama, in his last week in office, took part in a service event at a d.c. family shelter. in the day's other news, there was no sign of a let-up in another confrontation-- this one between mr. trump and the intelligence community. it started when outgoing c.i.a.

director john brennan said sunday that the president-elect must do more than "talk and tweet" about national security. >> do you think that mr. trump understands the threat from russia? >> i don't think he has a full appreciation of russian capabilities, russia's intentions, and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world. and that's with the obligation and responsibility of the intelligence community is. >> woodruff: later, on sunday, mr. trump fired back on twitter. he criticized the c.i.a.'s record on conflicts in syria, crimea and ukraine, and he said then, referring directly to brennan, he asked, "was this the leaker of fake news?" the president-elect also raised hackles across europe with critical comments about nato and the european union. we'll turn to that story, right after the news summary. on the domestic front, the incoming president now says he means to replace obamacare with "insurance for everybody." he's told "the washington post" that his plan is nearly

complete, and that it will offer "much lower deductibles" but he offered no details. in turkey, there's word that police have captured the man suspected of killing 39 in an istanbul night club during new year's celebrations. the islamic state group had claimed responsibility for the new years eve attack. it triggered an intense, nationwide manhunt. turkish media reports say the uzbek national was taken into custody during a raid in an istanbul suburb. a turkish cargo plane smashed to earth today in kyrgyzstan, wiping out half a village and killing at least 37 people. the boeing 747 was trying to land in dense fog, near the capital city, bishkek. there was no immediate word what caused the crash. there's a startling new report about wealth inequality around the globe. the anti-poverty organization oxfam reports that the eight richest men on earth own as much

as the poorest half of the world's population, about 3.6 billion people. the report says the gap has grown from what it was just a year ago by quite a bit. >> we've seen countries in the last 10 years that have bucked the trend and that are going in the other direction, and are reducing the gap between rich and poor. one thing they do is they get the rich to pay their tax. we've got a situation where billionaires are paying less tax often than their cleaner or their secretary. that's crazy. we're seeing wealth channeled upwards. >> woodruff: the report was released ahead of the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. 10 more long-term detainees have left the u.s. prison at guantanamo bay, cuba. the persian gulf state of oman announced today it accepted the 10. that leaves 45 prisoners still at guantanamo. president obama has pushed to close the prison. president-elect trump has vowed to keep it open. conservative commentator monica crowley has backed out of a job

with the new administration, amid a plagiarism scandal. it's widely reported that she's decided against serving at the national security council. crowley's accused of plagiarizing parts of her doctoral dissertation, and her 2012 book. the world series champion chicago cubs were feted today by the white sox fan who calls the white house home. the cubs were the last championship team that mr. obama will greet while he's in office. they presented the 44th president with two special jerseys. the cubs won the series last november for the first time since 1908. and, former astronaut gene cernan died today. he was the last of a dozen men to walk on the moon. a handful of others still survive. cernan commanded the apollo 17 mission to the lunar surface in december 1972. in later years, he urged congress to approve a return to the moon.

eugene cernan was 82 years old. still to come on the newshour: our politics monday duo previews inauguration week. lessons on race from a city that once forced out its black residents, and much more. >> woodruff: beyond his social media statements over the weekend, the president-elect had much more to say in and interview with two european publications. he opined on the usefulness of nato and the european union; on the stability of germany under chancellor angela merkel; and on brexit. john yang begins our coverage. >> yang: as hundreds of u.s. marines touched down in norway today in a move to reassure nations nervous about russia, european officials were digesting president-elect trump's latest comments about nato.

he told the "times of london" and the german newspaper "bild" that: "it's obsolete because it wasn't taking care of terror... and the other thing is the countries aren't paying their fair share... which i think is very unfair to the united states..." in fact, the only time the alliance's mutual-defense provision was invoked was to help the united states after the 9/11 terror attacks. hundreds of nato troops died alongside americans in afghanistan. mr. trump had made similar statements during the campaign, but this latest barb came just days after his nominee for defense secretary offered a starkly different opinion. >> from my perspective, having served once as nato supreme allied commander, is the most successful military alliance probably in modern world history maybe ever. >> yang: the kremlin agreed with the trump assessment and said nato's main goal is confrontation. but it said little about the president-elect's suggestion that he might drop u.s.

