captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: breaking the silence. as more and more women speak out about sexual harassment and assault, are we at a turning point? then, president trump visits vietnam. we look at the effort to clean up the toxic legacy of the u.s.'s use of agent orange during the war. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks' take on what's next, in the wake of the roy moore allegations, tuesday's election results and the g.o.p.'s push for tax reform. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> 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: the firestorm surrounding alabama republican senate candidate, roy moore, has grown wider. it stems from allegations published yesterday in the "washington post," that moore

engaged in sexual misconduct with minors. the national republican senatorial committee today moved to end its fundraising agreement with the candidate, ahead of the december 12 election. when asked in a radio interview whether he remembered dating young girls, moore said, "not generally." he also flatly denied inappropriate interactions with a 14-year-old, as the "post" had reported. >> it never happened, and i don't even like hearing it because it never happened. and they're doing this a month away, this has never been brought up, never been even mentioned, and, all of a sudden, four weeks out, they're bringing it up. and it involves a 14-year-old girl, which i would have never had any contact with, nothing with her mother, in a courthouse or anywhere else would i have done that. >> woodruff: the "washington post" reported the accuser has voted republican in the past few presidential elections. also today, alabama's republican

governor was asked if she found the account of moore's female accusers trustworthy. she responded, "why wouldn't it be?" >> these allegations are deeply disturbing. i will withhold judgment until we get the facts. people of alabama deserve to know the truth. and then they'll make their discussions. >> woodruff: also today, utah's g.o.p. senator, mike lee, asked for his image to be removed from moore's fundraising pitches. in another revelation coming in the wake of the harvey weinstein scandal, olympic gymnast aly raisman says she is among the young women sexually abused by a former physician with u.s.a. gymnastics. the three-time olympic gold medalist told "60 minutes" she was 15 when she was first treated by doctor larry nassar. he is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. we'll take a closer look at the

constant drip of sexual misconduct allegations, after the news summary. president trump again made clear his "america first" vision at a summit of world leaders in vietnam today. the president railed against global trade practices that he said have disadvantaged americans for decades. he said the u.s. won't enter into any more large trade agreements, and repeated claims that past u.s. leaders were to blame for making bad deals. >> i do not blame china, or any other country, of which there are many, for taking advantage of the united states on trade. if their representatives are able to get away with it, they are just doing their jobs. >> woodruff: later, president trump came face to face with russian president vladimir putin. the two were expected to hold a formal meeting on the sidelines of the summit, but it didn't happen. mr. trump did shake hands and exchange a few words with putin, as they stood side by side for

pictures with other leaders. islamic state leader abu bakr sal-baghdadi may now be in a town in eastern syria. a media outlet linked to the syrian military says he's holed up in an area near the iraqi border, that was partly recaptured by government forces this week. syrian opposition activists denied the claim, and the u.s.-led anti-isis coalition says it had "no releaseable information" on baghdadi's whereabouts. there were new questions today about lebanon's prime minister, who resigned this week in a televised address from saudi arabia. saad hariri today denied that he is being held as a prisoner in riyadh. but the lebanese militant group hezbollah disputed that claim, saying that the saudis forced him to resign. the group's leader called for hariri's return. >> ( translated ): lebanon's prime minister is detained in saudi arabia, and it has to

release him. the lebanese should work to bring him back to lebanon, and then, it is up to him to go wherever. maybe he wants to go back to saudi. it is his call. >> woodruff: meanwhile, u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson said that hariri should return to lebanon to make his resignation "official." he also said that lebanon shouldn't be used as a venue for the region's "proxy conflicts." the special counsel's russia investigation is said to be taking aim at possible dealings between ex-national security advisor michael flynn and turkey. the "wall street journal" says that robert mueller is probing an alleged plan to give flynn millions of dollars in exchange for his help in forcibly returning a muslim cleric from the u.s. to turkey. it has also been widely reported that mueller's team has interviewed white house senior policy adviser stephen miller. the government says more than

600,000 americans signed up for health coverage in the first week of this year's "affordable care act" open enrollment period. that puts sign-ups at least on track with previous years, despite president trump's claims that obamacare is collapsing. some 77% of those consumers were renewing their coverage. and on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost 39 points to close at 23,422. the nasdaq rose a less than a point, and the s&p 500 dropped two. for the week, all three indeces fell a fraction of a percent. still to come on the newshour: women breaking the silence about sexual harassment-- is it now safe for them to speak up? an effort to clean up the toxic agent orange in vietnam. and, much more.

