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tv   PBS News Hour  PBS  June 25, 2019 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: "on the border." as democrats prepare to backn emergency border funding bill, the acting head of the border patrol resigns. then, 50 years after stonewall and the launch of the modern gay rights movement. what has been achieved, and what challenges remain? >> what needs to happen is a movement needs to happen. >> woodruff: and, how schools are experimenting makingua menstrl products available to students for free. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for tbs newshour has been provided by:
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>> kevin. >> kevin! .> kevin? >> advice for li life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> ordering takeout. >> finding the west route. >> talking for hours. >> planning for showers. >> you can do the things you like to with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at nsumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made
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possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: new shock waves along the southern u.s. border arshaking the trump white house. john sanders resigned today as acti head of customs and border protection. he quit amid heavy criticism of migrant children being held in filthy conditions, and as the u.s. house of representatives moved to approve emergency fuing. we will take a closer look, right after the news summary. in the d's other news, president trump and iran's president hass rouhani traded insults and tough talk over new sanctions. the targets, announced monday, included ayatollah ali khamemei, iran's supeader. today, rouhani called the move "outrageous and idiotic." in a televised address, his audience laughed as he mocked the white house and said it is "afflicted by mental
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retardation." >> ( translated ): this means the certain failure and defeat of the united states. n i have any doubt about that from political viewpoint. no wise person wouldo what they are doing these days. i feel that there is a severe frustration and a big confusn among the u.s. leaders and in the white house. >> woodruff: president trump, in turn, called rouhani's remarks ignorant and insulting. in a tweet, he charged that rouhani does not understand reality, and he warned that any iranian attack would be met with "overwhelming force" and "obliteration." u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo made an unannounced stop in afghanistan today to talk up peace talks. he met with president ashraf ghani in kabul. later, he said he hopes for a peace deal with the taliban by arptember 1. the current afghanas raged
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since the u.s. ousted the taliban from power after the 9/11 attacks. in bahrain today, the trump u administratied support for a $50 billion economic plan to promote israeli-palestinian peace. it calls for health, education and public works projects, but does not deal with the israeli occupation of the west bank or the blockade of gaza. president trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner argued prosperity would lead to peace. >> my direct message to the palestinian people ithat despite what those who have let you downn the past tell you, president trump and america have not given up on you. this work shop is for you, the vision we developed and released if executed correctly will lead to a betfuture for the palestinian people. >> woodruff: in the west bank, palestinian protesters battledps israeli trwhile their leaders boycotted the bahrain conference. >> there can be no economic
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solution as a substitute to our freedom. and second, how can we have economic development when we cannot control our borders, our import, our export, our free market, our freedom of movement, and even we do not control the taxes we pay. it's a deceit that mr. kushner is spreading. >> woodruff: americacials say they could be ready to address thpolitical aspects of a peace plan by fall. sweltered today as a potentially historic heat wave gripped much of the continent. in germany, zookeepers hosed down overheated elephants in berlin, where mperatures reached 93 degrees. and, authorities in france began taking steps to helplderly cope. temperatures in some places could reach 104 to 105 degrees this week. flood damage along the mississippi river corridor will total at least $2 billion. an advocacy group for river
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communities says that is the estimate through march, and it's expected to increase. heavy snow melt and repeated rain have led to record flooding from iowa to louisiana since early in the year. back at the whithouse, stephanie grisham was named today as white house press secretary and communications director. she is the longtime spokeswoman rer first lady melania trump. thedent said grisham will be a great fit in her new roles. >> she's here. she knows everybody. she actually gets along with the media very well, as you know. a lot of the folks in the media like her very much and i think she's going to be fantastic. i think she's going to do a great job, so i offered her the job this morning and she accepted.f: >> woodrrisham succeeds sarah sanders, who is stepping down at the end of this month. the president today awarded the "medal of honor" to a former army staff sergeant from the iraq war era. tdavid bellavia is the fi living veteran of that conflict to receive t nation's highest military award.
