captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc ening.druff: good i'm judy woodruff. s the newshour tonight: stopping the flow rets. south korea revokes a key intelligence-sharinggreement with japan, threatening the u.s.'s security efforts on north korea. then, how much is too much? america braces for a trillion dollar deficit. what it means for the health of the economy, as spending sinks deeper into the red. plus, when the ship comes in. modern luxury cruises, ancient european cities-- are seafaring tourists helping or harming the places they visit? >> it's going to create quite a

few social problems over the ne i few years, particularlyn areas where people want to go and visit. >> woodruff: allhat and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. bs major funding for the p newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving ourconomy for 160 >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life welplanned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cellular. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian german, and more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. cupporting science, technology, and improved econo performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic entgement, and the advancem of international peace and security. carnegie.org.h >> and we ongoing supporttu of these insons: >> 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: there is word the white house has backed off a plan to slash more than $4 billion in us foreign aid. the about-face is being widely reported tonight. the cuts would have included humanitarian relief, peace- keeping and global health

initiatives, among others. but, lawmakers and se topni trump adration officials warned they could harm national security and jeopardize budget negotiations. the democratic presidential field is smaller by one tonight. and, there are reports that the republican field might grow by one. john yang has our campaign 2020 roundup. >> i'm not going to be thees ent, so i'm withdrawing tonight from the race. >> yang: washingtostate governor jay inslee becomes the third democrat to drop out of the 2020 presidential mpaign, deciding instead to seek a third term as governor. inslee made fighting climate change his signature campaign issue, and encouraged other 2020 hopefuls to adopt his far-reaching policies. today, vermont senator bernie sanders unveiled his own plan. the sanders "green new deal" declares a climate crisis, and calls for 100% renewable energy for electricity and

transportation by 2030, creating 20 million union jobs to combat climate change, and rejoining the paris climate accord. the sanders campaign estimates the cost at $16.3 illion, and says it will pay for itself in 15 years. meanwhile, in colodo: >> i've always said washington was a lousy place for a guy li me, who wants to get things done. but this is no time to walk awat fr table. >> yang: former colorado governor john hickenlooper, who ended his own presidential campaign last week, today announced his plans to run for senate, becoming the 14th democrat vying to take on g.o.p. senator cory gardner. but, as the democratic presidential field winnows down, the republican side could grow. former g.o.p. congressman joe walsh of illinois says he is explorina long-shot primary challenge against president trump, whose support among republicans in is as high as 90%.

the one-term tea party lawmaker and now talk radio host supported mr. trump in 2016. but has now become a frequentti and loud c >> he's a horrible human being. he's a bad, bad guy.le and every siay, every single day, you, i and everybody watching us is reminw damn unfit he is. rm yang: walsh would join massachusetts governor bill weld in the g.o.p. primary. for the pbs newshourjohn yang. >> woodruff: in northwestern syria, governmt air strikes targeted turkish forces for a second time th week, raising the risk of open conflict between them. the attacks sent smoke rising near a turkish outpost in idlib province, but there were no reports of casualties. it came as turkey sent a convoyi oforcements into idlib. the turks back rebels in the province. the syrians are trying to retak. the regi high school students in

cahong kong have joined th for political reforms. hundreds of young demonstrators held a sit-in in a downtown square today. th carried signs and chant anti-government slogans. at the same time, university students called for boycotting the start of classes in september. the president of brazil has conceded today that his government lacks the resources to fight raging wildfires. the fires in the amazon rainforest has increased me than0% this year, but president jair bolsonaro had initially declined outside help. meanwhile, french president emmanuel macron called for this weekend's g-7 summit to treat the fires as an international emergency. ick in this country, the white house signalmay indeed call for payroll tax cuts, but not until next year.

economic adviser larry kudlow spoke outside e white house. >> the long prnge plan is to ide additional tack relief to middle-income people, blue-collar people, but that's long-run project. it probably will come out during the campaign. >>oodruff: in a second interview, kudlow said, "we don't believe in the recession talk." a a panel of judges in north carolina today cleared a mentally ill man of killing a college student 40 years ago. james blackmon is 66. he now gee, after spending most of his life in prison. blackmon wore a superman-type cape and claimed he was like dracula during police interviews in the late 1970s. prosecutors used his confession anyway. the nation's biggest phone companies pledged today crack down on robo-calls. it is part of an agreement brokered with all 50 states. the companies said they will

