judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. on the news hour tonight, the trial continues. george floyd's girlfriend testifies about his life before the killing at the trial of minneapolis police officer derek shelvin. then, the road ahead. president biden pushes his infrastructure overhaul plan focusing on creating jobs with renewable energy. and, crackdown. the chinese government tightens the screws on the hong kong as it convicts seven pro-democracy leaders. >> to be in jail for walking together with the people of hong kong. judy: all of that and more on

tonight's pbs news hour. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> your funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what is new? >> audrey is expecting. >> twins. >> change of plans. >> at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. consumer cellular. the candida fund, committed to advancing restorative justice through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at candidafund.org. carnegie corporation of new

york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to her pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. stephanie: i am stephanie si with newshour wes we will return to judy woodruff and the rest of the show after these headlines.

the astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine may not be needed in the u.s. at all according to the nation's top infectious disease doctor anthony faucher. fauci said existing contracts with other vaccine makers might fulfill the nation's need. astrazeneca has been approved in dozens of other countries. there have been reports of rare blood clots that occurred after its use. the white house says a problem with johnson & johnson's supply of the covid vaccine will not slow the pace of inoculations. 15 million doses may have been contaminat at a baltimore plant. the white house said today it learned of the problem last week but remains confident. >> hhs updated us. this is the problem working as it should. hhs updated us on j&j's manufacturing at the point they learned about the issue.

it was not going to impact the supply to the american people, and of course, j and j is working through this with the fda. stephanie: the white house launched a campaign called "we can do this" to win over americans still hesitant about getting vaccinated. it involves to hunt 75 organizations, ranging from the salvation army to the naacp to nascar. vice president, harris introduced members at a virtual event, and officials debuted tv ads in english and spanish. police in southern california have identified the man who allegedly shot and killed four people, including a nine-year-old boy wednesday. a fifth person remains in critical condition along with the suspect who has been identified. gonzalez attacked victims at an office complex. >> the preliminary motive is

believed to be related to a business and personal relationship, which existed between the suspect and all of the victims. it appears all of the adults were connected either by business or a personal relationship, and this was not a random act of violence. stephanie: this gun violence follows mass shootings in boulder, colorado and atlanta in the last three weeks. in myanmar, demonstrations erected across the country, marking two months since the military seized power. protesters burned copies of the constitution that ensured military dominance in the legislature. they honor the more than 500 protesters killed so far. a court in hong kong convicted seven pro-democracy leaders today for their role in mass protests in 2019. they include martin lee, the 82-year-old founder of the territory's democratic party, and jimmy lie.

we will have details later in the program. in this country, president biden held his first cabinet meeting with everyone spread out and masked. it took place in the east room to allow for social distancing. the president urged the members to push his infrastructure plan. it was opening day for major league baseball, but covid-19 immediately disrupted the schedule. a washington nationals player tested positive, and the team scratched its game with the new york mets. limited numbers of fans were allowed to attend in new york for the yankees home opener with toronto. >> we are hoping for a good year this year. let's get back slowly but surely. hopefully, everyone gets vaccinated so we can come back and enjoy the game with a full crowd. stephanie: the texas rangers where the lone team to allow full capacity at the stadium. president biden said that decision was irresponsible.

the state supreme court of virginia back to charlottesville's move to take down confederate statues, including one of general robert e. lee that was at the center of a white nationalist rally in 2017 where a woman was killed. the other statue is of thomas stonewall jackson, another confederate general. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to 719,000, up 61,000 from the week before. on wall street, big tech led the market higher. the dow jones industrial average gained 171 points to close at 33,153. the nasdaq rose 233 points. the s&p 500 closed above 4000 for the first time. still to come on the newshour with judy woodruff, george floyd's girlfriend offers details of his life at his murder trial. president biden pushes renewable energy as a goal of his

infrastructure plan. people with underlying health conditions discuss their struggles to get a vaccine. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: this was day four of the trial of former mini app list police officer -- minneapolis police officer derek shelvin. he's charged with second and third degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of george floyd last may. a special correspondent reports prosecutors continue to lay out their case. >> a trial already filled with emotion began with more tearful testimony this morning. george floyd's girlfriend court eney ross took the stand and

