captioninsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: stopping the flow of secrets. south korea revokes a key intelligence-sharing agreement 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

next few years, particulwhly in areas ere people want to go and visit. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding f the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 >> kevin.in >> k >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cellular. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, d more. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improvedconomic rformance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

>> carnegie corporation of new york.ng suppornnovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >>tnd with the ongoing supp of these institutions: >> this program was madey possiblee 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.ou the face is being widely reported tonight. the cuts would have included humanitarian relief, peace- keeping and global health

initiatives, among others. but, lawmakers and some top trump administration officials warned they could harm national security and jeopardiziobudget negoti.e mocratic presidential oreld is smaller by one tonight. and, there are r that the republican field might grow by one. john yang has our campaign 2020 roundup. >> i'm not going to be the president, so i'm withdrawing tonight from the race. >> yang: washington state governor jay inslee becomes the third democrat to drop out of the 2020 presidential campaign, deding 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 sanderunveiled his own plan. the sanders "green new deal" declares a clite 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 climateac rd. the sanders campaign estimates the cost at $16.3 trillion, and says it will pay for itself in 15 years. meanwhile, in colorado:ai >> i've alwayswashington was a lousy place for a guy like me, who wants to get things done but this is no time to walk away from the table. >> yang: former colorado governor john hickenlooper, who ended his own presidential campai last week, today announced his plans to run forbe senate, coming the 14th democrat vying to take on g.p. senator cory gardner. but, as the democratic presidential field winnows dow s the republice could grow. former g.o.p. congressman e walsh of illinois says he is exploring a long-shot primary challenge against president trump, whose support among republics in polls is as high as 90%. p

the one-term tty lawmaker and now talk radio host supported mr. trump in 2016. but has now become a frequent and lo critic. >> he's a horrible human being. he's a bad, bad guy. and eversingle day, every single day, you, i and everybody watching us is rinded how damn unfit he is. n former walsh would j massachusetts governor bill weld in the g.o.p. primary. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: in northwestern syria, government air strikes targeted turkish forces for a second time this week, raising the risk of open conflict between them. the attacks sent smoke rising o near a turkipost in idlib province, but there were no reports of casualties. it came as turkey sent a convoy of reinforcements into idlib. the turks back rebels in the province. the syrians are trying to retake the region. high school students in hong kong have joined the call

for political reforms. hundreds of ung demonstrators held a sit-in in a downtown square today. they carried signs and chanted anti-government slogans. at the same time, university students called for boycotting the start of classes in septber. the president of brazil has conceded today that his government lacks the resources to fight raging wildfires.he the fires inmazon rainforest has increased more than 80% this year, buten presjair 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. back in this country, the white house signaled it may indeed call for payroll tax cuts, but not until next year.

economic adviser larry kudlow spoke outside the white house. >> the long range plan is to provide additional tack relief to middle-income people, blue-collar people, but that's long-run project. it probably will come out during the campaign. >> woodruff: in a seond 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. hengow goes free, after spen most of his life in prison. blackmon wore a superman-type cape a dracula during police interviews in the late 1970s. prosecutors used his confession anyway. the nation's biggest phone companies pledged today to 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 consumers

to block the unwanted calls. but, they gave no timetable. americans get an estimated five billion robo-calls every month. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 49 pointso close at 26,252. the nasdaq fell nearly 29 points, and the s&p 500 dropped one point. >> cousy is won six nba titles with the boston celtics, and was 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 japan impact u.s. security in the region? the heal of the economy in the balance, as the federal deficit slides deeper into the red. president trump walks back his support for gun safety laws, but

the debate over how to protect lives continues. an much more. he >> woodruff:wo most important u.s. allies in nfrtheast asia are engaged in a damaging economic ntation, haunted by a long and painful histy. today, that confrontation between japan and south korea moveinto the 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 the general security of military >> the "general security of

military information agreement" fostered direct inlligence communication between japan and south korea. >> woodruff: but, it also helped to anchor historically rocky relations between tokyo and seoul. those took a sharp turn for the worse this summer.ja n increased limits on exports to south korea, 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 demonstrations in seou but the anger runs much deeper, and is centuries old. daniel russell served as an american diplomat in japan and south korea and oversaw the obama administration's negotiations that resun the intelligence sharing agreement.

