captioning sponsored by newshourroductions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight:ng "fanhe flames." chants at president trump's rally add fuel to anlready cendiary debate over race in america., then fun turns scary. a popular apthat can make you look older or younger raises fears of russia's online influence. plusas marijuana goes mainstream, certain strains turn to luxury. "making sense"f the champagne of cannabis. >> the place you want to be is on the high end. not just quality, t something about your style, something about your story. and you make it a small batch, and you make that your advantage. >> woodruff: all tt and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com.n >>mer cellular. >> babbel. a language program that teaches anish, french, italian, german, and more. a by the alfred p. sloan foundation. ting science, technology and improved economice performad financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporion of new york. supporting innovations in

education,geemocratic ennt, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support ofhese institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: one day after chants of "send her back" erupted at a re-election rally for president trump, republicant ggled with how to respond. as white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports, the controversy surrounding mr. trump's tweets that four progressive congresswomen should return to their native countries shows no sign of going away.

>> here's the chant that i would >> alcindor: in north carolina,a a controversl chant, and ( "send her back" chants ) th capitol hill, republicans playing defense, afallout over president trump's racist tweets deepens. asat a rally in greenville night, the president again falsely accused congresswoman ilhan omar of supporting terrorist groups. the muslim minnesota lawmaker is a naturalized american citizen, who came to the u. as a somali refugee. the crowd-- including children-- chanted "senher back." this morning, house minority leader kevin mccthy downplayed the president's role in the chants. >> it was a small group off to the side. inat the president did-- the president did not n. the president moved on. >> alcindor: but others offered slight pushback. >> the point is, they're all

american citizens, entitled to their voice, and when they do provocative things, they'ret going to be th provocation. this is a two-way street. >> i'm just ready to move on. i mean, this is-- i don't hate anybody. i think, this is america, you're entitled to your opinion. >> i believe he is fascist. >> alcindor: today, omar responded. >> this is what this president and his supporters have turned our country, that is supposed to be a country where we allowic democrebate and dissent, ab take place. and so, this is not me. this is about us fighting forat wh this country truly should be, and what it deserves to be.y >> i was not hith it. >> alcindor: at the white house presidump told reporters he didn't agree with the chants. he claimed that heerried to talk hem at the rally. >> i started speaking very quickly. it reay was-- i disagree with , by the way.

but, it was quite a chant, and i felt a little bit badly abt it. but i will say this, i did, and i started speaking very quickly. ( "send her back" chants ) >> alcindor: asked if he would stop those chants in the future, the president replied: >> i will try. i would certainly try. >> alcindor: last night, the president succeeded in firing uv the crowd, butal of his claims-- specifically about representative omar-- were not based in fact. the president accused omar of praising the terrorist organization al-qaeda, which is not true. mr. trump also falsely said omar "hates israel and hates jews." omar is openly critical of israel and its influence in america. she has apologized for comments that, she said, were not intended to be anti-semitic. >> everyone knows that's nonsense. >> alcindor: today, majority m

leadch mcconnell also brushed off criticism that he is helping to advance racism in amreica by not speaking out against the president's rhetoric. >> we ought to tone the rhetoric down across the country. using, throwing around words like "racism," you know, kinplof routinely ng it to almost everything-- let's talk about the issues. >> did you see or hear trump's ralllast night? it was despicable. >> alcindor: democrats, meanwhile, seized on t rally, including presidential candidate and former vice president joe biden. >> to stand and attack those four women in the way he did. talking about them going back home. the racist, basic taunts. >>lcindor: there's no sign president trump will abandon his efforts to stoke racial tensions ahead of the 2020 election. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: to weigh in on thes republicannse to the president's rhetoric, i'm joined

by the former republican senator from arizona, jeff flake. senator flake, thank you very much for joining us. i know you have been following what the president's been saying th week. at's your reaction? >> well, it's, franklyan awful thing to say "go back to where you cameom." it's just not commission we ought to countenance, and it'ss damaging, it damaging, obviously, for the president and his standing, but it's nothing that any of us ought to stand>> for. oodruff: and as you listen to some of your former colleagues, a number of the have, we know, stood by the president, others are sayingfi that thed what he's saying unacceptable or, in the words of senator tim scott, racially offensive. how do you read what members of your own party are saying as they hear this? e well, i would like to more pushback, obviously, on the president's language, i wished

that for a while. on something like this, it's much like the phrase, you know, calling the press the enemy of the people if it's used often enough and unless there's enough pushback, it becomes normalized and puts journalists in danger of, you know, world worldwide. something like this, you know, it erodes our value, ourrd stanand our standing in the world. it's something that body ought to stand for. there's no good, you know,se exor this kind of language. so i wish that my replican colleagues wouldn't even try and simply say, mr. president, this is unbecoming of the office, you shouldn't say it and you oug to apologize and certainly not stand by and listen to people chant your rallies. >> woodruff: speaking of that, the president said, today, at the white house, he said that disg.e.d. -- disagreed with thei chant and saipoke quickly as it was underway.