sanctions on russia in exchange for nuclear arms reductions. mr. trump also said he's indifferent about the european union's future in the wake of britain's vote to leave it. "i personally i don't think it matters much for the united states... look, the e.u. was formed, partially, to beat the united states on trade... so i don't really care whether it's separate or together..." the president-elect had special criticism for german chancellor angela merkel. he said she made a "catastrophic mistake" in taking in thousands of migrants and refugees. and, he said he'll start off trusting merkel and russian president vladimir putin equally, but said that may not last. the chancellor answered today in berlin: >> ( translated ): i think for us europeans we have our fate in our own hands. the president elect made his points again. once he is in office, which he is not at the moment, we will of course work together with the american government. then we will see what sort of cooperation we can achieve."

>> yang: outgoing secretary of state john kerry went further in a cnn interview. >> well i thought frankly it was inappropriate for the president- elect of the united states to step into the politics of another countries in a quite direct manner. >> yang: the secretary said, ultimately, it's for mr. trump to explain himself, because, "as of friday, he's responsible for that relationship." we get reaction from two people with extensive experience in managing u.s.-european relations. nicholas burns was a career diplomat and was u.s. ambassador to nato during the obama administration. he's now at harvard university. he is joining us from london. and heather conley was deputy assistant secretary of state in the bureau for european and eurasian affairs during the george w. bush administration. she's now director and senior fellow of the europe program at the center for strategic and international studies, a think tank in washington, d.c.

thank you both for joining us. mr. burns, let me start with you. former ambassador to n.a.t.o. donald trump says n.a.t.o. is obsolete because it doesn't take on terror unfair to the united states. what's your take? >> he's completely wrong about that. i was ambassador to n.a.t.o. for president george w. bush on 9/11 and on 9/11 when we were attacked from al quaida and afghanistan, the n.a.t.o. allies came to us and said they wanted to invoke article 5 of the treaty, an attack on one of us is an attack to all of us. they came to our defense big time. they all went to afghanistan and bled and died and were wounded for us in afghanistan. they're still in afghanistan. we fought the terrorism of cal kid and the taliban and other terrorist groups in afghanistan and, so, donald trump is wrol. i tell you from being in london today people are flabbergasted by this interview in the "times"

in london. to castigate angela merkel, our strongs friend in europe, we've not seen an american president be so openly critical of our allies if 70 years, and yet he doesn't criticize our adversary vladimir putin. it is mystifying. people here are uncertain about american leadership. it's a very poor and unwise way to start his term in office. >> yang: heather conley, your take on the remarks and specifically on n.a.t.o. he says it's unfair because the other countries aren't paying their fair share and that the financial burden falls on the united states. >> well, it's a bipartisan comment to get european countries to increase their defense spending and that's something n.a.t.o. countries pledged two and a half years ago to substantially increase their defense spending, and they're doing that. the challenge is the united

states is safer because n.a.t.o. exists. when we join war allies to -- with our allies whether defeating the taliban in afghanistan, supporting those in iraq to beat back i.s.i.s., to protect n.a.t.o. when russia invades a neighboring country, it makes america stronger. it's a part of u.s. national security. so when you're criticizing n.a.t.o. and saying it's obsolete, you're degrading u.s. national security and that the what has us all so confused about mr. trump's comments. it's oka okay to say europe is t spending enough and we need to increase the spending, but we get an enormous benefit out of the n.a.t.o. alliance. >> yang: ambassador burns, what about this idea of lifting sanctions on russia which were put in place for the annexation of crimea in exchange for an agreement on arms reduction? >> it's hard to see the logic in this agreement. everyone, of course, wants to

see nuclear stability between the united states an russia, it's the highest priority, but we can achieve nuclear arms stability and reduction based on the interest of both sides. for donald trump to say i will reduce nuclear weapons with russia and give them sanctions relief, russia crossed the brightest red line in international law by invading and an exing crimia and dividing eastern ukraine. and has been threatening our allies the baltic states. those sanctions are in place by europeans, canadians and americans as leverage against russia and they can't be lifted until russia lifts its forces from ukraine. if russia gets away with grand larceny the european leadership will be furious with the united states, angela merkel specifically, she negotiated the sanctions with putin directly. so it's very unwise. it gives away american

