captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a defining question. the supreme court hears arguments on the controversial issue of wther the census can ask people if they are u.s. citizens. then, as democrats weigh the possibility of impeachment, we look at specific moments highlighted in the mueller report, when the president's requests and orders were ignored, or not followed up on, by his staff. plus, the only known survivinggu arabicage memoir from a muslin slave in the u.s., newly preserved and made public by the library of congress.er >> his ly and culture completely goes against the narrative that slaves were not capable of culture. in fact, they were persons with distinct histories, abilities,

culture and background. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> text night and day. >> catch it on replay. >> burning some fat. >> sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan signed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian,

german, and more. >> 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 u.ation from viewers like thank you. woodruff: the death tol keeps climbing in the easter sundayassacre in sri lanka. it reached 321 today, as the islamic statgroup made an unconfirmed claim of responsibility, despe having lost all its territory in iraq bod syria. officials in collamed a local group, and suggested the attacks might be retaliation for the killing of muslims in new zealand. meanwhile, the people of sri lanka observed a national day of mourning. debbie edwards, of independent television news, reports.

( ♪ funeral songs ) >> reporter: in the grounds of st. sebastian's church, they have erected a makeshift alter, at which this morning coffinr afffin began to arrive. ( ♪ funeral songs ) on sunday, this congregation lost more than 100 of its worshippers, and at a mass funeral, the lives of each of them was remembered and honored by those who survived. at a house nearby, we found the community gathering to pay theic re to a mother and herdr three ch who were also killed in the same attack in negombo. prideep had joined his family at church that day.he escribed having to go identify his children at the morgue, and then the moment he went to visit his wife in lohospital, only to see he her fight for life.

police have released this footage of the suicide bomber in the moments before he murdered prideep's family. it shows how brazenly he walked into the church, wearing his deadly backpack, his hand poised to detonate. one of the priests leading the easter service told us of the devastating impact it has had. >> almost all families have lost somebody. >> reporter: cctv has also emged of the two men who targeted tourists at the shangri la hotel. one entered the breakfast room, another stood in the path of those that tried to escape. following the discovery of more unexploded devices, and claims that those responsible were connected to isis, the government warned the sri lankan people that there could be more attacks to come.

>> the investigators are makingp gogress in regard to identifying the culprits, but it means that we need to identify all the culprits and look at what t>> network is. eporter: there was a heavy security presence in nbo as theyegan to bury their dead. this town is known as little rome, because its the center f the catholic community in sri lanka. but on this day of national mourning, people of all faiths have come out into the streets and joined christian services, to show their solidarity and share their grief for those wh died. in a nation still under threat, so many families are having to deal with the traumaf laying their loved ones to rest. >> woodruff: that report from debbie edwards of independent television news. saudi arabia's government carried out the beheadings of

37 people today-- the kingdom's largest mass execution since 2016. saudi officials said the accused had been found guilty of attacking security installations, killing security officers, and cooperating with what it called "enemyza orgaons." one of the bodies, and the severed head, were put on public splay, as a warning. th washington, deadline day came and went fotreasury to release president trump's income tax returns.ep democraticsentative richard neal, chairing the house ways and means committked for six years of personal and business returns, but the white housrefused. neal may now issue a subpoena, in a probe of the president's business dealings at home and abroad. the president's son-in jared kushner, says the mueller investigation has done more harm than all of russia's terference in the 2016 election. the white house senior adviser

spoke today at a new york city event, and played down the russian meddling. >> quite frankly, the whe thing is just a huge distraction for the country. if you look at what ussia did, buwng some facebook ads to dissent, and do it. it's a terrible thing, but i think the investigations andll the speculation over the past two years has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a coup facebook ads. >> woodruff: the mueller report found that russia engaged in a sweeping campaign of interference in an effort to aid the trump campaign. the man who granted jared kushner his security clearance ignored a subpoena today from the house of representatives' e.ersight commit carl kline was white house personnel security directornt during presirump's first two years in office. at issue is whether he improperly gave clearances to kushner and to others.in he philippines, an earthquake struck the central part of the country, but there were no reports of deaths.an just yesterdayher quake killed at least 16 people in the northern philippines.