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he risked his lifeavepeatedly, tohis platoon in fallujah, in 2004. city supervisors in san francisco have voted to ban the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes. today's decision makes it the first american city to take that step. enforcement would begin early next year. san francisco home to juul labs, the biggest producer of e-cigarettes in the country. federal reserve chair jerome powell said today that the central bank is "insulated fro short-term political pressures," despite the president's growing criticism. he also said the fed is grappling with whether to cut interest rates. and, on wall street, tech stocks led the market lower, partly on weak economic data. the dow jones industrial average lost 179 points to close at 26,548. the nasdaq fell nearly 121 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 28.om
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still to con the newshour: ""on the southern border. funding u.s. border operations as the acting head of the border patrol resigns. "stonewall at 50." the legacy of the uprising, and what imeans today. eliminating the stigma of unaffordable menstrual products. and, much more. >> woodruff: as we repted, the administration's top border enforcement official john sanders will leave his post, amidst scrutiny over treatment of migrant children. as capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardins reports, the news comes as lawmakers are scrambling to reach a deal to fund government border operations. >> desjardins: today, more turbulence for the men and women who patrol and monitor u.s. borders, as the acting head of u.s. customs and border protection resigned, after roughly two months in the
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position. this, as border patrol agents remain overwhelmed by a surge in migrants, especially children ded families, who are now spending days in bpatrol processing stations meant to hold them for just hours. and, the agency caring for the kids says it will run out of funding for them in a few days. at the capitol, all of this is sparking a furious fight over an emergency funding bill. >> there is absolutely ndoubt that the numbers of families and children who are arriving at our frt door, those numbers ha increased. >> desjardins: house democrats, like el paso congresswoman veronica escobar want requirements, like bedding, toothbrushes and translators, to go along with nde additional >> putting small children and t eir families and individuals who are at their mlnerable state in their life as they cross our border seeking support and solace are greeted with
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nothing but misery. >> desjardins: republicans agree on the scale of the problem. >> we have the capacity in our processing centers, our c.b.p. processing centers, a capacity of 4,000 we now have 20,000 people in those facilities. this has got to be addressed. >> desjardins: but adamantly oppose efforts to tie new funding to new ruirements. they say the real issue is weak u.s. immigration law. >> our asylum laws are sbroken that they've literally led to hundreds of thousands of people coming to cross illegally. >> desjardins: house and senate leaders agree on how much to fund-- about $4.5 billion-- but the bill from house democrats would also: require new standards in basic health and safety for detainees, and it would block immigration agents from deporting people who want to sponsor a child in thei home, but arfound to be undocumented themselves. ir some ways, the two sides are not far apart, but differences have real-world and
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ph osophical impact. adding to the complicated dynamics is president trump, who weighed on conditions at the border. i m very concerned. >> desjardins: he said he wants humanitarian aid, but indicated he would lika larger deal with democrats to toughen u.s. asylum laws. >> what we would like to do is e k the democrats to give us help on asylum, rrible loopholes that don't allow us to do what we need to. >> desjardins: even as trump lashed out at democrats, senate republicans told newshour that he has not yet gotten fully on board their border funding bill either. and of course, the impact of any congressional deal would be felt far beyond the beltway. immigration reporter bob moore heads the digital news organization "el paso matters" and joins us via skype from there. and i must give a warning to our
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viewers. iscussion includes graphic images that many could find disturbing. bob, i want tfirst ask y about some of the news we've gotten recently. we reported c.p.b.,ustoms and border protection, moved hundreds of kids out of aa facility jus few dozen miles from you in clint, because ofep conditionsted by attorneys, kids urinating on themselves, children who were sick and hado ce for each other. now we learned they moved 100 children back into that facility. you can describe what the conditions are like in that kind facility or in nt? >> i think it's important to understand that theiese facil were never set up as detention facilities. they're either border patrol stations with small holding cells, or space that's been converted. so it's not set up to hold adults, let alone children. so based on the reports that came out last week, the conditions there are very, verhy rohat children don't have access to basic sanitary care.e and whhis got a lot of attention, the truth is, this is
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being replicated all along the border in holding facilities for both adults and children. the conditions are very unsanitary, inome cases very unsafe. >> bob, why is there such a are there not new facilities being opened? what's happening here? >> in part, we're ying for five years of inaction on this issue that we knew wasmi co with the change in migration from single men lyto lar families. and so we're not set up to hold them. and now yo got this congressional funding that's been sort of put on hold as they try to figure t whether the democrats can trust the trump administration andice versa. is and so there's a huge icvestment needed just for bas emergency care to house these people that have been coming across in large nubers. but it's all caught up in politics right now. >> exactly. d while we're talking about the turbulence in washington, you can talk us through what the resignation of the acting chief
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of border customs and border protection means out there? >> i think one of the things we've learned fm the last several months that having a high-ranking position in the department of homeland security is very similar to being a drummer in "spinal tap." you're not going to have a very long ture. and your exit is going to be rather spectacular. so let's look at what happened today. we have the resignation of the acting commissioner of customs and border protection. he, who is apparently going toth be replaced be acting head of immigration and customs enforcement, who early on in the trump administration, was fired as chf of the border patrol. we now have an acting homeland security secretary. we have an acting head of customs and border protection. we have a vacancy in acting hea of immigration and cuft opposits enforcement. we have an actinhead ofu.s. and immigration services. so that sort of instability does nolead to go policy making.