offer free tools for consumersck to bhe unwanted calls. but, they gave no timetable.t americans estimated five billion robo-calls every month. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 49 points to cl 26,252. thnasdaq fell nearly 29 points, and the s&p 500 dropped one point. >> cousy is won six nba titles sith the boston celtics, and also known for speaking out against racism and for his black teammates. still to come on the newshour: how will south korea's bitter diplomatic break with .span impact u. security in the region? the health of the economy in the balance, as the federal deficit slides deeper into the red. president trump walks is support for gun safety laws, but

the debate over how to protect lives coh inues. and, mre. >> woodruff: the two most important u.s. allies in northeast asia are engaged ia maging economic confrontation, haunted by a long and painful history. today, that confrontation between japan and south trea moved in national, and global, security realm. it was south korea's turn today in an increasingly serious feud with japan-- seoul announced the end of a key intelligence sharing deal. >> ( translated ): south korean government has decided to end see general secuty of military >> the "general rity of

military information agreement" fostered direct intelligence communication between japan and south korea. >> woodruff: but, it also helped to anchor historically rocky relations between tokyo and seoul.ok those sharp turn for the worse this summer. japan increased limits on exports to south kor including on critical tech materials, used by large korean businesses like samsung. >> ( translated ): it is not our intention to have this affect japan-south korea relations, nor is it a counter-measure against the country. >> woodruff: the recent economic fight sparked mass anti-japan denstrations in seoul. but the anger runs much deeper, and is centuries old. daniel russell served as an american diplomat in japan and south korea and oversaw themi obama stration's negotiations that resulted in the intelligence sharing agreement.

talking to south korea and japanese, they will take youen back to 1592, apan invaded south korea. theris a long litany of grievances, particularly in last three years. there has been steady series of events. one slap is met by another slap between seoul and tokyo. >> woodruff: at the root, riofound korean national resentment of im japan's sexual enslavement of korean women during world war ii. japan met long-standing korean demands for an official apology for the abuse of so-called "comfort women," in a 2015 agreement with korea's former president park geun-hye. but president moon jae-in revoked that agreement when he came to power in 2016. >> ( translated ): on the issue of comfort women--

umwartime crimes against hity can't be swept under the rug by saying "it's over." >> woodruff: aging survivors continue to demand more from japanese president shinzo abe. >> ( translated ): in japan, i was so hungry that i had to eat grass from our dorm garden, and my hair fell off. i livelike a slave there, but abe is saying like it was not. >> woodruff: korea's younger generation showed its outrage, too, this week. time, but they're still not owning up to the past, and zing to theapolo victims of forced labor, they are engaging in economic retaliation. it makes me really angry. >> woodruff: alla f this weakens itical alliance for washington, and military officials are ncerned. marine corps commandant david berger: from a military perspective, it's important to be able to share information because each country has information that the other ones will need.

and, the ability to move, >> woodruff: at a press conference in ottawa, secretary of state mike pomeo said he hoped the two countries cod sort out their differences. and we h countries can begin to put that relationship back in exactly the right place. >> woodruff: but the uptick inte ion could be a symptom of white house policies, at a critical moment for the korean peninsula. >> there have been series of actions that should have caused the trump administration not to mediate, but to modera, andes remind both ale face common danger from north korea. risk to american citizens is vastly increased when there is e degradation inetwork, security alliance, that connects japan, in korea, faced with a

threat like north korea. >> woodruff: even as the president is weighing what he would try doing if the economy inows down, there were stu new figures yesterday about how the deficit is gettingorse than projected. the news came from the non-partisan congressional budget office. in fact, as a share of the tota, econhe deficit is now reaching its highest levels since the end world war ii. lisa desjardins takes a closer look at what is bind the jump, and how the debt could limit some of the choices in the event of a future downturn. >> desjardins: that's right, judy. the deficit is expected to close inn $1 trillion this year, and then stay over $1 trillion for every year on the horizon. all told, the c.b.o. says due to recent changes in policy and the economy, deficits over t decade will be $800 billion higher than it projected just a

few months ago. those changes include a triof debt pushers-- the bipartisan budget deal is raising spending, the republican tax cuts are lowering revenue, and they econerall is slowing down. let's break this down with maya macguineas of the committee for a responsible federal budget. maya, thank you for joining us. i want to look at the long-term issues here. let's ok at what the deficits are projected to be now for the next few years, look at that, $1 trillion, $1 trillion, $1 trillion as far ashe eye can see, $1 trillion and above deficits. let's s ok at how thilates the g.d.p. and the curve historically. you can see that high peak in world war ii. now we see we are on path toe near thosels that we were hitting in world war ii. i think biggest question to you, mayback you have said and c.b.o. has said this level of debt is unsustainable. what does that really mean to the average american? what will happen if we do keep on this trajectory? >> yeah, and the trajectory is a