the shockwaves brought down a supermarket anordamaged an aieg voters it have aherwhelmingly approved letting president abdel-fal-sissi stay in power until 2030. elections officials say the heoposal won nearly 90% of vote. el-sissi is a former general who overthrew an islamist president in 2013, and has cracked down on dissent since. back in this country, in a first, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against a drug company executive in the opid epidemic. laurence doud once ran rochester drug co-operative, a distribution company. prosecutors in new york say he ignored warnings about opioid addictions in order to keep sales surging. >> this prosecution is the first of its kind. it is the first time that executives of a pharmaceutical distributor, and the dtributor

self, have been charged with drug trafficking. our office will do everything in o justice to bring anyone responsible for unlawfully fueling this opioidat epidemic, and ncludes executives who illegally distribute drugs from their boardrooms.oo >>uff: doud is 75. he could get ten years in prison if he is convicted. in the presidential campaign, it was widely reported today that former vice president joe biden will announce d for the 2020 democratic nomination on thursday.ge most polling ss that biden will start out as front-runner in the crowded democra primary. and on wall street, solid earnings reports pushed stocks to new records. the dow nes industrial average gained 145 points to close at 26,656. the sdaq rose 105 points to a new record close, and th s&p 500 also had its best finish ever. still to come on the newshour: tting a citizenship question on the census reaches the supreme court.

where democrats stand on possibly of impeaching the president. a killing in northern ireland revives dark memories of the troubles. and, much more. >> woodruff: it is a massive effort every ten years, that's critical to our country: counting the roughly 327 million people currently living in the united states. before the next census moves forward, the u.s. supreme court must decide whether the trump ministration should be allowedti to add this qu: "is this person a citizen of the united states?" the controversy over question-- one of the biggest on the term-- wt before the justices today. whe the trump administrati argued for their right to add a citizenship question to the

census, inside the court... >> whado we want? >> a complete count. >> when do we want it? >> now! >> woodruff: ...protesters outside railed ainst the addition. the a.c.l.u.'s dale ho challenged the government's intention behind including a question on citizenship. >> if you add it, we're going to get fewepeople responding to the census, and a less accurate census. and let's not forget whathe administration's purpose is t they sy want to publish block-by-block counts of citizens and non-citizens. well, you dot have to be a conspiracy theorist to be concerned that if that data is out there, it could pose a risk to you. >> woodruff: commerce secretary wilbur ross says he added the question to help enforce voting rights, but house democrats challenged his intent at a hearing last month. >> i have never intentionally misled congress or even intentionally said anything incorrect under oath. >> mr. secretary, you lied to congress.

ed the american people. and you are complicit in the trump administration's intent to suppress the growing political n power of ton-white population. >> woodruff: but why is the census important enough to involve all thgoe branches of rnment? the u.s. census is an attempt by the government to count every person living in the united states. every ten years, the census bureau gathe information like gender, age, race and income. >> we did it. we did it, hey! >> what did you do? >> we helped mommy fill out her census form. >> and we mailed iback. >> why? >> because everybody counts in the census form. >> woodruff: but why does the vernment collect this data? first, the constitution says to. >> one of the ways the constitution preserves our rights is to require the government to conduct a census every ten years. >> woodruff: the founding

thers decided the number of seats in the u.s. house of representatives is determined by the number of people in each state. the official count is used to draw voting districts at the national, state and local level. but there's another important reason the u.s. conducts a census: money. >> 2.4 million, 2.5 million. >> the u.s. census isn't just a population count. it helps allocate federal, state and community.to our >> woodruff: the federal government decides how muchor fundinrants to give states, counties and cities by looking at the detailed census data. that means money for updating schools, building new hospitals, repairing broken roads, and maintaining public utilities like water, sewage and electricity. >>ou can answer census 200 and get what you need. or you can leave it blank and get this: nothg. >> woodruff: private companies

usso make major decisions based on what the cens says, like where to build grory stores or new housing developments. but, like any government agency, the census bureau needs funding to do its job. and it's not cheap. the last census, in 2010, cost taxpayers $13 billion, with more than 500 field offices and 635,000 staffers nationwide. census watchers look now to the supreme court for a quick resolution, less than a year ous from the next . today's arguments are just the latest step in this long-running controversy. and here to cover this, from both angles, are our regular supreme court analyst, marcia coyle, of the "national lawjo nal." and, hansi lo wang. he's on the census beat for npr. welcome to both-of-you. you were both in the courtroom today. hansi, i'll start with you. this really is the end of a long

controversy, is it not? >> yes, this is a legal battl that officially started more than a year ago after commerce secretary wilbur ross, who oversees the census bureau,t announced tha planned to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. oodruff: remind us, hansi, what is it that experts at the census bureau themselves say the meaning of adding this question would be? what would the effect be, in their view? >> census bureau research suggests it's highly likely that households with non-citizen, and that could include some citizen is, would be veryur dised, scared to participate in the census if it were to include ans citip question. this is a very sensitive question, especially in this current litical climate of anti-immigrant rhetoric and also growing immigration enforcement. >> woodruff: mar shark what was the legal argument that brought this case today before the supreme court? >> judy, three federal courts