and, of course, we've gone back and listened to what happened last night and there were ten oo eleven secondf chanting before the president spoke again. >> well, roll the tae. if there was disagreement with what was being said, it wasn't voiced by the president, there was no indication and, of course, what was said was simply paraphrasing what the president had said, which he has reallydi nosavowed. he's phrased it differently now, but he hasn't apologized for it. obviously, he should. >> woodruff: why do you think more republicts are no speaking out and calling out the president? >> well, obviously, those who are close to reelection don't want to see any distance between themselves and the president. the president is very popular among primary voting publicans, and my colleagues know that, and, so, it's difficult to politically stand up. but, i mean, that should be no excuse. for me, when i was deciding whether i would run for reelection, you know, one of the things that i had to consir

and what weighed most heavily on my mind is having to stand wi the president on the campaign stage if he were to campaign with mewhich he would have, i assume, if he didn't oppose me in arizona, and i would have had to have been okay when people chante"lock her up," for example. i would have had to have been okay when he ridiculed my colleagues, my democratic colleagues in the senate or ridiculed the minorities in my state or my colleague john mccain, and i determined i simply couldn't do that. there are limits, and ink thi that the president has long tested them, and i would hope that we would stand up as republicans and saye cannot normalize this kind of behavior. it's one thing, yoknow, to support somebody more progressive or a demra you know, political pendulums do swing. w concern is thaen the political culture changes, that

it doesn't snap back, it doesn't -- that pendulum doesn'p swing as welrticularly given the overlay of social media. >> woodruff: right. and the way politics areru ured today. >> woodruff: i just wanted to quote one of the current sitting members of congress from youhor state of arizona paul gosar tweeted just a day or two ago, he tweeted, wa referencing the president's criticisms of the foureromen, meof congress, he has a picture of them and he said above that, more like four horse men of the apocalypse. >> yeah, i've heard that a few times from others as well. that's unbecoming. mr. gosar has a bit of a history of making outrageous comments like that. so i would hope that more republicans would actually condemn what is said rather than excuse it and maybe up th ante, as we're seeing here. >> woodruff: do you think thal is a polittrategy, though, senator, that could work for president trump?

nk i do thihat a certain number of his supporters do like it. you saw itt the rally. ( audience chanting ) and it may harden them and make them more excited to come out and support the president. i think, overall, though, it turns off millennials, certainly, suburban women, others that we need in the coalition as republicans to win so i think that the president definitely is using it as a strategy to really buoy up the baset this kind of base politics, you know, you can win an election thre anere, but, over time, it wears and, frankly, i think that 2020 will be a time when it's worn too thin. i just don't see how you cano offendny groups and still have a coalition big enough to win. >> woodruff: former senator jeff flake of the state of arizona, we thank you. >> and thank you.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, federal court records shed more light on president trump's knowledge of hush money paymento the 2016 election. the money went to silence two women who claimed they had sex. with mr. tru the documents showed he spoke repeatedly with michael cohen, his personal aorney at the time, as the payments were organized. cohen is already in prison, but it was widely reported that prosecutors will not file additional charges. cee u.s. and iran have clashed again, at the entro the persian gulf. presidt trump says an american warship destroyed an iranian drone today, when it came within 1,000 yards of the ship, and ignored warnings to move off. he spoke at the white use. >> the united states reserves the right to defend r personnel, facilities and interests, and calls upon all nations to condemn iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce. >> woodruff: news of the drone

incident came hours after iran confirmed that its revolutionary guard seized a foreign tanker in the gulf. toate media said the impounded ship was trying muggle fuel out of iran. the vessel was based in the united arab emirates. and we will be speaking with the foreign nister tomorrow. anwhile, the pentagon is sending roughly 500 u.s. troops to saudi arabia, in aimed at iran. reports today said the troopsfo will make readadvanced warplanes to use a key saudi air base. the nation's top homeland s curity official drew fire today over conditir detainees at the southern border. kevimcaleenan, the acting secretary of homeland secretary, went before the u.s. house oversight codeittee. he defthe trump

administration's efforts, but the committee chair, democrat ejah cummings, rejected it out of hand. >> you feel like you're doing a ob, is that right? >> we're doing our best, under trying... >> what does that mean? what does it mean when a child is sitting in his ows! can't take a shower! come on, man! what's that about?!f none would have our children in that position! they are human beings! >> woodruff: mcaleenan said conditions improved greatly after congress recently approved emergency funding. and, he said, the numbers of children being separated from families has dropped sharply since last year. the u.s. house voted today to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade. majority democrats pushed through a bill to raise the wage to $15 an hour, over six years. it is now set at $7.25. the measure is given little chance in the republican-run senate.