stunning one, as your chart shows, because the fact that we are at the debt levels that are the highest they have ever been relative to the economy other than just after world war ii without having fought in a war, a world war, sort of sows you this is a very different situation. this is self-imposed by a lot of policy choices. the reason this matters to american families is a number of issues. first, it can have negative effects on the economy. it slows economic growth at a very time when we should be inking about how are we going to grow the economy, both immediately but also in the long-term, because we have a lot of challenges based on agng. secondly, it affects your if you're spending money on interest payment, you're not spending that on important public policy. and we do have an interest payment, but despite very low rates, because we have so much debt, are going to keep growing as a part of the budget. really on people's minds is the fact that if and when you have a recession, youant the use

borrowing to fight that recession, that's what fiscal stimulus is, but in our next recession, our dealt relecativeo thomy will be twice as high as when the recession of 2008 hit. that means both monetary policy and fiscal policy, those toolboxes are depleteed, that means fighting the next ngcession will be challen >> the cb the fiscal referee, looked at the policies. they looked at the republican tax cut. they don't believe those tax cuts will pay for themselves. they also found corporate tax revees were lower than expected. they said it's too soon to conclude if that is correct related to the contacts cuts or not, but overall, maya, how big of a deahol do you think tse tax cuts are in terms of the budget and economy in the future? >> it's a huge deal, lisa, for a number of reasons. first, when we did tax reform, which was absolutely necessary, we should have done it n a way that did not add to the debt, either by getting rid of a lot of tax breaks, raising over

revenue, cutting spending. we should have done revenue neutral tax reform. the fact we didn't means it will have less of a positive ef tfect economy. i the we're already seeing that. it also waters and it makes it more difficult for us to move forward on doing what we need to do to actually fix the debt. but people who are saying at the time, oh, these tax cuts will pay for themselves, that was always a fairytale. it's still a fairytale, and you add to that the spending increases. this is an era of just charging areverything on the credit and it is going to make the economic challenges of the future ever so much more difficult. desjardins: another policy c.b.o. looked at was trade policy and tas. they found the tariffs would impact the economy, bring down g.d.p. slightly, around 0.3%, but also have a bigger impact on imports, biggest industries affected would be agriculture and farming. so not too many surprises there. maya, my bigger question overise

thiss like an issue like claimant change where we know it looks like there ia large problem ahead, it could be avoided if we take action now, why is it that lawmakers in washington are not having a serioutdebate about wha to do over our fiscal health? >> i do thienk that's the prfect thing to liken it to. it's an issue where there is no action-forcing moment. people are doing their best, some people are doing their best to pretend it's not really a problem, a you're hearing that more and more, don't worry about the deficit. intere rates are low, we should borrow so much. this is a dangerous path. but i thk it boils down in many ways to nobody is willing to make hard policy choices. and fixing the federal deficit requires increases irevues and controlling spending. there is no way around it. but in the highly partisan time erere the parties are fighting against each otthey would rather give things away and kind of level with the american people aout what we need to d to budget responsibly, and it bodes so poorly for the future, both if and when we're hit by a

recession, but longerrm, everything from changes to technology and the workforce to date our social contract, aging of the population, these are tissues we should be talking about in the budget. i feel like we have a competition of kind of false promises and giveaways between our politiciansyhese das. >> desjardins: we will keep looking at those. obviously this will affect many generations. maya macguineatefor the commfor a responsible federal budget, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: choppy waters for the cruise indury, as european cities grow tired of tourists. examining the hidden impacts of slavery 400 years afslr the firses were brought to america. plus, a "brief but spectauular" take osm and seeking acceptance. but first, it has been almost three weeks

since the mass shootin el paso and dayton, and president tremp has again gly changed his mind on what gun reforms he is willing to consider. william brangham continues our periodic look at some of the proposed reforms to try and reduce the bloodshed caused by guns in america.>> rangham: we are in the midst of a grim cycle.ic a trmass shooting occurs. a community-- in this case, two-- grieve the loss of l innocees. thoughts and prayers turn to calls for action. political leaders promise to do something, but then, in many cases, action doesn't materialize.as we do this onal look at what might be done, and whethero any of these pd reforms would actually save lives. there's talk now of universal background checks for every single gun transaction in america. there's talk of more "red-flag erlaws," where people can authorities of trouble with someone whhas weapons. but, we're going to look now at the idea that some say should