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it's a reflection of the disaeements within therump administration on what our immigration and border policyk should look and one more acting head of an agency within homeland security is just going to add further to thatncertainty. i need to turn to another very serious subject. recently, we've seen many alarming reports of migrant deaths crossing by land and by water. and tably, these inclu children. i want to show a very difficult-to-see photo. this is of a father with his toddler whose bodies were found along the rio grande this week. they washed ashore. is this something new? are we seeing an uptick in death and danger to these migrants or some just something we're paying more attention to now? >> i think there's probably mor attention beid to it now. yoe truth is when you adopt a policy to haern borders and make it more difficult for people to cross in urban areas make it more difficult for them to come to ports of entry and
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seek asylum, that forces them to make under dangerous crossings, and sowe're hearing stoes of children dying in the desert. we're seeing stories of people i drownirivers. here in el paso, we've begun rigation season. so rivers and canals that normally don't hold much water are running hot and heavy. that makes it more dangerous for people to css. the summertime is always a time when we see deaths spike. this has been something that's been going on for more than 20ar and hasn't gotten the attention it needs. and i think the american public needs to understand that if we decide to make it moreic dit to cross the border, if we decide to limit access to the asylum process, this forceso migrants iese more dangerous conditions. and we can't pretend to be shocked when people start to die, including children. >> it's, obviously, a critical story and a test for ts nation and our government. thank you for helping shed light on this. bob moore with el paso matters. >> thank you.
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>> woodruff: friday marks the 50th anniversary of the uprising at the stonewall in new york city, a milestone and catalyst for the gay righ movement. we are going to examine the progress since then and the considerable challenges today. but first, a look back at that moment and just some of the notable moments since. in the early morning hours of june 28, 1969, new york city police raided the stonewall inn, a popular gay bar in the greenwich village. back then, with different laws, police raids on gay bars were common. but gay, lesbian and trans residents fought back. streets erupted into violent protests and demonstrations that lasted days.be the riotgan paving the wayr e l.g.b.t. rights
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movement. and by 1979, more than 100,000 people took part in the first national march for lesbian and gay rights. but the challenges have been immense throughout. by the 1980s, the aids epidemic ed a crucial role in the struggle for gay rights. as thousands died, patients protested for drugs and better treatment-- medicati that would eventually turn aids into a chronic illness for many. even so, in the two decades after 1981, the epidemic killed more than 460,000 people in the u.s. during the '90s, there was greater recognition and acceptance for many individualse but it was pre bill clinton who signed "the defense of marriage act" preventing government granted federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples. other important victories were
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to come. notably, in 2003, in the case o lawrencexas, when the supreme court struck down the state's anti-sodomy law, effectively decriminalizing homosexual relations nationwide. it wasn't until 2012 that att g president publicly supported same-sex marriage.e >> forrsonally, it isme important foo go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> woodruff: the supremeourt eventually struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, making it legal across all 50 states. but ev as l.g.b.t.q. communities have won more acceptance and recognition, there have bn other setbacks. president trump is the first republican presideco to formally ize pride month. but, he is rolling back a mber of protections for transgender americans, involving social
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services, health coverage, and tking it harder to serve military. the murders of transgender people-- particularly trans women of color-- continue at alarming rates today, with ten known black trans women killed this year. for its part, the new york city police department issu an apology this month for its actions at stonewall 50 years ago. >> i do know what happened should not have happened. the actions taken by the n.y.p.d. were wrong, plain and simple. the actions and the laws were e,scriminatory and oppress and for that i apologize. >> woodruff: this week, the stonewall anniversary is being commemorated across the country. and, to discuss the 50th anniversary, four perspectives. reverend emma chattin is ordained in the metropolitan community church, and serves a parish in northern virginia. she is also executivctor for the transgender education
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associwaion of greater ington. george johnson is an l.g.b.t.q. and h.i.v. st. he is also a columnist for afropunk, and a guest editor for b.e.t. digital.y beverly till the executive director of the anti-vionce project, an organization dedicated to ending violence against the l.g.b.t.q. community. and, mark segal was at stonewall thnight it was raided by police, and participated in the riots. he is the foder of philadelphia gay news. and welcome all of you to the wshour. thank you for being here. mark segal, i want to start with you. you were there on the night of june 28, 1969. you were 18 years old. what did you see? >> as an 18-year-old kid, i moved from pyiladelphia, a ci of 1.6 million, to be with my people, in a sense, because we were invisible. that night, like every other ownht, i was walking up and d crystal street and at the end of