have decided that secretary ross' decision violated federal law, specifically the administrative procedure act, which really guides feder agencies in rule making, regulation making. ey found that, one judge in particular said the secmmtary had ted a varietiable smorgasbords of federal law violations. so that case was appealed by the trump administration to the supreme court. we have the arguments today. >> woodruff: so tell us in sum what is it that the commerce department under scretary ross is saying we need to do this? what is the arment they make? >> well, secretary ross has given as the prisomary reathat the citizenship question is necessary for the justice department to enforce the votin rights act. and during the questioning today, the questions sort of revealed almost very quickly the

ideological divide on the court itself. on the liberal side of the bench, justices kagan an sotomayor really pressed trump administration lawyer noel francisco about the secretary's reasons for having the citizenship question. justice kagan pointed out that the secretary has the aut not to agree with the census bureau experts, but under federal law, he has to gie reasons, and she said as she looked at the record a th ididence, she found no reasons. justice sotomayor t appeared to be he had a solution in search of a problem. and then on the other side of the bench, the more conservative side, you had chief justice roberts saying to new york solicitor general barbara underwood -- >> woodruff: who is a critic, one of the many critics. >> they had sued the government, of said, well, you know, the census asks a louestions. it asks your age, your sex, your marital status. why not citizenship?

and general underwood responded, but for those questions, there is no evidence that they result in an undercount, and there is ample evidence that the citizenship question will result in an undercount. >> woodruff: go ahead. >> i was also going to add justes gorsuch andavanaugh also pressed her. they noted that the united nations recommends that countries clude a citizenship question and that there are many english-speaking countries that have citizenship questions, and she said, while that informatio might be use some countries, those countries may not have our constitution, which has as the enumeration clause the principle function of counting everyone. >> woodruff: so hansi lo wang, as somebody who has followed the ceus as a story f as long as you have, what did you hear in rhe courtroom? was there a new agument made? was there some new ray of light shown on this issue today?

>> there really are no new ay.uments that i heard tod there are a lot of issues that are brought up in this case, and a lot of them are very technical. this is the -- the heart of it is a lot about methodology and sta testics, and some of the justices even remarked, wow, we're getting very technical during this oral argument. so this issue is going to be... it appears that the justices, a lot of them hadve already me up their minds based on the way they asked questions and the commentshey made during this ruling, during this al arguments rather. >> woodruff: so marcia, between you, you're making it sound as if it's expected the way the justices are goingto come down on this? >> well, it's always hard to say. ey're very good at playing devil's advocate. you don't know when they go back in their private conference rool how they wl hash things out. but it did look as though theyv were dided, and that division generally favors the trump administration.

but we'll have to wait and see. that are undme time pressure. the census has to be printed i think in july, and so the justices do need to reach a decision by the end of june in order toesolve this. >> woodruff: hansi, quickly, that's what i wanted to ask you. what does the census ñ>uáuu do whichever way this goes? >> well, it has two different suversions of the 2020 ces ready to the printed. so it's waiting for the supremee court to m a decision or to tell a printer which one to start printing. there lie 1.5 bil pieces of mail, including paper form,le ers, postcards, in order to prepare properly for the 2020 census next year.lo >> woodruff: hanging over the supreme court on this one. hansi lo wang of npr, marcia coyle, thank you both. >> pleasure, judy.

>> woodruff: we ve devoted a significant amount of time to the special counsel's investigation into russia and the president. but there are many details in the more than 45page redacted report worth highlighting. yamiche alcindor will continue our look at specific sections worth highlighting. >> alcindor: nearly half of mueller's report focuses on whether president trump obructed justice. while it does not reach a definitive conclusion, in one critical section, mueller makesp clear that tsident trump was protected by his advisors. the special counsel's report states, "the president's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests." en makes clear just how many people in the press orbit were saying no. the list includes former white house counsel don mcgahn and former attorney general jeff sessions. we're going to talk about a few of them now, with "washington

post" investigative rel rter caonnig. carol, thanks so much for joining me. talk to me about how former house counsel don mcgah was pushing back against the president. rsey and says he wants to fire f.b.i. director comey. in that instance, the white house counsel is a little bitgo smacked that that is the plan for the day but tries to carefully tone down the rhetoric and the rage of the president at the f.b.i. director and make sure that his original draft of how he's going the fire this person is not the one he actually uses. and there is a notation in on of the notes taken of white house counsel don mcgahn's puty saying, this original talking point should not see the light of day, the president's original missive because it is legally questionable how e president plans to do this and why, and it look like obstruction of a criminal investigation. sohen the next moment that don mcgahn tries to send off a

