♪ judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. tonight, gaining ground, a strong jobs report showing hope for an economic recovery. changing styles, new laws try to combat racial discrimination based on how you wear your hair. it clarifies that discrimination in all forms is discrimination. judy: it is friday. david brooks and capehart considered the new infrastructure plan. mlb reaction to the new voting law in georgia. all that and more tonight on pbs

"newshour." ♪ >> major funding has been provided by . ♪ moving our economy, bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. ♪ >> john s. and james l. knight

foundation. more at kf.org. ♪ >> 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 contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: -- stephanie: newshour west. we will return to the program after these headlines. there has been a new attack at the united states capital, leaving one police officer dead and another wounded. a man drove his car into the barricade, then stabbed one with a knife.

police shot and killed the suspect. in january, another police offir died when a mob storm the building. >> i ask you to please keep the united states capitol police family in your thoughts and prayers at this time. it has been an extremely diicult and challenging year for us. stephanie: the slain officer was identified as william evans, an 18-year veteran of the force. they say the motive is unclear, but do not expect terrorism. the u.s. economy is giving strong, new signals that a sustained recovery. the labor department reports a net gain of 916,000 jobs last month, the most since august. the unemployment rate fell to 6%. we will take a closer look after the news summary. at the white house, president biden talented his infrastructure plan as a path to permanent recovery.

mitch mcconnell has vowed to fight the $2 trillion blueprint and its proposed tax hikes. after his remarks, the president said that would be a mistake. president biden: if republicans decide we needed and cannot pay for it, it would just increase the deficit. i think the republican voters will have a lot to say about it. stephanie: joe biden also said the corporate tax hikes would not slow the economy. the cdc said today that it is safer for americans who are fully facts it in it -- fully vaccinated to travel without quarantine. with infections that 20%, the cdc director advised staying home anyway. >> i would advocate against a general travel over all. our guidance is silent on recommending or not recommending fully vaccinated people travel. our guidance speaks to the safety of doing so. stephanie: california said it is

allowing indoor concerts, theater performances, and private gatherings, starting april 15, seating restrictions will be county by county. the u.s. and iran agreed to end the direct talks on returning to the 2015 nuclear deal. president trump abandon the agreement nearly three years ago. the joe biden white house confirmed talks will begin tuesday in vienna, austria. we will talk with the key u.s. figure on this issue later in the program. president biden has reaffirmed his support for ukraine, as russian forces massed on the eastern border. a white house statement says he spoke with ukraine's leader today and cited "russia's ongoing aggression." pro-russian rebels have been fighting ukrainian forces since 2014. in taiwan, at least 51 killed in more than 100 injured today was a train smashed into a truck that rolled onto the tracks. the train was coming out of a tunnel and passengers had to climb through windows and walk

on the roof to get out. more than 400 people were on board. back in this country, mlb announced it is moving its all-star game out of georgia because of the state's new law adding restrictions on voting. the game had been scheduled for mid july just outside atlanta. the league it says it is looking for a new post city. a senior minneapolis police official testified today that derek chauvin no reason to kneel on george floyd's neck when he was already down and handcuffed. the lieutenant richard zimmerman heads the homicide division and said the former officer's actions were totally unnecessary. >> i saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger. and that is what they would have to feel in order to use that kind of force. stephanie: that testimony closed out the first week of derek chauvin's trial in minneapolis. he is charged with murder and manslaughter.

a texas sheriff has fired seven officers after a black man died in jail last month. marvin scott was arrested for marijuana possession. the guard said he was acting strangely so they tied him down and used pepper spray and a so-called spit hood on him. his family says scott had mental health problems. the suspect in a mass shooting rampage in southern california was charged today with four counts of murder. police have not revealed a motive for the attack, but said the suspect was married to a long time employee of the business he targeted. the suspect was shot and is in stable condition in a hospital. new numbers from the u.s. southern border show authorities caught more than 170,000 migrants crossing from mexico in march, the most in 20 years. nearly 100,000 were single adults. some 19,000 were unaccompanied children. and, for a second year,

christians marked good friday with subdued ceremonies amid the pandemic. religious sites that we opened across israel and the west bank, and franciscan friars led worshipers and a retracing the final steps of jesus. pope francis presided over the way of the cross possession in a largely empty st. peter's square. still to come with judy woodruff , what the strong jobs report says about the economy. the u.s. opens the door to a new deal with iran. brooks and capehart weigh in on the infrastructure plan. plus, much more. ♪ announcer: this is the pbs newshour, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ judy: today's upbeat u.s. jobs report is welcome news.