the national weather service today warned of dangerous eratures in nearly half the lower 48 states, in a scorching heat wave. in washington d.c., families stocked up on water bottles on the national mall, where temperatures are expected toit 100 degree some 158 million americans will face heat advisories and warngs, from the plains to the mississippi river valley, and eastward. in japan, at least 33 people were killed today when a man set fire to a polar animation studio in kyoto. black smoke billowed from the three-story building for hours, as rescue rkers scrambled to pull people out. they worked well io the night, as bystanders looked on. >> ( translated ): never expected such an incident could happen this close to my neighborhood. so many people lost their lives or got injured, and i really feel for them. it is so outrageous hearing this was caused by arson, regardless what the motivation could have been. i feel anger towards the suspect. >> woodruff: officials said the1 suspect was ear-old man, who burst into the building

shouting "you die!," and dousedg the place wioline. he was burned in the attack before being arrested. officials in the philippines say nearly 8,000 police officersha been punished for misdeeds during a nationwide anti-drug offensive. more than 2,000 were fired outright, and the rest were suspded, demoted or reprimanded. at least 5,500 people have died in the drug raids.es ent rodrigo duterte launched the campaign three years ago. back in this country, the u.s. environmental protection agency nounced that it will not ban the widely used pesticide pulorpyrifos. environmental anic health groups argued it has been linked to neurological damage in children. but the e.p.a. said critical tquestions remain about t claim. iorm and industry groups welcomed the dec but supporters of a ban are expected to fight it in court. back in this country, ral judge in new york denied bail today for financiejeffrey

epstein on sex-trafficking charges. he iaccused of exploiting dozens of underage girls in new york and florida in the early 2000s. epstein was silent as the judge refused to let him await trial at his manhattan mansion. late a lawyer who is representing some of the victims commended the judge's action. >> only by taking away the freedom of jeffrey epstein can we restore the freedom of these victims. they have been living in fear and intimidation since theay they were abused by him, and now he is in jail. >> woodruff: psecutors argued that epstein was a danger to the community and could be a flight risk, and the judge said he agreed. puerto rico's governor, ricardo rossello, insisted today that he will not step down, despite protests roiling the u.s. territory.vi ence erupted last night, as thousands of people marched to rossello's residence in san juan, and police fired back with tear gas. ovotests began after online

chats showed thenor and aides insulting women, gays andv even hurricatims. president trump today accused island lears of corruption and of wasting hurricane aid. the goveor of hawaii has declared an emergency as growing crowds of protesters delay construction of a giant telescope. the project is slated for mauna kea, but some native hawaiians say that the work will desecrate sacred ground. up to 2,000 demonstrators have turned out to prevent construction. the governor's action gives police more options to remove the blockades. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained three points to close near 27,223. the nasdaq rose 22 points, and the s&p 500 added ten. and, the top u.s. diplomat in iran during the 1979 hostage crisis has died. l. bruce laingen was appointed to tehran just months before

iranian protesters stohe u.s. embassy. he was among the 52 americans held hostage for 444 days. as 96. still to come on the newshour: how pharmaceutical companies fueled a spike in overdose deaths, as the opioid epidemicen was wog. ruphoto app goes viral, and sparks fears oveian misuse of facial recognition. taking history into the future. the new head of the smithsonian institute, lonnie bunch, in hisi first nationalerview since taking the helm. and, much more. >> woodruff: this fall could see a legal reckoning for opioids manufacturers and distributors. states and cities are set to bring a series of national lawsuits in ohio. the epidemic has led to a series of tragic disasters that have

unfolded over two decades involving opioids, heroin and fentanyl in different waves. hundreds of thousands of people have died throughout the country. now, as william brangham tells us, a new database has been unearthed that gives the largest look yet at the scope of the problem. >> brangham: this datase-- which the industry and the government fought to keep secret-- was dug out by an investigative team at the "washington post." it is data collected by the drug enforcement agency about everyll single opioid ade, shipped and sold in the u.s. between 2006 and 2012. the "post" analyzed the path of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills. those were two of the key drugs in the genesis of the wholeid opio crisis. and their analysis offers a jaw-dropping look at the tidalve wa of drugs that washed across iothe country-- some 76 bin pills in all. scott higham is one of the