problem for the president -- fend off a problem for the president is when he insists that, again, rageful, insists that sessions should not recuel hifrom the probe and insists that don mcgahn get involved and make surtha doesn't happen. and don is explaining to thee president aw and saying that the department of justice ethics rules are governing thids ssions is doing the right thing. that's a hard one to take, but finay we get to thamoment when the president, furious that a person he trus is not running the investigation, furious at robert mueller is, insists that don mcgahn fire him. the president is in camp david when he makes these orders, ad he's calling don mcgahn at home over the weekend, and don mcgahn packs up his things as if he's gosg to baically leave, that that is his only option. ultimately the president relents, doesn't insist on him firing mueller,n ad don mcgahn does not have to quit.

>> alcindor: former attorney general jeff session, there is this remarkable detaiwhe jeff sessions is carrying around a resignation letter every timeo he goehe white house because he is scared he's going to be fired. talk to me about the impression jeff sessions gave folksic pu and privately and what that tells us about the president's understanding of the role of the attorney general. h i think this is sun important question that you raise, because publicly we were watching it in real-time, you and i. at the "washington post," we had team of reporters working all weekend, because we envisioned the attorney general getting sacked on our wat. the president was tweetingbl ly, almost goading in his humiliating tweets, goading theg attornneral to give up the ghost and resign, and jeffse ions did not. he was being encouraged by his friends not to do it. in private, the president was also haranguing jeff sessions, getting minions of his to communicate to himhat he

should resign or unrecuse, an it was a stunning moment. the pressure that sessions wa under was something we've neverf seene in washington save for the saturday night massacre of president nixon when he actually fired archibald cox. but what was also striking about it, and you hinted at it in your question, was the president doesn't delineate between the ite house counsel, the attorney general, and even his ttorneys. in his mind they're all his guys, they're all supposed to be pulling the yolk for him tofl protect hink, and this is not the role of the attorney general. that is not the role of the ite house counsel. and yet that is what president trump expected. >> alcindor: your paper, the "washington post," as well as "the new york times" reported on a lot of the details inside the mueller report as they were happening in real-time over months and months. what impacdo you think that had on how this report was received and did the president

benefit from that reporting? >> i mean, tis ish an interesting point, it's clear to me that the president benefited from this not being a shocker. it is stunning the level of detail that mueller's team brings to bear from people who are under oath and testifying before a grand jury or giving statements to the f.b.i. d theialogue inside the white house that we didn't know about, the pushback thasome of the aides were giving the president. we didn't know all of the details. we didn't know the color of the drains, so the speak, butthe president is a littit helped politically by the fact that many of these stories have been told in their raw form, so it is not so shocking to get ths 448-page tome droppein your lap. >> alcindor: what does it mean for the future of the president and specifically presiden htrump orders can simply be ignored if there is an

internationacrisis, if there e things that he wants done, what does it mean that he can just not be listened to ? think it's such a good yes. it's clear to me in this report that several people t uncomfortable doing the president's bidding when it crossed lines they recognized, crossed the lines between the white house and a crminal investigation by the department of justice, crossed lines between the white house counsel's office and the attorneyeneral's office, these borders that we all observe, however, this is part and parcer of themp presidency. welcome to the world in which many of theresident's senior aides have tried to talk him out of things that are hism, whiis impulse, his instinct, and sometimes they have not evehad the sort of wherewithal to directly confront him, but tually they have just not carried through on his orders on everything fom domtic policy o immigration to foreign policy, pulling o nato, one

of the president's requests. these are things that many people who serve around him have tried to avoid happening, and they believehat they're serving the president by preventing him from doing what he wants to do. >> woodruff:>> alcindor: carol g over at the "washington post," thank you so much. >> of course. my pleasure to be here. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: let's turn to the politicafallout of the mueller report, as democrats debate the best way to respond. on the campaign trail, senator elizabeth warren was the first presidential candidate to call for impeachment. in a town hall last night, senator kamala harris was asked where she stands. at i think we have very good reason to believe here is an investigation that has been conducted which has proded evidence that tells us that this president and his administration engaged in obstruction o justice. i believe congress should take e e steps towards impeachment. >> woodruff: like mocratic

presidential candidates, democrats in the u.s. house are also divided on initiating impeachment proceedings against president trump. representative jared huffman of california supports impeachinge esident, and he joins us now from san francisco. congressman, huffman, thank you very much for being with us. we know you were on that conference call with speaker pelosi, other deocratic minutes the house last evening. it's reported that you spoke up at one point during the call an sae script has flipped." what did you mean by that? >> f well, thank yr having me, judy. the point i tried to make to my colleagues is that fr months we've heard some people say that there is this tremendous downside to initiating an impeachment process, that it would be bad for thountry, that it would be politically unwise. now that we have received the mueller report, and now that we know that the president of the united states is an unindicted coconspirator knn as individual one in an illegali campaignnce conspiracy that extended into his presidency, just on what we already know, i