influence. it will be a weak policy by the united states, not a strong policy. >> yang: heather conley, is this sort of singsly sort of offering to accept the annexation of crimea in exchange for something else? was this a business deal? >> exactly. we're talking about two separate things. the sanction relate to the annexation of crimea and the invasion of eastern ukraine. a nuclear arms agreement, let's step back a minute, russia has been in violation of the i.m.f. treaty many years. steps have not been taken to address those violations. we have seen announcements of russian tactical weapons near n.a.t.o. borders, now near u.s. troops. we do need to address this but we're mixing apples and oranges here. again, nuclear stability, i agree, is very important, but right now, and i thought president-elect trump mentioned he wants to strengthen america's nuclear arsenal, perhaps i misunderstood, so are we reducing? are we increasing? but we have to watch very

carefully russia's military modernization. they are actually increasing their strategic nuclear deterrent. they may be at a point where they're accelerating the program. we have to be extremely mindful. this is protecting u.s. national security, and russia as general mattis noted really is a near-term threat, could be an existential threat, so let's keep our eye on the prize and not start conflating to very different things. >> yang: talked about innovating vladimir putin and angela merkel, what's your take on that? >> to be honest -- >> yang: go ahead, mr. ambassador. >> i guess the time delay. i just wanted to say angela merkel is our strongest ally, vladimir putin is our greatest adversary. to equate them is an insult to angela merkel. europe sour largest trade partner, largest investor into our economy and largest

allifetime europe likely matters. donald trump says we're indifferent to the future to have e.u. the e.u. is formed to put aside war between france and germany, unit europe in peace, it's done that and we should support it. >> yang: less than a minute left. mr. ambassador, overall, what does this say about what's ahead for u.s.-european relations? >> a very rocky start for the administration of donald trump. i have to believe that rex tillerson u the new secretary of state incoming, jim mattis, the new secretary of defense, they understand the value of n.a.t.o., they understand that we're the leader of the west and i hope very much donald trump will agree with them and shift these positions. >> yang: who's speaking for the administration? >> that's the question and we'll need clarification on that. to underscore it, european solidarity, unity, it is an incredibly trade and investment partner to the u.s. we cannot want europe to be divided, to fall apart.

they're too important to u.s. national security. 70 years ago, another great secretary of state and defense george c. marshall made his martial plan. the united states invested in europe. we are the beneficiaries of it. we cannot let this go away, it's too important. >> yang: rert rert, nicholas burns -- heather conley, nicholas burns, we thank you very much. >> woodruff: that brings us to politics monday this inauguration week with tamara keith of npr and susan page of "usa today." great to see both of you on this monday. tam, before we get into the specifics, inauguration week for this incoming president, how does it look at this point? >> it looks like it's going to happen. his team says that he is still working on the speech, still refining it. we have no idea what that speech will say, though they promise he

will talk about bringing americans together. but he's also giving a speech the night before at sort of a pre-game rally and event for supporters, and then, of course, there will be protests the following day. >> woodruff: what should we look for, susan? >> i think the has been a remarkable period since the president-elect won the election two months ago because, usually, this has been a time when americans kind of come together, there's this era of good feeling at least for a little while. we haven't seen this. we've seen a continuation of the rhetoric we've herd during the campaign and some of the divisions have persisted. donald trump will be inaugurated with the lowest approval ratings of any president who's started to take possments there is many ways in which this period of time has been unprecedented. >> woodruff: part of that as we have been reporting earlier in the program, tam, is this back and forth over the weekend between congressman john lewis

who said he did not view donald trump as a legitimately elected president because off the russian interference in the election, but mr. trump is coming back saying you should be doing more in your own district. >> this saying he's all talk, talk, and no action, which many people took issue with given john lewis is a civil rights hero, icon. so this is the latest instance of -- which you could basically go every single week for the last year and a half of donald trump taking a fight, you know, taking an opportunity to strike back at someone on twitter, getting into a twitter feud. last week it was meryl streep, this week john lewis. many times he's gotten into feuds with people who you would consider to be people you wouldn't want to touch, that politically it's not worth going there. but donald trump, you know, he will not just sit back and let

someone insult him, and the way john lewis did insult him really hit him in a soft spot. >> woodruff: susan, is there evidence that this kind of response on the part of the president-elect helps him in some way? >> may help him with his core supporters who elected him maybe in part because he is so combative because he never fails to counterpunch when he thinks somebody has taken a punch at him and there are even defenders john lewis who think donald trump shouldn't be president. he is a figure of such i cornic status in the united states from the civil rights struggle, paticularly an important person. now we have members of congress saying they will boycott the inauguration. this has become a rai rallying y