"wasngton post" reporters on this series. he joins mnow. scott, welcome back to the "newshour". just an incredible piece of reporting and analysis you guys have done here. i wonder if you could walk us riking findings from this data base. >> you know, the sheerolume of pills that were spilled across the united states of america between 2006 through 2012 is just jaw-dropping. there were 76 billion pills that were distributed or dispensed across the country during thatfr timeme, and 75% of those pills wereistributed or dispensed by some of the biggest names in the drug industry. mckesson corporation, cardinal ,ealth, amerisource bergen, cvs walgreen's, those companies distributed 75% of those 76 billion pills. >> and the strack levels of

saturation in some these communities. can you talk about how the simple vole of pills that were dispensed in these tiny communities? >> yeah, you know, the striking thing from this data is tat little tiny towns in rural america were heavilyby this epidemic. pharmacies that serve, u know, just a few thousand people received millions and millions of pills. you know, under federal law, the companies that are shipping these pills and dispensing these pills are under an obligation to report suspicious orders, and a lot of timesdhey din't. and, you know, it looks pretty suspicious when you have a small pharmacy and small town dispensing millions and milis of hydrocodone and oxycodone tablets. >> reporter: that'sight, this database, if you look at it from a sales per sperveghts it's tht you like to see, sales going through the roof. if you look at itrom a regulatory perspective, this is a road map of red flags that the

companies should have seen. can you explain a little bit tbout a little more about wha the companies are supposed to do if you see sales spiking like they were? >> yes, i mean, this is a closed, tightly regulated system. it starts at the top of manufacturers, in the middle are the distributors, and at the bottom are the retailers, the pharmaes, and then the docto on the street level. yo if there's a break in that closed system ere along the line, pills start leaking out. so everybody in the sstem has responsibility to report suspicious orders, to report suspicious prescriptions, and they're supposed to report those to the d.e.athand stoose sales from going through, and time and time again, they did not report those suspicious orders and they let those sales fly. >> reporter: and what if these companies said about their failure do that, those requirements under the law? >> well, you know, they blame

this on overprescribing doctors, on corrupt doctors, and they also blame it on people who have misused these pils and become addicts, and they blamed the d.e.a. for no t doinga better job of monitoring the situation. >> reporter: there's the -- there are two maps in your reporting and the striking correlation in which they seem to indicate, one is where the pills went in red, and the other is where the opioideaths occurred, the map in blue. it doesn't take a data scitoentt ee the correlation there. >> no, it's quite stunning. stephen rich, who's our databas editor, took the pill data from the d.e.a. database we won access trt in a cou fight -- it took us a year to get that database -he took that database and measured that withh c.d.c. prescription death

database, and you see the areas of the heaviest centration of pain pills are also the areas of heavst losses of huan life. everybody has thought they knew this, but you don't know yout know it il you see the data and see it lining up, and it's just stue ing. there aces in west virginia, southern virginia, all roughout app -- apalachia where the death rate is 12, 13 times in national average in places where millions and millions of pills came nto these communities. >> reporter: you have now posted this database on your web site and it's serchable. help me understand what people can do with that database now. >> so you can go on and you can take a look and see, state by state, county by county, how manyills came in to your community, who shipped them, who dispensed them, and o manufactured them. so this is data that the d.e.a. has kept secret many, many years, the industry kept secret for many, many years, this is

the dustry's own data ey report to the d.e.a., they fought very hard for the public not to see this, and now that we've wothe court case, we believe this is a true public service, that the public des rves to see thiand every citizen and every place in america can now go online and take a look and see what exactly happened in their community.sc >> reportert higham of "the washington post," thank you, very, very much. >> you're welcome. thank you. di woodruff: the growing popularity of a netal application called faceapp, a photfilter that allows users to transform their features by addi wrinkles or taking them away, is sounding alarm bells among privacy advocates and members ofongress. it sparks questions about how the images of u.s. citizens, and their faces, could be used by foreign governments. amna nawaz has the story.

>> nawaz: that's right, judy. at first, it seemed fun. celebrities, like lebron james, wereploading pictures of themselves using faceapp to make them appear older. a number of other celebrities have joined in-- comedian and actor kevin hart, for example, and the former boy band the jonas brothers. but then, the fun turned to wrinkle-causing worry in some quarters. that's partially because of the location of faceapp headquarters: st. petersburg, russia, and, because the democratic national committee warned campaigns not to engage on faceapp. let's clarify what the concerns are about, and the larger picture around all of this. joseph jerome is with the center for democracy and technology, a non-profit that aims to protect the privacy rights of internet users and advocates for stronger legal controls on government surveillance.om joseph, weto the "newshour". >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: so let's talk about the concerns. penal are wondering where are md photos goingow are they being used. are those legitimate concerns?

