ca bptioning sponsoredy wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, novemr 22: another setback for the trump administration as more states move to certify the election results. covid cases surge ahead of the thanksgiving holid and, reckoning with history: a maryland college unveils a memorial to enslaved peoples. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the anderson family fund. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. barbara hope zuckerberg. the leonard and norma orfine charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment,

to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs stati from viewers like you. thaounk >> sreenivasan: good evening, and thank you for joining us. ese president lost the popular vote, and contio lose in court challenges to the election in multiple states. yet, he continues dig the certification of ballots showing joe biden is the

president-elect. yesterday, a federal judge trump's case asking that nearly seven million pennsylvania ballots be thrown out. judge matthew brann wrote that the trump lawyers presented a case with "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, and unsupported by evidence." after the ruling, pennsylvania fifth republican senator tonly biden and vice pre-electlect joe kamala harris, tweeting that all plausible legal options" in the state ofennsylvania. l, ate this afternoe trump campaign filed its notice that will try to overturn the decision in the u.s. third circuit court of appeals. in georgia, the trumaign was granted a machine recount of ballots yesterday. edesident-elect biden rece 12,000 more votes than mr. trump-- a qutater of a perc point difference. on friday, georgia's secretary of thstate certifie presidential results after a week-long audit-- a hand recount

of the nearly five million ballots cast. georgia state law allows a candidate to request a recount when there is less than half of one percentage point difference. nd a recount continues in two heavily democratic wisconsin counties, dane and milwaukee, in a state which president trump lost by 20,000 votes. yesterday, the milwaukee county clerk said the recount was behind schedule due to observers from the trumcampaign being" disruptive" by repeatedly the counting process.stopping the wisconsin counties have a deteember 1 deadline to comp the recount. the head of the trump administration's coronavirus vaccine program said today that the first immunizations could happen as soon as december 12. moncef slaoui said vaccinatio will begin quicklyf a food and drug administration advisory committee approves an ergency use authorization for pfizer's covid-19 vaccine at a meeting on december 10. >> our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the

immunization sites within 24 hours from the approval, so i ovexpect maybe on day two ap on the eleventh or twelfth of december. >> sreenivasan: yesterday the f e.d.a. approved trgency use of the antibody drug regeneron, which may help patients with mi covid-19 symptoms. president trump was given the experimental drug when he was hospitalized with covid-1 the united states is experiencing a steadidincrease in c9 cases and deaths from the disease. rt"the new york times" rethe daily average of confirmed cases is up 59% over the past two weeks, deaths are up 62% and ho.italizations increased 5 today dr. anthony fauci, the coasntry's top infectious di expert, cautioned americans to stay home for thanksgiving, tcontinue to wear masks a keep socially distant until vaccines are available for millions of people. >> one of the things when you get covid fatigue, which is entirely understandable, th

people just throw up their hands and say, "heck, you know, we're not going to be able to do anything about it, let's just do whawe want to do." that's the wrong decision, because vaccines are'roming and thgoing to be available relatively soon. if we can hang in there with the mitigation methods and ementing them-- >> yes. >> we can get out of this. >> sreenivasan: in guatemala, protestors angry over the country's proposed new budget set fire to the congressional building in guatemala city yesterday. sta small group of protes kicked in the windows of the building, igniting a fire in the process. earlier, thousands had gathered peacefully protest the country's 2021 budget that lashes funding for health and education. guatemalan president alejandrog iammattei denounced the arson, and announcehe was reviewing ssible modifications to the budget. guatemala has seen protests and political upheaval as the country wrestles with widespread allegations of political graf the protests come after the country was struck by two vastating hurricanes in recent weeks. the storms displaced thousands

of people and damaged wide swaths of the country's infrastructure. mudslides killed more than 50 people around the country. the united states officially withdrew from the open skies treaty today. the agreement-- signed in 1992-- each others airspace to collect military data and other telligence. in may the trump administration said it would withdraw because russia was violating the treaty. secretary of state mike pompeo-- announced the u.s. decision -- states withdrawal from theed treaty on open skies is now effective. america is more secure because of it, as russia remains in non- compliance with its obligations." >> sreenivasan: for updates on the presidential transition, and other national and wsternational visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: on election day, puerto ricans voted in favor of becoming te 51st state. te was non-binding and