talking to south korea and japanese, they will take you back to 92, when japan invaded south korea. there is a long litany o 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, profound korean national resentment of imperial japan's sexual enslavement of korean women during world war ii. japan met long-standing korean demands for an officiaapology for the abuse of so-called "comfort wen," in a 2015 agreement with korea's former park geun-hye. but president moon jae-in revoked that agreement when he came to power in 2016. >> ( translated ): on ce issue omfort women--

wartime crimes agacast humanity n'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 eatr s from our dorm garden, and my hr fell off. i lived like 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 instead of apologizing to thes victim forced labor, they are engaging in economic retaliation.re it makes mly angry. >> woodruff: all of this weakens a critical alliance for washington, anmilitary officials are concerned. marine corps commandant davider be from a military perspective, it's important to be able torm share inion 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 could sort out their differences. and we hope each of those two countries can begin to put that relationship back in exactly the right place. >> woodruff: but the uptick in tension could be a symptom of white house policies, at a critical moment fothe korean ninsula. >> there have been series ofon acthat should have causedad the trumnistration not to mediate, but to moderate, and remind both allies we face common danger from north korea. risk to american citizens is vastly increased when there is a degradatn in the network, security alliance, that connect japan,rea, faced with a

threat like north korea. >> woodruff: even as the president is weighing what he would try doing if the economy slows down, there weretunning new figures yesterday about how the deficit is getting worse than projected. the news came from the non-partisan congressional budget office. in fact, as a share of the total onomy, the deficit is no reaching its highest levels since the end of world war ii. lisa djardins takes a closer look at what is behind 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 in on $1 trillion this yr, and then stay over $1 trillionr ery year on the horizon. all told, the c.b.o. says due to recent changes in policy and the economy, deficits over the next decade will be $800 billion gher than it projected just a

few months ago. those changes include a trio of debt pushers-- the bipartisan budget deal is raising spending, the republican tax cuts are lowering revenue, and the owonomy overall is slowing let's break this down with maya macguineas of the committee for a responsible fedel budget. maya, thank you for joining us. i want to look at the long-te issues here. let's look at what the deficits are projected to be now for the next few years, lot,ok at th $1 trillion, $1 trillion, $1 trillion as far as the eye can see, $1 trillion and above deficits. let's look at how this relates the g.d.p. and the curve historically. you can see that high peak i world war ii. now we see we are on path to near tse levels that we wee hitting in world war ii. i think biggest question to you, mayback you have said and c.bha. said this level of debt is atsustainable. oes that really mean to the average american? what will happen if we do keepis on trajectory? >> yeah, and the trajectory is a

ng one, as your chart shows, because the fact that we are at the dearbt levels tha 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 shows you this is a very different situation. this iself-imposed by a lot of policy choices. the reason this matters to american familieis a number of issues. first, it can have negative effects on the eonomy. it slows economic growth at a aery time when we should be thinking about ho we going to grow the economy, boel immedibut also in the long-term, because we have a lot of challenges based on aging. second, it affects your overall budget. if you're spending money on interest payment, you're no spending that on important public policy. and we do have ant inerest payment, but despite very low rates, because we have so much bt, 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, you want the use borrowing to fight that

recession, that's what fiscal stimulus is, but in our next recession, our dealt relative to the economy 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 recession will be challenng. >> the cbo, the fiscal referee, looked at the policies. they looked at the republican tax cut.o they't believe those tax cuts will pay for themselves. they also found corporate tax revenues were lower than expected. they said it's too soon o conclude if that is correctly , lated to the contacts cuts or not, but overaya, how big of a deal do you think those tax cuts are in terms of theec budgt anomy in the future? >> it's a huge deal, lisa, for a number of reasons. first, when we did tax reform, which s absolutely necessary, we should have done it in a way that did not add to the debt, feither by getting rida lot of tax breaks, raising over