think the burden has shifted to the downside of nt acting. the constitution created our impeachment authority for exactly this kind of circumstance, and it's really damaging to the country and to ouinstitutions if we punt on something like this. >> woodruff: you're saying 'tit's damaging if you doact? >> exactly. >> woodruff: what is it -- be a little more specific about what is it in the mueller report cumstances?anged cir >> well, first of all, the mueller report is done. it was completed by a lifelong republican whose reputation is beyond reroach. it was independent. it was objective, and at least with respect to obstruction of justice, multiple counts of obstruction of justice, it was faire conclusive. ly reason this president was not indicted was an internal department of justice policy against indicting that president, but every element of the criminal conspiracy for muiple counts of obstruction of justice was met and laid out

in great detail by robert mueller. >> woodruff: so you're making this argument, but from everything we can tell, speakero , the leadership of the democrats, most democrats in the house at this point are sti saying, let the process work its way. let'se contie inquiry, the hearings, calling people to stify, getting documents, but not going ahead with full-blown impeachment proceedings. >> here's what i think is important, judy. the investigaon, theontinued oversight and accountability that has to move forward with even greater urgency now, and this is happening. so functionally, the next steps are the same whether you call it an impeachment inqui whether it is just a full-throated investigation andc untability that leader pelosi and others are moving us forward with. and i feel finate with th. i think it will inevitably lead to an impeachment procebe, use i think constitution requires that we do our job.

>> woodruff: y're sing functionally it's the same as an impeachment process, but are there powers that are granted in that process that you don't have that members of cngress don't have on the current course? >> some. but many of the same investigations, the same inquiries will be moving forward. functionally the same thing we would need to do in an impeachment inquiry. we'll be getting at the same information, asking the same questions, and frankly it's a lot more than what we have just from the mueer report. there is all of this financial accountability that needto be brought forward, the tax return, the deutsche bank inquiries tha chairman maxine waters is pursuing. there is a lot of further investigation, and my guess is that the potential articles of impeachment, the poten grounds for impeachment will only expand as this goes forward. >> woodruff: but congressman, what do you say to the argument that many americans if not most americans are just not there, thatehey are sick ofaring

about the russia investigation, the mueller pbe, and they want to move on, that this is -- if the president, and you even hear democrats making this argument, thdpresident should be jud by the voters and not by a bunch of democrats in the congress? >> i don't blame them. this president has exhausted us. he has in some cases intimidated people to the point where they're just sick and tired of dealing with him, but we have to think carefully about the precedent that would establish o all of this unpleasantness, if this percepti a political risk causes congress to punt on a fundamental constitutional responsibility, that is dangerous ground for th i country. whreally means is that this president for the next year and a half would know he's not going to gt indicteby the department of justice for anything he does because ofin theiernal policy, and the congress doesn't have the stomach to carry out its nstitutional backstop duty. and so i shudder to think whate

we mightin the next year and a half from donald trump and the precedent that it wold establish for future administrations is just as troubling. >> woodruff: are you saying, though, conessman that public opinion really doesn't matter here? >> public opinion always matters, but if impeachable offenses is not aose call, you don't punt on your duty, becausyou're worried about public opinion. look, i grew up in a household where my parents during the watergate era were big nixon supporters. and i remember how hard it was for them and many other nixon rgate, as wes wate began the impeachment inquiry, but you know what? that impchment process, the drawing out of facts, the telling of the full story of the american people caused people to realize, including my own parents, that this president had do some very teble things and we needed to make a change. hopefully thices pro will begin to change some minds as we go forward here, as well.

>> woodruff: representative jared huffman of california, we thank you. >> thang you for hae. the growing frustrations of ucators, after a year of teacher strikes. and, a one-of-a-kind slave memoir, now made public by the library of congress. but first, a young journalist was shot and killed dung a riot in northern ireland last week. her murder-- and the riot she was covering-- happened on the e st anniversary of the good friday agreement, ndmark peace deal that put an end to northern ireland's decades-long sectrian conflict. but as william brangham reports, this killing has raised fears that conflict is flaring up again. >> brangham: her name was lyra mckee. she s a 29-year-old acclaime