cried as she told the story of how the two met at a salvation army shelter and 2017. -- in 2017. >> he had this great, deep southern voice like raspy. he was like, you ok, sis? to come up to me and say, can i pray with you, it was so sweet. >> ross described floyd as a mama's boy who loved his two daughters. >> we both suffered from chronic pain. we got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction. >> derek show vince defense is trying to convince jurors that floyd's drug use, coupled with underlying health conditions, actually caused his death. an autopsy revealed floyd had a fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system when he died. ross said she took floyd to the

hospital two months before his death for what she later learned was an overdose. shortly after ross's testimony, lawyers for floyd's family released a statement saying, we fully expected the defense to put george's charact and struggles with addiction on trial because that is the go to tactic when the facts are not on your side. lawyers questioned minneapolis police sergeant who came to the scene after floyd died. >> aced on your review of the body camera ftage, do you have an opinion as to when the restraint of mr. floyd should have ended? >> yes. >> when is it? >> when mr. floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended their restraint. >> that was after he was handcuffed and on the ground and no longer resistant. >> correct. >> jurors also heard from first responders, including one.

emeka removed chauvin's knee off floyd. judy: president biden's infrastructure proposal includes hundreds of billions of dollars aimed at addressing climate change by cutting carbon emissions and increasing the use of clean energy. conservative critics say it amounts to a version of the garino deal. jennifer granholm is the secretary of energy. i spoke with her a short time ago. thank you so much for joining us. this infrastructure bill is not only ambitious in the price tag, $2 trillion or more for doing something about crumbling roads. it also tackles in a big way or

attempts to climate change. explain how addressing climate and what is going to happen to that is connected to infrastructure. sec. granholm: the most obvious is the transmission grade, which is part of our nation's infrastructure. can you imagine us today sticking polls in the ground with wires on top? much of it was built in the 1950's. you saw what happened in texas last month, and clearly that is one example of so many every year where our infrastructure, in this case our electric infrastructure, fails us. we need to add both capacity to the electric grid as well as resiliency, and that is one of the pieces of this bill. another one that i think is important that relates to our efforts to have clean energy and

zero carbon emissions is the transportation sector and electrifying our roads to be able to allow people who buy electric vehicles to be able to charge up if they are going long distances, and that is a very important piece of our energy infrastructure addressed in the bill. judy: madam secretary, the president speaks about this being an effort to catch up with china, that the united states does not want china to be ahead when it comes to renewable energy, but what exactly does that mean? i am looking at what you said recently. you said our economic competitors are eating us for lunch. what exactly is it that china and other countries are doing that the united states wants to change? sec. granholm: this is the key question, judy. we have bowed to the altar of low cost globally, and when we do that, we give away our manufacturing backbone.

we use to manufacture solar panels in this country. we don't anymore because china came in it, had a strategy that it was going to get the global economic corner on making solar panels. this is true with batteries for electric vehicles. asia has got the corner on the market on semiconductors. we have stood idly by and allowed our economic competitors to take the market from us, and that means taking jobs from us. what this president is saying is no more. that is not going to happen. we are going to manufacture the means to our energy security, to our national security. we are going to make things in america. why should we be putting out all of this effort to have clean energy but buy our windmills from denmark? why should we be buying the means to put solar panels on our roofs from a country that has human rights violations? even in the batteries, they have

critical materials we have in this country, but we are allowing other countries to corner the market on those materials. it is not an economic strategy that is a winning strategy for our people or nation or security, and that is what this bill addresses. judy: we are already hearing criticisms from republicans. a number of republicans are saying, wait a minute. we are for doing something about infrastructure and roads and bridges and water systems, but dealing with climate, that is something else. that ought to be separate. how do you answer that? sec.ranholm: every one of the republicans i've spoken to believes we need to invest in our electric grid, that we need to make it more resilient, that we have to expand the capacity. they all say that. every one of them wants to see us invest in the means to our

own security, and that means doing critical materials, mining responsibly critical materials that go into the batteries in this country. that means making sure we manage the fossil fuel emissions, the carbon dioxide emissions, and that means investing in the technology that reduces the footprint of the fossil fuel industry. they want to see us invest in research and development. we must invest in critical materials. all of these pieces are things that republicans and democrats have all said we must do. maybe they don't like it lumped into one bill, and maybe it has to be done in a different way, but there is so much that democrats and republicans have said they would like to see. judy: let me read you another criticism from kathy mcmorris