revenue, cutting spending. we should have done revenue neutral tax reform. the fact we didn'teans it wil have less of a positive effect on the economy. i the we're already seeing that. it also waters and it makes it more difficult for us to move for on doing what we need to do to actually fix the debt. but people who are saying at the time, oh, these tax cut 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 everything on the credit card and it is going to make theal economic cnges of the mture ever souch more difficult. >> desjardins: another policy c.b.o. looked at was trade policy and tathriffs. found the tariffs would impact the economy, bring downsl g.d.p.ghtly, 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 overis

this seems like an issue likeng claimant chae where we know it looks like there is a large kroblem ahead, it could be avoided if we te action now, why is it that lawmakers in washington are t hang a serious debate about what to do over our fiscal health? >> i do think that's the perfect thing to liken it to. it's an issue ere there is no action-forcing moment. people are doing their best, some people are doing their best to pretend t's not reala problem, and you're hearing that more and more, doryn't worbout the deficit. interest rates are low, we should borrow so much. d this is ngerous path. but i think it boils down in many ways to nobody is willing to make hard policy choices. and fixing the federal deficit requires increases in revenues and controlling spending. there is no way around it. but in the highly partisan time where the parties are fighting against each other, they would rather give things away and kind of level with the american people about what we need to do to budget resnsibly, and it bodes so poorly for the future, both if and when we're hit by a

recession, but longer term, everything from changes to technology and the workforce to update our social contract, aging of the population, the are tissues we should be talking about in the budget. i feel like we have a competition of kind of false promises and gi bveawatween our politicians these days. >> desjardins: we will keep looking at those. obviously this will affect many generations. maya macguineas for the committee for a responsible federal budget, thank you. >> thk you. ta >> woodruff:y with us. coming up on the newshour: choppy waters for the cruise industry, as european cies grow tired of tourists. examining the hidden impacts of slavery 400 years after the first slaves were brought to america. plus, a "brief but spectacular" take on autism and seeking acceptance. but first, it has been almost three weeks

since the mass sotings in el paso and dayton, and president trump has again seemingly changed hi on what gun reforms he is willing to consider. william brangham continues our periodic look at some of the proposed reforms to try and duce the bloodshed caused by guns in america. >> brangham: we are in the midst of a grim cycle. cua tragic, mass shooting . a community-- in this case, two-- grieve the loss of nocent lives. thoughts and prayers turn to calls for action. political leaders promise to do something, but then, in many cases, action doesn't materialize. we do is occasional look at what might be done, and whether any of tse proposed reforms would actually save lives. there's talk now of universalhe backgrounds for every single gun transaction in america. there's talk of more "red-flag laws," where people can alert authorities of trouble with someone who has weapons.t, e're going to look now at the idea that some say shoul

be on ble-- to limit high-capacity magazines, which give a shooter the afflity to fireore and more rounds before they have to stop and viload. i'm joined now by chipman of the giffords center, the gun safety grot . chipman sp years as a special agent at the bureau of l, tobacco, firearms, an explosives, where he focused, in part, on gun trafficking. welcome to the news hour. >> thanks for having me. >> brangham: for people who have not been followinghahis debate on't held firearms or don't understand how guns operate, tell us a little bit more. what is a high-capacity magazines? >> so in aau semmatic weapon, a weapon that every time eou pull the trigger, a round is fired, there is aal box and spring in which rounds of ammunition are held, and so itl is seloading every time you pull the trigger. it also gives you the opportunity to reload really quickly. itu almost as if yo press a button, a printer cartridge falls out and you can sert another one. this is very different than what the first gun i had at a.t.f., which was a revolver or what you