it seems to confirm recent forecasts that the economy is on its way to a stable recovery. correspondent: an increasingly optimistic consensus says u.s. gdp could increase by 6% in 2021, much higher than pre-pandemic levels. if that happens, we could expect job gains from 700,000 to one million per month. one of the economist making those rosy forecasts is a policy director on fiscal and monetary policy at the brookings institution. great to have you on the newshour. nearly one million jobs added last month. it looks pretty great. what is your main take away from this report? >> today was a great report. 916,000 jobs added is a huge number. it would've been almost unheard of before this year, but it is good to remember despite the

large increase in jobs in march, it is still true we are a .5 million jobs below where we were before the pandemic started, so we really do have a very large job deficit, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 6% this month. it is still 2.5% higher than it was during the pandemic, and when you think about the fact a lot of people have left the labor force, that number is too low to gauge the level of the unemployment rate in a better number might be something like 9%, so even with today's job number, we are still way below where we would've been come up do think today is marking a turning point. we are seeing the economy reopening in this job gains will be very large. what happened is the place where we got the most job increases were the places that had been

most affected by the pandemic comes of jobs was leisure and hospitality, and that was an area most affected by the pandemic. correspondent: you mention certain sectors bouncing back quicker. what are the sectors that will take longer in your estimation? >> there are a couple of things. one question is which ones do not start for a while, and that will be things that require crowded places with lots of people inside, that those will wait until the pandemic is completely over. i think a more interesting question or more important question is you might see a lot of jobs come back at first, then the question is, will all the jobs come back? so, is it possible that the pandemic would change the mix. one thing i worry about her think about is what will happen to business travel? right?

we are doing this over skype, over zoom, and we see a lot of things are better that way. correspondent: airlines and hotels don't like that. >> exactly. some things might not come back completely. they will come back from where they are now right, but they may not come back to the same level. we may have a different post-pandemic economy, transportation, commuting, and related to working in an office versus at home. those are the areas where there is some possibility that most of the jobs will come back, but not all of them, and we will not know that for a while, right? what we will see is the reopening for the next several months, but i think that is the long-run concern, that some people not workingow may not have a job to go back to ever come until they switch, and in the question is what do they do and can they switch easily? correspondent: so much of what you are describing is bouncing

back this pandemic, vaccinations and all of that, making us feel like we can go back to some sense of normalcy. there are some upticks of infection around the country. does your optimism get blunted at all if we see a potential fourth surge of the virus? >> definitely. if there is a new variant and the vaccinations don't protect us or we are not sure or people are scared again, not ing out to eat and all the stuff they stopped last spring, then i think you will have a slower recovery, which means you would not get the 6% gdp and you won't get the jobs that go along with it, so that is possible. i presume we will eventually get back, and so the question is is the end-of-the-year reasonable, or will it take longer? to get to the jobs at the end of the year, it is possible not every job lost during the pandemic will come back, but

other jobs will come back, fiscal stimulus, a lot of demand, so maybe we have most of the jobs lost during the pandemic, and just some jobs in general that are not related to the pandemic because there is demand. correspondent: thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you so much for having me. ♪ judy: one major shift in this administration is a willingness to engage with iran to curb that country's nuclear ambitions. as talks start in vienna next week, there is a lot on the line. more, we speak with robert, the u.s. special envoy to iran. welcome back to the newshour. first off, what is the u.s. gold in these indirect talks? robert: the goal is to see

whether we can agree on the steps the u.s. needs to take and what steps iran has to take to come back in compliance with the nuclear deal. it has been many years since the u.s. has had that engagement with iran. it is indirect. we have seen the product of several years of maximum pressure on iran, trying to get iran to surrender and agreed to better terms, well, the result is we are worse off, because iran has expanded his program, and on the regional front, more aggressive, so the goal is to see whether we can agree on a roadmap back to compliance. judy: to clarify, this is about coming up with an overall agreement, making sure both sides are on the same page, coming up with an overall agreement, not negotiating piecemeal steps? robert: that's right.