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the night, you would go into the stonewall. ing into the stonewall was a typical night until the lights flickered on and off, andthen they came on full force, at which point, police barged in, slammed people up against the wall, used every kind of profanity you could imagine against us,roughed us up. then they went to people who looked success asked them to take out their wallets and took money from their wallets and put it in their pockets. we had nothing to do because they were the police. what were weoing to do, call the police? one by one, they let us out of the bar. as we were let out of the bar, each time somebody would come out, we would applaud eventually, they wanted to leave flrp only six police officers in the bark plus the bar workers. outside we were 50 to 75.en ally, when we wouldn't leave, we started throwing stones. we started throwing cans-- anything we could find from the street for the first time in history, the police were imprisoned, rather than us. >> woodruff: and that was a-- those demonstrations went on for
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days. mark segal, did you have any idea at the time that that was the beginning, that you were part beginningf the gay rihts movement? >> no not at all. when marty robinson came up to me with a piece of chalk that night and sairite on the walls and the streets tomorrow ght 'stonewall'." i didn't realize that would create the second night. i didn't realize us leafletting the second and thir nights, protesting against the police, thate could take back our neighborhood, protesting against "time,," "life," "village voice" led other media so we could become visagain. i had no idea that would become history. >> woodruff: beverly tillery, as somebody who worked against violence, you have watched the efilization over the years.ho have you seen any progress made since stonewall? >> ll, you know, in a way, i
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would say we're living a dual reality because, of course, we are benefiting from the arc ofpr ress that has come from stonewall and before. we are more organized as a community. there are resources and organizations that, you know, we can speak of that have been around for years. my organization is going to be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year. .o came just after stonewa so we have this infrastructure. we've defninitely many gains related to our legal rights and protections. so there's certainly progress. what many people will say, however, is that many of us in the community, those who wer always more marginalized, those information who hold multipl identities that are already oppressed are still left behind and continue to be left behind.
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>> wodruff: and george johnson, as someone who has-h- living w.i.v. you've been an activist for many years now. from your perspective, how have you seen either progress or lack of it in your time? >> yeah. it's really tough. kind of wh beverly says, it's kind of like we live at two different-- almost like two different stonewalls for black queer people. when we think about stonewall we think about marcia p. johnson and mismajor, and allf the black trans and femme people who fought so hard through those nights, not knowing they were noing to start a movement. but we alsw, 50 years later, we're still burying more transgender people. they're facing-- black trans women, in pfacing higher amounts of violence. h.i.v. is still an epidemic for black m.s.m.s. so while, you know, rainbow
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capitalism has kind of stepped in and everybody is thring up rainbows and it's 50 years aloit erous still grieving and we're still mourning. we recently had nigel shelby, a 14-year-old black boy, gay boy in alabama, who lost his life by suicide.an so, you know, our pride right now is kind of-- it's just two different pride celebrations kind of happening. >> woodruff: and reverend emma chattin, someone who has been active in the transgender teducation efforts, who e pastor of a church, what have you seen? i moan, how have you seen any progress? l, from my perspective, it's been dramatic because, particularly if you consider the abolishment or the nonenforcement of the presentation laws, where we could finally present o gender as we experienced it, and that began to happen in & blossom after stonewall. one of the other things that wah reale is just the advent of the internet in the las, s to how we began to
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communicate-- excuse me-- communicate, coalesce, and come together as a conity. >> woodruff: and how has-- i mean, your-- much of your effors ocused on the transgender community. how has that intersected with the broader l.g.b.t.q. movement? >> well, education is necessary. there is tension between the trans and the gay, lesbian, and bi communities. so we can't just say that these are our people. we have to educate everyone becauswe're verifferent. we're identity-based. whereas, when we're looking at y, lesbian, andisexual, we're talking abou talking abou. >> woodruff: and picking up on that, mark segal, the challenges abound. i mean, people like to say that the country's come a long way. we referenced howsome laws have
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changed. burtainly attitudes have changed. there are still obstacles. there's still prejudice. it exists all around us. >> we're still second-class citizens. can get married today almost anywhere in this country, and later on that day, be firedwe becausare married. we're second-class citizens because we don't have the equality act. and i think because of that, we need to go back to that time right after stonewall. stonewall-- from stonewall came gay liberation front. gay liberation front was the first organization in america that believed in diversity. we had drag queens -- which today woue wld call trans -- we had biskupics, we had women, we had radical peoe, and at that time we had young people like me. we need to learn to go back, g off twitter, getaur facebook, stock looking fo likes, get into the streets, and let's get arrested again. >> woodruff: beverly tillery, what about that? how do you see th obstacles that are out there today?