and another sign of divisions donald trump will face when he moves into the white house. >> woodruff: how much will donald trump be concerned about his relationship with the african-american community? this is not a group of voters who supported him. >> right, and this continues by a little more than two-thirds in the new pew poll of african-americans say they do not approve of the job donald trump has been doing in his transitions of explaining his policies or where he's going, far worse tan where he ranks with white voters, for instance, and this is a problem that donald trump has, at least on some level, tried to address. he brought steve harvey to trump tower. he talks about wanting to help, but almost always he focuses on, well, i want to help urban centers, crime-ridden urban areas, which many in the african-american community have been hearing him say throughout the campaign and hearing it as an insult and misunderstanding the fact that large numbers of black people living in the

suburbs, for instance, and are quite affluent. >> woodruff: but today he met with the son of dr. martin luther king, jr., susan. >> he sid and this would be the 88. >> birthday of dr. martin luther king, jr. and it would be a good day to meet with his sons on some of the issues dr. king raised. >> woodruff: i want to turn with an interview he did in "the washington post" in which he said -- they were talking about health insurance and what's going to happen to obamacare -- and he said he promised insurance for everyone. how are we to interpret this? >> so a revelation, i think, to all of us including congressional republicans who worked on this issue -- healthcare, what a tough issue, we saw this with the fadges of the affordable care act -- but in this interview with "the washington post," donald trump said he would have insurance for everyone, it wouldn't be a single payer system, but would be a great system and less expensive.

if that's true, it would be terrific, but people in healthcare say that is a really tough thing to do, and we think it's possible what he's moving toward is healthcare access for all, not coverage for all. healthcare access would still be an achievement but easier to do than coverage for all. >> woodruff: what susan brought up is how does this square with what republicans say they have been wanting to do. >> universal access. there's a big difference between coverage for all and universal access. one thing that republicans talked about recently is how president obama said if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. that simply proves not to be true. donald trump and his team are tiptoeing very close to making promises that in the not-so-distant future could be held against them if it doesn't become a reality. lots of people would love to have health insurance. many people would love to have health insurance. but, you know, donald trump also

said that he had a great plan for knocking out i.s.i.s., and then he never really said what that plan was. we'll have to see. he says he has to wait for tom price, his health and human services agency director to be confirmed, then he says right away that plan will be clear. so i think we have to wait to see the plan. >> woodruff: his incoming health and human services cabinet secretary is in a little hot water now. >> the story cnn first reported when he was a member of congress bought stock in a bio-med company, then a week later introduced legislation that would help that company, then got a campaign contribution from that company. chuck schumer the senate democratic leader called for an investigation. it comes in the wake to have the "wall street journal" story last month that reported about stock trades tom price had done. >> reporter: we'll see how that goes. susan page, tamara keith, thank

you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour, the difficult political task of making brexit a reality. and when for-profit colleges leave students with no degree and a mountain of debt. but first, painful divisions that many americans thought the country had moved past were brought to the surface after the recent presidential election. in fact, the southern poverty law center has been keeping a running tab on a spike in hate incidents across the country. special correspondent duarte geraldino reports tonight from an area outside of atlanta where lingering racial scars are still being examined for lessons on how to move forward. and a warning: the story contains some graphic language.

>> reporter: in 1987, race and class divisions erupted as african-american leaders and their supporters tried to march through forsyth county, georgia, an area just 40 miles north of atlanta. >> niggers go home. niggers go home! >> reporter: a moment of extreme division captured in one of oprah winfrey's first shows. she came to forsyth after it was thrust into the global spotlight because an unspoken ban on black people was, all at once, being exposed, challenged and proudly defended. >> yes ma'am, my name is frank shirely and i am head of the committee to keep forsyth county white. there were thousands of white people who came out to join our white people's protest. >> reporter: yet there were also whites in the area, like patrick phillips, who joined african- americans to oppose the ban. he was just 17 at the time.