this is the first step. it will be a difficult, arduous path because of how much distress there is, but our goal is to discuss indirectly with european and other partners to discuss with iran to see if we can define the steps that both sides will have to take if they are seriousbout coming back into compliance with the deal. president biden said it during the campaign, that the u.s. is prepared for a mutual return to compliance. let's see if we can reach an understanding with iran about what that is. judy: what is the minimum the u.s. prepared to accept? does iran have to come bacinto full compliance? how do you verify what that means? robert: absolutely. we did it once before in 2016. the international economic organization can do that. we want to be in full compliance with the deal. today, they have 10 times more

enriched uranium than they did in 2017, so are we better off today? nope. we are worse off. we want to get back into compliance. the u.s. knows in order to get back into compliance, it will have to lift those sanctions inconsistent with the deal that was reached with iran and the other countries involved in the nuclear deal. judy: which raises the question, is the u.s. prepared to raise those sanctions? we know it is something like 1500 new sanctions imposed in the trump administration. is the biden administration prepared to lift all of those? robert: president biden said we are prepared to come back into compliance if iran is prepared to come back into compliance, so we have to do the work, look at the sanctions come and see what we have to do so iran enjoys the benefits it was supposed to enjoy under the deal so we have to remove the sanctions inconsistent with the deal, if iran is prepared to retract and

reverse the steps it has taken in violation of its commitments. judy: i want to quote to use something that iran's foreign minister said in a tweet today. he said "the aim of the session would be to rapidly finalize sanction lifting and nuclear measures for choreographed removal of all sanctions, followed by iran ceasing remedial measures." does it sound like you are on the same page? robert: i will not engage in twitter diplomacy. if we are realistic about what both sides have to do, if we engage in this with a constructive frame of mind, we can get there, but if either side says the other side has to do everything first before it will move one inch, i think it is hard to see how this succeeds , but let's go in there with constructive attitudes and see what happens, see whether we can land on the same page. as i said, it is just the first

step. we have not even have this indirect conversation with iran and sometime, so it would take some time to get back to it, but we hope we can take this first step in a constructive way and lead to theutcome that we would like to see which is a mutual return to compliance with the deal. judy: how do you deal with the fact that iran's nuclear scientists now have so much more information than they did in 2015, when this deal was originally agreed to? does this, is this something the u.s. has to live with? robert: well, that is one question we will have to address. that is what coming back into compliance means, what they have acquired and how we address that. that is why it is not as easy as turning on a switch and we are back in compliance. it will require difficult discussions about what they need to do so we and others in the iran nuclear deal and the

international economic energy association are satisfied iran is back in compliance with the commitments it made. that is exactly what we have to discuss and we will be working on that next week in vienna. judy: is it fair to say that the burden is equal on both sides, or do you look at iran as having the greater burden of proof? robert: again, i don't look at it in either way. it is an issue of whether both sides can take the steps that are necessary to come back into compliance. president biden said that was the mandate he ran on, which is he believe we will worse off out of the deal that we were in the deal. i think that is noncontroversial when you look at how much more iran has developed its nuclear program, the reason, and how much more aggressive it is in the region than 2016, so our goal, so it does not matter who has the greater weight, but whether both sides are prepared to carry the burden they have to come back into compliance. so that is what we will test in