would see on west world. >> brangham: an old six shooter. >> you have to drop individual unds in. if you were in a gunfight to actually reload, we used to retrain for hours for that. this is sort of the 2.0 of weapons today, and it makes it very, >> brangham: and high capacity means what kind of numbers are we talking about? >> i think concensus has been around 10. there are a number of reasons >>ham: 10 and above why... would be high? >> say 10 and below would be regular,ñ i think it's a guess. it's like picking a speed limit, should it be 55 or 65? what we do know in the nypd thy have examined over the year how many rounds are fired in a deadly encounter. even among police the number is below five on average some youic think as much of that would allow any citizen to operly defend themselves. when i was on a.t.f. swat team,

my sidearm had 15 rounds. my shot gun had six. i did have an assault rifle, which could hold 30, but i was also tracking and hunting down the most dangerous armed americans, which really isn't the job of a ciilian. >> brangham: right. so why do we care in this conversation about high-capacity magazines when we're talking about trying to limit the otcarnage of mass shogs? >> i think it's like a flu shot, and the bumpersticker that people who are against this sayt wellon't stop a shooting. actually, that might be correct, what it might stop is a killer from transforming into ali kil a mac look at the assassination attempt of my boss, gabi h ffords. she was shot wifirst or second round. no capacity limit would hav protected her, but perhaps her 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 32-round

magazine, twice he size of te magazine i had on my a.t.f.-issued gun. >> brangham: so the idea is ifyo limit the size of these magazines or the capacity of the magazines, it's a moment to intervene. if mass shooting is going oand that person has to stop to reload and take that magazine out and put a new one in, thatm is a mt for the good people in that environment to try to stop tat even >> that's what happened in tucson. unfortunately itrappened af 32 rounds were fired, but in that case those surviving peopo re there tackled the shooter, and law enforcement were trained for that lull in gunfire. it allows us a tactical advance. the reality is, y despite whu see in die-hard and other movies, it is really hard t reload. you have to train very hard, especially under pressure if yore being shot at. >> brangham: so right now there are magazines that killp to hw big? you mentioned 30 in the tucson shooter. how big are?agazines now

>> what's frightening is we're seeing drum magazines at 100 now. we saw that -- >> >> brangham: 100 rounds. ch 100 rounds, ws interesting for a rifle, because in a box there arenly 20 t a box some this one magazine would be five boxes of amitmn. we first saw this in aurora being 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 bump streck thewhich allowed for the shooting to happen more quickly, but really one of the results and why this person was able to kill dozens of people and wound hundreds wah the fact th too had 80 and 100 round magesaz it's just path. if you're firing that many rounds down range, there are people there, yo will hit more people. you don't have to aim as precisely and dea tolls increase. and so looking at magazines, it's kind of like a flu shot.yo perhapdon't stop the flu

in every case, but you can prevent a lot of it. i think that's whate're trying to this here. at brangham: so are there states right now are limiting magazine sales to ten? i understand that there arely probillions of these high-capacity magazines clips that are already out there in the population, but there are states now that are trying the limit the number of these. >> there are nine states now and the districof columbia that do this. the first state they was involved in this conversation was right af her sanok and colorado, move forward with regulating the se and capacity, and now conditioningman ted deutsch, who represents the area of parerklad we had the school shooting, he's introduced a house bill that would regulation the future manufacture and sale at ten rounds. >> brangham: californ you know, and vermont also recently saw their own attempts limit high-capacity magazines thrown out by the courts,

arguing it's an infringement uponhe secondment. isn't that an obstacle to this? >> sure. any policy decision or way we g 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 seems to me a vey reasonable approach. talking to any gun owner, 100-round magazine is just not traditional, it's not normal, and i can't think of a purpose beyond killing a lot of people r having it. so if the debate is should it be ten or what have you, i can't be 100. and so i think there's room where we can have progress,wi although we ll not have perfecti d. >> branghavid chipman of the gifford center, thank you very much. >> thanks for havi me.