>> all around me all of these people started chanting white power. at that point i realize that i had stumbled my way into the middle of the klan's victory celebration for having stopped the march. >> reporter: at that point, what goes through your mind? >> i was horrified and kind of shocked. >> reporter: phillips says the march came at a time when the community was feeling pressure from what it considered outsiders, a time when speaking up against the racial ban could make you a target. >> i still feel a little nervous talking about all of this openly, now. >> reporter: but lately he's been doing a lot of talking about his childhood in north georgia and how his experience can help all americans make sense of today. >> what's happened in the last couple of months, the ugliness of the campaign, the racial rhetoric and the divisiveness. i think there are people who want to interpret that as a kind of wrong turning in america. i think the other way to interpret it is really more of a revelation of some currents that have been there all along.

>> reporter: phillips is the author of "blood at the root: a racial cleansing in america." the book is his way of making sense of the place where he grew up. >> the story that i was told, the myth, was very simple. white people rose up. they drove out their black neighbors. they were kept out for 100 years, what i now know as the racial cleansing in 1912. >> reporter: we followed his trail of discovery. it begins here at a cemetery beside pleasant grove baptist church just outside of cumming, georgia. so this is it, right? >> yeah, this is mae crow's grave site. she comes into the story of forsyth county's racial cleansing because on september 8, 1912, she disappeared in the woods about a mile from her house, and all hell broke loose in forsyth county on the day of mae crow's funeral. >> reporter: according to various accounts, mae crow is walking alone in the woods when she's struck repeatedly with a rock, reportedly sexually assaulted and left for dead. >> she was hit so hard that her eye was dislodged from her skull and was left hanging.

>> reporter: debbie vermaat is mae crows' grand niece. she keeps a portrait of her in her living room. >> my grandmother always said she was known to be the prettiest girl in forsyth county. >> reporter: word of the attack spread quickly. suspicion soon fell on a group of young african-americans. local media condemned them, describing them as "the fiendish low-browed, gorilla-type negroes." enraged by the news, a mob immediately, lynched one man. you believe that some of your distant relatives took part in this lynching? >> yes, some of them. i am fairly sure they did. these were the most aggrieved and grieving who wanted justice for what had happened to their loved one. >> reporter: two others, both teenagers, were arrested, tried, and convicted. a prominent doctor volunteered land near his home for the court-ordered execution. an estimated 5,000 people showed up to watch the hangings. >> well, my grandmother would've been 18 months old, sitting in her mother's lap.

>> reporter: watching someone being lynched. >> watching, right. >> reporter: do you believe that those three people, the two teenagers, the one young man in his 20s, do you believe they were innocent? >> i do believe they were innocent. i believe it's a huge cold case that's still sitting there to try to figure out exactly who did it. >> reporter: stories like this were common in the jim crow south, but what was unique in this case is what happened next. newspapers of the day describe a series of late-night attacks on black families, a campaign of terror by whites. >> the night riders won. it worked. they succeeded in their goal of driving out the entire black community. >> reporter: more than 1,000 african-americans banished. >> they largely erased all the signs that that community had ever been there. >> reporter: but not everything was erased. phillips has spent 10 years looking for physical evidence of forsyth's black community:

remains of burned-out churches, and lands from which african- americans were driven off. why is this stuff so difficult to find? >> well i have a land lot number and that's it. >> reporter: today much of this land is high-priced real estate, but when phillips first came it was a different place. >> in 1977, when my family moved to forsyth, the place was changing quite a bit. the completion of highway 400 in the mid-1970s suddenly made forsyth viable as a bedroom community for professional people working in atlanta. >> reporter: those newcomers weren't always welcome, though. at the time fewer than 40,000 people lived here and some were willing to use extreme measures to protect their way of life. today, more than 200,000 people live in forsyth. and thanks to a surge in new businesses and high-paying jobs it's one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. >> to successfully erase this kind of land theft, to ignore its impact over generations, is really damaging.

>> reporter: phillip's search did turn up one major marker: remember the home of the wealthy landowner who volunteered his land for the public hanging in 1912? it's been meticulously restored, and now houses the local chamber of commerce. james mccoy is the chamber's c.e.o. >> you know the events particularly in 1987, it was a soul-searching moment for this community. much of that was driven by the business community. >> reporter: since 1987 the chamber's membership has evolved, moving from mostly mom- and-pop businesses to larger corporations explicitly bound by the civil rights act of 1964. >> we went from probably a little over 90% being micro- enterprises, one or two employees, to companies that are more in the mid-range of business of anywhere between 25 and 200 employees.