rodgers who is on the house energy committee, and she says, among other things, the president and democrats are jamming through a massive expansion in federal bureaucracy and government control. sec. granholm: first of all, nobody is jamming anything because he is inviting democrats and republicans to the table. he called mitch mcconnell. we are calling the people who are responsible for our committees. i've talked with republicans. tell us what you would like, tell us what you would change. he wants to negotiate. that is number one. when you think about this, big government bureaucracy, when you invest in infrastructure, it is generally not government employees out there building the

roads or bridges or putting up transmission systems. it's a government that funds the private sector to be able to do this work for all of us, for the benefit of the nation. it's not an expansion of bureaucracy. it's an expansion of economic opportunity and jo for america. judy: it is not just america but others in the corporate sector, people who represent people who hold these jobs, and they say, when you make the change from the fossil fuel industry, whether it is working in a plant , and you remove to re- -- and you move to renewable energy, wind, solar, you are talking about fewer jobs. they say that as a central problem with what the administration is trying to do. sec. granholm: actually, there are many more jobs in this clean energy realm than there have been in the fossil fuel industry, but it is so true that

we do not want to see people hurt, people who have built this nation and powered our nation. what this bill does is allow us to manage our carbon dioxide emissions. the president has a goal of getting to net zero carbon dioxide by 2050, and that means we have to figure out ways to clean up our fossil fu industry. even the fossil fuel industry itself is doing this, but what the n department of energy does through our national lab system, they are all working on solutions to reducing carbon dioxide in missions. one is a process called carbon capture and sequestration. it's a mouthful, but it is the way to be able to clean up emissions from power plants, and it is the way to be able to produce the products, technology you attack to those plants to be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and put people to work.

this bill allows us to begin to put people to work to make sure we have clean power in this country. judy: it's a big bill, and of the debate is just beginning. the secretary of energy jennifer granholm, thank you very much. sec. granholm: you bet. thanks so much. judy: for a republican perspective on infrastructure, representative rodney davis of illinois joins us. he serves on the transportation and infrastructure committee. first of all, your overall reaction to this proposal? rep. davis: it could be a lot better. i'm concerned about the investments or lack there of in certain areas of our infrastructure that needs to be replaced, needs to be fixed. the secretary of energy was correct. there are areas of bipartisanship, but it seems the administration and more importantly, leader schumer and speaker pelosi, are choosing to take a partisan route, rather

than working with us on areas of agreement. judy: we heard secretary granholm and we heard the president say, if you have ideas, they want to hear them. we heard her say they are willing to look at, if republicans come to the table with other proposals, look at may be moving this into more than one bill. rep. davis: i offered my suggestions, as did a member sam graves on the transportation and infrastructure committee. a couple other republicans, those of us who have a tremendous bipartisan record, we were in the oval office with the president with a vice president harris and secretary buddha judge, and we implored the administration, do not use reconciliation. i do believe the president and secretary buttegieg especially would rather be bipartisan, but i don't think leader schumer and speaker pelosi want to use a process other than

reconciliation. that is why we have a bill that is spending more in the initial proposal to add a division within the department of commerce than they are investing in every single port, waterway, lock and dam system, and airport in their proposal. judy: i didn't ask secretary granholm about that, but you may have heard her say republicans she speaks with, and maybe she was speaking about you -- they all tell us they are interested in fixing the electric grid, addressing the problems we know the country has when it comes to infrastructure, and making sure the country is prepared for the future when it comes to energy challenges. i guess i am hearing two different things here. rep. davis: one of the reasons why china is eating our lunch in manufacturing is because they are trying to get to a point

where they have cheap energy costs like we do in the united states. i would like to invite secretary granholm to come to my district. she mentioned we need to buy more wind turbines in the united states. absolutely, we do. buy them in clinton, illinois in my congressional district. you can see wind. you can see solar. you can see the demonstration project funded by the department of energy on carbon sequestration. the problem is, we still need to have baseload generating capacity. that means our nuclear facilities that have zero emissions, like the one in clinton, illinois. we have to make sure we don't d invest through sources like coal, which the carbon sequestration project is demonstrating we can burn cleanly. we cannot run of the american economy on wind and solar alone. you can't run the company in