>> woodruff: some of europe's most beautiful waterfront cities are joining forces to try to reduce the impact of cruise ships. venice will ban larger ships fr entering the city's historic center, a result of citizens' protests, after a cruise liner crashed into 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 theirpi uresque streets. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been to some of the popular destinations, and starts his report in southern england. ( foghorn ) >> reporter: it's departure day in southampton, one of the asworld's main cruise ship. thus begins a voyage of indulgence for the multitudes on board, and gritted teeth for many in their ports of call. business is booming thanks to commercials like these. >> land ahoy. and our mediterranean adventure begins. first, of course, the full

english.an ancient historcultural 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 is becomi increasingly frosty. a number of prime destinations are questioning the value of hosting cruise ships. among them venice in italy, dubrovnik in croatia, bruges in belgium, north, medieval bruges is swamped daily by up to 50,000vi tors. but the influx is being curtailed to prevent this ndesco world heritage city from morphing into disn 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 lika museum, a large museum.

you must work and you st 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 reside os can numbered three to one. not all citizens applaud the mayor's initiative. at this emporium, 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. not y more, 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. i don't care, in the ening, 6:00, everybody's gone. so? i'm happy the place is full thg

people buy stuff. >> reporter: this is a glimpse t bruges' local port, that will become familiar future. no cruise ships. under the new edict, a maxim of two liners will be allowed to dock each day. next year, the number of arrivals will fall by about 30%. that's hit the mayor is willing to take. one of his major gripes, shared by other european destinations, is that with their all-you-can- eat buffets, the liners discourage passengers from spending ashore. >> they are not spending any euro, maybe a little bit of chocolate, a little 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.

m reporter: tom boardley is the industry's poi in london, where a projected new terminal is facing opposition from local residents who share the pan-european objections. >> we've got to try and address those, and in some cases, if necessary, modify thway we operate in order to satisfy those complaints. reporter: which meansiv staggering arr times to avoid crushes like this at the acropolis when several cruise groups rocked up at the same time. urists were treated like cattle as greek culture ministry guards wrangled the lines. >> don't skep. keep going going. don't stop there. don't stop there. >> reporter: pollution is another battleground. a recent european study lamented the large amounts of noxious particles emitted by ships' engines in port. such pollutants increase the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. in copenhagen, the "queen elizabeth's" funnel looked benign. her ownersoast she's equipped with the latest exhaust gas cleaning system, but the

environmental group, friends of the earth, c pollution record is poor. >> it is down to the global community to start saying "okay, well, let's start properly taxing the emissions that theser ships arucing." >> reporter: travel expert simon calder believes amsterdam has started an important trend by imposing a $9 a head levy on cruise passengers. but he prescribes even tougher action. >> it's up to these dividual cities to say, okay, if you going to moor a cruise ship here, th we're going to start causing you port tax $50 per person, maybe. something which is really going benefit the city, and furthermore, it will disincentivize some cruise which is probably in the long run, a gootething. >> rep the industry argues such taxes will merely force ships to find friendlier. destinatio 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 increasingly controversial, but hywly-engaged primary school teacher robyn mus a huge fan. >> you don't have any luggage restrictions. i can bring as much clothes and thoes as i like, and i lov fact that you can wake up in a new city every day. so you wake up, explore the city, go bacto the boat, enjoy the food, they've got theaters on there, shows on there, and gto bed, and wake up in a new city again. so, i like the ease of being able to visit different countries. >> i can construct an intellectual argument which says we are quite close to a tipping 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 dubrovkf is one oeurope's jewels. >> and, basically being unable to get io the old city because there are simply too many cruise passengers and we're going to d of a different k

vacation. however, all the evidence is that the demand is insatiable. >> ah, carnival's new shrn, the al "horizon." >> reporter: the growth of the i industrycapped at about 6% a year because ship yards around the wod can't build them quickly enough to cope with the lure of pleasure at sea. but if european destinions are hoping that demand might wane and they can experience some relief, here's an informed prediction. >> both the u.s.a. and europe are beginning to understand th not only is tourism a major contributor to g.d.p., but it'sg also go 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 india and china, that is jus beginning to travel, and they have only just begun to whet their appetite. so the question is, how do we accommodate more tourism in an environmentally-friendly way? >> reporter: as the industry is guaranteed a vast untapped market, more maritime conflict may be steaming over the horizon in the future.