the coming week, and more, because this is only in the first phase. judy: as you know, there is a lot of discussion about the timing. is it essential that this agreement be reached before iran holds its elections in june? robert: what is essential is we get a good understanding that is consistent with u.s. national security interest from the u.s. point of view, so we will not rush this to beat any deadline, and we will not drag our feet to wait for those elections. when there is an understanding that both sides are comfortable with, that is when there will be a deal. it has to be satisfactory to the u.s. and meet the conditions the u.s. has and other parties to the iran nuclear deal have. the understand there is an election coming up, and we know iran is well aware of it, but our goal is to get to return to the nuclear deal, and we will

follow that paste in a determined way, but we will not cut corners if we can't get a proper understanding before that time. judy: just quickly, you do believe it is possible to get this done before june? robert: it is possible, of course. every day that goes by it becomes less possible, but it is possible. i just want to say before i leave just a thought, american detainees unjustly detained in iran, we can't forget them, and anything on the nuclear side, whher we succeed or fail, our goal is to get them back home, one of them will be marking 2000 days unjustly detained in an iranian prison tomorrow, so we will work as hard as we can and get it as soon as possible, but we will never forget the americans who are wrongfully deined and need to be re-knighted with their loved ones. judy: can there be a deal if they are not returned? robert: we will get them home and do everything we can. that is a priority for the president, the secretary of state come in for my entire team.

judy: the u.s. special envoy to iran, thank you very much. robert: thanks so much for having me. ♪ judy: last month, connecticut became one of a growing number of states to make race-based haired is from a nation illegal. we have this report on how black americans often face discrimination because of the way they wear their hair. especially in school and at work. correspondent: for much of american history, naturally curly black hair has been seen wrongly as unprofessional or even dirty, especially in the workplace. at this salon in virginia, the manager has seen the impact the

discriminatory thinking first hand and says many clients openly worry about being judged if they wear their hair naturally curly. >> a lot of times when we talk to our clients in the corporate setting, most of the conversations are along the lines of, i am in a predominantly non-black environment, so i can go in looking like my hair has not been taking care of, because there is that assumption if you don't have natural hair, you are not taking care of it. correspondent: still, women are abandoning methods for changing their appearance and embracing natural black styles. >> it is an art. >> it is. correspondent: many black men are growing that her longer. for one man, he is hoping to make a professional statement. >> i made the decision to grow my hair out out of necessity, since all the barbers were not able to cut our hair last year, but it got to the point where i

was switching careers and wanted to change stereotypes, what does a black person look like. announcer: taylor -- correspondent: he says he understands he could make in the target of police harassment. >> i do have concerns about safety when it comes to my hair. if you see somebody with dreadlocks or corn roles, or what is considered wild hair, somebody poor, somebody potentially doing drugs, or up to no good you are seen as somebody less than. correspondent: are those worry about not being accepted at work, like this person whose coworker only complemented her hair the day she decided to straighten it. >> it was her fault. they felt my hair being different was better than it was to spring out of my head, the natural form. correspondent: miller decided to stick with her naturally curly hair, in part to be an example for her daughter. >> when she was younger, she

came home and i had relaxed hair and she was like, i don't like my hair. it is very disingenuous to say, you should love your hair. love your hair the way it grows out of your by, and running through my chemically-straighten hair. correspondent: hair-based discrimination is happening schools. in 2018, a referee forced a black high school student to cut off his hair before competing in a wrestling match. last year in texas, another black student was suspended and said he could not walk in his graduation because it was too long. >> we do see this elevation, this privileging of straitened hairstyles is good here. correspondent: to protect americans against this form of discrimination, windy greenas worked with legislators around the country to create the crown back. it is a law that bans this termination workplaces and schools against hair textures or styles linked to racial

identity. >> it clarifies that natural hair discrimination in all forms is race discrimination. our hair has nothing to do with our competencies, qualifications, and abilities, and therefore should not have anything to do with whether we are afforded employment opportunities or should be in certain spaces. correspondent: in 2019, california became the first state to pass the back. [applause] since then, seven states have followed the lead, in addition to a handful of cities and counties. >> i rise in strong support of the bill. correspondent: a federal version passed last fall, but stalled in the senate. green says part of the challenges is getting others to see the realities of hair discrimination. what do you say to people who say this is just hair, just grooming him a dress code, here discrimination does not exist, because you have to have different standards for different parts of society?