decatur, illinois on wind and solar alone. i look forward to working with the secretary to make sure she has an opportunity to see this. judy: what i hear the administration saying is they understand this isn't going to happen overnight. it's a process they know we will be moving toward for the good of the country in the future, but it sounds like you are saying you are prepared to talk to the president, the secretary, and others to see if there is common ground. am i hearing you correctly? rep. davis: absolutely. we all are on the republican side. ranking member graves mentioned that we ought to be able to sit down and work in a bipartisan way. our leader kevin mccarthy said the exact same thing. we may not be given the chance though. i was honored to go to the white house and be in the oval office with president biden and his

team and talk about infrastructure, but the proof is going to be in the pudding. we have to make sure speaker pelosi and leader schumer get the message that we ought to be bipartisan rather than using the reconciliation process. this plan as we see it today will get even worse than it is. judy: as you know, the administration is arguing if we don't begin to take steps to address climate change, the united states cannot be at a point in the future where it needs to reduce carbon emissions . there will be a point of no return, and if steps are not taken now, beginning steps, the u.s. cannot be where it needs to be. it sounds like they want to work with republicans in order to get there. my question to you is, do you agree these early steps need to be taken?

rep. davis: i disagree with the premise that democrats want to work with republicans. i think speaker pelosi and a schumer are pressuring the administration to not work with republicans. i don't think that is joe biden's intent, but those are the cards they have been dealt by the leaders in the house and senate. we can't automatically believe that the climate hysterics that many americans here in this country want to talk about -- we can't forget that america is the only industrialized country that would have met our paris climate accord emission control standards. we are leading the way in the united states, and for many in america in politics, to not give erica credit for what we ar doing to reduce our carbon footprint, and at the same time not crippling our economy, we've got to me sure we talk about

what is good and what is happening positively along that front, not just doom and gloom. judy: as i said to secretary granholm, it is just the beginning of this debate, but i think everyone welcomes hearing both sides and welcomes knowing that the two sides are going to be talking to one another. congressman rodney davis, thank you very much. we appreciate it. even as the u.s. sets records for daily covid-19 vaccinations, disparities in it who is getting those vaccines persist. william bring him will talk with the researcher about those gaps,

but first, here are the stories of some medically vulnerable people, most of whom are still waiting for their shot. >> my name is jessica hernandez. i am from southern california. i am a diabetic. i have higher blood pressure, and i have an endocrine disorder. >> my name is katie powers. i lived in maine. i have a rare autoimmune disorder. >> my name is samuel freeman. i live in new york state. i live with epilepsy and scoliosis. >> i reside in honolulu, hawaii. i am 41, and i am a cancer survivor and am hiv-positive. >> my name is kathleen newell.

i am from california, and i have stage four breast cancer. the cdc wrote a letter saying people on chemotherapy and other serious diseases should have been in that group at the priority list, and i just now got my vaccine. >> i unfortunately got covid at the beginning of the pandemic, but apparently i don't qualify despite my underlying conditions. >> maine has not done anything -- [indiscernible] >> i am still searching for a vaccine. when the vaccine rolled out, they immediately said only senior citizens above 65 qualify. how do you leave out people with disabilities from the get-go? > i'd like to say happily

that i got it, but i'm not. i think it kind of guts me that there is not a national standard. you are stuck with everyone else in the general population waiting to get the vaccine because you are not important enough. >> i am hoping my medication for the stage iv cancer will work and that i will live another 10-20 years, but the odds are against that. every day counts for that. i lost that year, and i see it improving as soon my vaccine kicks in so i don't have to be so isolated. >> i just hope and i do believe that everybody will get vaccinated, and life will get back to normal. i hope mine does. >> no one wants to talk about

it. no one wants to say the words disabled. no one wants to say the words high-risk. they want to skirt around the issue. >> this whole scenario shod not be happening right now, period. >> i am hoping and praying it goes in the right direction. be smart about what you are doing, how you are doing it. >> for more on why some of these people are still waiting for vaccines, i am joined by jen keats, senior vice president and director of global health and hiv policy at the kaiser family foundation. it is great to have you back. we've talked about the inequities in aaccine distribution, but it is hard not to feel that sense of frustration. what is your sense as to why people are having a hard time getting their shots? >> it is hard to hear. these are individuals with

high-risk medical conditions. if they were to get infected with covid-19, they are at great risk for hospitalization and even death. it shows you we have a lot more work to do. what we found is for the most parts states did not prioritize this population, and that was not the recommendation. it has been a waiting game for people with high-risk medical conditions. states have mostly opened up eligibility, but a month ago, that was not the case. a month ago, half of the states had done so. it was hard for peoe who were quite vulnerable to get pointments. >> i know people don't like it when their government tells them what to do, but the cdc did put out this list of who should be prioritized. was it your sense that states and counties followed that advice or not? >> in addition to the issue of

