♪ judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. on the "newshour," on the ground on the border. lawmakers and the biden administration confront what is at stake with immigration reform. then guns in america. two mass shootings expose the prevalence of firearm violence in the u.s. and the struggle to stop the trauma. plus, abuse in the ranks. why military leaders followed "shark tank" to spur ideas from soldiers to stop sexual assaults. 0 judy: if we can't keep our soldiers safe, how can we expect soldiers to keep our country safe? judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs "newshour." ♪

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solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skolfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation, committed to improving lives through invention in the u.s. and developing countries, envelop -- on the web at lemelson.org. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.or g. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the biden white house is moving tonight to get the migrant challenge in hand before the humanitarian and political

damage gets out of hand. the vice president is taking charge of the effort. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. yamiche: today, and intensified focus on the southern border. president biden address to the growing challenges as the rising numbers of migrants turned up the political pressure to act. >> this new surge started with the last administration, but it is our responsibility to deal with it humanely. yamiche: he announced vice president, harris will now be leading the administration's efforts to deal with mexico, el salvador, and honduras. it's a new role that harris embraced. >> while we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand we will enforce the law, and that we also -- we can chew gum and walk at the same time --

address the root causes. yamiche: she will focus on two main issues. stemming the flow of migrants to the u.s. and establishing partnerships with central american nations, but the roll is a hard one with complex issues dating back decades, and it is one mr. biden himself tried to tackle while he was vice president. the president and vice president met with the secretaries of health and human services and homeland security, and president biden dispatched a delegation of officials to inspect a refugee resettlement facility in texas. >> we are taking a comprehensive approach. opening up new beds. yamiche: the visit marked the first time the biden administration allowed media access to a border site, but this one wasun by the department of health and human services. the main problems have been at overcrowded facilities run by u.s. customs and border protection.

yesterday, footage released by customs and border protection officials showed children eating and sleeping in a crowded detention center. sources told "newshour" that as of tuesday there were about 4800 children at cpb -- cbp facilities. republicans stepped up the pressure. senator lindsey graham said it is clear migrants believe president biden is making it easier to enter the u.s. he accused the white house of trying to unfairly shift blame onto former president trump. >> it's time to regain control, and you have to do with the dynamic that led to the border being overrun. this is not a seasonal event. trump has nothg to do with this. yamiche: graham proposed his own legislation to tackle the situation at the border. some of the provisions include

immediately sending migrants back to their home countries and having them fill out asylum countries in northern triangle nations rather than the united states, allowing authorities to hold families together longer than the current standard, and appointing 500 new immigration judges. on the senate floor, democrats blocked republican measures targeting president biden's reversal of trump era border policies. the growing debate made clear that immigration is shaping up to be a central challenge to the biden white house and a driving force in the 2022 midterms. i am yamiche alcindor. judy: our senior national correspondent all in a vase is on the border in texas. -- all none of vase is on the border in texas. we know one of the challenges is this influx of unaccompanied minors, and in an effort to be more transparent, they decided

to release images of one of the health and human services run shelters for children. tell us how that is being received. amna: i think it's clear the efforts made by the biden administration are very much welcome. we have been among the many journalists asking for access not just to those shelters run by hhs, but also to the border patrol facilities run by homeland security, and that is where we know the backup of unaccompanied minors coming across, that is where the backup is. when you talk to families on the ground on both sides of the border, we shouldn't expect those numbers of unaccompanied children to decrease any soon. there is that rule we keep hearing about, title 42, which is related to the pandemic, put into place by the previous administration so officials can

immediately expel people. everyone is denied entry. the biden administration has kept that in place, and that means the backup on the other side of the border continues to grow. people are being expelled time and time again. we are hearing about high rates of recidivism, parents increasingly telling us they are so desperate they are considering sending their children alone, and it is not just the parents. we met a mother from guatemala who was here in a shelter on the el paso side. her teenage son and her had been stuck in mexico for over a year before one day he decided it was too much. he decided to cross alone, and he made his way into the united states, was held in the shelter, and was eventually reunited with family. we are increasingly hearing stories like this. judy: the rule 42 that you mentioned that denies entry to