>> individuals who say those things are uneducated or under educated, as it relates to the racial discrimination flowing from our hair texture, summer to our skin color, harkening back to apartheid in this country and around the world. this because it may not be your experience, does not mean this experience of this termination is not real. correspondent: and that experience is all too real for this person. >> i was using flatirons on my hair every single day to have that straight look. correspondent: a former news anchor in mississippi, she started wearing her hair naturally after she became pregnant with her son. >> i talked with my news director and said is it ok to stop straighten my hair, and he said it is fine. i started wearing my braids come in one day, he said your hair is unprofessional. it is the equivalent of wearing a baseball cap to go to the

grocery store, and viewers needed to see a beauty queen. correspondent: she filed a complaint with the equal opportunity employment commission. >> i felt that you are telling me my hair is unprofessional and people in my community that people who look like me, that our hair is unprofessional, that our is unprofessional. i could not vocalize it at the time. i did not that i could vocalize my feelings at the time. correspondent: she was fired a month later, and eventually they said they could not determine whether she was discriminated against, but did not absorb the company and said she could sue. last year, she did sue the station's parent company for race discrimination. representatives of the company declined to comment on the ongoing case. stories like hers are not unique. >> january 5, in the year of our lord 2017, we are now allowed to wear it. correspondent: this retired staff sergeant spent 20 years in the army, halfway through her

service, she put her hair and lots of it because it was easier to maintain. that style violated the grooming policy, which was picked to be difficult for black personnel. >> i was ordered to cut it, and i refuse that order so i ended up being tried and was found guilty for refusing that order, and the punishment is to be reduced in rank and to be separated from the military for refusing to cut my hair. now that did not happen. correspondent: what changed? during the trial, she made a minor change to her hairstyle and allowed her to keep her job and rank. >> my hair like this was wrong, but doing this, twisting two of them together, this was determined to be within regulation was that this is what i did all over my hair. correspondent: in 2017, the army remove the ban, but she still remembers how the scrutiny made her feel. >> it was the worst experience

in my career. in 2003, deployment, afghanistan, we are trained to prepare for this, but not this. correspondent: despite these ongoing fights, they are confident that times are changing, whether in the workplace. >> my fight is one of thousands. i feel that we feel seen and heard now. it has taken too long, but we are here. correspondent: or at home raising a son. >> braids, cut her hair off, where an afro, that is on you. i am proud of the fact i can teach my son to love his natural hair the way i love my natural hair. correspondent: this cultural acceptance and even celebration of hair is changing the conversation about discrimination across america. for the pbs newshour. ♪

judy: with the release of president biden's infrastructure plan, states reopening, and boycotts bring, we look to the analysis of brooks and capehart. david brooks and jonathan capehart, columnist for the washington post. hello to both of you. so good to see you. as always there is a lot to talk about. jonathan, i want to start with you on the president's big infrastructure plan, over $2 trillion. what you make of it, does it meet the need, or overshoot? jonathan: if you listen the progressives, it does not meet the need or go far enough. if you listen to republicans, it spends way too much. the way you described the plan is perfect, actually, because you describe it as an

infrastructure plan, but the actual name of this package is the american jobs back, and that, i think, when you think of what the president proposed in terms of jobs, it all fits together. it all makes sense. one of the knocks against the plan is that only certain amounts are spent on infrastructure. most people when they think of infrastructure they ink of roads, bridges, seaports, airports, those things, but what you see in the american jobs back is a broader definition of what infrastructure is yes, roads and bridges, but also wind turbines and solar, green energy things, wiring the country with broadband, having broadband be for 2021 what the interstate system was in the mid-1950's,

connecting the country, but connecting the country electronically, and also the electric power grid, so i think the president is going for a big, bold plan. the question is can it become law. judy: david, jonathan makes a point that there is more in here , hundreds of billions of dollars for caregiving, for seniors, and others. what do you make of this? david: i do worry about the debt . we are spending almost $10 trillion if all of it passed. that is a lot. it is a historical fact. it contributed to the decline of other empires. history is replete with nations who hurt themselves by going into too much debt, nonetheless, in the circumstances, the plan is worth it. i say that because we have simply under invested in