>> woodruff: the revelations and allegations about sexual harassment-- and in some cases, assault-- have been coming almost hourly. just as the news about alabama senate candidate roy moore was published yesterday, we learned of alleged sexual misconduct by the popular comedian, louis c.k. today, he admitted to that behavior, saying he had long tried to run from his actions, and apologized for it. "the hardest regret to live with," he said, "is what you've done to hurt someone else." much of the attention has been focused on celebrities and public figures, but we want to expand that to what this moment may mean for women in all parts of american society. lin farley is an author, journalist and noted feminist. she's credited with coining the term, sexual harassment in the 1970s. jocelyn frye specializes in women's rights and economic issues at the center for american progress. megan twohey is one of the reporters who broke the harvey weinstein story for the

"new york times." and lynne bernabei, who is an attorney in washington, d.c. who works on sexual harassment cases. and welcome all of you to the "newshour". lin farley, i'm going to start with you. do you think we have turned a corner? >> well, we certainly are seeing something very different in the development of this issue, and that is the numbers of male harassers who are being prosecuted, who are being caught, who are admitting, like this fellow louis, saying, yes, i did it and i'm really sorry, this is all new and an extraordinary development in the history of the issue. >> woodruff: jocelyn frye, if we've turned a corner, why is that happening? what is making some women, at least, feel freer to speak up, do you think? >> i think that part of the change is you see just an onslaught of women who have now come forward, who have taken the

power of the numbers of people coming forward and said, you know, if she can do it, then i can do it, and i think that that has had a snowball effect, which is a positive development and is unlike prior cases where, you know, maybe you would have one incident and one person coming forward and then a bunch of people jumping on top of that person. >> woodruff: megan twohey with the "new york times," you were one to have the reporters who broke the original harvey weinstein story. talk for a moment about how hard it was to get those women to talk, to go public, and what's happened since then. >> well, i mean, actually, to go back to your first question, which was a good one, i think that's what happened is you've seen the media step in on this issue and provide a platform for women to go public with allegations. but a real question here, is you know, if they're in companies,

there are h.r. departments who should be handling the issues. there are attorneys who step in when women come forward with allegations and often help them reach ttlements with accusers, and i think what we're seeing with the role the media is playing now are questions about the failure of the system that's put in place to protect these women in the workplace with lawyers. so i think that moving forward the question will be, yes, a lot of women have been coming forward in the media, but what's going to happen in the workplace for women to sort of be protected day in and day out as they do their jobs. and in terms of getting people to go on the record about these issues, it's really hard, in large part because there has been a systems that has allowed predators to continue acting largely unchecked and that has silenced women often through these settlements in which women will step forward, you know, with a complaint, and there are attorneys who swoop in and strike deals in which they get paid, but they have to remain silent. they can't speak.

even when journalists come knocking on their door -- >> woodruff: we have with us an attorney in lynne bernabei who has been representing these women. has the system failed, as megan twohey said? >> i think the system has failed insofar as there is every profession, every racial group, every economic status is still subject to sexual harassment. i think what makes this point in history so important is part of healing from sexual harassment or sexual assault is, largely, women being able to tell their stories and somebody listen. one of the terrible things about this field is no one wants to hear them, and now people are listening to these stories over and over again about sexual assault, rape and sexual harassment. so we have to get the stories out there first, and then we can start talking about remedial measures. >> woodruff: lin farley, you've looked at women in blue-collar jobs, so-called pink-collar jobs, how are their

experiences with sexual harassment, zek sexual abuse different than the women in the entertainment industries, for example, or the media? >> well, i think if it's angelina jolie, it makes headlines. if it's a woman on the assembly line at grayson heat control, it doesn't make headlines and goes unseen. but what we have to focus on is, i have the long view, i have been at this 40 years, i think what is going to make for a change in the workplace for women is if we start to have parody between men and women as supervisors, managers, bosses, owners. that's when you're going to see a real -- see change on the job for working women. what we have seen over the last 40 years is that court suits don't do it, sexual harassment training hasn't done it, everything that's been tried as an effort to stop sexual