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and how do you strategiznk how do you tbout how to get around them, beyond them, through them? >> well, it's ally interesting, you know, hearing mark's story about stonewall. one of the things that ses me is that, you know, we don't often talk about the rot causes of that stonewall riot. it wasn't just, you know, a raid that just happened to happen that day. as emma sas, you know, this wa coming on the heels of people beg oppressed for years under laws that were meant to criminalize the community. and those laws mand daow you could dress, whether or not you could gatherr toget a community, what kinds of jobs you could have. you were banned from having a j governme, you know, for some period of time. and so, those criminalization laws were the foundation of what led to the-- both oppression and
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the uprising from folks. and what we're seeing right now is an attempt to brikng bac those laws to criminalize our communities. look a little bit different, but, again, we're trying to not deny people access to education and jobs when ou talk about a trans- military ban. the access to health care. and, you know, all of that is exasperating the climate of violence that's leading the numbers of folks who are dying in our streets, who are subjected to all kinds of hate violence inur communities. that violence hasn't stoppi . so whauld say is we have to really goto the core here, go back to looking at the criminalization that's happening in our comunities, talking about it, naming it and undoing jl of that criminalization. >> woodruff: georghnson, do you, as we just heard beverly suggest, do you see this as a
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moment where we've stepped back as country on the things that armost important to you? >> yeah, again, it's interestin becahen we discuss some of these issues, it's like it's based off of where ur viewpoint is. you can see progress, where we-- some of us may have not seen anything. and so whereas marriage equality, like, i was happy that day, but i also remember, like, while a lot of more-- organizations were re fighting for marriage equality, you had black queer people who re just fighting t survive. so there was, like, this huge gap being miss and a divide between both communities. and we saw in 2016 when we tried to add a brown stripe, just something simple, so we fellu more id to the flag, it made, like, headlines because so many people were agast even us including ours in part of a movement that we started.
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and it also speaks to, like, how you have, like, the matthew sheppard act, right? but it's actually tthew sheppard and james byrd. and everybody oft forgets that that act is a white gay man, but is also a black man, and that some of us sit at that intersection. so it's very important that you're connecting the issues that we facome across munity together. >> woodruff: what needs to be done? we've hea erdmma chattin, reverendchattin, we've been hearing about the attacks on trans wome especially trans women of color. what needs to be done specifically about that? and, you know, why are we having this happen now is my question. >> well, what needs to be done about that is that there needs to be movement. if we're looking at-- matthew sheppard galvanized a community
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and strengthened aemmovt. the trans communities have yet to have that, and we've had 10m violenders thus far this year of trans women of color,. 10, oka and if we look at the years past, it's6, it's 24 every year. and it is, by and lar, trans women of color. what needs to happen is a movement needs happen. peopled eed to stand up y, "this is enough." and we need more education. we need more connection among people intersectionally with different commu aties. and it long, hard pull. so-- >> woodruf to take?it going >> it's going to take a lot of people. fnd it's going to take a lot o hearts, and it's going to take a lot of people coming together. but it's a movement, and it has to happen. n woodruff: we hear each of you-- and we thank you so much for joining us today, emma chattin, george johnson, beverly tillery, mark segal. thank you very much.. >> thank y >> thank you.
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>> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: aluating the impact of sexual assault allegations against president trump. "the death of politics," a new book by conservative author peter wehner. but first, there is growing attention about the of menstrual products, how they quickly add up and the subsequent impact on access,ul partly for lower-income women. now, many school districts and universities, as well as a few cities and states, are providing free period products in schools for students who might need them or cannot afford them. for our weekly segment "making the grade," l correspondent kavitha cardoza with our partner "education week," reports on efforts to end what's been called "period poverty." >> hello!