infrastructure in all sorts of things for decades. that is just a fact. second, if you ask me to tell the economic story of america for the last 50 years, i would say we have built a gigantic funnel that has funneled money and resources and wealth to highly educated people in large metro areas. this plan funnels money to all the people not in those, so it rebalances our society in a way, and finally, jonathan, were on a call with the president's top advisor earlier in the week, and she made the point, listen, we have to show democracy works. there is a chinese system that a lot of people think that is what works, and we are in this contest to show that democracy can get things done, so given the circumstances, i overcome my high aversion to all of this. judy: jonathan, does this look like it has a chance of getting,

becoming law? jonathan: judy, right now, no. i say no because the senate mitch mcconnell has already said that he will not support it. i have not heard one republican in the senate stepped forward and say hor she will support it, that means the president will have to depend on a couple of things. one maintaining all 50 democrats to vote for this plan, but the other thing is in order for all democrats to have any say, the senate parliamentarian has to rule as to whether the american jobs back, like the recovery act , can go through reconciliation, which is a simple majority vote, so there are lots of hurdles, and that is why i say right now, the american jobs act is big, bold, and necessary as it is. as it stands now, don't see how

it becomes law. judy: david, your forecast? david: it is a tad more optimistic. i hear a lot of moderates, moderate democrats think positive things come so that is a good sign. one challenge is this will just take a long time. nancy pelosi said she hopes to get it out of the house by july 4 within the senate, so a six-month process. suppose we are generating 900,000 jobs a month over that time, a lot of people are going to say, why are we spending all this money? the economy is roaring. judy: all right, two other things i want to ask you about. we will try to squeeze them in. jonathan, on where we are with covid. we see more people are getting vaccinated, good signs, over 100 million americans now have been vaccinated, but we are also seeing a rise in the number of cases, hearing talk about

vaccine passports are requiring people to show a passport they have been vaccinated before they can travel or go into a place of work, potentially, and you also see states where the governors are opening up before washington says they are ready for that. where do you see all of this headed? jonathan: i feel like it is groundhog day. i think i said this a few weeks ago. we are so close. we are always so close to getting to the other side of this pandemic, in terms of cases going down, hospitalizations, deaths, businesses able to reopen, then states in that doing something to mess it all up, and you know, for states to undo their mask mandates, open things quite open again, as cases are going up as variants are running rampant across the land, when you have the cdc

director going off script and saying she is extreme he worried about what will happen, i don't think we are out of the woods yet. i think people are being a little too optimistic about how much they can do because of the vaccines. i, like anyone, wou like to get the vaccine and get back to normal, but i would love to get back to normal whenhe country can actually do it in a uniform way, and i am not seeing right now how we will be able to do that by the time of the president's goal of july 4. judy: david? david: we need to make life a lot better so people can go out, and i say that is one who is too younto have the vaccine, but we have to induce the people who are vaccine hesitant to say, wow, it is really great on the

other side of the break, in one way to do that is vaccine passports so people can go and enjoy life. as far as i understand it, you do not get the disease come at easter chances are fantastic, and you do not spread the disease, so if that is the case, i say to all of you with the shots, party on. judy: david, jonathan and i think of you is always young, so it is all good. it is all good. quickly, finally, we talked about george's voting law and the pushback against it, but now -- georgia's voting law and the pushback against it, but now corporation saying they don't like it. today, mlb is pulling the all-star game out of atlanta that was going to take place this summer and will find another home for it. is this kind of pressure likely to make a difference in georgia and other states where they are looking at tightening voting? >> the georgia law is the law,

and it is highly unlikely governor kemp will go back with the legislature will go back and say we will have a do over, b i do think it is very important for corporate america to take stands on issues that are of importance, not only to their customers, but to their employees, and so for delta, coca-cola, and mlb to take the stands they have taken i think is important. i think what is also important was the letter from the 72 black business executives, ken chennault, ken frazier, the president of the ford foundation , a former ceo of xerox, putting pen to paper and saying what is happening in georgia is an attack on democracy, and where are the business leaders in all business leaders in raising their voices about this? i think what is happening in georgia should be a template for all the other states, where what