harassment has failed miserably. we have more victims now than ever before. what is going to make for a change is an equality in the workplace in terms of positions of power and authority, and i'm hoping that what we can see, because of the #metoo, is women banding together to demand that to say, no, no, we're not going to promote another man, we're going to promote a woman and see parody in the workplace. >> woodruff: jocelyn frye, that's something women have been saying should be the case for a very long time. i think we would all agree that should be the way it is right now, but it's not. can we wait for that time and, if not, what do we do in the meantime? >> well, i don't think we have time to wait, but what we can do is hopefully take advantage of this moment to do some of the things that lin and others were talking about. we need to focus on how to create equity in the workplace,

but we also need to recognize that, in every workplace, it starts from the leadership at the top. sexual harassment cuts across all industries at all levels, low-income women, women of color, lots of blue-collar jobs. >> woodruff: right. and the reality is that sexual harassment has been around for decades. so it is about changing the culture of the workplace, which doesn't happen overnight, but it does mean attacking it at every level and it has to be rooted in equality, the notion that everybody is equal and deserves to be treated fairly and also means making sure that our supervisors, all the folks in the workplace, have equity. >> woodruff: and lynne bernabei, back to you, as someone who looks at these cases up close and hears these women's stories firsthand, what can change? i mean, what has held them back in the past from coming forward and how does that -- how is that

going to change? >> i think we need more women in positions of management. i think we need a critical mass of women in management, not just a token, and i think people will come forward if they think there is something to change. it happens all the time, and i think we need women in management to give people courage that that will happen. >> woodruff: but right now that is not the way it is. it's most of the men who are most to have th to have -- moste managers. >> you're right. the talk of banding together, the #metoo campaign, all the campaigns to bring women together to create that change or break through the veil of silence on this issue is going to be the most important thing we can gain from this series of scandals. >> woodruff: megan, going back to the women you've talked to and other reporting you've done, what will it take to give these women the courage to speak up

and lose the very natural fear of losing their job, of being shunned, not believed, and so on. >> right. well, that's a good question. i mean, in terms of our coverage of harvey weinstein, i think it's important to point out that there were many women who stepped forward over the years. we were able to document five settlements, and the number is growing since our first story, who had stepped forward. women who worked for him, young assistants, other people, other female employees in the company, actresses who crossed paths with him in the workplace, who stepped forward alleging there had been sexual misconduct on his part. what was the response? basically for lawyers to swop in, and sometimes lawyers who straddle both him as an individual and the company and basically pay these women off in exchange for their silence and create a situation where they could basically face legal damages if they spoke out. so you had this repeated pattern in which he was able to continue

operating un-- unchecked. these women were stepping forward and they kept being swept under the rug and he kept continuing acting as a predator. >> woodruff: lin farley, to women listening who experienced something and they feel they're in a field where they're not sure there is going to be support out there, what should make them feel confident they can speak out now? >> well, i think, again, solidarity. i think women have to band together and stick up for each other. i would like to throw out something, too, which i think is important, which is teenage girls all across this country look for jobs in the fast food industry. it's an industry rampant with sexual harassment. they have used it as a technique to keep high job turnover. they don't have to deal with unionization or raising wages. these are kids frequently working-class kids who need the job. they're not out there for the

experience. they have been kicked out to have the house or come from a family that's alcoholic and they desperately need the work, and you have male managers across the board taking advantage of these kids and ensuring that their first job experience is one of misery and virtually prostitution. i'll give you this job, honey, if you're nice to me, if you will do whatever, whatever, whatever. i think we really need to focus on not just the angelina jolies and the gretchen carlsons, but what's happening to teenage girls across the country in the fast fort hood industry, and i think these kids really need help. >> woodruff: and as we focus, jocelyn frye, we need to focus on them and other women who are in a part of our society where they're just not seen. >> absolutely. what we know from the data is that women in a number of low-wage jobs, particularly the service sector, are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment, and i think it is important to

communicate that people can speak up, that they can gain power in numbers, but it's also important for employers to take responsibility. >> woodruff: yes. you know, every employer has an interest in making sure that their workplaces are free of harassment and their hands are not tied. >> woodruff: lynne bernabei, people talk about h.r., human resources departments, but they, in essence, work for the boss, for the people who own the business. >> yes, they do. that's why i think it's so important for women to band together in organizations, look for advocacy groups, for professional groups of women in the same profession, look for lawyers who practice in this area, journalists who will report on their problems, look to expand the public consciousness in a way that will ultimately protect them more than h.r. h.r. does work for management and is often part of the problem. >> woodruff: practical advice a we watch this unfolding