states not prioritizing this group initially, they also defined the high-risk medical condition list differently. thcdc had a set of conditions, and some states abided by it, and some states didn't. that has created another lay or of challenge for vulnerable people. >> one researcher i talked to said some of this he thinks might have to do with the relati invisibility of people with these medical conditions. do you think there is truth to that? >> i think there is some truth to that. there are complicated factors as to why states were prioritizing this group and why they defined certain conditions as included and others not. it is not really a group that always comes forward and clamors for inclusion, especially given the last year when everyone is

afraid and trying to be as careful as they can. i think there are a lot of factors that went into this, but the upshot is, people who are feeling vulnerable, wanting to be safe, have not been eligible until recently. one bit of good news, by the end of april, virtually every state will have opened up eligibility to all people 16 and older. these issues will go away. >> is it your sense that as soon we have enough vaccine supply that this problem will go away? >> at that point, the eligibility confusion will go away. states have the capacity to reach people. is the registration system to complicated? they may be homebound, or are

still going to need extra help and effort. the eligibility challenge is the one thing that will ease up. >> always good to see you. thank you for being here. judy: seven of the hong kong's pro-democracy leaders were convicted of unlawful assembly, and as a result, could face up to five years in jail. it's another blow to what is left of the city's independence. nick shifrin focuses on the three of those convicted and their fight against on increasingly aggressive beijing. nick: a martin lee left court today gingerly and silently. jimmy lai wasn't even allowed in court. he was last seen in custody back

in february. 64-year-old spoke for the group and said they were resigned to their fate. >> if we are sentenced to jail in the future and in this case or many other cases, it is our honor to be in jail for working together with the people of hong kong. nick: their offense supposedly took place in august of 2015. that is jimmy lai and martin lee. they helped lead 1.7 million people out of victoria park through downtown without a permit. >> free hong kong! nick: it was the peak of protests, initially against a new extradition law, but expanded to fundamental demands of democracy. but they were shut down by a wave of arrests and a national security law that has targeted the city's freedoms.

>> these three in particular, these are really the first generation of democracy proponents who were acting professionally, acting constructively, and many young people would say, these are the moderates. nick: sharon holm is director of new york-based human rights in china.she said the three represented pillars of the democracy movement and city. >> when you look at the sectors they represent, the attacking of them it reflects the recognition of their influence, as well as a commitment to cutting off that influence. nick: jimmy lai was a media tycoon before he was frog marched out of his own newsroom last summer. we spoke to him a few months later. what is the state of freedom of speech in hong kong? >> as long as people are becoming more cautious about

what they write, what they say, and in fear of violating the national security law, freedom of speech is not there. nick: lai came to hong kong at 12 years old, stowed away on a fishing boat, and worked his way up in a hong kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper. he faces multiple charges that could lead to years in prison. are you resigned on a personal level to being found guilty and spending a long time, perhaps the rest of your life, in prison? >> i don't think about this because i do not want to put the psychological burden on myself until the time comes. i am not worried. my life is about myself. it would be meaningless. only when i detach from myself, and thinking about my life is about something bigger, not about myself, my life becomes

meaningful, and that makes me go every day. how are you? how's the family? >> it's a tough time now. i think i should be in jail by the middle of this year, i think. nick: lee is a prominent union advocate. we spoke on the day when more than 1000 hong kong police arrested a generation of beijing critics. they were accused of subversion for organizing an informal political primary. >> they took over and controlled everything. that is what the grand plan is, to frustrate the people to such an extent that either you emigrate elsewhere, but if you stay on, you have the risk of being arrested. nick: martin l and i last met in 2019 outside a hong kong train station. >> we have all the fruits of democracy, human rights,

freedom. nick: lee is considered the father of hong kong's democratic movement. he's a lawyer who negotiated with beijing the basic law that allows hong kong its freedoms. >> china is not allowed to interfere with hong kong's affairs. china must accommodate hong kong as much as possible. nick: but beijing now labels people like martin subversive and recently changed hong kong's election law to ensure politicians were "patriotic." >> we are excluding the anti-china rabble-rousers from the governance framework and will not let them stir up trouble or make chaos. nick: those convicted might be resigned to their fate, but the movement is not. >> martin and jimmy will continue to be a kind of inspiration for those of us who are outside and a reminder that