>> reporter: you can measure just how far forsyth has come by the candidacy of democrat daniel blackman. he ran to represent the county in the georgia state senate. >> i didn't win, but we got 21% of the vote. i'm almost positive to say that some white folks voted for me, so the fact that i'm in this county and we were able to run and i'm a black candidate, i think that really speaks volumes and it shows that we are going in the right direction. >> reporter: still, less than five percent of all forsyth residents are black, yet unlike many african-americans before him, blackman is vowing to stay. he owns a strategic communications business and is raising his family here. >> i'm not going anywhere. for a long time. >> reporter: but for phillips and vermaat the weight of their forsyth roots are too heavy. both moved up north decades ago. >> we were raised with this notion that everyday america

gets a little bit more just. everyday the wheels of progress kind of move forward. i think in the research i learned, what often gets left out is that sometimes the gains of one generation are given back in the next. >> because nobody was willing to talk about it down there. >> reporter: vermaat now lives in the philadelphia area and gives talks to mostly white groups on the lessons of her family's past and what it means for today. i asked her if she feels the country has moved past the kinds of racial conflict that forsyth experienced? no, i'm really not. there are still so many places that are white enclaves. we are still a very segregated country. >> reporter: confirming the reasons vermaat was so fearful-- the southern poverty law center has documented more than 1,000 incidents of racial intimidation since the presidential election. for the pbs newshour, i'm duarte geraldino in forsyth county, georgia.

>> woodruff: in london tomorrow, british prime minister theresa may will unveil her plan to follow through with brexit, the u.k.'s decision to leave the european union. but the mechanics of executing the move to get britain out of the e.u. are causing tensions inside the british government, and with opponents who would like to stop it from happening at all. from london, special correspondent jennifer glasse reports. >> reporter: the only thing that's really certain about brexit is the uncertainty it's caused. the british government wants to start the process by invoking article 50 by the end of march. that's the clause in the lisbon treaty that allows states to withdraw from the e.u. that would start the clock on the two-year deadline for the u.k. to exit the european union. but there are obstacles in the government's way. like john shaw and wynne edwards. they lead a group of british

expatriates living in france who want to delay or defeat brexit altogether. >> it affects us profusely because we've made our lives there. we've invested. and if we are made to leave or if we don't enjoy the rights that we enjoy at the moment it would severely affect us. >> reporter: the u.n. estimates 1.2 million u.k.-born people live in other e.u. countries. which give them the same rights as any european. >> i've got a right to work. i have a right to living there forever. have a right of owning property. i got a right of transferring my property to my family when i die. i've got have a right of use of health care. all of these are rights which are conferred on me as a result of living in the e.u. >> reporter: but brexit would likely end those rights, so fair deal for expats and others have taken their case to the british court system to argue that only parliament can call for a break with the e.u. the government says the brexit

referendum gives it the right to decide how britain exits. those from other european countries living in the u.k. are also watching anxiously for the results. there are so many french here that london is called paris on the thames and considered the sixth largest city in france. patricia connell, founder of france in london, says that's why parliament should be the one to decide if and how brexit happens. >> there should be a discussion. there should be debates in the house of commons about it and how it should be done. and i think that that's that point that is being argued that the moment about the triggering of article 50 without parliament you know debating and agreeing on it alone without a vote taking place then now it shouldn't be triggered. >> reporter: in november, the high court ruled in their the opponents' favor, saying that parliament indeed should be involved. now the british government is appealing to the supreme court.

parliament member anne-marie trevelyan campaigned in favor of brexit and says just because the popular vote was close, with 52% in favor, doesn't mean it should >> i wasn't terribly thrilled when tony blair got elected as prime minister, but i don't suddenly call for a second referendum and say that the people were wrong. if it's a majority, you know it's a simple equation if it's a majority decision then that's the decision we go with. that's how democracies work. >> reporter: trevelyan says no matter how the supreme court rules, she's confident that the outcome will be the same with britain eventually leaving the e.u. >> coming out of the e.u. will ensure that we're not stuck in a very, very sluggish customs union but we're able to be the greatest free trade nation on earth again, which is what so many people want. you talk to businesses, they want to be freed of the regulations and under the drag pressures that are being stuck within the e.u. trading block creates. >> reporter: but it's not at all clear exactly how businesses would be affected. east london's canary wharf is home to some of the world's largest banks. brexit would likely mean tighter