most people who try to come across, is there a discussion inside the biden administration about undoing that, rolling it back? amna: i don't think any indication has come yet that they are planning to make any changes to title 42. we know roberta jackson and the senior director for the national security council are in guatemala. that could be up for discussion, but not while the pandemic is with us. we talked with a man named ruben garcia who a long-standing institution in terms of migra services in the el paso area about title 42. when i asked him about what the future of that rule could be, here's what he had to say. >> i'm very concerned about what is going to happen when title 42 gets impacted. that is what is keeping me up at night. amna: why are you concerned? >> because the minute you begin

to tamper with title 42, you are going to have a surge. we are not going to be talking about hundreds. that even thousands. we will be talking about tens of thousands. refugees who are going to cross into the u.s. judy: with the announcement today about vice president harris, what is it believed that she's going to be able to do with regard to this complicated set of issues around immigration as she takes over this portfolio? amna: there's a lot of work to be done. with the previous administration, they did try to strike some unilateral deals to try to prevent people from leaving, but we all know until thoseoot causes are addressed on the ground, those flows will likely not slow down. the biden administration has $4 million earmarked to go towards

that effort. they want to change asylum rules to make it easier for people to access asylum in their countries of origin, but none of those plans are quick fixes. it's important to remember the numbers we are seeing now are because of a backup over the last year. as this backup continues to grow, experts say we are likely to see the numbers grow in the weeks and months ahead. judy: such a complex set of issues around this. amna navaz reporting from the border in texas. amna: thanks, judy. ♪ vanessa: i am vanessa ruiz. we will return to judy woodruff after the latest headlines. as part of the biden administration's plan to mage the increase in migrants at the southern border, the pentagon

announced this evening it would temporarily house unaccompanied children at two texas military installations. in north korea where it is already thursday, the government launched at least two projectiles that landed in the ocean. a u.s. official confirmed a launch but would not confirm the number or type of projectiles. the country fired two short range missiles last weekend and has ignored the biden administration's efforts to engage in talks. public health leaders pointed to progress in the pandemic. rising vaccinations, declining deaths, and falling hospitalizations, but they also warned new infections remain high. dr. anthony fauci said the country has not yet turned the corner, and today, louisiana, idaho, and arizona became the latest states to open vaccinations to all adults.

top democrats say some 30 million social security recipients are waiting for covid payments. the irs has not received information from the social security administration. congressman richard neal and others are demanding immediate action. meanwhile in the u.s. senate, leaders clashed over an elections bill. democrats want to expand ballot access, overhaul campaign finance laws, and head off attempts to limit voting access at the state level. republican say it is partisan overreach. the dispute dominated a senate hearing. >> instead of doing what you should be doing when you lose an election in a democracy, attempting to win over those voters in the next election, republicans are trying to disenfranchise those voters. shame on them. >> the legislation is not ready for prime time. it's an invitation to chaos.

chaos. state level election officials are sounding alarms left and right. this messaging bill would create a nightmare that actually became law. vanessa: democratic kim jane e was sworn in as acting mayor of boston, the first woman and black citizen to hold that office. she took the o's at city hall and reflected on the city's explosive days of school desegregation in the 1970's. >> i had a rocks and racial slurs thrown at my bus simply for attending school while black. just yesterday on my first full day as mayor, i visited my childhood all mama are. i saw students happy to be back in school with their teachers and friends, instead of the pain and trauma i experienced in middle school. vanessa: janey replaces marty walsh who resigned to become the u.s. secretary of labor. rachel levine became the first

openly transgender person to win senate confirmation. she will be assistant secretary of health. two democratic u.s. senators have dropped threats to block president biden's nominees over diversity concerns. hawaii's mazie hirono and illinois's tammy duckworth demanded more asian americans be chosen. the white house has promised to add a senior-level advisor on this issue. bald eagle numbers are soaring higher than ever. the u.s. fish and wildlife service says the population has quadrupled since 2009 to more than 300,000 birds across the lower 48. federal protections have helped the eagles recovery from near extinction in the 1960's. still to come on the "newshour," we examine the state of the american workforce with new labor secretary marty walsh. how the military is trying to stop sexual abuse within the

ranks. two mass shootings highlight the epidemic of gun violence in the u.s.. plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs "newshour" from wbta studios in washington and in west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: president biden regularly touts of the promise of his covid relief legislation, but there are significant problems in the job market that may not easily be solved. more than 9 million americans remain out of work, and the unemployment numbers have a long way to go before reaching pre-pandemic levels. to walk us through the administration's efforts to improve these numbers, let's bring in the new secretary of labor marty walsh. he was sworn in yesterday, and he joins us in his first television interview.