has happened in georgia is happening in the states right now. judy: what effect, david, do you see this kind of corporate involvement having? david: i spoke negatively, critically of the law, and i am still very much against it. i worry about seeing one institution at the other getting politicized, the church, the press of a corporations taking political sides, boards of directors and ceos with a lot of economic power wielding it in ways that is political, so i am nervous to see another institution get super political. they just don't do it well. delta, coca-cola, in ovi, they work in china, a country committing genocide here at what standards do we hold people to? i am nervous about a lot of people with power wielding it in this way. i am more comfortable if we settle our differences through politics and through persuasion

and through activism, trying to get people to come out to the polls. i am just more comfortable with that as a means of social change. judy: a serious note to end on. david brooks. jonath capehart. thank you both. have a good weekend. ♪ as now more than 550,000 americans have died from covid, we take this moment to remember five of the remarkable lives lost. ♪ earnestine was known as grandma earnie to family and friends. her daughter told us, born in utah, earnestine was the last fluent speaker of a language for the indian band of utah. >> [speaking in foreign

language] judy: a lifelong member of her tribe, earnestine devoted her career to teaching and writing about her native culture. her family says she also loved dancing at powwows, and was a natural storyteller who could make everyone laugh. earnestine was 76. 101-year-old mary and steiner was that epiphany of elegance. her grandson told us she was born in germany to well-known jewish family, she escaped nazi rule and fled to new york city in 1938. she later fell in love and married another jewish immigrant , book publisher paul steiner. the couple loved hosting parties. marianne was always the center of attention. her family said she loved reading and traveling and urged people to make time for fun. on her own 100th birthday party,

she said just being alive was still so exciting. no matter what life threw at her, she always had a smile on her face, her frien and family said. born in mexico, noah move to arizona in 2001. she worked mainly as a housing specialist in phoenix, helping low income residents find places to live. a single working mom, she also drove for over one nights and weekends, and in her free time, she loved hiking and taking pictures of the sunrise, but more than anything, she cherished spending time with her sons. noah was 41. 77-year-old thomas was a self-described nerd always up for a good laugh. he moved to madison, wisconsin for college and later worked as a lawyer for the wisconsin state

government. he loved reading stories of sherlock holmes and biographies of presidents he felt history have forgotten, especially millard fillmore. he also frequently wrote to world leaders and collected responses from several, including the pope, the dalai lama, and the queen of england. born i mississippi, don brooks grew up in a sharecropping family and met his future wife as a teenager, and the pair became inseparable for more than six decades. he was a pretty cool dude, his wife told us, and he always treated me right. he loved playing golf and work for 52 years at the carnegie institute for science and washington, d.c., mainly as a building maintenance specialist pay at his family said he was excited about retiring this year. he was 75.

we are so grateful to families for sharing these stories with us. our hearts go out to you come as they do to all who have lost loved ones in this pandemic. ♪ a new documentary series by ken burns premieres monday on pbs. the title "hemingway," about one of america's most influential and famous writers. in new mexico, an usual audience is watching them a reading, and writing along. we have the story for our arts and culture series, campus. >> welcome. i am super happy to see you all. >> yet another zoom class, but this is for inmates at the penitentiary in new mexico of the subject is that life and work of ernest hemingway. >> what hemingway did that was so different from the writers of

his time, what was it? >> that is a big question. >> new mexico's pbs station secure to grant to use the film for outreach, providing dvds, collection of short stories, and composition notebooks. ♪ >> ernest hemingway remade american literature. >> the inmates got a sneak preview about the man who grew up in chicago suburbs, drove in andy linson world war i, and for decades beginning in the 1920's, was a renowned author and global celebrity. always with an undercurrent of struggle. hemingway took his own life at 61 in 1961. >> when you heard the idea, did hemingway feel right to you? >> i wasn't sure, to be honest. >> leading the course is an