for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant to southa >> woodruff: 400 years ago this month, in august 1619, the first african slaves arrived in virginia. thit is regarded by many a beginning of america's long relationship with slavery. the 400th anniversary-- and the wa american history since then-- are being commemorated. one of the more notae efforts he "new york times'" "16 project," which is spotlighting parts of history that are less well-known. we are going to focus on some of the economic legacies, including the larger connections with modern capitalism. specifically, we're go look at how the production of american gold," helped to fuel slavery and became ingrained in our society. historiakhalil gibran muhammad

of harvard's kennedy school wrote about that for the "new york times." "louisiana," he wrote, "led the nation in destroying the lives of black people in the name of economic efficiency." and he joins me now. he joins me now. professor muhammad, thank you very much for being here. help us understand how sugar is nnected to the origins of american slavery. >> sugar was the most dominant economic incentive for european colonyization of the americas. no other crop s as abundant or successfuln drwing europeans to these shores, and i mean by that north americand south america, for the purpose of cultivating sugar for at, worldwide marnd particularly for europe that had already established a taste fo sugar but would grow exponentially in terms of demand er time. there's no way the really understand the significance of

thcolonization of the americas without understanding the role of sugar in it. >> woodruff: and explain how slavery played sh an important role from the very beginning. >> sure. so the origin story, of course, is that chrtopher columbus brings this with m by way of the spanish islands in 1943. so sugar is all right across the globe,ut 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. prod first the cane itself is heavy and unwieldy. secondly to, take the plant and turn it into sugar required incredible labor and often dangerous and difficult bor. >> woodruff: and you write about how, of course, that bega1 in t00s, but then it went on literally for hundreds of years. it changed shape. you get closer to the civil war

and the shape of the sugar industry has changed. but still slaves are an essential piece of it. absolutely. so louisiana doesn't get into the businesof sugarcane culteation until the end of t 18th century, as a result of the attempt to cultivate sgar, it blossomed and bloomedand by the top of the 19th century, louisiana was producing about a quarter of the world's cane sur supply, a pretty miraculous turnaround. all of that was made possible by the enslave. of people of african descent. >> woodruff: i know i' askin do you skip over a lot of history here, but you move forward to tod, to the 20th and even into the 21st trend i, and you write about how the legacy of what happened in louisiana d other places still plays a role in the economy, a vital role in the economy of this country. >> well, if we go from sugar to

cotton, we basically explain two crops that in their totality explain much of the infrastructure of our capitalist economy to this day.ca explain everything from the abundance of land that was originally held by theno indi and the labor of enslaved people as america's competitive advantage. by the 19th century, cotfon, example, was essentially the major export of the united states, and that cotton export helped make possible thelth not only in enslaved people, but also the wealth of bann kse north that were responsible for financing investments in this country that were often mortgaged on the basis of enslaved people. there's no way the reall understand the economic might of america by the 19th century without understanding the role of cotton slavery and earlier sugar slary. >> woodruff: one of the other

writers for the series of articles in the sunday "new york times" matthew desmond, he's a p professor nceton, writes roout how not only today's economy has itsts in slavery, but that modern american capitalism is as severe as it is in its treatment peof le and that that too has its roots in slavery. lsome people are going tk at that and say, is that a leap too far? how do you answer that? >> wll, it's a good yes, and i can see why people would give pause, but if we take a step back, we really ask a fair question, we could ask ourselves, has our economy been built 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 ofma

moneng. 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, eventually in the new deal, but for the fact at capitalism created misery for people at the lowest end of the economic totem pole. that's our history, whether we like it or not. some people prospered in that system, but itwas a sytem 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 derstand what you have itten about? >> well, it's important bec we don't treat our pasts with the same commitment to truth and honesty and accuracy as we do, say, science and technology. if there is a concern in this day and age about the questioninglobal warming or

climate change, scientists arede attacks for making things up, that's a new phenomenon, a product of the late 20th century, but we've been having culture wars about how the interpret the american past from the very we gnid eve, and the consequences of that are what drove the editors of this 1619 project to look closely at the work of academic historians, just like many people look at the work of sciensts and say, what do academic historians tell us about the past that we've not been teaching and we have not learned as well as we should? >> woodruff: khalil gibran muhammad, he's a professor at harvard kennedy school, one of the writers for this "new york times" series, the 1619 project, looking at the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery. thank you very much. >> thanks so much for having . >> woodruff: and we'll be back

shtly with a "brief but spectacular" take on tackling social anxiety ahead of theoo start of the syear. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. to