secretary walsh, congratulations on your confirmation. let me begin by asking you who and what are your most urgent priorities as you take on the job of labor secretary? sec. walsh: thank you very much for having me. it's an honor to be with you. there's a lot of different priorities we have. looking at our broad-based policies is something that is really important, making sure we look at a lot of different industries and workers in order to get them back to work. i think the american rescue plan is something that is going to be vitally important to our economy, to getting our kids back in school, getting people back into the workplaces, and helping our small businesses. there is money in there for our small businesses that have been dcimated throughout this pandemic, and just working on behalf of the american people. this is my first full day. i'm excited to spend the day getting briefed on different

policies, what we want to do, what we want to rule out, and follow president biden's lead in building back better. judy: as we have suggested, this pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy. most americans are continuing to work, although in very different circumstances. we also know the first of the year, 16% of americans had lost their job entirely or were working fewer hours. what can you do about that? how can that be fixed? sec. walsh: i think we have to work across agency lines. it's important to work with congress. it's important to work with governors and mayors across america to make sure workers feel safe. it's also important to make sure we set the right policies in place to make people feel comfortable in helping business move along. my previous role, we were planning on, how do we cover --

recover from covid-19? with vaccines in people's arms, that is part of this whole plan. there's lots we have to do, and the beauty i president biden and vice president harris have a plan to move forward. it's my job as secretary of labor and other people's jobs to make sure we continue to carry out that plan and put confidence back into people. judy: just picking up on that, it is something like an estimated 4 million americans have now left the workforce because of this pandemic, because of what it has meant in their lives. what can be done about it? we are being told it may be weeks, months before opportunities for them come back, if ever. sec. walsh: it really comes down to putting confidence in the workforce. we have a major problem we need to deal with in terms of women

in the workforce. we need to make sure when we talk about childcare, making childcare available. the american rescue plan, you can't continue to extend unemployment benefits and not to get our economy up and going, and i know the president is working with the senate. there is legislation that they are working on to get america back to work. those specific industries, we have to be a little more thoughtful. i know restaurants, thousands of restaurants across the country have gone out of business. we need to come back stronger. we need to get some of those restaurants hopefully back. we need to keep making investments. it's not just coming out of the white house. this is from the white house all the way down to main street we have to work collectively together on. in my office and the briefings i was in today, every single briefing was focused on the american worker. how do we strengthen their

ability to earn money? how do we strengthen their ability to get a job? job training is another pie, and working on job training and gettinthose dollars out the door. some of those industries we've lost, we aren't going to get them back, so we need to make sure we can retrain america's workers so they can access the jobs that are available now. judy: you mentioned women. let me follow on that. as you know, today is so-called equal payday in the united states. this is the day by which it is calculated women, the average female worker, has to work until they earn what the previous man earned in the -- what the man earned in the previous year. we know the gender pay gap is even worse for black women. for native american women, it is september 8. for latinas, it is october 21.

what can you and the biden administration do to frankly increase the fairness and how women are paid? sec. walsh: first and foremost, we need to stop talking about this and actually take action. one of my conversations was with the women's bureau at the department of labor. we talked about thi issue on what we can do to make a real and definite changes. it's about pulling people to the table. what i was able to do in my previous role was bringing large employers and, small employers and, and talng about the importance of doing better on pay equity across the board for women in all different areas. every so often when this comes up, we talked about passing legislation. it's time for action. the department of labor, i

guess, under the authority of president biden, this is an issue he wants us to address, and we are going to take this issue. we are going to address this issue at the department of labor. judy: i want to ask you about reporting that some programs inside the department of labor have been literally hollowed out. specifically, i'm asking about occupational safety and health administration, or osha.their mandate is to make sure the workplace is safe and healthy for workers, but reports are that under the previous administration, it is now down to the lowest number of inspectors it has had since the 1970's. what are you doing to address that? this has been addressed financially. the president has allocated funds for us to hire more osha inspectors. to all the career people at the

department of labor, i want to say thank you for the work you've done. many people worked across many administrations. we want to bring the confidence and respect back to the workers. os ith. -- osha is a big part of it. people need to feel safe. people need to be safe on the worksite. i am a former construction worker, and safety needs to be the priority not just in construction but in all different industries throughout the country. judy: i asked specifically about osha because we are in a pandemic when those issues matter more than ever in the workplace. sec. walsh: the health and safety and well-being of our workers is a top priority for the biden administration, and it should be a top priority for employers across america. judy: the new secretary of labor