would need the approval of congress to push statehood forward. i recently spoke with onsident commis of puerto rico, representative jenniffer gonzalez colon about the possibility of statehood and the hurdles that still l ahead. >> congress hailthe responsy, by the constitution, to add territories as a state. even people fao were not in vor of statehood before the pleb aiscite, now cknowledge that that's the will of the people. >> sreenivasan: this is-- doesn't happen in a political vacuum. ty leader mitch mcconnell says, "look, this is democratic priority, they, democrats want to get puerto rico to be a state so that they can get two new senators." but here you are, you often caucus with republicans, youa re, i think, the chair of the republican party. right, so, how do you assuage those concns that republicans in the mainland might have? >> look, there'salse preconceptions, and false claims

about statehood on the island. republicans, actually the replican platform, and you just said, i'm the g.o.p. chairm in puerto rico. i caucus with the republicans since i was elected in 2016. now i got reelected for four more years. you got president ronald reagan, president gerald ford, both president bushes, president eisenhower, endorsing and supporng statehood for the "the wall street journal."s in in the republican platform it is included, in this one, 2016, the su tpport r.n.c. of puerto rican statehood. so, i think members on the republican side may not agree this, they cannot use that puerto ricans are going to be democrats because that's not the reality. in fact, puerto rican statehood has been in the republican platform since the 1960s. 'been there.

so those personal prejudices that many have, i'll be trying to educate, and provide facts for the reality of the island. >> sreenivasan: how would statehood affect almost the twin crises that puerto rico has struggled with over the past few years, not just recovering from hurricane maria and thother storms since then, but also the financial crisis and the and the debt tt you're in? at would what would statehood do for those? >> first of all, statehood is not going to be a magic wand to resolve all problems, but it ll provide opportunities. it will provide equal footing io mathe decisions, right? right now, congress decides the regulations of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and we do not have participation. i mean, i'm the only member representing the island and we don't have senators. we should be having at least

four members of the house. so, how the cst democratic ntry in the whole world going to fight for dcy in all corners and then in your backyard, you still have a territory, you still have a colo. so, i-- i truly believe that statehood will provide the same ii and alaska received at that time. and that was the property value will go up dramatically during the first ten years of statehood in those two former territories. the economy grew more than 100% because of the american flag for investment in property. >> sreenivasan: how much do you think the long term and the large debt that puerto rico's in is inhibiting congress from taking steps? >> well, you know, that now is going to be our fourth year of fiscal oversight boardor the island. and instead of trying to correct and helthe fiscal situations

on the island, they're just trying to manage all federal funds. actually, their expenditures are higher and higher. and who paythat? the government of puerto rico. to happen in the next threeing months. there are some vacancies in the oversight board, so the esent can nominate two more members to the oversight board. and those nominations have not been made yet. >> sreenivasan: all right, representative jenniffer gonzález-colón, thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> sreenivasan: yesterday, st. mary's college in maryland held a virtual commemoration u anveilinique memorial recognizing its role in the history of slavery, entitled" from absence to presence: the commemorative enslaved eoples of southern maryland." the college is the latest of several instutions to confront and reconcile the legacy of slavery.

the unveiling at st. mary's capped a years-long journey that began with an archaeological discovery on the campus grounds. newshour weekend's ivette feliciano has more. >> reporter: so, what was yourit l reaction when you found out that archeologists had uncovered slave artifacts on the college grounds? >> it gave me pause, actually. the college is located in southern maryland, which has a history of slavery, but in my mind, i had hoped-- or in my he hart, i hed, that we would not have been engaged that at all. the president of st. mary's college of maryland. early in her c tenure, tlege began surveying the campus grounds in preparation for a new stium complex. in 2016, school archaeologists uncovered evidence of once lived on the same grounds that stun dents walkday. there were 18th and 19th century ceramics, tobacco pipes, and bricks and nails that suggest slave quarters once stood on