>> i think it's a good but wrong question. s a perfect privacy storm when happ what happens when youn rmation and privacy is protect bid bad, overbroad and poorly-drafted privacy policies. so faceapp has been clear, you can go tot is privacy policy and see what it does with the informion, it makes pducts better, shares anonymous information with some people, makes this information available to law enforcement, it basically gives itself broad rights, do whatever it wants with this information, but that's almost every application we use onle these days. >> reporter: not unique in that way. >> notept all. >>ter: you said it uses it with law enforcement? what does th mean? >> all applications, all information is subject to lawl access requests for information, this is true of local u.s. american law enforcement. i think what has sort of gotten sople confused or at leart of upset is this is based in russia and, obviously, a company

based in russia is under russian risdiction which means that that information is available to russian law enforcement and the broad access through which russian law enforcement get information is probably surprising to american consumers. >> reporter: so there are concerns about that. as we said in the introduction, senator chuck schumer expressed those concerns explicitly. take a look at what he had to say. >> this is breath taking level of access, all too common in murky apps like these that raise ry substantial privacy concerns. we need more than the surances, we need the facts. the potential for our facials data and the data from all our friends and family contained in our photos to fall into thend of something like russian intelligence or the russian military is really tubling. >> reporter: there's obviously heightened concern about how russian officials use information gained from social media and other platforms. is that concern legitimate here?

>> so i can certainly understmod why ats after the 2016 election are concerned about potential russian intd ference cess to information, but i think it's very important to distinguish between russian intelligence trying to hack intc e-mails and onsumer application that's based in russia. a i do think that some of that is little bit overblown. what i think is actually really of concet here is that your photo, when you give it the faceapp, is going to somehow end up on a billboard in russia or anything like that but that sis information iad is going to be used to basically improve the facial detection analysis and recnion ago algorithms of faceapp, and we've seen this with other type of photo analytics and management tools where we have a simple app that ts you manage your photos, seems pretty innocuous, and, before you knowo it, al those photos help power all of the algorithms that are great at face detection analysis and then ose too can be used to provide facial recognition services to employers, to law enforcement again, but also, you know, to

schools, and we've also sort of seen facial analysis being usedd ect health conditions. so really the genie i out of the bottle to do interesting stuff with facial data. i don't think individual democrats need to bre woried faceapp is going to be used against a democratic candidate frankly a democratic politician or staffer, but all of this dust does sort of go into powering facial lainltics tools that are really powerful d very hard for average people to understand. >> reporter: there was some concern around that pricy agreement. as you mentioned, it's not unusual. other apps have simar agreements, but other people are concerned about what else is the app gathering. what about other info on my phone? >> again, it's a pretty generic ivacy policy. it preserves the right to gather technical information, device identifiers, things companies often say are anonymous. again, actually don't think

faceapp is terribly perniciou it's not the exception to the rule. if we're concerned about faceapp, we ought to concerned at all apps and that's part of the larger privacyti conver that privacy advocates like myself have been pushing for a long time. >> reporter: in 30 seconds, ifte you ca us for folks whoab want advicut how their information is being used, what is that.nk >> i don't teading privacy policies will help. i think individuals need to reach t to their lawmakers, state, local and federal lawmakers and punch them to p forth privacy protections. when it comes to facials, thern gont said there are no federal laws for protection. so if we want face data protection, pass a law and congress can do that anyti it wants. >> reporter: joseph jerome, for for democracy and technology, thanks for being here. o thank you.

>> woodruff: whilech of today's news from washington naturally focuses on the political life here, there is another well-known part of the nation's capital that's allam abouica's history and art. that is the sprawling smithsonian institution, which houses more than 150 million artifacts and works of art and attracts some 30 million visitors a year. in may, the smithsonian named its newest secretary, lonnie bunch iii, and last week, i caught up with him at one of the museums he oversees, air and space. h it wasis first national tve interview siking office, "cd is part of our ongoing arts and culture seriesvas." lonnie bunch has come home. >> ibrought tears to my eyes i'm proud of you, sir. >> thank you. >> this was my first job here at air and space. >> woodruff: bunch calls his asition 40 years ago as an education speciali

historian at the smithsoan national air and space museum his "first real job." >> oh, yh. >> good to see you all! >> woodruff: portraits of the smithsian secretaries through the years line the halls of the main administrative building. now, bunch is the first african american to lead this revered institution in its 173-year history-- the world's largest museum, education and research complex. >> man can accomish these kinds of things, and, as long as you're educated, you can do this. this was tied to my parents' commitment to education, and it was kind of "how do these things happen?" and it really created a kind of inquisitive nature of trying to understand life.nt we sany an hour talking about going to the moon, talking about philosophy, talking about terature. >> woodruff: bunch grew up in belleville, new jersey, where he and his family were the only african americans after his grandfather, a former