be on the table-- to limit high-capacity magazines, which ove a shooter the ability fire off more and more rounds before they have to stop and reload.i' joined now by david chipman of the giffords center, the gun safety group. chipman spent 25 years as a special agent at the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, where he focused, in part, on gun trafficking. welcome to the news hour. >> thanks for having me. >> brangham: for people who ot been following this debate or haven't held firearms or don't understand how guns operate, tell us a little bit more. what is a high-capacity magazines? >> so in a smi-automatic weapon, a weapon that every time you pull the trigger, a round is fired, there is a metal box and spring in whi rounds of ammunition are held, and so it is self-loading every time youhe pullrigger. it also gives you the opportunity to reload really qut kly. it's alms if you press a button, a printer cartridge fas out and you can inert another one. this is very different than what the first gun i had at a.f., which was a revolver or what you

would see on west world. >> brangham: an olxsi shooter. >> you have to drop individual rounds in. if you were in a gunfight to actually reload, we used to retrain for hours for that. this is sort of th2.0 of weapons today, and it makes itt very, very ll. >> brangham: and high capacity means what kind of numbers are we talkingbout? i think concensus has been around 10. there are a number ofso rea why... >> brangham: 10 and above would be high? >> say 10 and below would be regular,ñ i think it's a guess. it's like picking a speed limit, 5should it be or 65? what we do know in the npd they have examined over the year how many rounds are fired in a adly encounter. even among police the number is me youfive on average s think twice as much of that would allow any citizen to properly defend themselves. when i ws on a.t.f. swat team,

my sidearm had 15 ros. my shot gun had six. i did have an asslt rifle, which could hold 30, but i was also tracking and hunting dow the most dangerous armed americans, which really isn't the b of a civilian. >> brangham: right. so why do we care in this conversation about hignecapacity magawhen we're talking about trying to limit the carnage of mass shootings? >> i think it's like a flu shot, and the bumpersticker that people who are against this say, well, it won't stop a shootg. actually, that might be correct, what it might stop is a killer from transforming into a killing a machine. look at the assassination attempt of my boss, gabi giffords. she was shot with first or second round. no capacity limit would have protected her, but pe rhar staffer wouldn't have been killed, a federal judge wouldn't have been killed or a nine-year-old child wouldn't have been killed if that shooter did not have a 32round

magazine, twice the size of the magazine i had on my a.t.f.-issued gun. >> brangham: so the idea is if you limit the size of these magazines or the capacity of the magazines, it's a moment to intervene. if mass shooting is going on an that person has to stop to reload and take that ma out and put a new one in, that is a moment for the good people in that environment to try to stop that event. >> that's what happened in tucson. unfortunately it ha after 32 rounds were fired, but in that case those survivinpeople who were there tackled the shooter, and law enforcement were trained r thull in gunfire. it allows us act taal advance. the reality is, despite what you see indie-hard and other movies, it is really hard to reload. you have to train very hard, especially under pressure ifei you're shot at. >> brangham: so right now there armagazines that kill up to how big? you mentioned 30 in the tucson ghooter.

how big are maazines now? >> what's frightening is we're seeing drum magazines at 100 now. we saw that -- >> 10 brangham:0 rounds. >> 100 rounds, which is interesting for a rifle, because in a box there are only 20 to a box some this one magazine would be fivboxes of ammunition. we first saw this in aurorabe g used and most recently in dayton we saw it used. another episode was in las vegas. most of the media focused on the use of a bup sto there, which allowed for the shooting to happen more quick, but really one of the results and why this dperson was able to kizens of people and wound hundreds was the fact that he too had 80 and 0 round magazines. it's just path. if you're firing that many rounds down range, there are people there, you whit more people. you don't have to aim as precisely and death tls increase. and so looking at magazines, it's kind of lika flu shot.

perhaps you don't stop the flu in every cas ye, but can prevent a lot of it. i think that's what we're trying tohis here. >> brangham: so are there states right now that are limiting magazine sales to ten? i understand that there are probably millions of these high-capacity magazines clips that are alady out the in the population, but there are states now that are trying the limit thenumber of these. >> there are nine states now and the district of columbia that do this. the firssstate they wa involved in this conversation was right after sandy hook and colorado, move forward with regulating the size and capacity, and nw conditioningman ted deutsch, who represents the area ofkl pard where we had the school shooting, he's introduced a house ll that would regulation the future manufacture and sale at ten rounds. >> brangham: california, as you know, and ver amoso recently saw their own attempts to limit high-capacity magazines thrown out by the couinrts,

arit's an infringement upon the secondmt. n't that an obstacle to this? >> sure. any policy decision or way we go has to be satisfied in the courts. that's one court decision. we'll have to see if other courts address it the same way. but it sems to me a very reasonable approach. talking to any gun owner, 100-round magazine is just not traditional, it's noot nrmal, and i can't think of a purpose beyond killing a lot of peonge for hat. so if the debate is should it be ten or what have you, it can't be 100. and so i think there's roowe wheran have progress, although we will not have perfection. >> brangham: david chipman of the gifford center, thank you very much. . thanks for having m e