this very site. >> it didn't make me feel very happy, but it wasmportant that we recognize that. >> reporter: the stadium site was relocated. in its place would be an installation commemorating the livples of enslaved pwho toiled on this land long before and even after the founding of the college in 1840. >> where we're located, the community is focused on how the rld was from the perspective of the colonists, but anrt imant aspect that was missing, from my point of view, was the representation from the enslaved people. and they did not have a voice. and this gave an opportunity to present the history of the region from a different perspective. >> reporter: in october of this year, work began on the installation. , there are no statu paintings. interested in this idea of slave quarters being a very powerful metaphor. reporter: architects norman lee, shane allbritton, along with poet quenton baker,ll

aborated on the project. >> angela davis has a very powerful quote talking about how slave quarters were really the only pce where slaves could kind of exist and kind of be humhean, inense that they were able to remove themselves fromve the gaze of swners. so, at the same time, theyy ere essentia a prison. the slave quarters themselves were kind of a symbol of empowerment because they actually lived their private lives. >> reporter: the designers lled historical documents, 18th and 19th century slave folklore, and site-specific archaeological aifacts to present a history that still remains incomplete. the structure made of wooden lats and reflective stainless steel, etched with the poetry of quenton baker >> because of the reflection of the sculpture, it becomes an immersive experience, in that the viewer is injected into the storyline through tt reflection.

thing resonates with people more in the visual arts than, than the human form. and here we are making the viewer that human form, which forces them to pay attention and forces confrontation between the past and the present.fo >> reporterhis part in the project, baker used the language of runaway slave ads from st. mary's county. those words became the poetry etched into the steel. >> it's an unthinkable reality to live your life as property. and so, what i hope the language reality of people as propertythe and the reality of the interiority of individuals who hrlivegh this, who still loved and cared and laughed and h aurt and bl broke and existed, in a reity of nonexistence. that's an impossible thing to tibhink about and an impo thing to consider, but that was also what happened. is not the only institution coming to terms with its legacy in addition to a number of other

steps, georgetown university now offers preferential admission to descendants of enslaved people held by the university. the university of virginia created a consortium of schools to research and address their historical ties perpetuating slavery. i th a moment right now where a lot of higher ed institutions are trying to grapple with their legacies of slavery. do you feel there's an appropriate way to memorialize is history? by which to memorialize thee way history, everyone has to do what feels right to them. i think the-- there's an imerpray to do it, and that is to not tell the full story. >> reporter: some might say the journey to this commemorative has been a passion project for st. mary's college of maryland. students were engaged in the archaeological dig. there are courses and special projects exploring this period oflavery.

and the community helped decide who would design the art inlaston. jordan sees pursuing this histytory as a f a higher education institution. >> when you tell the hiory of e and, of course, as lif evolves, perspectives change. but they don't change as much hen you are inclusive in the telling of that lstory and you end a voice to those who have been silenced in the past and that this commemorative lent a voice to the enslaved people, and that should set us on the path to do better in this country. >> sreenivasan: to hear the byetry reauenton baker at yesterday's unveiling, visit www.pbs.org/newshour >> sreenivasan: the water crisis

in t,flichigan, illuminated broader issues nationwide ranging from contaminated drinking water to watershortage. erin brockovich, an environmental activist who b kecame wewn for her successful lawsuit against the pacific gas & electric company in 1993, is tackling the crisis in her recent book, "superman's noalt coming: our natiater crisis and what we the people can do about it." nehour weekend's christopher booker reports. >> reporter: so, i wanted to start with the title. whysu irman not coming? >> because i go to thmmunities altime that are dealing with water contamination and people who are sick and they always seem comforted by the fact, "well, okay, the e.p.a. has shown up, so it is going to bell okay" or, "the department of health, why weren't they here, they should have our back. it's going to be okay." and i was always the one that was the be

i mean, no one's coming to fix this. >> reporter: and aer years spent looking into america's water supply, brockovich has assembled an arsenal of bad news. >> we all know about flint, michiga there's 200 more flint, michigans out there. there is one, if not multiple communities in every state america.he united states of and you may never think flint will be you, but it's already you, and they're just-- they're everywhere. >> reporter: in 2018, using data from the environmenl protection agency, the natural resources defense council found that nearly 30 million americans water from communi systems that violated the e.p.a.'s lead and copper rule. whether it's crumbling ictnfraste, antiquated regulations, or chemicals being alerlowed to ehe water supply, brockovich's book lays out a system well beyond the breaki.ng poi when you look at the united states, are we seeing thesecu problems morely in under-served communities? and inequality?isparity are communities that are perhaps economically distressed more likely to be facing these water issues?