sharecropper, moved to the area as one of the first black dentists in the region. bunch also has worked at the national museum of american history and led the chicago historical society. en, he was the founding director of the national museum of african american history and culture, one of the hottest tickets in washington. bunch said he believes every part of the smitonian can drive home the importance of history to everyday life. >> there's something so rich about seng this, the richness of an artifact. the smithsonian is a place that's as much about today and tomorrow as it is yesterday.f: >> woodrunch is the first museum director to become secretary in decades. we talked in his office about the challenges that lie ahead as he now oversees a $1.6 billion annual budget that supports 19 museums free to the public, plus

nine research centers, 21 libraries and the national zoo. 29 years you've spent one way or another connected to the smithsonian. what does it mean to now be the head of it, the secretary? >> well, it's both humbling and frightening. so, for me, it's about helping the smithsonian be the placeth that iglue for america and that helps america grapple with who it is, help it understand itself in this world. >> woouff: there a lot of firsts connected with you. you are the first historian to fcome secretary. >> i think beingst historian means that you view the world through a different lens. you'relways looking how you contextualize, how do you help people understand by looking back. and so, what hope is that i can help the whole smithsonian be the place that people look to-- n just to visit, but for answers to help them live their lives.

>> woodruff: you grew up in a time when this country was very much in the throes of a civil rights conflict. >> right, what it meant is that i had to learn and negotiate race at an earlier age. and one of the ways i tried to do that was by learning, looking at history, by understanding the history of this town, because i wanted to understand why some people treated me wonderfully and other people treated me horribly. i remember walking to elementary school. there were little girls that would sit on a porch, and, as i walked by, they would always tyell, "oh, god left you oven too long. you're too, too, too, too dark." and i didn't understand that. e history would be my way of understanding myself. and later, i realized history was my wayf understanding the country. it helped me understand that the key for my success is to embrace ambiguity, to understand that i've got to be nimble, tond undershat there are shades of gray, a that in essence, it's taught me that there were no simple answers. >> woodruff: do you come into this job with fully formed ideas

about what you want the smithsonian to be? >> well, i think, inways, it is recognizing that the smithsonian is unbelievably veneted and visited. and now, the question is, how could we add value in the traditional ways with great exhibitions, wonderfcation programs? but how it also can give peoplth tools to livr lives, to understand climate change, to understand ethnicity andace, to understand scientific innovation. well, you think about the products that we create and to make sure they have contemporary resonance. so for example, if you think about deep time and the dinosaur hall, what is so powerful about that is, yes, it reflects all the new science, but it also raises issues of eironment and climate. >> woodruff: and you mentioned climate change as something that you want to incorporate into the perspective. >> well, i think it's already there. and so, the key is to just be clear with it people

understand. not that there is a political agenda, but that we're really saying the smithsonian is an educational institution, and it's our opportunity and responsibility to help you understand the world you're grappling with today. >> woodruff: and how do you do that? >> well, i think younk about it in different ways. you create. one of the ways to doing this ta creairtual smithsonian, is to recognize that millions and millions of people come to the smithsonian every year, but millions more will never have th opportunity. to find the balance between the traditions and innovation. >> woodruff: you've written about the influence ofndolitics and g of museums. it doesn't get any more intense than here in washingn. we are living in is the most brutally polarized time

since maybe even the civil wary. in this coun how do you navigate that? >> partly, i learned a lot in chicago. chicago's politics are pretty interesting, as well. i think e reality is that the smithsonian is not partisan. i feel that i have very strong relationships on the hill and in the white house, and that my notion is that everybody who caes about america should c about smithsonian. >> woodruff: you've talked openly about your commitment to diversity. is the smithsonian today as diverse as you want it to be in every respect? >> no. the smithsonian has done a much better job, and we're very goode er on issues on gender. i won't be the secretary just in search of diversity and inclusion. but it's real clear to me that c 't be the institution that matters to americans if we don't reflect that diversity. >> woodruff: i ask in part because some people say, well, "well, wait a minute, are we going to see a latino american museum, a museum of an women in history, a museum of the l.g.b.t. community?" how do you think about all tnot? because wethere are pressures to come up with something to serve eacmmone of these ities in america.