>> woodruff: s europe's most beautiful waterfront cities are joining forces to try to reduce the impact of cruise ships. venice will ban larger ships from entering the city's historic center, a result of citizens' protests, after a cruise liner crashednto a pier earlier this summer. restrictions are being imposed in belgium, croatia, and greece, in places that are overwhelmed when liners disgorge thousands of passengers onto their picturesque streets. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been to some of the popular de his report in southern england. ( foghorn ) >> reporter: it's departure day in southampton, s e of the worlin cruise ship bases. thus begins a voyage of indulgence for the multitudes on board, and gritted teeth for many in theiports of call. business is booming thanks to commercials like these. >> land ahoy. and our mediterranean adventure begins. first, ocourse, the full

english. ancient history and cultural treasures abound. we're lucky to get a set. but we don't overdo it. >> reporter: not overdoing it? many europeans beg to differ. the welcome in europe isre becoming iingly frosty. a number of prime destinations are questioning the value of hosting cruise ships. among them, barcelona in spain, venice in italy, dubrovnik in croatia, bruges in belgium, north, medieval bruges is swamped daily by up to 50,000 visitors. but the influx is being curtailed to prevent this unesco world heritage city from morphing into disneyland. we don't want to be a park, a tourist park, no. >> when we let everything free and you can do what you want, then there will be no inhabitants in bruges. it will all be like a museum, a

large museum. you must work and you must live and you must create in the city. it's not only a city for amusement. >> reporter: last year, 8.3 million people visited bruges. most were half-day trippers. six million stayed less than three hours. many came from cruise ships. at peak times, bruges residents can be outnumbered three to one. not all citizens applaud the mayor's initiative. at this empori, assistant katja debecker says bruges is only just recovering from a drop in visitor numbers after terrorist attacks in paris and brussels more than three years ago. >> it used to be packed in all the streets.re not any no. so, what is he complaining about? maybe some of the people who live in the center of bruges? i do, five minutes from here. ,don't care, in the eveni 6:00, everybody's gone. so? i'm happy the place is full with

people buying my stuff. >> reporter: this is a glimpse of bruges' localort, that will become familiar in the future. no cruise ships. under thnew edict, a maximum of two liners will be allowed to dock each day. next year, the number of arrivals will fall by about t%. that's a h mayor is willing to take. one of his major gripes, shared by other european destint ions, is thawith their all-you-can- eat buffets, the liners discourage passengers from spending ashore. >> they are not spending any euro, mayba little bit of chocolate, a ltle bit of beer. but they do not go to restaurants. no, they must be as quick as possible again, on the ship, because all is included on the ship.

>> reporter: tom boardley is the industry's point man in london, where a projected new terminal is cing opposition om local residents who share the pan-european objections. >> we've got to try and address those, and in some cases, if nessary, modify the way we operate in order to satisfy those cotelaints. >> rr: which means staggering arrival times to avoid crushes like this at the acropolis when several ckeise groups rup at the same time.is tour were treated like cattle as greek culture ministry guards wrangled e lines. >> don't stop. keep going, keep going.t doop there. don't stop there. >> reporter: pollution is another battleground. a recent european study lamented the large amounts of noxious particles emitted by s pps' engines t. such pollutants increase the risk of cancer a cardiovascular disease in copenhagen, the "queen elizabeth's" funnel looked beni. her owners boast she's equipped with the latest exhaust gas cleaning stem, but the

environmental group, friends of the earth, claims her air pollution record is poor. >> it is down to the global community to start saying "okay, well, let's start properly taxing the emissions that these ships are producing."ep >>ter: travel expert simon calder believes amsterdam hasst ted an important trend by imposing a $9 a head levy on cruise passengs. but he prescribes even tougher action. >> it's up to these individual cities to say, okay, if you going to moor a cruise ship here, then we're going to start causing you port taxes of $50 per person, maybe. something which is reaing to benefit the city, and furthermore, it will disincentivize some cruises, which is probay in the long run, a good thing. >> reporter: the industry argues such taxes will merely force ships to find friendlier destinations. tom boardley insists it's striving to be green. >> we need to move to hydrogen