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>> hi!te >> rep young women all over the country report remarkably >> everyone's just kind of grossed out and then embarrassed to talk about it. >> aot of people say "that time of month." people say "aunt flo has come to visit." people say "shark week." >> we shouldn't be made to keep it aecret. >> reporter: jorge elorza agrees. >> periods are a part of life, period. >> reporter: he's the mayor of providence, rhode island and he's on a mission to reduce the stigma around menstruation. >> we want a of us to feel comfortable saying the word "period," saying the word "tampons," and "pads." that's a big part of what we're trying to overcome. >> reporr: were you awkward about using the words in public? >> probably! like, at first, it didn't flowas asily. now i wear a "p" for periods, pin on my lapel! >> reporter: you better clarify that, because people will really think that! >> okay, not really, it's for "providence!" >> reporter: elorza says the shame surrounding menstruation has practical implications. a year ago, the city began
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looking into why so many of their students were chronically absent, missing 10% of the school year. ellen cynar, the head of the city's health communities initiative, found, in many cases, it was because girls were on their period. >> it's affecting their attendance at school. it's affting their participation in physical activities. and, it's affecting their partication in social activities. >> reporter: 16-year-old litzy feliz has friends who stay home when they're menstru some can't afford to buy pads. >> some of them have to buy it themselves because their parents doesn't buy it f them. i have a friend she buys it herself. she'll be li "oh, i have to y it now, but i don't really have the money. i don't know whether it's going toe more or less." like, i see them worry about it. >> reporter: cynar says this is not an uncommon scenario. the vast majority of students in providence schools are low- income. >> they're either finding proxy products-- so that would be rolling up toilet par, for example. or, they're not changing their product as often as they should. which is very dangerous toheir
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health. >> reporter: there are usually pa ids availablen the nurse's office, but advocates say many students are toombarrassed to ask, and not all schools have a nurse. besides, says maggie di sanza from madison, wisconsin, they're not ill. >> people go to the nurse's office when they are sick and when something is wrong with their body, or when something is irregular. but having a period is not irregular. >> reporter: cordelia longo from mercer island, washington, forgot a pad one day and spent 20 minutes out of class looking for one. lots of her friends had the same experience. n' i just wanted kids to step back and see it dojust happen in african countries or in other places. it happens at home. orter: both teens raised money to buy period products for their schools. soon after they were able to convince administrators to provide them in most bathrooms for free. nadya okamoto founded the
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zation period when she w 16. >> when i heard about period asverty, my first reaction not "oh, that makes sense." it was "are you kidding me?" >> reporter: it's donated more than seven million free pads and tampons. they have 400 chapters in schools and iversities in all 50 states. okamoto says this issue resonates with young people because the stigma around periods is not as ingrained. also, she says, they're more connected. >> in this age of social media, when social media is an extension of our own self- expression and we can use it to connect with people and start conversations, we're able to break the stig digitally, in more ways than could ever been imagined before. >> reporter: states including california, illinois, new york and tennessee have pasd laws to provide students with free period products in certain school bathrooms. but some principals, who did not wish to be identified, complainc these pr are expensive and they aren't getting reimbursed. some say students take hompads
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for family members, or even sell them, adding to the cost. but providence officials say they haven't had these challenges. d that the $75 thousand set aside for this initiative is a fraction of the $75 million city budg. last year, they installed free dispensers in a few school bathrooms. >> so, if someone were to want something, so tell me, what would you like today? >> reporter: say i wand a pad? >> okay, so all you have to do ery easily ipush a button and the product dispenses with a box. >> reporter: solight sou heads wellness programs for city schools. she says students can only take one pad or tampon at a time. >> these are s with a timer for about a minute and a half to avoid any exploitation or over- usage of the procts. >> you need to be able to help them during the school hou. >> reporter: carina monge, who works with middle schoolers, says the dispensers are part of a broader push around health education. she says children often don't have access to basic information
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at home. >> i have a student that, she lives with her father, and the father never told her about the periods. so she learned about how to use a pad, how frequently she needsa to ce the pad, in school. >> reporter: sou says, ecdotally, they're already hearing positive feedback. >> our students did tell us they thwere more ready to learn were able to engage in physical activity such as gym classes without the level of discomfort they had before. they also had increased confidence, and it became less taboo overall. >> let's make it to classes on time, let's make it on time. >> it's a sense of relief.yo can see it in their faces, the fact that a barrier has been removed. s it'sse of freedom. >> reporter: principal wobberson torchon's school had free dispensers this past year. n he's seen the differences students first hand. torchon says this issue is bigger than educatio >> this is an ethical issue. it's a moral issue for the principal. so whatever problem you have in education with a subgroup, with
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a section of the population, we need to address it so that everyone can be on an equal footing inhat learning. anything that affects my students becomes mysp sibility. >> reporter: this fall when schools reopen, there will bers two dispense stocked with free products in every middle and high school in the city. for the pbs newshour and "education week," i'm kavitha cardoza in providee, rhode island. >> woodruff: last week, another woman stepped forward toib cr accuse president trump of a forcible, violent sexual >> woodruff: last week, anothe woman stepped forward to accuse president trump of a forcible, violent sexual assault-- one that meets the legal definition of rape. it allegedly happened back in the 1990s, but as william brangham reports, this latest, startling allegation hten far less attention than one would expect. >> brangham: on friday, lo ctime writer aumnist e. jean carroll accused president trump
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of attacking her back in the late 1990s, describing a rape we alleges occurred in a york department store. carroll's legation is detailed in her upcoming book, and was excerpted in "new york magazi." she describes a violent encounter with the then-real estate mogul insidthe store's dressing room. s.>> he pulled down my tig and it was a fight. i want women to know that i did not stand there. i did not freeze. i was not ralyzed, which reaction that i could have had becausit was so shocking. no, i fought. and it was over very qckly. it was against my will 100%. >> brangham: carroll confided two friends soon after the event, and both have recently corroborated her account to multiple news organizations. president trump, however, has repeatedly denied the accusation. >> what she did is a terrible-- what's going on. so it's a total, false accusation.