>> my whole career has beeg about expande canon, making sure that the history, the culture that is tplored reflec diversity of america. so, that's not goingo stop. i think that at this stage, it's up to congress to determine whether or not we build new museums. >> woodruff: with so many big decisions to make, bunch said he likes to surround himself with a few reminders of the smithsonian's massive collection which have personal meaning for him. >> look, the hoe is taller than she is. the basket is heavy. >> woodruff: the 1890's photo called "return to the fields" by rudolf eickemeyer is one that t. i keep this wherever i am so i can always see i so, no matter how bad the day is, i say, "it's better than what she got." >> woodruff: bunch says he hopes each visitor to the smithsonian will find inspiration, too. >> the breadth ofit

the smhsonian is part of the wonder of it. and i don't ever want to lose that. whdon't want to ever lose ere you can walk from understanding dinours and gems, to derstanding race, to looking at the history of the americanud presidency, tonly looking at the lunar lander and ncrecognize how central scis to the world that we live in today. t, that, to me, is the gr joy of the smithsonian. >> woodruff: next, we come back, to our serthe green rush." now that adult marijuana use is legal in calornia, the state government is starting to write the rules in order to be considered a growing region. the hope is that by doing so, it could provide a lifeline for small farmers.

business and economics correspondent paul sols the story. it's part of his reporting, "making sense." >> reporter: in mendocino county, california, swami chaitanya announces his presence. ( ringing bell ) to ganesh, hindu god of-- among other things-- good luck, who presides over the crop swami grows to produce "swami select," s patented marijuana brand. >> all the potency is in the male plants. >> reporter: so why do you have the males here? >> well, because we don't know which is which yet.r: >> reporh, is that right? >> yeah. at a certain point, each plant will yeclare. whatr gender declaration, right? they do! i'm not kidding you. >> reporter: so cannabis is gender-fluid. >> absolutely. >> reporter: california's marijuana market has itself been pretty fluid of late. swami's been growing years nd his remote ranch. but he went legit, legalization broht costly

regulations, and taxes, which his black market colleagues aren't saddled with. and new industrial-scale rivals have economies of scale that lower their costs. so how can a small legal grower like swami possibly compete? branding. >> the place you want to be is t the high end. not just quality, mething about your style, something about your story, and you makech it a small band you make that your advantage. ir reporter: niche branding, as with wines and t atppellations." >> so the idea is he soil that a crop or a product grows in creates something in that product which is unique, and if you grow it anywhere else, it's not going to be the same. >> reporter: french wines are classified by location, grape variety and winemaking practices. champagne can only come from champagne. swami claims to produce thepa che of pot. >> if you take a bottle of sparkling wine from spai eor anywhee, and compare it

to a veuve clicquot or dom peri different than wine. the product is an expression of the soil it comes ou and the culture and skill of the people who make the pr >> reporter: at alpenglow farms inisumboldt county, the cann flourishes near waterfalls, and flowers. >> this is our signature strain. we have bred this over the last 15 years on our farmere. for our site and our location and our climate. >> reporter: this specific environment is what french winemars, and now california pot growers, call their "terroir." craig johnson is shooting for a "southern humboldt" appellation. >> industrial america is not producing what we produce. you're not seeing rows of greenhouses here. we have regenerative growing practices, where we're closing loops.st more than sunable. and more than organic. so this is the internet ofhe earth right here. these long fungal strands. we have living soils. you peel back that cover crop

and there's worms and biology. the checks and balances of nature we try to keep in tune with. >> reporter: and thus the entire culture of cultivation is what makes his premium products a hit. even his vaping oil. >> so this is extract from ourow , "blood orange kush" that was grown here on our flat.ac this is exd by a company called chemistry. and you can think of it as a-w grape growemaker relationship. >> reporter: and they're the winemaker. they're the winemaker and we're the grape grower. this is single-source, single- bah. >> reporter: it's like a vintage? >> yes, this would be summer 2018, southern humboldt county, alpenglow farms. >>eporter: of course the business model wholly hinges on consumers caring where their cannabis comes from, and willing to pay up for it. craig and wife melanie a betting they will. >> there is a strong resurgence for family, family-owned, family

farms. people want that experience of knowing where their food comes from, where their medicine comes from, and i feel that as a small farmer, we wl always have that niche. we may not have a million people but we'll have enough people. >> we have a little bit of cloud cover this morning. >> reporter: in order to find their ople, the johnsons brand-boost every day. on instragram live, for instance. >> my goodness, i wish you guys could smell that.we ave people popping up live from israel, uruguay, new york. i want people to know alpenglow farms. eawant them to have an image of this site, this and have a-- >> a connection. >> to the plant. r orter: the johnsons are, of course, aware of the very different image of w they harvest: >> i've been shot at, beaten, kidnapped thore times. >> rr: on humboldt ovunty's murder mountain. >> which is righ there. >> reporter: a netflix documentary about the murder of a black market grower presents a