marty walsh, thank you again we appreciate it. sec. walsh: thank you. ♪ judy: today, the pentagon announced members of the commission that will investigate sexual assault and harassment in the military. in a moment, i will speak with senator kirsten gillibrand who has been at the forefront of this issue. first, nick schifrin reports on how sexual assault and harassment infect the military's most prominent divisions and what leadership is trying to do about it. nick: the 18th airborne corps is one of the army's premier forces, and from afghanistan to iraq, portrays itself as flying through the air, attacking through the night, always ready to fight, but according to a

document obtained by "newshour," the corps have been fighting some of the army's highest levels of sexual assault and harassment. >> how can you expect our soldiers to keep our country safe? nick: staff sergeant is a russian linguist. >> we can get the soldiers more engaged. nick: she recently proposed her suggestions at an event they called dragonslayer, an usual effort to hear soldier solutions. >> it's always the same powerpoint slides. i've been in for 10 years. i've probably been to 15-20 trainings. i've seen a total of four different slide decks. >> 37% of our cases were nco's and officers. nick: and training sessions are held in a room with hundreds of soldiers. >> how are you going to get 500 people to pay attention?

half of them are on their phone. half of them are talking with the person beside them. nick: dudley's solution, training soldiers like they are sometime trained for combat, virtual reality, where soldiers are focused and able to go through scenarios. assault and harassment could train soldiers how to act and respond. >> most kids already have a virtual reality headset. it's like, why not tap into something people are already using? put soldiers in the shoes of another individual. i'm going to be here for at least another 10 years. why not make a change while i am here? >> i have never dealt with sexual assault in the army before this. nick: this sergeant also shared her solutions born of personal expense. >> i had not been assaulted in the military up until last year, and when that happened, it changed my perspective on how toxic the environment can be. nick: she is assigned to the

101st airborne division. she said she was assaulted while at the u.s. border as part of president trump's military deployment. he assaulted a female officer, but despite a recommendation to kick him out, a panel known as a separation board decided not to. >> for them to retain him says, yes, in our army. for any of his soldiers or peers loyal to him in the process, i think they hear the same message. look, he got away with it, so it does happen in our army. nick: advocates have called for the military to reform the uniform code of military justice and change the separation boards. >> the separation board was comprised of three people, and they were all three males, all senior military leaders. one, i thought, maybe we should

not have senior military leaders, whether they intend to be biased or not, undoubtedly have some bias to protect their own. a spokesman for the 18th airborne corps which includes the 82nd airborne and 10th mountain division says it has already made changes and suggested them to the wider army . sexual harassment assault response and prevention officials will not report to soldiers' direct commanders, and some training will be virtual reality. >> this is abo accountability for perpetrators. it is about justice and healing for survivors. nick: the head of a pentagon commission examining solutions unveiled its members, and on capitol hill, nator gillibrand held a hearing with survivors and advocates. >> every general or commander

that has come in front of this body for the past 10 years has told us, we've got this, ma'am. well, the truth is they don't have it. nick: publicity and the 18th airborne corps soliciting ideas could lead to real change that isn't just a pr effort. >> i want to know it was more than just turning in a homework assignment to their boss. judy: and now to senator kiersten gillibrand, democrat of new york. welcome back to the "newshour." you've been talking about this issue for years. today, you said it's an epidemic of sexual assault in the military. you said nothing has been done. whose fault is that? sen. gillibrand: it's the department of defense, and it's the command. they have said since dick cheney was the secretary of defense 25 years ago that there was zero tolerance for sexual assault.

i've been having hearings about this since 2013, and every time a commander comes in front of the committee, they say they've got this, and they don't. they keep saying commanders are the only people to fix this problem, but unfortunately, the problem keeps getting worse. at only are there 20,000 estimated sexual assaults per year, but the percentage of cases going to trial is going down, and the percent of cases with the conviction is also going down. judy: let me ask you quickly about solutions. the pentagon announced members of this independent review commission. we also just heard in our report women themselves who are part of their 18th airborne corps are saying we need to change training methods. are these likely to make a difference? nick: we should do everything we can to train the members of our armed services as best we can, but the way to send a message and a way to change the culture

is to convict predators. in fact, it sends a message that these are crimes that are not tolerated in the military. when you don't prosecute assailants or prosecute the crime of rape, of course predators feel like they have more and more leeway to continue to commit these crimes. that is why i believe we need to professionalize how the armed services handles these cases and a decision whether or not to go to a trial should go to a trained military prosecutor who is outside the chain of command. if you did that, survivors would know that there was someone who would look at their case with no bias and doesn't know them or the accused and give them a fair shake. it will mean more survivors will come forward, and because of that professionalism, perhaps different cases are chosen and there is a better end result.