sometimes there is a price to be paid, but it is a long struggle. nick: a struggle that continues decades after its first generation launched it. i am nick shifrin. judy: the young superstar rapper lil nas x is no stranger to commanding the spotlight. his controversial new music video and the marketing campan for it are drawing the higher of conservatives and right-wing media. the reactions reveal cultural undercurrents in the struggle of black queer artists to make their voices heard. yummy shell's indoor has more -- yamiche alcindor has more. ♪

yamiche: 2019, he swaggered onto the scene with "old town road." montero hill became superstar lil nas x. "old town road" caught fire on tiktok and became a smash hit. it broke the billboard record for number one longest-running song of all time. that here at 20 years old he was the most grammy nominated male artist. >> thank you. yamiche: while on top of the charts, he came out as gay. he told cbs's gayle king that he wrestled with his sexuality growing up. >> i knew, especially around my teenage years. i would just pray and pray and pray. >> what were you praying for? >> that it was a phase. >> that it would go away? ♪ yamiche: last week, he released

a music video that he says speaks to that teenage boy struggling to accept his true self. it is called "montero." it's a campy journey that takes them from the garden of eden to the underworld where he dances for the devil before stealing his horns for himself. it's a tongue and cheek on the biblical themes that have long been used to justify homophobia. lil nas x has embraced his identity, but an online backlash is in full force. it intensified after he released a limited addition model of sneakers called satan shoes. nike sued the company that made a modified version of the sneakers and block them for being sold. right-wing media stoked of the uproar. >> what is most outrageous is the timing of this. it was dropped on the eve of holy week. yamiche: politicians like south dakota governor christie noam

and conservative pundit candace owens have taken to twitter to criticize the wrapper, but lil nas x is known for comebacks in his native arena, twitter. he's been quick to defend himself, and he's not waiting on anyone's blessing to express himself through his art. to discuss all of this, i'm joined by clay kane, host of the clay can show on serious xm, and he's the author of "live through this: surviving the intersections of god, sexuality, and race." what did you see represented in this video, this "montero" vi deo, and how does it speak to black and queer folks? clay: to see someone as young as lil nas x dealing with faith, his own identity, it was really powerful. he put out a tweet saying all these years he has been taught

to hate himself. this music video to me was him reacting to what i call spiritual and theological violence and how that harms lgbt folks, especially black lgbt folks in the church. if i was younger, if i saw an image like this, in many ways it would have freed me from the hate i was taught to believe. it was very powerful, and for a lot of black lgbt folks, i am not saying that lil nas x is audrey lord or james baldwin, but young people are listening to him, and that power of him dismantling a cycle of shame, i think it resonates for folks who listen to him and certainly has an impact. yamiche: you touched on the cycle of shame that some people fear, especially black people and queer folks. can you talk about how lil nas x ' art and success connect? clay: in many churches, you were

taught that who you are turally is an abomination. then you have this rhetoric like, hate the sin, love the sinner. you are an abomination, but you are still going to hell. who you are is wrong, but i still love you. rhetoric like that, document -- dogma like that damages people for life. i have friends who committed suicide. i have friends who are living their life, and they still have this gnawing sense that who they are is inherently wrong. lil nas x doing that, i think it helps to say, hey, you are saying i am going to burn in hell and metaphorically here i am going to hell? people still have an issue with it. people are still challenged by it. you put your work and your pain and sorrow in your art, but for some people, it's a little heavier that a black gay artist

is doing it. when madonna did it, it was controversial, but it certainly didn't reach the backlash that has now with a black artist who is remaining unapologetic and is not connected to these constructs of religion that hurt peop's souls and prevents them from loving. in addition to that, some of that hate turns into policy. yamiche: this is not the first time that artists have used controversial imagery. you talked about madonna. what do you think makes this different and new? clay: becausee is a black gay artist. because he is a black artist. ac/dc did it. dmx did it. prince did it. it's because it is a black gay artist, and it terrifies people. the truth is -- folks may get angry about this -- religion