>> you do see that. i have absolutely seen the communities where it's they've been polluted.nd i also see it in affluent communities, and i've seen it you know, middle america hannibal, missouri, where it's, it's not rich, justot the socio-economic situation where they can't get involved, but ddle america. so, it affects all of us and i think that's an portant message. >> reporter: while brockovich's book paints a dire portrait of america's water crisis,he's optimistic. while you argue that this is happening everywhere in the country, outside of flint, is there anywhere in the country where a community is meeting this head on or is further down the line in addressing their water situation? >> they are, and we share those stories with you in the book. the ladies of hannibal, missouri. ty're such amazing examples.

so, they had lead in their water, some places higher than flint, because they used ammonia so, it started with a couple of moms, and i have to tell you, 9un9% of the time, every coy we're in, it's one pissed off mom. i don't know if i can say that on pbs, but it's true. and they're like, "oh, no, i'm my neighbor's child or myd or sister's chd." so, they begin to activate. they oftentimes will call us and and we begin educate them on what's going on with their system. in hannibal, they took of they went door to door and educated the town about ammonia and why it was causing lead. and so, the community became involved, and as of march 20, hannihabal, msouri nolead- free water. i think that's amazing. imagine if every community across the board and every municipality across the board did that, we'd solve a problem. >> reporter: what would you recommend to a viewer that sees

this and says, you know, i think ththere may be something up with my water supply? >> the first step, know your water source. i've had so many conversations. people are like, "i don't know, my water company." i'm like, "that's one of the first things you might want to find out." and look at your water bill. and if you don't have or get every quarter some water quality report, which they have to give you, either get online, know who your water provider is. get online or make a phone call and say, "send me my water quality report read it. thas the first step. take a step. jtaus an action and don't come in with thinking "i'm going to save the wcold." and don' in with the fear. what if i'm wrong? wreho cares if yorong? at least you asked. at least you found out. knowledge is power.

>> this is pbs newshour weekend, sunday. >> sreenivasan: with the thanksgiving holiday just days away, we turned to our partners from pbs student reporting labs and andrea salazar lopez to hear they are safely distanci this holiday season. >> one, two, three, happy thanksgiving! >> i was eating soup. >> that sounds so good. ( laughter ) >> thinds year my frand i did our annual friendsgiving meal over zoom. >> s ao, my grandpa lives nursing home, so we can't have thanksgiving with him this year. i haven't been able to see people who are really important to me in mons. >> it's really hard having such a large family during this time. i just want all of us to be under one roof, but we can't because i'm scared for their health. >> as the world experiences another wave of covid cases, millions of families are considering skipping holiday get-togethers. >> we can never eliminate the risk, except to not have the gathering.

for family and friends who are eldererly or vulnle, the best option might be to just include them on zoom. you know, we're not going to have a thanksgiving with, you e ow, 12 of us gathered around ble this year. >> if you can, eat outside. >> but i'm really grateful for my big, covered porch. i will turn the outdoors into a dining environment. even outdoors, space is still important. ksd wearing ms still important. indoors, we recommend everything we can think of in tinms of minimthat risk of transmission. greet your family members with hand sanitizer. maybe we could try to center the gatherings not around a meal. if you do decide to eat together, consider eating in shifts. your house and crack windowsf open frequently to increase ventilation. you know, grandma or auntie, we can't do this dinner tonight, we love you too much. >> this year, we're still going to try to see each other. we distanced, and eatingy outside, so. that's going to be so cold >> um, i'm thankful for that wee 're all here and wget to hang out over zoom. it's nice to see you guys.

senivasan: that's all for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." for the latest news updates visit pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. and wherever you are, and however you celebrate this year, thanksgiving. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: r sue and edchenheim iii. the anderson family dnd. bernnd denise schwartz. tn cheryl and philip milst family. barbara pe zuckerberg. the leonard and norma klorfine foundation.

charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. merica financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: cand by: cellular. f and by the corporati public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. g you're watchs.

♪ >> now, could it possibly be your life, sir? >> mine? no.os >> or could it pbly be your life, sir? >> no. t >> well,n it could possibly be... it could possibly be your life, sir? [ laughter ] yes, sir.