judy: let me ask you about two things. one is the way the so-called military separation boards operate. could that make a difference, changing that? we heard amy frank recommend that victim advocates should be independent of the chain of command. that is something you support? sen. gillibrand: that is something i fully support. we've heard from victim advocates that they have been bullied, they have been pressured, not given the authority they need to support their client by taking a case to the inspector general for retaliation. they are not allowed to represent their client in the same way that a regular lower is. -- regular lawyer is. they don't have the same ability to represent these clients in these types of litigation. yes, i would love them to be independent of the trait -- chain of command. judy: in connection with the

commander's ability to punish alleged perpetrators, you did introduce legislation creating a new channel for adjudicating sexual assault. there was not support of the pentagon. there was not support among your senate colleagues. is there support now? sen. gillibrand: i think there is much more support now. a number of my colleagues have said, i wanted to give other reforms a chance. i think there's a number of senators who were previous no votes who will be yes votes. we also have a commander-in-chief who said he wants to take these cases out of the chain of command. he's been clear about his views on sexual violence, not only having written the violence against women act, but speaking out about these issues. hopefully, he's informed the

secretary of defense to do a three month investigation and have a report. hopefully, the commission will look at these ideas and hopefully support them, but i'm going to get the bipartisan support i need for this bill. there are few bills that have the support of both bernie sanders and ted cruz, chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell, but this bill does. it's a commonsense reform that could transform the way survivors see this issue. they've asked over and over again at, survey after survey, if they could change one thing, they would change who could make the decision. judy: senator, something else i do want to ask you about, and that is your home state governor andrew cuomo. he's now been accused by eight different women of sexual harassment, incidents of sexual misconduct. you and your fellow new york senator chuck schumer have

called on him to step down, as has a majority of the new york congressional delegation. he says he has not done anything wrong. he says calling for people to do that are part of the so-called liberal cancel culture group. is that what is going on? sen. gillibrand: that's an absurd statement. given that he won't step down, we have two investigations that will move forward. the attorney general will do her investigation, as will the state assembly. those are investigations that will take months, but given where we are with covid, i think it is very difficult given that our governor has lost the support of most of his governing partners. judy: are you saying you think he will hold on for months while these investigations take place? sen. gillibrand: he might. i think that is what he said. i disagree. i think we should be focused on

the important task of governing and getting these resources into the economy, but i think it will be hard to do that given where he is. judy: senator kiersten schiller brand, thank you very much. -- kirsten gillibrand, thank you very much. ♪ judy: the suspect in the boulder shootings is expected to make his first court appearance tomorrow. law enforcement officials have not publicly dismissed his possible motives. president biden called the mayor of boulder to offer his condolences, and as the investigation continues, many observers and advocates say the shootings should be a springboard for new action. william brangham focuses on that part of the story tonight. william: these murders in boulder came one week after the mass shootings in georgia,, but

what many people don't understand is between those tragedie there were several other mass shootings. in dallas, in houston, in philadelphia, in stockton, california, and in gresham, oregon. two people died in each of those incidents. 26 more people were wounded. back in boulder, there were candlelight vigils last night. we look now at what might come next with colorado state representative tom sullivan. his son alex was killed in the mass shooting in aurora, colorado in 2012. representative sullivan, thank you for being here. i know this is not something you ever wted to be an expert in, but there are 10 families in boulder going through what you went through several years ago, and i wonder if you cou help us understand about what they are going through and what council you would offer them.