writer and journalist. the riot she was covering began when police raided a housing complex in londonderry, looking upr members of dissident g a gunman stepped from behind a building and fired at the officers.e, but mcho was standing next to them, was hit. the unrest echoes the decades- long, brutal sectarian conflictr known as "thoubles" which took some 3,500 lives, from the 1960s through the late 1990s. a group, called the new irish republican army, took responsibility for mckee's killing, and apologized, saying she was shot by mistake. the new i.r.a. is a small offshoot of the group th fought british rule of northern ireland for decades during the troubles. to cover all this-- and how the ongoing fight over brexit plays a role in the unrest-- i'm joined now via skype from londonderrry by reporter leona o'neill. leona, thank you very much.or being here

i wonder if you can just start by telling me a little bit about what happened that night. i understand that you were there the night that she was killed.h can you tell uat happened? >> there were serious riots in the area. fireworks for fired at police vehicles. around 11:00 p.m., masked gunman emerged from the shadows and fired toward police vehicles indiscriminately. and he hit lyra mckee with a bullet and sadly she died. >> brangham: my understanding, the new i.r.a., the group that y,has claimed responsibil they're not necessarily the same as the i.r.a. that many americans will know from decades ago, but who this group? who are they? >> they are a new group. they are mas up motly of young people who were born after the good friday agreement o were born in peace, who knew nothing of our troubles and who knew nothing of everythingat went on in those days.id they dt have the baggage of. the past

they have been fed nostalgia perhaps, and that's why they're turned to these methods. there are hundreds othem of these new i.r.a. members across northern ireland. derry seems to be a bit of a stronghold for them for reason.er a lot of their activities center around derry. we had a car bomb in january. >> brangham: my undhstanding isat the outrage over her killing has en from both sides. just curious, how important do you thk that is? because many of us remember some of the atrocities that occurred during the troubles and how when some of the violence reached such a level and both sides would look at the violence and ugh is enough. does this strike you as one of those moments? >> yes, it does. it seems to be a bit of a sea change happening here after thed . the day after her murder, there were unionists and britishpo

ticians and irish nationalists for the first time ever in their 40, 50-year political history, and that was something of a monumental occasion. they have vowed to work together to make a better fure after what happened to lyra, and we're only hopg that that will be the case. >> brangham: i know i mentioned this at the, beginni but you have written and several others have written about how the ongoing negging legislations over brexit might be exacerbating these problems. that's not obvious to many of us he in the u.s. explain how that could be causing this. >> reporter: well, brexit in ireland north and south has caused huge problems because there would be a border if brexit goes to a head. the deadline now is halloween. and it is a total nightmare would what would happen here in northern ireland. brexit comes with it a lot of regulations. we might have to have a hard

border. that woulde a board ben -- between northern ireland and southern island, so nnly have we got economic concerns overo reck yet, but we alsve the serious concern over the decate nature of our pece. people from outside northern ireland think that we have hadac for the last 20 years, but in reality those living on the ground like me here know that our peace is very, very delicate. it can be upturned at a moment's notice. ion bubbles to the surface, violence bubbles on to thee surfonstantly. and sometimes it just explode vnd bexit has serious... it could be veryy serious for us. >> brangham: all rght, journalist leona o'neill, thank you very much for your time. thank you very much.

>> woodruff: the wave of teacher strikes and walkouts is building once again in 2019. just in the past few days, teachers in south carolina have said they plan to walk out for a day next week. the largest teacher's union in mississippi is considering taking a sick-out day. while the strikes started in red states like west virginia, they've now spread across the country to cities and blue states, too. many of the issues are the same: pay, spending, lack of support, ttesting, and increasingl role of charter schools. john yang has a conversation for r regular education segment, "making the grade." >> yang: judy, every year, state education officials honor the best of the best in the national teacher of theear program. recently, an essay by one of the four finalists from three years ago caught our eye: "the fate of the 2016 teachers of the year." today, only two of the four

finalists from that year arela still in a cssroom, and only one is still at the same school. nate bowling wrote that essay.nt he is a governeacher at lincoln high school in tacoma, washington. and, fellow 2106 finshawn sheehan is now on a fellowship on capitol hdsl. when that he intends to return to teaching algebra in lewisville, texas. shawn and nate, thank you very much. thanks for joining us. nate, i want to begin with you, and ngwant to quote somet you said in that essay. you said, "teaching is a profession, and great tenechers ed to feel respected and empowere if they don't, they will leave and should." reowected and emped. talk about that. why are teachers not feelingec red and empowered? >> there's a thest of reasons that contribute to that.ar ther three issues for me, pay, work conditions and professione respect. ifok at the strikes happening and protests across the country, there's unsteadiness across the countryh particularly owest coast with housing casts, for a lot of teachers, the pay hasn't kept