or biofuel or some other solution. our solutions will be those that the world finds. >> reporter: cruising may be increasinglyontroversial, but newly-engaged primary school teacher robyn murphy is a huge fan. >> you don't have anage restrictions. i can bring as much clot is and shoes ike, and i love the fact that you can wake up in a new city every day. t you wakup, explore the city, go back to boat, enjoy the food, they've got theaters on there, shows on there, and go to bed, and wake e in a new city again. so, i like the e being able to visit different countries. >> i can construct an intellectual argument which says we are quite close to a tippin point where the passengers are going to say "we don't want to pay any more, we don't want to have the miserable experience of being the third cruise ship in town on a wednesday in dubrovnik." >> the walled city of dubrovnik is one of europe's jewels. >> and, basically being unableth to get intold city because there are simply too many cruise passengers and we're going to

take a different kind vacation. however, all the evidence is that the demand is insatiable. >> ah, carnival's new ship, the carnival "horizon." >> reporter: the growth of the industry is capped at about 6% a year because ship yards around the world can't build them quickly enough to cope with the lure of pleasure at sea. but if european destinations are hoping that demand might waned ey can experience some relief, here's an informed prediction.th >> botu.s.a. and europe are beginning to understand that not only is tourism a major contributor to g.d.p., but it's also going to create quite a few social problems over the next few years, particularly in areas where people want to go and visit. there's a vast new middle class in asia, particularly in indiad anchina, that is just beginning to travel, and they have oy just begun to whet their appetite. so the question is, how do we accommodatmore tourism in an environmentally-friendly way? un reporter: as the industry is guaranteed a vaspped market, more maritime conflict may be steaming over t horizon in the future.

for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in southampton. >> woodruff: 400 years ago this month, in august 1619, the firs afriaves arrived in virginia. it is regarded by many as the beginning of america's long relationship with slavery. the 400th anniversary-- and the ways slavery has affected american history since then-- are being commemorated. one of the more notable efforts is the "new york times'" "1619 project," which is spotlighting parts of history that are less well-known. we are going to focus on some of the economic legacs, including the larger connections with modern capitalism.ec ically, we're going to look at how the production of, american sugown as "white gold," helped to fuel slavery and became ingrained in our society. dystorian khalil gibran muhammad

of harvard's kenchool wrote about that for the "new york times." "louisiana," he wrote, "led the nation in destroying the lives of black people inhe name of economic efficiency." and he jns me now. he joins me now. profes very much for being here. help us understand how sugar is connected to the origins of american slavery. >> sar was the most dominan economic incentive for european colonyization of ths.ameri no other crop was as abundant or successful in drawing europeansh to theseres, and i mean by that north america and south america, for the purpose of cultivating sugar for a worldwide market, and particularly forurope that had already established a taste for sugar but would grow exponentially in terms of demand over time. there's no way the really understand the significance of

the colonization of the aerica without understanding the role of sugar in it. a >> woodruf explain how slavery played such an important role from the very beginning. >> sure. so the origin story, of course, is that christopher columbus brings this with him by way of the spanishlands in 1943. so sugars all right across the globe, but it is not the commodity it will be once columbus brings it to the new world. as such, sugar was always an incredibly difficult product to produce. first the cane itselfs heavy and unwieldy. secondly to, take the plant and turn it into sugar required incredible labor and often daerous and difficult labor. >> woodruff: and you write about how, of course, that began in the 1600s, but then it went on literally for hundreds of years. it changed shape. you get closer to th civil war

and the shape of the sugarin stry has changed. but still slaves are an essential piece of it. >> abolutely. so louisiana doesn't get into the business of sugarcaneun cultivatiol the end of the 18th century, as a result of the attempt to cultivate sugar, it blossomed an bloomed, and by the top of the 19ethntury, louisiana was producing about a quarter of the world's cane sugar supply, a pretty miraculous turnaround. all of that was made possible by the enslave. of people of african descent. >> woodruff: aknow i'msking do you skip over a lot of history here, but you move forward to today, to 20th and even into the 21st trend i, and you write about how the legacy of what happened in louisiana and otherl es still plays a role in the economy, a vital role in theom ecof this country. >> well, if we go from sugar to

cotton, we basically explain twp that in their totality explain much of the infrastructure of our capitalist economy to this day. wecan explain everything from the abundance of land that was originallyeld by the indigenous and the labor of enslaved people as america's competitive advantage. by the 19th century, cotton, for example, was essentially the major export of the, united statd that cotton export helped make possible the wealth not only in enslaved people, but also the wealth of banks in the north that we responsible for financing investments in this country that weroften mortgaged on the basis of enslaved people. there's no way the really understand the economic might of america by the 19th century without understanding the role of cotton slavery and earlier sugar slavery. >> woodruff: one of the other