story. it's more than a story. it's real lives affected all over the country. i want to thank all four of you, lynne bernabei, jocelyn frye, lin farley, megan twohey, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks take on the week's news. south africa grapples with apartheid-era monuments. and, a photographer captures the portraits of her fellow veterans. as we reported earlier, the president was at a summit in vietnam today, in the city of danang. that was the site of a huge american air base during the vietnam war, from which flights carrying agent orange flew. cleaning up the toxic legacy

that was left behind there, and at other sites by the u.s., is an ongoing process, and a moral reckoning. special correspondent mike cerre reports. >> reporter: the new arrivals area at the danang international airport sits on what was, less than a year ago, one of the most toxic agent orange sites in the world. the controversial agent orange herbicide was extensively used as a defoliant during the vietnam war. it was stored here at danang and two other former american bases. according to defense department records, it contaminated the surrounding wetlands with dioxin, a dangerous chemical believed to cause abnormally high incidents of birth defects in vietnam. illnesses presumably caused by their agent orange exposure. >> if you're honest about the past, you can have a very different kind of future than if you try to whitewash the past. and we've had some real success in danang, in cleaning up the

dioxin that was left, especially near the danang airport. >> reporter: in advance of president trump's arrival in danang for the apec summit this week, the u.s. marked the completion stage of the first and only american reclamation of a major dioxin contaminated site in vietnam, at danang international airport. it's taken nearly three years and almost nearly $110 million it included building this football field-size oven for baking about 160,000 tons of contaminated dirt at more than 600 degrees for three weeks at a time to remove one of the most dangerous toxins ever created by humans. >> danang was very toxic. it was 300 times the maximum permitted level for dioxin in the environment. >> reporter: charles bailey has been researching and raising funds for agent orange problems in vietnam since the 1990s.

his new book chronicles the agent orange problem in vietnam and the long path to u.s. cleanup efforts, starting with president george w. bush's first official acknowledgement of the problem in 2006 at a previous apec summit. during last year's state visit to vietnam, president obama pledged continued american support. >> i would say it was almost a textbook example of nonpartisan, or bipartisan cooperation. this appropriation has been approved overwhelmingly by both republicans and democrats in the senate and in the house. >> reporter: now the vietnamese government wants the united states to clean up another base near saigon, bien hoa, which is five times as large and could cost a half a billion dollars. >> it's going to be a lot more difficult to clean up bien hoa because the dioxin is dispersed over larger areas. the loading and storage areas were changed over the course of a decade to different parts of the airbase. also, the air base is on higher ground, so whenever it rains,

dioxin tainted soil runs off and the surrounding city. >> reporter: the former base has severely contaminated nearby lakes, which the locals depend on for their fish. despite public education programs, the contaminated fish are still a staple of the local diet and new generations are suffering from debilitating muscular and neurological problems believed to be caused by agent orange dioxin. >> the u.s. does not have any strictly legal responsibility to clean up the dioxin in vietnam that many people feel that we have a moral responsibility. >> reporter: senator patrick leahy and the senate appropriations committee have maintained annual funding for agent orange cleanup and victims assistance programs since 2007, but they will need additional funding from the pentagon and the white house to take on the bien hoa project.

the vietnamese hosts of this year's apec summit will be listening and watching president trump closely for clear signs of a continuing u.s. commitment to clean up the toxic mess left behind from what they call "the american war." for the pbs newshour, i'm mike cerre, danang, vietnam. >> woodruff: even with president trump in asia, there was no shortage of political stories at home, as voters took to polls in several states, an alabama senate candidate became embroiled in a sexual scandal, and republican senators revealed details of a tax plan they see as a must-pass. and, to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome, gentsmen.

what a difference 24 hours makes when it comes to roy moore. david brooks, we didn't know about this i guess a little more than 24 hours ago, now we do. these ackizations that he, as a young man in his early 30s, was with several young women including one 14 years old. he, today, is denying all this. he says it's a political smear, but just in the last hour, we've learned that two republicans senators have withdrawn their endorsement -- mike lee of utah, steve danes of montana. can he survive this? >> i don't think so. i don't think he can be seated. he can survive. you think you've lost your capacity to be disgusted by what goes on in this country. it should be said first it's a credible story. the people did not come out of the woodwork. the accusers were pulled out and interviewed and finally consented to give their stories, so it seems to be quite a