up. >> yang: you talked about pay, but you also mention work conditions and professional respect. >> the conditions teach verse to work through, i think puic have a difficult time understanding, particularly working in a lowl-income schoo in an urban area. you're doing more than academics. i sometimes act as a socia worker, a councilor, a surrogate parent. all those jobs take a toll. i love my stunts and i love the work i do with them, but the workload we ask teachers to do in low-income schools is unsustainable. >> yang: shawn, you were teaching in oklahoma. you're now teaching in texas. why? >> it wasn't an accident. teacher ofected as the year, i wanted to advocate for teacher pay and making movements better. i ran for oklahoma state senate unsuccessfully. after this new election site came around, folks didn't make od on their promises to mae

conditions better, my wife and i decided to move south.av weourselves come wined a $40,000 raise. >> yang: you nearly doubledho your tak pay. >> yeah. >> yang: you wrote at the time that "teaching in oklaha is a dysfunctional relationship." what do you mean by that? >> it is. there is thmponent of guilt. you're made to feel guilty, as if you say, going into this job, you should have known that it wasn't going to be lucrative. i said, sure, i knew it wasn't gog to be financially reward, but it's also not evennc filly stable. our perspective changed significantly when we welcomed our first dau now we've got to consider someone else's future and now we have to worry about putting mor food on the plate. that was a game changer for us. >> yang: nate, you were the only teacher who is still in the same p joanna hayes has also left teaching. she's now in congress. you have got some ne you made a decision within the past couple weeks. >> yeah. at the end of the school yer, my wife and i will be stepping

away from lincoln high school. i love my students at lincoln high school. i love tht school and that faculty. but we have chosen to move abroad. and we'll be teaching e american community school in abu dhabi next year. >> yang: i hea you talk about. this explain this decision. you said one thing that ma this decision for you is you stll be able to focus on ju teaching in abu dhabi. you mentioned all the other roles that you have to fils l. how hat changed? how have those additional roles been added? >> too ny students in america are going to school without their basic life needs met. and essentially school fills that gap for them. school is a face that feeds them, that clotheses them. i maintain a drawer in my classroom that has ties so my students have like ties for job interviews. so many of the hours that i spend at my school are about meeting my students' needs and taking care of circumstances in atheir life tht prevent their learning. i don't get to focus on teaching. ven i make this moe, my job over there will be to teach.

my students' life needs will be ken care of, and i will be able to teach. yongbyon shawn, do you find this same thing? >> absolutely. most folks don't know how many things we educators have to juggle. we have to be parents and mentors and councors and ndle all of these different aspects of the whole child. now even some folks are askingo usnsider security as part of our job duties, one of which ut absy refuse to do. tinually beingo asked to do more with less. and at some point teachers areg call. they made their voices clear. we have seen that in the teacher strikes and walkouts.h >> yang: you moved to hexas, you got a reaction from a fellow te in oklahoma, "i'm just in it for the students. y 're not in it for the kids, don't let the door hit you

on the way out." how do you respond? >> that's a dig. 's definitely a dig for folks who maybe don't experience the same financial constraints as we do. the fact that my wife andry both t ucators living off of oklahoma teachers salary, ts pretty unique. a lot of teachers don't share that se struggle. maybe their spouse is the primary bedouiner. teachi can be aest-time, a hobby, they're not quite as invested in the struggle that ucators face, but for a two-teacher couple trying to raise family on those teacher salaries in oklahoma in 2016, absolutely not doable. >> yang: faith, shawn talked about the teacher strikes, which are continuing into this year. you have been out on the picket line twice in your career. what's that like for you? >> it's a miserable experience to be on strike. tsgot into this to make a difference in studlives, but what i can say is we see during strikes that the public rallies for teachers. we had wide community support. parents came out and honked horn, brought food to the picket lines and supported us.

what i see happening in anyis communithen make an ask for materials for my classroom or for equip for udents, they're 100% behind us. like the problems for me are t wi state legislature. scey're not allocating the funds in order to funols to provide services and social woers and provide after-school programs needed for students. >> sean, in oklahoma you campaigned for an increase in t the state salex to fund increased funding for schools. it lost. given that experience, how do you -- what's your read of the f public suppo schools? >> the public very much supports public schools, they just don't know how to support it. oftentimes they get lost, the message gets lost in the shuffle. legislators in our state in my home state of oklahoma are great at twisting and bending th message. and so they get confused some that was the case we saw wi the sales tax. they said, it's going to discourage businessee from coming hd setting up shop. our counter-point was it alsdio