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and i don't know anything about her. >> brangham: and to the "hill" newspaper, he said of carroll," she's just not my type."e atute of limitations for , pe has passed, going by carroll's timeliich means the president can't be charged. e. jean carroll is now at least the 16th woman to credibly accuse president trump of some form of physical sexual misconduct or assault, and the second woman to credibly accuse him of what the law would consider rape. the president has denied each and every one of thesecu tions. lucia graves writes for the "guardian," and she detailed the story of one of the president's earlier accusers-- and she's spoken with many me of them in the course of her reporting. welcome to the newshour. >> thanks for having me. >> brangham: so miss carroll's allegation, as vivid and graphic as it is, traction with what the president said he does in that notorious "access hollywood" tape where hesays he grabs women by the genitals
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without hesitation. it also dovetails with what many women have said the president has attempted or done to them in the past. i men, there is a-- a pattern has emerged. >> yeah, it actually tra almost exactly with the story that jill harth, his forssmer busissociate told to me-- >> brangham: this is the woman you reported on.n >>ly of 2016. yeah, she was the first accuser t come forward with the story of sexual assagainst the president. although, she also filed it in a lawsuit in the 90s-- all of the details that are in the account and the sort of thing that he described doing on tape as published in "the washington post" are almost remarkably consistent. >> brangham: when carroll account came out on friday, "the new york times" didn't put it on the front page. they put it in their book section. same with the "los angeles times," the "chicagtribune," "the wall street journal." why do you think this accusation didn't get more attention? >> so that did surprise me, even though i felt when my story came
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out in 2016, it didn't receive anything approaching the coverage and pickup that it should have. but i would think that with a sitting president and with 16 credible accusers and the charge of rape, that would have changed. >> brangham: do you think it's just that the press has become inured to it,hat they've-- it feels luke there are just so many of thes accusations, they can't run them all down. "the new york times" editor sort of regretfully said we didn't give it the play we really should have. what do you think is going on there? >> i don't think that the "times" should necessarily be i do think that this is very prevalent in political media culture. and i think it's part of why we've been-- and i do feel it's a "we"-- have been so slow to this story and these kinds ofor s and why coverage of other men, harvey weinstein and bill cosby-- didn't come until as late as they di
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>> brangham: you have spoken to not just one but many of the women who have accused president trump of this kind of behavior. and i'm just curious, what is ur sense of how they do, both coming forward, coming with the courage to come forwaraandy this, the attacks that then follow, and then the aermath, when there continues to be this ongoing echo of new accusers piling on? how do they handle that? >> i think it's exhausting andti trauand i think that you-- we actually heard this directly from e. jean carroll when she talked about why she didn't come forward sooner, which was one os the things that was sort of leveraged at her, and she knew would be. and shekn said, yo, i had no desire to joint ranks of those womenfacing death threats and troll and, you know, people calling them liars, the president calling them too ugly to sexually assault." >> brangham: and we should say again for the record that the 1esident has00% denied all of these accusations. but what does it say to you that ye still seem to have a ver
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difficult time reckoning with the seriousness of these allegations, even today, in the "me too" era? >> i think it's incredible just the notion that women get raped is because they'reve attracnd not because it's an insult and about power isng very wreaded. and i think that we like to think there's been so much growth. and, clearly, the media-- and i would-- and even sort of political establishment, to some -- is evolving on this. but i think this shows that we'rnot anywhere close to where we thought we were and where we like to consider oursel s to be. >>brangham: lucia graves of "the guardian," thank you very being here. >> thank you for having me. druff: the next item on the "newshour bookshelf," "the death of politics." how to hl our frayed republic
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after a period of deep divisiveness. author peter wehner served in three republican white houses, and writes about the tone and rhetoricf president trump and its effect on the polity. peter wehner, welcome back to the newshour. >>e.hanks, thanks for having >> woodruff: so even though the title is "the death of politics," i think it's clear ality to this book because ink feel like politics is a low moment, and a lot that has toha happen isn'tening and there is danger that this could be a death of some of the best of the american political tradition. but, ultimately, it's abook of hope. it's a book that argues aginst cynicism, corrosive cynicism; against fatalism; and a reminder that the public can change thena re of politics and make it better and higher and that it can once again stand for things that the politics should, which really justice. >> woodruff: so before we talk
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about the prescriptions, talk about why you think politics had been so damn this country? what has gone wrong? >> yeah, that's a good queion. i think there are a whole confluence of facertors. s been a tremendous amount if cultural and economic change in this country,location, which i think has caused people to be 2 become unsettle i think there have been failures of the political class, which has left peoped discournd frustrated. i think there are political cultures gotten angrier. social media has been introduced that's a new phenomenon which riestmplified the ang voices. so i think a lot of things have happened. adershipour political has-- has not been up to the task. and the country itself i think is in a state of disrepair, a lot of loneliness, a lot of lack of connection. i argue in the book that our politics is angry and brokenm because nsomsure, our country is angry and broken. and politics is a stagche on whi that plays out. >> woodruff: and do you write
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about, peter wehner, how this all started yars ago. and, yet, you do spend time, lot of time in the book, focusing on how president trump, in your view, has made it worse. >> i do, i do.i on't blame him for all of these situations because a lot of these trends predate him, but i think he's made virtually all of them worse. you know, we've had divisive a polarizing presidents in the past. what's different with donald trump nmy estimation, is veral things, one of which is i don't think we have ever had ain presidenamerican history who seems to take such delight in inflaming th dy politic, a person who seems to get a kind of psychic satisfaction out of antip theerk creating antipathy, anger, and divisions. he seems to thrive on that, and he keeps going back to it again and again and again. i don't know that anyone has ever controlled the public conversation like trumpas.