credible stories. what's distbussing is not only his alleged behavior, in those incidents, but the actual behavior of a lot of republicans in alabama these days who are either casting it off as no big deal or giving the the bible, jy had a relationship and mary was a teenager. one doesn't even know where to begin with that kind of excuse. so suddenly, this of stuff is tolerated because our party has to win and beat the other party. this is the ultimate test of conscience for the republican party. most of the washington republicans are passing that test, but in alabama maybe not, and maybe they can keep him in the race. >> woodruff: it is the case, mark, most alabama republicans are defending him. now the governor, we heard her a few minutes ago, she is saying what these allegations are, they seem credible. >> they seem credible, and richard shelby, the senior republican senator from alabama uncharacteristically came to the microphone yesterday to address

them as serious charges and was part of the chorus of republican senators who were certainly quite serious about "the washington post" story and treated it seriously and suggested that roy moore would be better leaving. but i think, judy, when you look at this, it just is a stark contrast to what's happened. david said our team versus the other team, how deeply that has changed in just six or seven years. there was a congressman from new york named chris lee, he was a republican congressman, and in a safe republican district upstate, and he was exposed as showing a bare, above-the-waist photo of himself online to a woman he had met on craigslist and passing himself off as a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist instead of a married congressman. one hour later, after meeting

with john boehner, he resigned from the congress. there was a sense then that that was wrong, it was unacceptable. these same republicans who are now springing to his defense, especially the conservatives in the press, rightly went after anthony weiner for sexting and sending sexual materials online to women, teenagers, inappropriately, illegally and he's paying for it. never once did he allegedly touch any of them or undress any of them or take them to his apartment, an that's what roy moore -- these are serious. today we went from fake news yesterday from roy moore so, today, didn't generally as a 30-something attorney date teenagers. you know, so i just think this thing is headed very south in a big hurry for the republicans in a bad way. >> woodruff: do you see this as a test somehow for

republicans, david? >> yeah, i think it's a test for republicans, especially in this regard -- this is a predicate for, if bob mueller comes with charges to donald trump, he's going to say fake news, fake news, fake news. that's more or less what a lot of people in the trumpian movement are doing, a fact they don't like is fake news, and if "the washington post" can be dismissed as fake news, anything can be dismissed as fake news and we've lost all sense of reality. i think the party on harassment has to show spine, but basic respect for the truth. if we can't have basic respect for evidence, we do not have a democracy and that's what's ultimately at stake here. >> woodruff: that brings up what we've seen in the political climate in the last year and more. >> it does. the charge, i think david makes a good point, a solid point, i

mean, we have to have an agreed-upon -- to have any kind of debate and dialogue in a democracy, we have to agree on facts and if something comes from a source that i don't like, i can't just reject it. this is a well-sourced story by "the washington post," and it is -- you know, it's serious. >> woodruff: and i think we reported a few minutes ago, too, "the post" also reported, the woman who was 14 years old at the time, "the post" reported she voted republican in the last few elections, voted for donald trump. south harder to make the case this is a democratic smear. >> yes. >> woodruff: david, i guess you could argue this has not been a good week for republicans, looking back to the tuesday elections across the country but mainly the governors' races in new jersey and especially virginia. what's the lesson are republicans to take from this because we're hearing different

analyses of this? >> yeah, attack the maximus position. when you have an unpopular president, his party is more likely to lose elections in an off-term election, but this is deeper. we're in a moment where tectonic are changing in our politics. the two big things that happened especially in the virginia race is it used to be on the outer rings of suburbs you had a lot of people who worked in office parks, corporations, pro capitalists, they tend to be republican, and this time those sorts of people voted for the democrats by a tremendous majority. so louden county, one of the fastest and richest counties in the country, by dulles airport, went democrat by a landslide.