rep. sullivan: a couple of days after, they are trying to get out of town family to come in. they are trying to get preparations for a funeral for where their children are going to be buried. it is all that kind of stuff. and on top of that, they are dealing with people, all of a sudden their sons or daughters are on the front page of the paper, and they have to come up with a two minute synopsis of what the previous 25 years with that son or daughter was like, to get somebody to understand who their son or daughter was. william: i know that you ran for office after your son's tragedy, and we've seen in other cases like parkland and newtown and

perhaps even again after atlanta that these events become galvanizing for the families involved. do you think that is the same here? is it just because of the horror of these events? is it because of the state of our federal gun laws? what is it? rep. sullivan: certainly. you never know what is going to cause somebody to take action. to take any kind of action with this, it's going to require the federal government to get involved in this. some of these common sense things can help. nothing that we can do is going to eliminate this, but peace by peace, we can save lives. that's why i got myself elected, was to come to the state capital in denver and start to save lives. william: you've said that it has to come from the national government level. why is that?

you ran for office in colorado and had some success passing some laws. why are you saying it has to come from the federal level? rep. sullivan: we passed a backgroundheck in the state of colorado in 2013. they don't have it in the surrounding states. we have a high capacity limit in the state of colorado. they don't have it in the states around us. even the shooter in boulder with his ability to get an assault rifle, at the time, if they had that assault weapons ban in boulder, all he had to do was go to the next county or the next town and purchase that stuff. we need collective help from the national government. if they did background checks across the country, that would be better for us. if they did extreme risk protection orders across the country, that would help.

william: president biden called for an assault weapons ban. the mayor of boulder asked for that than to be removed in the city of boulder. it was in place, but blocked by a judge. even "the new york post" ran a piece today saying we need to get these weapons of war off the streets. do you agree with that, and do you think that will have any chance of passing? rep. sullivan: assault weapons, they put the mass in the shooting. the ability to get off more rounds quicker is what causes these high casualty rates. if they had pump action, they couldn't do it. if they had a smaller capacity magazine, they wouldn't have beenble. i get it. that is what they have been selling. i've hrd all of that, about how many tens of millions of

these types of weapons are out there, and i know how typical it is to differentiate between all the different platforms that they use, but something has to happen. william: we have seen two senior republican senators, jonathan and ted cruz, say recently, they echo this common point, which is, none of these laws that are being proposed would stop x event. how do you respond to that? rep. sullivan: in 2019 we stopped the extreme risk protection order in the state of colorado. last year, we had a 113 petitions that were filed. historically from the other states that have ran extreme risk protection orders, what that tells us is that for every

11 petitions that are filed, you save one life. what happened in the state of colorado last year by the petitions that were filed? we saved 10 lives. i can't tell you the names of the 10 people, but i know that that happened, and it probably was more than that. that is what we are doing. there is no one thing that can stop this from happening, but collectively, we can bring the numbers down. we can start saving some lives, and that is what i'm going to continue to do. william: state representative tom sullivan, thank you very much for being here. rep. sullivan: thank you. ♪

judy: the nation's first government-backed reparations initiative for black americans was approved this week in evanston, illinois. it's a program that could serve as a model for reparations forts across the country. john yang has the story is part of our "race matters" series. john: evanston is a suburb on chicago's north side lakefront. it's the home of northwestern university. about 16% of its 75,000 residents are black. this week, the city council voted 8-1 to begin to make good on its promise to spend $10 million in reparations over 10 years. first up, four hundred thousand dollars to compensate for past discriminatory housing practices. individual grants of up to $25,000 a person for black residents who can show they or their families lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.

the money can be used for down payments, mortgage payments, repairs, or home improvements. almost all of the money will come from taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana. ron daniels is the convene or of the national african-american reparations commission and joins us now. dr. daniels, thanks for being with us. what is the significance of what evanston's city council did this week? this has been a topic of discussion for a very long time, but this appears to be the first government to actually do something about it. dr. daniels: the significance is evanston becomes a model. it becomes a blueprint for reparations initiatives across the country. there are other cities interested in this, providence, los angeles, seattle, washington. there are a number of cities interested in this. it's very significant because beyond the idea of it, we have a

tangible example of moving from idea to public policy, and evanston has set the tone. john: it's been a topic of discussion in congress. there's been a discussion of federal or national reparations. you think it is going to give that effort and impetus? william: there's no question -- dr. daniels: there's no question about it. there is a synergistic relationship between evanston. many have endorsed hr 40. evanston was certainly instrumental in getting it done, and at the federal level the courageous leadership of congresswoman sheila jackson lee has moved us to the point that i would predict within the next three months or so, we will actually have a commission set up that will study and develop reparations proposals for african-americans. that is a huge development. it enjoys the support of nancy pelosi, speaker of the house,

chuck schumer, senate majority leader, and of course powered by a tremendousoalition of organizations. the american civil liberties union, cobra, the national council of churches, center for american progress. this is an incredible moment in the history of the united states. john: i want to ask you about the specifics of what evanston did. the one no vote came from sicily fleming. she's a black member of the council. she argued the specifics of how this money should be spent was almost paternalistic. she said that the injured party should be the one to dictate and decide what reparations are. what do you think of that? drdaniels: she's correct. she's incorrect in thinking that the reason why the reparations commission certified evanston as a model was because we were involved in helping to put the program together.