writers for the series of articles in the sunday "new york times" matthew desmond, he's a professor at princeton, writes about how not only today onomy has its roots in slavery, but that modern american capitalism is as severe as it is in its treatment of people and that that too has its roots in slavery. some people are going to look at that and sayis thaa leap too far? how do you answer that?'s >> well, good yes, and i can see why people would give pause, but if wt take a sep back, we really ask a fair question, we could ask ourselves, has our economy been ilt on the notion of personhood or profit? and in that sense, from slavery to the late 19th century to the 20th century today, people have been ground up in our economy for the purpose of

money making. how else would you explain the great labor unrest of the late 19th and early 20th century that brought us essentially our modern social welfare system, eve the new deal, but for the fact that capitalism created misery for people at the lowest end of the economic totem pole. that'serur history, whee like it or not. some people prospered in that system, but it was system that was often quite brutal to workers who were responsible for doing the heavy lifting of our economy. >> woodruff: finally, why is it important, professor muhammad, that americans understand what you have written about? >> well, it's important because we don treat our pasts with the same commitment to truth and honesty and accuracy as we do, y, science a technology. if there is a concern in this wy and age about the questioning globming or

climate change, scientists are under attacks for making thing up, that's a new phenomenon, a product of the late 20th b centur we've been having culture wars about how the interpret the american past from thvery we good evning, and the consequences of that are what drove the editors of this 1619 project to look clowosely t th of academic historians, just like many people look at the work of scientists and say, what do h academicistorians tell us about the past that we' not been teaching and we have not learned as well as we should? >> woodruff: khalil gibran muhammad, he's a professor at harvard kennedy schooi one of the rs for this "new york times" serie 1 the9 project, looking at the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery. thank you very much. >> thanks so much for having me. >> woodruff: and we'll be back

shortly with a "brief but spectacular" take on tackling social anxiety ahead of the start of the school year. but first, take a moment to hear fromour local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us, how do you speak up and change an abusive workplac entertainment lawyer nina shawks spo steve goldbloom about "that moment when" she decided to empower others to say "times up" and fight for the end of inequity based on gender and race. >> i remember being at a meeting at 20th century fox many, many years ago, getting into a real argument with a lawyer, and he got up and he threw a file at me. i mean, it was a big, heavy

file, and i just ducked. d i just remember thinki afterward as i was heading back to my office, like tult was like a screwed-up thing to do.al the guy phys assaulted me. but i didn't think to call him out on it or call his supe or anything like that. i just kind of handled it, because i always think like you guys are smart and you're goodt at wu do and you're successful, but i don't think you could have lived my life anh still be i room, and i lived my life and i'm in this room. and you had every advantage and you're in this room, so in my mind, that makes me, q frankly, a little bit better thanou. >> welcome to "that moment when." i'm steve ldbloom. nina shaw is an entertainment lawyer who grew up in harlem in the bronx against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and today represents some of the industry's most prominent artists, from laurce fishburne to ava duvernay. she's one of the key voices in

the time's up movement. we spoke about her experiences in the busins and her efforts to bring equality into the workplace. >> the environments i have worked in have often beenps hologically bruising, have often been scarring in different ways, but in my minddon't compare to the environment that so many women work in where thei are actually plly unsafe. they get to make less money. t they ghave less agency and ability to control their lives. and then, as a bonus, they get to be unsafe in the process. and that's really what time's up and my work the last several years in amplifying that message is about. i just want everyone to be safe. i want everyone to be paid irly. and i don't want anyone who lives like me at the intersection of race and gender to ever be discriminated at because of that. >> you are a big voice in thent time's up move

when did you realize that you needed to get involv >> i was among the women who were invitedo the first time's up meeting. i had already been a bit of a rabble-rouser, you know, in speaking up out something that people didn't like, didn't want to hear. so i spoke of the fact that if you go to your agent's office and you sit in that room and you are the only person of color, you know that wrong, you know that is unacceptable, and it is your job to say that to the people who represent you. "the new york times" ended up s picking up tech, and i think the title of the articleke was something a voice from behind the scenes asks tough questions." i remember i got back to my office, and immediately word had spread and a number of agents called me and said, "i heard your told our clients to fire us all." i said, "no, i didn't tell your clients to fire you. i told you to hire someone who

looks like your clients." we're all fighting for the same thing, which is the end of inequities based on gender and race. i had a very clear sense when i was growing up that the thingspp that were ing to me and the things that i could take advantage of were all built onif the sae of other people. >> well, what was it about your upbringing that triggered aan l nse of debobligation to society that you fu owe? >> i always felt this incredible duty, and it probably was because these things werepe discussed so only in my household about what was going on in e civil rights movement of that era. i always tell a story about howo when mwas doing chores, i would sit at the end of an ironing board or i would sit on a stool in the kitchen, and i would read "the new york times" to her. wd people say, "oh, gosh, your mom must have realted you to know about news and all of that," and, no, my mom just wanted to know what was going on in the "new york times," and she couldn't read it herself because she was doing something else that's how she fully integrated