that's devastating for the republicans. the youth vote, young people under 28 voted democratic 69-30, a gigantic proportion, 28-44, almost as big a proportion. so you're basically losing the future by epic proportions, and what the republican party has done if this continues is they basically have shrunk their coalition to an unsustainable size in a lot of states. >> woodruff: how do you look at the tuesday results? >> and two things to david's diagnosis which i found penetrating and perceptive. that's a compliment, i think. >> yes, after eight months, i think i should give him one. (laughter) when anybody wins a national election the way donald trump did, it was unique form, nobody had ever won that way, and everybody in politics looked and were nervous, they said is this the new form? do you have to be bombastic, do you have to use locker room or

bar room language and engage in feuds, do you have to be colorful and dominate the news constantly? the man who won in virginia was the ultimate non-trump. ralph northam is a fa cigs. virginia institute, eight years in the army, married to pam, an elementary school teacher -- >> woodruff: said he voted for george bush. >> voted for george bush, non-bombastic and earnest and he won by a margin three times larger than barack obama carried virginia. it was that impressive, and he won across the board. so i think, when you look at the virginia results, there is one number that jumps out, democrats, it has become a blue state, the democrats have not lost a state-wide election in virginia since 2009, across the board, all the constitutional offices, the president and the senate. but republicans, because they

won in 2009 and control the redistricting process, drew the legislature seats, gerrymandered so there were 66 republican seats and 34 democrats. on last tuesday, the democrats went in and they won at least 15 and maybe, still to be decided, may have won a majority, so they took that many seats away from seats that had been drawn for republicans because d was next to their name and r was next to the republican name. that was trump. it was energy, compassion and good people, but it really reflected donald trump had become an albatross for the republican candidate. >> woodruff: speaking of that, david, the white house and steve bannon, the former chief strategist, were saying the state ed gillespie was saying he didn't embrace donald trump enough. that's what the president himself said, he didn't embrace me mus enough. what's the message for republican scants this year?

>> they weren't watching the campaign. they were arguing ed glebes pi would have won if hey had more commercials about the statutes, would have won college and women voters if he talked about the gangs. in the final days where it seemed to be gaining the story from bannon was he was embracing trump and it's totally a winning strategy. they sort of dump people who are losers pretty past. one word of caution, the republicans are shrinking, but are we necessarily in for an era of democratic dominance? it is worth pointing out they had a moderately good candidate, but this was not a victory of the -- a victory the democrats earned, this was the republicans handing them a big slice of the electorate. what's happened because to have the elections is the most interesting story in politics is not what the republicans are doing it's how the democrats react to this opportunity -- do they become party that extends

outward and seizes the ground the republicans are seemingly ceding them or do they retreat and go back to their base? what you're seeing is the collapse of all parties. >> woodruff: how do you think democrats are going to respond? >> i hope that they don't start imposing litmus test. i hope they believe in coalition politics, if the we agree, 80% of us, that's all you need to be a political party. you can see the signs from people like tom styre, the billionaire you have to believe this or that, universal national payer -- >> woodruff: calling for the impeachment. >> calling for the impeachment of the presidency, saying you have to be totally pro-choice without any qualms. the fact is, judy, at the the democrats do have an opportunity and they had a great victory. the republicans have retreated. the republicans in virginia are on the verge of becoming like

the republicans in california, a party that is unwelcoming and openly hostile to people who aren't white and you're seeing that's what's happening. i will say, there are 9.2 million americans who voted in 2016 for donald trump who had voted for barack obama and the democrats have to address and speak to these people, to their anxieties, to their economic stagnation and to their well being and not simply play to the people who are disaffected by donald trump now. >> woodruff: david, are democrats doing that yet? are they doing it at all is this. >> -- are they doing it at all? >> not so much. the democratic party shifted to the left, further left than the policies have, so one would expect the shift to the bernie sanders, elizabeth warren direction to continue. that will be a challenge for people living in the louden county, i mentioned. >> i think the test is coming in

2018. in the recruitment of candidates, i would have to say they're doing a good job, and they're doing a good job in virginia. to find candidates who match and are comfortable and congenial with the voters they're seeking to president. a liberal alternative to northam in the primary could have sull binged and gone away. he spent his time and energy working with the legislative candidates and helping them and he deserves a little credit. >> woodruff: i'll give you both a little credit. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: in south africa in recent weeks, protests have once again erupted on campuses across the country.