>> woodruff: bacchool time can bring a familiar sense of stress and excitement for many students as they navigate social circles and a new workload. in tonight's "brief but spectacular," we hear from 21-year-old college student ben rolnick, who suffers from severe social anxiety, an increasingly common problem among young adults. >> i've always felt that there was something a little different about me. and whever i do or say something, it just never really stuck with peoe. i was first diagnosed when i was three, although i wacompletely oblivious to the fact that i was autistic until my parents told

me when i was about 11 or 12. i'm no longer classified as it, but i felt because i had that diagnosis, i've always been far behind everybody else socially. so, when freshman year came around, i always felt like i ha cial intelligence of a middle schooler. i still sometimes to this daysa random words and phrases just to get people to remember that i'm there.al i'm phys present, like, i'm not going anywhere. >> when mom first explained it to me, she didn't want me to tell anybody about it, because she thought that the age i was learning, that it would make me too different, and more, like, even more of a reason for people to bully me. my paren would have to help, help me out, you know, arrange playdates.ha i felt like to carry all the weight with most of my friendships in high school and even in ddle school. they wouldn'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 get invited to even go with a group. of peo i'd always be going by myself. it was so rare for me to

actually do stuff with people, that when i had them, i cherished them more than maybe 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 me family, somei feel like i just have to release, and i let out all of my baggage, all of my anger, all of my emotions and it's really hard on my famil anxiety has been a big part of my life. if people could just give me a chance-- maybe even two, because first impressions are hard for a lot of people. i would really like to broaden f end horizons a little bit, but it's really hard to when people don't give you the chance for it.e if i mconnection with somebody, what do i want them to see me as? i'd like them to see me as a kind, compassionate, 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,o. my name is ben rolnick, 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/newshoubrief. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and agn right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you on. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language learning app that uses speech recognitionlo tech and teaches real-life conversations. daily -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 improved economic performance and financial .teracy in the 21st centu >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of sociale worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation ford public bsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.u. thank yo s captioningnsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by gmedia access group at wgbh access.wgbh.

steves: nimes' arena, which is still in use, is considered the best preserved from ancient rome. it's another fine example of roman engineering and roman propaganda. in the spirit of "give the masses bread and circuses," admission was free. the emperoenda was to create a populus that was thoroughly roman, vi enjoying the same aces and the same entertainment, all thinking aone. the arena still hosts colorful pageantry. and macho men still face dangerous beasts -- bulls. a bullfight à la provençale is more sporting than the bloody spanish bullfights. a tiny ribbon laced between the horns sits on the bull's forehead. the daredevil fighters, gripping specialooks,

try to snare the ribbon. [ man speaking french on loudspeaker ] steves: the loudspeaker announces the reward various local businesses offer to the man who gets the ribn. it's both advertising -- "piee's patisserie offers 100 euros" -- and encouragement for the fighters. [ man whistld shouting ] steves: if the bull pulls a good stunt, the band congratulates him with a tune from the opera "carmen." unlike more bloody be,lfights, in provehe bull, who locals stress dies of old age, alwaysnces proudly out of the arena.

myour favorite recipesu with better for you ingredients from the modern pantry? then you won't want to miss this season of "martha bakes." join me in my kitchen where i'll teach you how to transform everything from traditional cakes, pies and even breawith ne, ri plus mouthwa gluten and dairy free treats for everyday and every occasion. y welcome to a to bake. a narrator: "marthbakes" is made possible by. for more than 200 years, domino and c&hugars have been used by home bakers to help bring recipes to life and create memories for each new generation of baking enthusiasts. ♪