ourages coming and setting up shop are underperforming schools and teachers that are vacating the sate. >> yang: very quickly, shawn, optimistic or pes mystic about the future? >> i actually optimistic. this year oklahoma has taken stepses to provide raises. the governor will sign off on a $1se0 r that will bring the average up by $8,00 so the challenge is to stay competitive in the region is going to be oks lahomggest battle. >> yang: nate, what about you? optimistsi or pesstic? >> i'm optimistic about the near future. i think parents and communities really support schools. it's about poicy-makers and state capitals who aren't doing their share. >> yang: teachers nate boli and shawn sheehan, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: ane-of-a-kind

manuscript written by a slave has now been preserved in the library ar congress. thic-language autobiography spent dein private collections, before the library acquired it in 2017. now, it has been digitized for the world to read. amna nawaz reports on the remarkable journey for "canvas," our on-going arts and culture series. >> nawaz: born and raised in west africa, omar ibn said was n years old when he was kidnapped and ta america as a slave in the 1800s. n ( translated ): "before i came to the christuntry, my religion was the religion of mohammed." >> nawaz: his autobiography, in bihis native language of a is believed to be one of the only ones of its kind-- the original words of a musl american slave. >> ( translated ): "then there came tour place a large army, who killed many men, and took me, and brought me to the great sea..." >> his literacy anculture completely goes against--

abolishes, one might say annihilates-- the narrative that slaves had, were not capable of culture. in fact, they were persons with, with distinct histor abilities, culture and, and background. >> nawaz: ala alryyes has studied and translated the words of omar ibn said. >> ( translated ): "they sold me into the hands of the christians who bound me and senme on board a great ship, and we sailed upon the great sea a month and a half, when we came to a place called charleston." >> he was wealthy. and he was highly educated, because in his autobiography he speaks about spending 25 years studying. >> nawaz: mary-jane deeb is the chief of the african and middle east division at the library ofh congresse ibn said's manuscript now lives. >> so there was a man who wasca ht at the age of 37, and shipped off to south carolina. in a country he doesn't know, and a people whose language he doesn't know.az >> nibn said says he was sold to a "small, weak, andll

wicked man, johnson." after years of abuse, he fled, but was caught in north carolina. >> he is then captured and d brought to a jail cell, begi to write on the walls o his jail cell, in arabic. so, that attracted the attention of people, ptty important people, because the man who ends up buying him and releasing him from jail was other of the governor of north calina. nawaz: over time, ibn said converts to christianity. in his 60s, he writes his own story-- but only in arabic. >> and so, his masters could not really read at all. they could not try to influence its writing.t sos really his exact words, unfiltered by the machinery of the editorship of masters anabolitionists, as other slave narratives were. >> nawaz: a machinery alryyes says erased countless narratives, including the fact that up to 20% of africans

enslaved in america were muslim. ibn said, in fact, chose to open his autobiography with a verse from the qu'ran. >> the crux of this quranic chapter is that it's only god who has the possession and the ownership both of human beings and of things. and therefore it seems to me g nd of a hidden, hidden text. what omar is say that you guys have no right to own me here. >> it's a narrative that es the original concept of who the slaves were when they came here. that they didn't really have a system of belief, that they were unltured, they didn't have written system.e this is whatings to the table, and basically saywh no, that is we really are. >> nawaz: t before the pages written by omar ibn said could be shared with the world, consertors at the library of congress worked for months to bring those pages to >> we're trying to present the item as close to what it looked

like at the time as possible. >> nawaz: sylvia albro led the effort to rescue the nearly 200-year-old manuscript. the materials themselves, she says, tell us even more about the life of omar ibn said. >> it's actually surprising that the quality of paper for his manuscript is really pretty good. and the fact that he had at his disposal good quality materials is an indication of the respect that he had as a figure, even as a slave. >> nawaz: that respect brought ibn said to the attention of prominent abolitionists, missionaries and linguists at the time, who translated his story and used it in their fight against slavery. the entire manuscript is now available online for a new generation to read ibn said's words for themselves.ws for the pbs ur, i'm amna nawaz in washington, d.c. >> woodruff: and what a gift that is.

and thats the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and agai ehere tomorrowvening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see yosoon. >> major funding forhe pbs newshour has been provided by: te babbel. a language app thahes real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> 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. ra

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hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. in sri lanka, hundreds o people are dead after an easter sunday series of terrorist attacks. i'll ask what did t government know and why did it fail to act? and today, earth day, i talk to activists spaing the generations. fiart jackris of extinction rebellionalnizes his millions of young fans to challenge government on climate change. then the veteran climate on all the signs and signals lost. also, another activist. >> i was broken because i spent so many years only ever knowing how to walknto other people's rooms,re pna