the demonstrations, known as "fees must fall," aimed at reducing tuition costs, stem from the painful history of apartheid. and just as in the disputes here over confederate monuments, the symbols of south africa's past are being fought over today. jeffrey brown was recently in south africa for his ongoing series, "culture at risk." >> reporter: high above cape town at the southern tip of africa: a stately memorial to cecil john rhodes, the british- born, 19th century diamond magnate and colonial conqueror. but notice the bust of rhodes-- his nose has been hacked off. it was on the nearby campus of the prestigious university of cape town, with a historically white majority student body, that protests over another prominent statue of rhodes set off a national debate in south africa two years ago, when student activists started what became known as the "rhodes must

fall" movement. >> the rhodes monument is a practical symbol of the oppression of black people. at the end of the day, we are saying, "we are not happy to just be at the university while our sisters and brothers are still in squatter camps." >> reporter: chumani maxwele, one of the protest leaders, showed us khayelitsha, one of cape town's many informal settlements just a short drive from campus. he pointed to the disparities that make south africa one of the world's most unequal societies. >> you won't see white kids like this, sitting like this. you won't see that. are coming from here in the townships and then we are claiming that we are educated. we must be able to take theory and practice and put it together and see what change we can make. >> reporter: the rhodes statue on campus was eventually removed by the university, but students

continue to press on issues of costs and the university's curriculum. alex hotz was one of 12 students punished by the administration as the protests expanded. >> i don't think we need statues to remind ourselves of what they represent. you can have it in a museum if need be, but i think there are enough visible effects of apartheid and colonialism to last us a lifetime. >> reporter: the head of the university, max price, acknowledges more needs to be done to address the remnants of apartheid. >> it's still the case that a black student might say to me "i've never been taught by a black professor at u.c.t., 22 years after democracy." and that's not something we're proud of, that's something we are trying to change. instead of thinking this is an alien place on the hill that reflects empire, start feeling that this is their university, a university that they want to come to, they want to send their children to, and that they're

proud of. >> reporter: in south africa today, visual imagery teaches, as at the entrance to the apartheid museum in johannesburg, where visitors are confronted with the history of racial divisions. it honors, as in a memorial in soweto to hector pieterson, a 13-year-old killed by police in the 1976 uprising against apartheid. and, it's also contentious. >> there is a lot of polarization between race groups in south africa. >> reporter: alana bailey manages heritage issues at afri-forum, a civil rights group working on behalf of afrikaners, the white descendents of predominantly dutch settlers who arrived here in the 17th century, and who in the 20th century established the apartheid regime that only ended in 1994. bailey now works to protect monuments. >> there's a bit of a dangerous situation that you can create by removing statues, because if you

say that anything that memorializes a past contribution by a community is not welcome in the public sphere, then you might also be saying that people who represent that community are not welcome in the public sphere. >> reporter: in the capital, still widely known as pretoria, many street names have been changed from the white colonial and apartheid-era figures to liberation struggle leaders, mostly black. the larger municipality itself is now officially called "tshwane," after an 18th century indigenous chief. and, still the most prominent face of the new south africa, a huge statue of nelson mandela stands in front of the official seat of the national government. the statue that previously stood here, of an afrikaner nationalist leader, was moved to a far corner of the gardens. in "church square" in the center of the city, another contentious site is getting a makeover: the monument to 19th century afrikaner leader paul kruger is

now surrounded by fencing after being vandalized several times. mayor solly msimanga plans to keep the statue, but transform the whole square into a new kind of monument that's dedicated to free speech. >> we are advocating that you tell a complete history, not only one side of our history. >> reporter: so you are against taking down the old statues? >> i am against taking down any kind of statue. i'm all for having all statues and using them to tell a part of history. i am not here because a certain part of history did not exist. i'm here because that history happened. i am sitting in this chair right now because a certain history happened and i am acknowledging that. >> reporter: outside the city, a different kind of accommodation of histories: the huge voortrekker monument is dedicated to afrikaner pioneers who migrated inland in the 19th century, chafing at then- british colonial rule. it opened in 1949, just a year

after the official onset of apartheid. nearby stands the much newer freedom park, a monument erected in the democratic era and dedicated to south africans of all backgrounds killed in wars as well as in the liberation struggle against apartheid. last year, directors cecilia kruger and jane mufamadi strengthened ties between their two adjacent monuments. >> as in our democracy, we had to compromise, we had to make compromises. >> reporter: a lot of people just wonder what a monument is, right? what's it for? >> it's about the message that you're sending to the nation through a particular monument. it's about the lessons that we need to learn and draw from our past so that we chart a better future and leave a better legacy for our children. >> all heritage is part of somebody's identity, somewhere. the minute you understand the monuments and what it symbolizes, you begin to understand each other's identity.