trading rules with europe and that has some thinking about moving out of the u.k. billions of dollars a day are traded here, making london the biggest financial center in the world. but brexit could change that. and cities like frankfurt, paris and dublin are all vying for possible business as banks consider leaving. market strategist mike ingram says financial services in britain employ about 2.2 million people, accounting for 12% of the country's g.d.p. that won't be easy to move. >> the end of the day you cannot deconstruct what is on paper. one of the most important financial centers in the world overnight. you know let's say we go to dublin, low tax rate, they speak english right time zone etcetera, etc. physically how do you how do you decamp that many people? >> reporter: uncertainty over >> reporter: wynne edwards says an even more critical concern is the instability to europe in

general. world wars i and ii. in fact wars going back to centuries have set nation against nation on the continent. he worries breaking apart the union will foster more strife. >> i think you need to cast your mind back to what's happened in history and just without going into it. i cannot believe that anyone would not want a united europe. >> i would disagree with that, i think a dangerous europe is one where nations feel suffocated by the e.u. machine which is trying to overcome and stop those individual nations views of the world. >> reporter: the supreme court is expected to rule this month. whatever it decides, britain will remain divided about whether brexit will benefit or hurt the country. for each side the clock is ticking-- towards implementing brexit, limiting the upheaval it could cause or stopping it altogether.

>> woodruff: student loan debt is an issue facing many americans, and can take years to pay off. and the problems some students face at for-profit schools is getting closer scrutiny. marketplace's lizzie o'leary has the story, part of our series, "how the deck is stacked," in partnership with frontline and marketplace, funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. >> reporter: before she became a mother, new yorker danielle adorno dreamed of working as pastry chef. when she came across ads for the art institute of new york, it seemed like a great fit. and she says school administrators promised her a lot. >> they were very adamant on their job placement rates, boasting over 90% job placement, boasting about their chef instructors, nobu and all these higher restaurants you think,

okay, i'm going to get the quality education i'm looking for because that's what it's about, quality. you know, i figure if i'm going to pay that amount of money for such a short program, i'm going to be getting something out of it, and that was not what happened. >> reporter: she claims the school never helped her get work in her field. and she says employers don't value the degree in the way she thought they would. she's no longer paying her loan company her $25,000 debt. >> they don't deserve a single penny out of me because i did not get the education i paid for. >> reporter: you did sign a contract when you took out that money. >> i did. and i also thought, i feel like, it stopped being about education and started being about consumerism, i'm paying you for an education. i paid you for a service. i paid you to train me, i paid you to give me this 90% job placement rate that you boasted about, you told me you were going to place me in a job, and instead i got a program that was shutting down. >> reporter: the art institute's parent company, education management corporation, was the target of a federal investigation. department of justice officials

say the company acted as a" recruitment mill"-- it reached a $95.5 million false claims settlement. but there was no determination of liability. >> this kind of abuse hurts not only taxpayers, it hurts the students. >> reporter: the art institute of new york's website says it is no longer accepting students, and the campus has been put on probation by their accreditor. in the last few years, the obama administration put many new regulations in place to address aggressive marketing and job placement claims by several for- profit schools. >> too many of these for-profit colleges, some do a fine job, but many of them recruit kids in, and kids don't graduate, but they're left with the debt. >> reporter: earlier this month the department of education released a report saying many for-profit graduates aren't earning enough to reasonably repay their loans. one out of four career training programs are at risk of losing their federal funding.

the university of phoenix has 215,000 students, the largest for profit college in the country. stephen trimble was 27 years old when he decided to take classes at the university of phoenix outside philadelphia. >> i did not have a degree. i thought that getting one would allow me to advance in my career better, faster, would allow me to earn more money. >> reporter: trimble took out a private loan for $30,000 in 2008 to study business management but dropped out before finishing, and then fell behind on his payments. he says that had a domino effect. >> it's decimated my financial life. my credit score is probably 150 to 200 points lower than it should be. i couldn't get a mortgage if i wanted one. my house is in my wife's name. >> reporter: trimble and adorno are part of the group of americans who turned to for- profits schools during the great recession. >> there was very rapid growth in the for-profit sector, much of it big companies, the university of phoenix is a prime

example. they signed up all kinds of people who had no idea what they were getting into. that's a problem. >> reporter: finishing school is a challenge for many students enrolled in these kinds of programs, according to sandy baum, a senior fellow at the urban institute. >> on average, people who go to for-proit institutions are more likely to borrow, to borrow more, and not to be able to repay their loans. it's pretty clear from the data that the crisis is centered around people who start college and don't finish. >> reporter: trimble is not alone: the overall graduation rate for for private for-profits is 27%. versus 58% for public and 65% for private non-profit schools. the university touts success stories like gail marquis, former olympic athlete and wall street banker, profiled here >> my schedule is not a 9:00 to 5:00, but i was able to balance my life, my work, and the schooling.