us into the world. i always had this sense of you have to be a really clear advocate for yourself, because no one else is going to advocate for you. >> you have been an advocate for a lot of people, a lot of youngo people or and a mentor. can you tell me about your relationship with mentorship? >> i think we all mentor, and i thtk that we often don't do in a real formal way, and i think the patriarchal really exists on the premise that people in power will take care of people who look and are attractive to them a will bring those people into power. i couldn't imagine a situaon where i didn reach out to or at least respond to people who wanted to be mentored by me. >> what does it feel like to imlk into the room and be the only woman and som the only woman of color? >> unfortunately, up until recently, it has felt entirely normal.

it has often felt sad and isolating, and it has always been something that i don't want for the people who come behind me or after me. >> practically speaking, whatur are some of oals for equity and safety in the workplace? >> i try often when meetings and people ask me questions like what can i do to change my work environment, because i think the easy answers are you can hire, you can be more open to diversity andin usion, but i think the tougher issue is you can be uncomfortable. every time you walk into a room and everyone in that room looks just like you, you need to squirm. you need to feel like this room doesn't work for me, because i foink it's only when we reach that point of disc, when we reach thapoint of feeling like, you know what, this is not good, it's like i'm in a room that's too cold or too hot and you need to feel it the minute you walk thr think until that happens, we're

not going to see real change.dr >> woouff: you can find all episodes of this series on facebook-- watch "at that moment when show." >> woodruff: back-to-school time can bring a familiar sense of nyress and excitement for students as theyciavigate social les and a new workload. in tonight's "brief but spectalar," we hear from 21-year-old college student ben rolnick, who suffers from severe social anxiety, an increasingly common probm among young adults. >> i've always felt that there was something a little different about me. and whenever i do or say something, it just never rlly stuck with people. i was first diagnosed when i was three, although i was completely oblivious to t fact that i was tistic until my parents told me when i was about 11 or .

i'm no longer classified as it, felt because i had that diagnosis, i've always been so far behind everybody else socially. so, when freshman yee around, i always felt like i had the social intelligence of a middle schooler. ystill sometimes to this say random words and phrases just to get people to remember that i'm there. i'm physic i'm not going anywhere. >> when mom first explained it to me,he didn't want me to tell anybody about it, because she thought that the age i was learning, that it would make meo different, and more, like, even more of a reason for people to bully me. my parents would have to help, help me out, you know, arrange playdates. i felt like i d to carry all the weight with most of my friendships in high school and even in middle school.ou theyn't ask me to go do stuff with them. when i had prom, i had no date for prom both years. i wouldn't even really gn invited to e with a group of people. i'd always be going by myself. it was so rare for me to

actually do stuff with people, that when i had them, cherished them more than may an average experience should be. because i feel like i'm always having to be the one, the strong guy in the group, or having to take a bunch of punches, whenever i come home with my family, sometimes i feel like il just have tose, and i let out all of my baggage, all of my anger, all of my emotions and it's really hard on my family. anxiety has been a big part of my life. n people could just give me a chance-- maybe eo, because first impressions are hard for a lot of pple. i would really like to broaden my friend horizons a little bit, but it's really hard to when people don't give you the chance for it. if i make a connection with somebody, what do i want them to see me as? i'd like them to see me as a kind, compassione, caring person, with a few interests that all, that can always be expanding. i don't want them just to be in my world. i want to be in their world,

eno. my name isolnick, and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on seeking acceptance. >> woodruff: you can watch additional "brief but spectacular" episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that is the newsor tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at t pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language learning app that uses speech recognition technology and teaches real-life conversations. daily 10-15 minute lessons are voiced by native speakers and are at babbel. babbel.com. >> financial services firm

raymond james. >> consumer cellular. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and imoved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> the ford foundation. working th visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was madee possible by rporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.or ♪

♪ >> hello, everyone. welcome to "amamanpour & "co today we're looking back at some of our favorite interviews of this year. here's what's coming up. the democrats challenging trump in 2020, one of the most diverse fields in modern political histore and one of biggest outsiders, pete buttigieg, the small city mayor from the w midwest hy he should be the youngest and first mlennial president. >> and we do have changed sex of otamerica. it's the same thing anymore. >> seinfeld is right. ruthestheimer known as dr. ruth did change sex for america. the petite powerhouse joined me