>> reporter: a fine hope. but how much difference can a monument make? those frustrated by a lack of change after the end of apartheid say, not much when black people are the majority, but mainly remain in segregated poverty. johannesburg-based architecture critic mpho matsipa. >> reconciliation without justice can only get you so far, be that at a very simple level, economic justice or spatial justice. >> reporter: that's much bigger than any one monument. you mean the entire-- ? >> the landscape. the landscape of a city like johannesburg remains, in my mind, a monument to apartheid spatial planning and apartheid spatial thinking. the way it's laid out, the way people live, the way that inequality is this city serves as a monument to that history. >> reporter: in the meantime, student protests have picked up again in recent days, with the "fees must fall" movement focused on how high tuition puts

college attendance beyond the means of many. student activist chumani maxwele: >> if you are giving us free education, we'll be able to have cousins, sisters, brothers across and be able to work together because we've got skill. you are educated, you can be employed. that's the whole essence of the fight. >> reporter: the empty plinth of rhodes on the university of cape town campus serves as another kind of monument now, as a struggle in this young democracy goes on. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in south africa. >> woodruff: and finally tonight, on this veterans day weekend, a former air force combat photographer tells us of her desire for americans to see the diversity of the nation's military service members and veterans, and to honor their

commitment, one photo at a time. >> it hit me that the veterans portrait project is more than just a picture. it's a place where i can talk and relate to other veterans and allow them that space and time to relay and relieve themselves of their burdens. so what started out as a way for me to begin my healing has been an ongoing healing for others too. and i realized that while i felt completely alone, my feelings and experiences weren't wholly individual. that they weren't just within me. my name is stacy pearsall and i was an air force combat photographer. i spent ten years covering military operations worldwide and that brought me into conflict zones and during my last deployment to iraq, i sustained injuries that ultimately ended my career. after being medically retired, i began getting medical treatment at my local v.a. hospital, and it was there that i began the veterans portrait project.

the project is a way to let everyone know the wonderfully diverse group of people that is the veteran community, and it was also a way for me to begin the healing process, because i was still trying to overcome physical and emotional traumas from my time in combat. in getting the camera back in my hands, it gave me a sense of purpose. so far, i photographed in 27 states, and over 6,000 veterans, and i'm really looking forward to getting the rest of the states over the next couple of years. one of the photos that sticks out to me is the one i took of my sister, who was the first female of a ten-crew chief in air force history. my sister is my hero, and to be able to give her the gift of my photography and knowing that she was the one that inspired that was really important to me. there was also another veteran i met at a v.a. w convention, and

he began to tell me that his job was to identify soldiers based on the remains that were left after they were killed in action, and we sat there and we talked for a long while, until i began to hear this struggled sobbing over my shoulder-- at which point i was broken away from this very intense conversation and i could see his wife was weeping. afterwards, his wife came and hugged me and said that was the first time she ever heard him talk about his experience in vietnam, and that she didn't know what his job was up until that point. it's mentally draining and emotionally draining. but i also think at the same time it is what feeds me and what keeps me going, because if it wasn't for the service and this purpose, i would scarcely find purpose to keep going, and the veterans portrait project, and for me, the veterans portrait project is the way, a

way to honor the service of those who made that sacrifice, and for posterity, so that our for veterans like myself, every day is veterans day, and for me, the project is a way to remind the american people that that 1% of the american population did raise their right hand and say, "i will lay my life on the line for you, in defense of our great nation." robert costa is preparing for "washington week." what's on tap? >> a continuing fallout over alabama's republican senate candidate roy moore who has been accused of sexual misconduct. we'll explain how the alabama race and wave of democratic election races have uphennedded tax, healthcare and midterm elections. that's tonight on "washington week." judy? >> woodruff: we'll be watching. tomorrow on pb >> woodruff: tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, continuing coverage of president trump's trip to vietnam. plus, with farmland and water

becoming more scarce across the globe, one nation is taking farming indoors. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> bnsf railway. >> collette. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives.

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. >> rose: welcome to the program, we begin tonight with politics, we talk with robert costa of "the washington post" an washington week on pbs. >> the voter, the swing voter saying generic democrat may be better for me and a better fit than president trump, dun many republicans can't push and pull and win the voters back but the voters seem rattled onier into the trump presidency. >> rose: we continue with the film three billboards outside ebbing, missouri. we talk to writer and director martin mcdonagh and its stars frances mcdormand and sam rockwell. >> it is almost too dark to tell a story about. but when i imagine the person who put the signage up there to be a mother and a vong woman, everything fell into place. i didn't even have to plot the film after that. mildred popped uan