when robin ruth simmons and her colleagues did town hall meetings and hearings across the city, what came back from the persons affected was over and over again, housing, housing, housing. therefore, that's why it's paired to a housing initiative conceived by the stakeholders, and it went to the reparations subcommittee and was approved by the city council. we think the alderwoman is entitled to her opinion. we think that is good. all of that, quite frankly, is positive because this is not the end of the initiative. this is really the beginning. there will be many opportunities in order to have reparations initiatives. i should say this, however. the relationship between the national and federal, it would take federal legislation to create the large amount of resources to deal with the injury over the centuries. no amount of money is enough or

cash is enough, but at least the federal government under the leadership of congresswoman sheila jackson lee will be the way in which this ultimately does the repair that is needed. john: dr. ron daniels, thank you very much. dr. daniels: thank you. ♪ judy: thing the pandemic has made clear, our need for essential workers. we've heard many of their voices in the last year. tonight, the director of the national domestic workers alliance gives her brief but spectacular take on the importance of caregivers and the need to value work on this equal payday. >> in the first month of the stay-at-home orders, 90% of domestic workers lost all of

their jobs and income. it has been a crisis of impossible choices where you are either struggling to figure out how you are going to take care of yourself and your own family without an income, or you are going to work as an essential worker without protections. your kids are home from school trying to navigate online learning and still earning poverty wages without access to health care. my grandparents played a huge role in raising me, like many immigrant families, and my grandmother taught me a lot about caregiving. being as close to my grandparents, when they got older and needed care themselves, especially the people who raised us and cared for us actually should have the care and dignity they deserve.

everyone deserves that. the average income of a homecare care worker in america is about $16,000 per year. $16,000. we end up losing some of our very best caregivers to other low-wage service jobs because they cannot support themselves and their families. we should be thinking about our caregiving systems as essential infrastructure, childcare, eldercare. these are fundamental needs that every working family has across the lifespan, and we have nothing in place to support families. i think in the 21st century when we think about infrastructure, it has to include good caregiving. i believe we have an opportunity here to make these jobs good

jobs that you can take pride in and support your family on. just like we took manufacturing jobs in the 1930's from dangerous poverty wage jobs into a pathway for economic security and mobility. as an organizer, i spent a lot of time listening. the only way to understand how to solve a problem is to hear about how these policies and challees live in the lives of people every single day. as the pandemic rages on, the burden of safety is falling disproportionately on the shoulders of the people who have their least amount of resources to navigate the situation. we have an opportunity as we emerge from this pandemic, as the vaccine is more widely available, to chart a new course for how we protect and value

work. let's put them at the center of how we think about the future of work. this is my brief but spectacular take on caregiving. judy: so thankful for all of our caregivers. you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. online, we talked to the many of you across the country who are helping to secure vaccine appointments for the people who need them most. you can read about their stories and the work left to be done on our website right now. pbs.org/newshour. that is the "newshour" for tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online and here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs "newshour," thank you. please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> major funding by the pbs "newshour" has been provided by --

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersike you. thank you. >> this is pbs "newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

♪ ♪ >> lidia: i'm lidia bastianich, and welcome to "lidia celebrates america." for the past ten years, i've hit the road, sharing stories of people from all around the country. >> well, you can see here, the color of the barrel is already changing. >> lidia: from artisans reviving a craft... >> we got golden delicious, red delicious, honeycrisp. >> lidia: to veterans finding new meaning through farming... what is for lunch today? >> chicken leg. >> lidia: chicken legs? >> yep. >> lidia: to immigrants passing on their culinary traditions. okay, good luck to you. >> thank you so much. (sirens wailing) >> lidia: but this year, the pandemic hit. >> we were seeing just an insane amount of loss of life, hundreds of cardiac arrests a day.