english professor at the university of new mexico. this was his first time teaching in a prison. >> i jumped at the chance, really. i had been chomping at the bit, i had heard so many great stories, and i was envious, this is the kind of teaching i want to do. >> and hemingway suddenly felt right. >> here is somebody who talks a lot about the communities of men, somebody who talks a lot about the constant threat of violence. here is somebody who talks a lot about that almost obsessive since the death is nearby, and hemingway sort of played into that so perfectly. >> left, left right. >> this prison was the scene of a horrific riot in 1980 that left 33 inmates dead. many years later in a new, high-security facility on the same side of the men we met are serving sentences from four years to life.

crimes up to first-degree murder. >> officials asked us to use first names only, and to blur faces in our interviews at a sensitivity to the victims. >> did you ever read hemingway before? >> i never even heard of him. >> did you connect with him? >> he did connect with me. it was easy to read. all that extra stuff, it was straight to the point. >> let's read a passage. from the story. >> this professor is focusing on hemingway's short stories. the first assignment was one titled "the undefeated," about an aging bullfighter. he emphasized the directness of the language of the life-and-death situations, but also something else. >> one of hemingway's biggest interests is what we are doing right now, groups of men. he is really interested in how men think and function together, and in particular what kind of language they develop.

>> that resonated with the inmates. >> most get straight to the pot and you don't have to go through all these details that are not necessarily important. >> i could not help but think that there you are in an institution of all men. >> yes. >> did you connect with that? >> very much so. each of us is consulate trying to balance that -- constantly trying to balance that in the male-dominated society. it is your masculinity and how you present yourself and mingle with a whole bunch of other men. >> would be put into words is the tip of the iceberg, right? >> he also emphasized the key to hemingway's writing for the word sweet, often hide the complexities below the surface. that also connected. >> in here, you have to be cautious with your words, so you

have to find ways of expressing yourself so that people can understand what is beneath the surface, because what is beneath the surface is a lot of times our insecurities. >> were you surprised about the amount of participation or what the inmates said? >> what i am surprised by is the number of ways i feel as though as i have been prepared to expect something different. it was that i wanted him to show me what they could do, and they did. >> let's not say the thing beneath, but the thing on top. >> there was also a writing assignment, simple sentences about the feeling without saying what the feeling is. >> who wants to share? >> highfield -- [indiscernible] >> what is not being said? >> that i am nervous.

>> nervous in part because he was seated front and center in this was all new to him, but he said he would stick with the class. >> if my kids ever asked me about it or they are in school and it comes up, i am not going to be ignorant about the situation. >> there is a hunger for learning. >> he is tasked with programs like this statewide. he teaches ethics classes here. >> the hemingway sessions fit into that mold of bringing an opportunity to these incarcerated people at that would give them the chance to think through some of these deeper human issues questions. >> what is in it for the prison system, as opposed to the incarcerated themselves? >> we are releasing them with skills and knowledge that will better equip them to be

successful, meaning less victims in our communities, but stronger and safer communities. >> back in the classroom, the session ended with a show of appreciation. >> [indiscernible] thank you for doing this, because we know that you don't have to. >> awesome questions. awesome feedback. awesome work. >> next to the group tackles the classic hemingway story, "the snows of kilimanjaro." for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. judy: such a great story, lifting opportunities for all these men. stay with pbs. later this evening, washington week will be hosted by lisa. it is not to be missed. that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online and again here monday evening. in the meantime, have a safe weekend. on behalf of all of us, thank you and good night.

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ announcer: this pbs newshour west. from washington and from our beurre at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

tonight on kqed newsroom, the state is reopening the economy as vaccinations become available for more and more residents. meanwhile, democrats strengthen their support for governor newsom. will it be enough to keep him in office? our political pros weigh in. did you know that there is at least one planet for every star in the sky? mother and daughter, where we might find life outside of planet earth. a sneak peek inside of the kqed headquarters currently under construction. this week's look at something beautiful. welcome to "tran01 newsroom