really is not about god. it's about control. lil nas x is taking a narrative that isllegedly a narrative rooted in christianity, and he's blowing it up. lil nas x is insistingpon being free, and that scares people. yamiche: i want to ask you about the blowback. lil nas x is insisting on being free, but there are people reacting negatively to the satan shoes, as well as to the video. what do you think might be lost in this controversy? clay: when it comes to the sneakers and the video, it is so funny. a pair of sneakers and a video is not going to dismantle centuries of religion. there is no threat to your faith, but there is a threat to lgbt folks being able to live and exist. if lil nas x and so many other people weren't damaged and hurt by theological violence, which i say can be just as damaging as

physical and emotional abuse, you wouldn't have a video like this. i see him as acting out about the way he's been hurt, and that to me is powerful. whether or not you like the song, that is one thing, but that imagery has people talking. we have to really examine the ways in which we pin our life and death to what i call culturally scripted sin. sin is culturally scripted. i feel like if i see somebody being rooted in who they are, he's not lying to himself. feel free to turn it off. yamiche: certainly a lot to speak about. thank you for joining us. judy: tonight, we look at the importance of palliative care in rural communities from three

perspectives. our brief but spectacular team spoke with dr. jennifer blechman of bend, oregon, liz anderson of asheville, north kalana, and patient joni devine alongside her fiance david keenan of waynesville, north carolina. >> many people say, how can you do the work you do? it see so depressing. i find my job so rewarding. >> may be i think about death more than other people, but it is not on the top of my mind. i think what i really thin about is how to live meaningful life. >> as long as i'm living a life that makes me happy, time does not matter to me. i can go any day. i want to take advantage of anything i have. >> i have worked as a hospice

and palliative care social worker primarily in rural virginia and rural north carolina. my first job was in a rural hospital in vermont. we would work in the er. we would work in the intensive care unit. i learned about palliative care and realized it was what i was missing in madison. >> i was born with a rare genetic disorder, and i was supposed to have been dead by the age of 13. we live in a very small town. our local hospital doesn't even have a dialysis unit. >> we have some challenges as far as access. i live in central oregon. the agency i work for, we serve a 10,000 square mile radius. we have patients as far as 3, 3 and a half hours away. >> one social worker covers

seven different counties.we have to be much more proactive then in a big city. we try to predict what somebody may be dealing with and make sure they have the tools available to them in their home. >> it takes upwards of 4.5-5 hours a day. >> i think health care professionals have a hard time in rural communities because they get puld in different directions. a health care worker might actually be asked to pray with a patient becau they are having a hard time getting those adequate resources. >> my palliative care nurse, she's probably my best friend. she's basically my therapist. she's everything i need in one person. >> giving joni the tools to think things through and find a game plan of how to approach things.

>> the work we ask patients and caregivers to do, it's pretty tremendous. i have stories from caregivers who have heard heavy things from people that they love, and they have not had a place to talk about that. particularly people in rural communities are carrying that around. >> i am pretty at peace. dying is a release of pain, a release of everything you feel negatively in life. >> many people get to a place of acceptance and a place of peace before they die, and that can be so rewarding for us to see, which is a small fraction of how it can help their families and loved ones they leave behind. >> when we allow people to share their emotional experience of suffering or watching a loved one suffer, that itself is

intervention. that itself alleviates suffering. >> i am liz anderson. >> my name is david keenan. >> my name is dr. jenny blechman. > my name is joni devine. >> this is my brief but spectacular take on the impact of palliative care in a rural community. judy: we are so grateful that you shared your stories with us. you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. on the pbs newshour online tonight, public officials are facing pressure to address racist violence against asian americans. we explore what advocates and lawmakers are proposing to combat the problem. that is on our website pbs.org/newshour. that is the newshour for tonight. join us online and here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs

newshour, please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that provides opportunities to connect. our customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. for more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with the visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. ♪ >> the alfred p. sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions.

and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like 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. ♪

-growing up in new england, i used to go to my grandparents farm with my mom and we'd always sit on the porch, and i'd say to my mom, "mom, what's over the hill?" and she always said the same thing. she said, that's california. and that's what made me really curious about the world. and what i love even today is to go and make these discoveries and bring them back to my own kitchen. the one thing that i never shared with you after all these years of doing the show was that city over the hill that i love so much. the place that i live, san francisco. you know, i actually got my start at chez panisse over the bridge. and that's where i really learned about the bay area and how fabulous this food sourcing community is. you can get alst anything here. so that's what we're going to do today. we're going to make three recipes, sourced with local ingredients. we'll start with a fennel, arugula and persimmon salad with toasted hazelnuts. and for the main course, we're making handmade garganelli pasta