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and the fact that he uses that bully pulpit to divide suin my estimation, a terrible thing that has to be correctedfor politics to get better and for the country to get better. >> woodruff: what also mes across you, as a republican, and as a chrstian, that it's been very painful for you to watch this happen because you feel republicans have enabled it and the christian evangelical community. >> that's exactly riht. i've been a republican my entire adult life, and a christian for most of my adult life as with. my faith is mo important than my politics. they're both important to me. and it habeen both air diing and a painful time for evangelical chrtians, what's been most pa mnful fore is i think they have-- many, not theirut many of them in leadership have discredited the christian witness. what i think they have done,
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which is shameful, is it thata theyven't spoken truth to power. they haven't held him accounotble. they've only gone silent with his moral and ethical transgestions. they've defended him. and that i think is kind of intellectual and moral mistake of tremendous dimensions. >> woodruff: so whenlook at christian leaders, how do you explain their enthusiastic w,pport for the president? >> well, you kni think part of it is a kind of political tribalism. i think they view donald trump y, the general of their arm the leader of their cause. and he's under attack, and theya have decided they're going to defend him, no matter what, because he needs their defense. think, frankly, that for some er them, there's the seduction of political powthat the idea that if they are at all critical of tusm, they're going to lose access to that power,ey and don't want to do that. i'll tell you, judy, the other thing that's important f some evangelical christians -- not all-- is at precisely the
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thing that ought to bother them the most, the cruelty, the dehumanization t characterizes donald trump-- i think they not only are not troubled by it, i think for some of them they appreciate it because they feel like this guy will figuratively bring a gun to a knife fight. and there's a tremendous amount of anger and frustration and grieences that christians ha felt, and they look at donald trump as someone who is going t fight em. i think it's a huge mistake. i think it's led them to very dark places, but i think that's part of what's going on. >> woodruff: so there's a lot of write here to despair over, in your view. but you also write that you think this country can come through it, that the amrica people can come through it, but it's going to take effort by not st people in the political realm but by citizen, by the press, that a lot of peoe have a role poplay. >> that's exactly right. this is goa selrning country, and we have it within ourselveseourselvetes to wriondl new chapters in the american
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story. but it does require will and persistence, and it requires reclaiming an appreciation for values and virtues that matter, that maybe over time we took for granted and forgot about, things like honor and integrity.th ane is something, they argue in the book, of the mantle of citizenship, that we have take control of our lives and politics but we can do it, one person acting alone may not make era dice, but a lot of people act together can make a culture, and that culture can fix our pol and i cans make ouy coun better and more decent. >> woodruff: peter wehner, the book is "the death of politics: how to heal our freyed republic after trump." thank you. ha thanks so much forng me . >> woodruff: and that is the wshour for tonight. on wednesday, countdown to the
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first democratpr presidential ary debate. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrowight. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. aca language program that s spanish, french, italian, german, and more. >> conmer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> 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
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and individuals. >> this program was made n possible by the corporatr public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ni capt sponsored by newshour productions, llc meptioned by a access group at wgbh accessgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.
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hello, everyone. welcome to nd"amanpour company." here's what's coming up. what we're hoping we can is to get people to look at this a little more differently, comea togeth share ideas and hopefully we can sha a framework. >> reporter: the white house unveils a $50 billion economic plan for the palestinians. the prime m fister calls peace first. we have an exclusive interview. then -- >> tonight we are taking this broken history and trying do something with it. >> reporter: a newhbont documey on the civil rights lawyer brian stevenson and his long crusade for civil justice. i talked to him as the