lawless, vlent image that mboldt farmers are intent on countering. swami, in a prior life william winans, a '60s wesleya, filmmaker, san francisco hippie who spent ten yearin india, has his own angle. is the way you're dressed, the way you look, have anything to do with furtheri your branding, because it gives it authenticity to swami select? >> i was a swami before i really started getting into growing the finest cannabis, right? but they go hand in hand because there are many, many swamis in india who start the day with a chillum of hashi, right. and it's seen as a sacred plant and seen as a way to get more in touch with the divine energy which surrounds us all over the place. >> reporter: and swami, who's been toking for more than 50 years, thinks there's "getting in touch" and "getting in touch."t but dohave to be an aficionado to be able to tell the difference? >> that would help. >> reporter: dylan mattole thinks an appellation

designation for his "mattole valley sungrown" canis key to his farm's future. >> it's more than just an ricultural commodity to us. it's part of our culture. >> reporter: as to survival against industrial-scales, investattole says wine is just one model. >> we have budweiser and we havo hundresmall microbreweries. >> reporter: some of mattole's nnneighbors have formed a is farmer co-op to create some economies of scale. >> hopefully we will still have a chanat we can actually compete against corporations. i don't have the money to spend on marketing. i mean, with all these other farms, we have a chance, so we can pool some our resources, i might actually be able to do some branding. >> just packaging producis very difficult, not only the cost but the regulations. working together, each of us can share a piece of that burden. >> reporter: michael salbego reminded us that necessity is the mother of invention. >> we grow in this sustainable fashion becae we couldn't afford to just go out and buy everything in bags and buckets.

we had to use the manure on the land or cultivate things from our own property because that was at was affordable. this is all going to turn into ilrt. >> reporter: like ade from amazon boxes. oh you got a bonanza of worms here. >> basically, the worms process the paper into a super readily available plant nutrient. >> reporter: so small farmers are selling the step beyond sustainable or organic: regenerative farming. but the market has other ideas. >> now, all of a sudden, what we did naturally was just farming. it's now, it's how mans do you have on instagram? how many pictures have youed po and you've got farmers, familyn' farms, that know if they're going to make it. we're up agapost people with ets that are so deep that they can survive at a loss for the next five years,eto capture mahare. >> reporter: swami chaitanya's forecast? >> our dedication is to making the finest cannabis that we kn how to grow, and how big that gets, it's not up to me; it's up to the goddess of economics,

actually. >> reporter: but if lakshmi, hindu goddess of wealth, has made up her mind, she isn't telling anyone for sure just yet. for the pbs newshour, this is business and economics correspondent paul solman, deep in the woods of northern california. >> woodruff: the documentary, "hale county: this morng, this evening," about a community in the alabama "black belt," was nominated for an academy award earlier this year for best documentary feature. filmmaker ramell ross,pent more than five years making the film, gives his "brief but sptacular" take on the bla experience in documentary film. it's also part of our of arts and culture series, "canvas." >> we look at black folks. we don't often look from black folks. and the reason why that's the i

cabecause the sort of worldview of the u.s. is the white gaze. and so blackness is the other. you go into a black community. you don't leave a black community. >> i live in hale co currently, been there for ten years. i moved there to teach photography and then eventually ran a youth program. and eight years livi s there, peopll knew me as the one who could help someone write a resume or help someone get into college. that role gave me mo leeway, and, and allowed for people to trust me by default, before i intended or thought about making a film. i talk about the film as a return to home for a northern black american to the historic south. looking through my eyes, i'm encountering the moment in the same way in which you encounter the moment. i'm waiting and watching and participating, in hopes that something magnificent would

unfold in front of the camera, in a beautiful frame. when i'm filming quincy and we walk outside a literally a storm is born on the horizon,in i'he same shock and awe and appreciation for the moment, viscerally, as you are when you encounter it on screen. making the film was the mostof pround five years i've ever had. oo one has access to the nuclear family, the living onvironment over the course of many years in sos family. this is where the myths are made. this is where you learn how love. and i was able to witness that in daniel d quincy's lives. if we weren't stuck in our p first-persnts of view, i'd argue that most problems in the world that have to do with

inequality would be solved because we wouldn't be stuck in our single points of v. my name is ramell ross, and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on the centrality of the black experience in documentary film. >> woodruff: and you cd additional "brief but spectacular' episodes on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, e rman, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minssons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com.e >> concellular. >> financial services firm

raymond james. >> and with the ongoing supporti of these instis >> this program was made possible by e corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to yoom pbs station iewers like you. thank you. ctaptioning sponsored by newshour prons, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

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