>> reporter: like many for- profits, the student population at the university of phoenix is largely first-generation college students, minority, and female. phoenix declined pbs newshour's interview request but suggested we speak with steve delahunty, one of their satisfied alumni. he graduated with a masters in technology management. >> when you speak about the standards that the for-profit universities are looking at, they're being held to some standards in terms of return on investment for the federal dollars that people are using to go to these institutions that a state school and a private school are not held to. but the for-profit's being judged by the people and whether or not they're getting good jobs out of that, when in fact of course with the tuition at a private college, it's way more expensive than a for-profit college. >> reporter: the university of phoenix stands by their educational model and told pbs newshour in an email: "for more than 40 years, university of phoenix has provided high- quality, career-relevant higher education for working adults, an underserved segment of americans."

phoenix also points to department of education statistics showing the school's average annual cost is below the national average for large private institutions. the school also says the salaries of its alumni who had federal financial aid are "above the national average" ten years after graduation. for the full statement from the university of phoenix, go the pbs newshour website: pbs.org/newshour. the recent closure of schools like itt and corinthian means many former students have been left with debt and few job prospects. the obama administration implemented a debt forgiveness program for students who believe they were defrauded or that their schools violated state law. so far, the department of education has approved loan discharges of at least 28,000 former corinthian students. but there are many other former for profit school students in limbo, like danielle adorno. she applied for loan forgiveness multiple times with no resolution so far.

we're going to have a new president january 20th. do you think that could affect what could happen in your review? >> i don't anticipate anything beneficial coming out of it. he ran a for-profit school himself. he got sued for his for-profit school. i don't think he has our best interests at heart. >> reporter: president elect trump has not yet made clear where he stands on the matter of for-profit schools or whether he would roll back obama administration's policies. that leaves lots of questions about what may happen to adorno and many others. for the pbs newshour, this is lizzie o'leary in new york. >> woodruff: finally tonight, what we can learn about life from those facing death? chaplain kerry egan's new book is called "on living" and is the latest edition in our essay series, in my humble opinion. >> when people learn that i've been a hospice chaplain for several years they usually have one of two reactions: they

either say they could never do that job, and change the subject completely. or they have questions-- lots of questions. one of the questions i hear more often than i'd have thought is about people's last words. people are enormously curious about what people who are actively dying talk about." have you ever heard anything really amazing? what's the craziest deathbed confession you've ever heard? should i plan out my last words?" that last question seemed really odd to me the first time someone asked, but i've been asked it at least a dozen times, so it's obviously on some people's minds. the questions don't actually match up with what typically happens when someone is dying. instead, i suspect they're coming from a sort of hollywood ie or television idea of what dying should be like. clean, calm. bizarrely romantic. always with the good sense to close your eyes before taking a long sigh and limply tossing

your head to the side. and beautiful, urgent, life- altering utterances. so if this is what you think happens in death, i can see how you'd feel a lot of pressure to get it right. when someone asks me if they should plan their last words, the short answer is: no. people who are dying are often unconscious for days before they die. sometimes they're in pain. they're often highly medicated. honestly, most of the last words i've heard are so mundane, i can't even give you an example. when you know you have a terminal diagnosis, death often takes a person by surprise. you might not even know that your last words are your last words. but there's a longer, more complex answer too: if you had something so important to tell your loved ones that you feel the need to plan out what to say, then why would you wait to say it?

if it's so important that you're worried about it now, then say it now. ask for forgiveness now, say you love someone now, share whatever wisdom you have with the world now. here's the thing: when people ask me about dying words, what they're really asking is: what is so important in this life that it should be the very last thing we talk about? so instead of asking: what do other people talk about, ask yourself what you really want to talk about? now. and that's a really good question. that's a really good thing to ponder. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, social media site instagram is trying out a new tool to help users at risk of self-harm and eating

disorders. will it influence the future of mental health treatment? all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement

of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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