captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, confronting climate change-- the president announces ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions as part of the fight against the global crisis. then, a troubling surge-- india records the highest one day number of new covid infections of any nation since the pandemic began, overwhelming the country's already stressed alth care system. plus, the plastic problem-- single-use items like masks, gloves, and take-out containers pile up in landfills and wreak havoc on the environment. >> it's not just about the fact that masks are not biodegradable or recyclable. it's about the fact that they

are a hazard for our wildlife. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> well, audrey's expecting... >> twins! >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. >> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.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 institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: leaders of the united states and other

countries have set ambitious new goals today to slow the planet from heating up. they left open exactly how they would accomplish those goals, as they met in a virtual, long- distance gathering. william brangham has our report. >> brangham: with dozens of world leaders in attendance virtually, president biden said it was urgent for the world to address climate change. >> this is a moral imperative, an economic imperative, a moment of peril but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities. >> brangham: the president pledged to cut america's greenhouse gas emissions in half from 2005 leve by 2030. and he urged other nations to follow suit. >> all of us, all of us-- and particularly those of us who represent the world's largest economies-- we have to step up. >> brangham: and some of the world's largest carbon emitters seemed to heed the call. china's president xi jinping cited an earlier pledge to phase out the use of coal. >> ( translated ): china will strive to peak carbon dioxide emission before 2030 and achieve

carbon neutrality before 2060. >> brangham: and, india's prime minister narendra modi repeated a promise to boost renewable energy projects by 2030. >> we in india are doing our part. >> brangham: but commitments to new bencarks came from elsewhere. japan said it will cut emissions by 46% below 2013 levels by the end of the decade. and canada pledged to slash at least 40% of its 2005 emissions levels in the same timeframe. today's summit was timed to coincide with earth day, and came alongside calls from leading climate activist greta thunberg at a hearing on capitol hill. >> how long do you honestly believe that people in power like you will get away with it? how long do you think you can continue to ignore the climate crisis, the global aspect of equity and historic emissions without being held accountable?

>> brangham: the global meeting continues tomorrow, leading up to a larger u.n. climate conference slated for november, in scotland. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: in the day's other greta. >> meanwhile india reported news, the covid-19 surge in officials reported a global record of nearly 315,000 cases in just 24 hours, with another 2,100 deaths. we'll have details after the news summary. the u.s. senate passed a bipartisan covid-19 hate crimes bill today, responding to attacks on asian americans and pacific islanders. it includes funding to increase data collection and reporting. hawaii's democratic senator mazie hirono co-sponsored the measure. >> as important as the content and substance of the bill is the

message of this bill, that we in the senate are going to stand with our a.a.p.i. community and indeed any community that is discriminated against on the basis of race or any of the categories that you and i can think of. >> woodruff: the u.s. house of representatives may act on a similar bill in the coming weeks. today, the u.s. house of representatives voted again to make washington, d.c. the nation's 51st state. democrats pushed it through on party lines, with no republican support. prospects for passage in the evenly divided senate are low. russia has announced its troops are withdrawing from the border with ukraine, but leaving their heavy weapons in place. thousands of russian troops had taken part in maneuvers in crimea and western russia. the defense minister said today they've achieved their goals. ukraine's president welcomed the move. israel and syria traded

allegations today after trading fire overnight. the israelis said they launched air strikes when a syrian anti- aircraft missile mistakenly flew deep into israel. it exploded near dimona, the desert town where israel's nuclear reactor is located. syria said the israeli air raid came first. indonesia is searching desperately for a submarine with 53 crewmen aboard. it disappeared wednesday. the hunt centered off bali today, where the sub sank in deep water. extreme pressure may have crushed it. if not, the crew runs out of oxygen by saturday. back in this country, senate republicans offered their own infrastructure plan. it would cost nearly $570 billion over five years. president biden wants $2.3 trillion over eight years. both sides talked today of compromise, and their own plans. >> it's time to say we want to do things that are really in the

best interest of the american people, what the american people are asking for, and that's why we're here with this proposal that was sent to the white house a little earlier today. >> the president has said from the beginning that he would welcome any good faith effort find common ground because the only unacceptable step would be inaction. >> woodruff: the white house also said the president would consider smaller steps, and not one mega-bill. the governor of kansas vetoed a ll today aimed at barring transgender students from girls sports teams in public schools. democrat laura kelly called the legislation "regressive". overnight, north dakota's republican governor doug burgum vetoed a similar measure, but faced a possible override. several states have already enacted such bans. unemployment claims fell to 547,000 last week, the lowest since the pandemic began. but wall street retreated today on reports of possible capital

gains tax hikes on the wealthy. the dow jones industrial average lost 321 points to close below 33,816. the nasdaq fell 131 points, the s&p 500 slipped 38. still to come on the newshour: the president announces ambitious targets for confronting climate change. single-use plastic items pile up in landfills and wreak havoc on the environment. the u.s. continues to grapple with police shootings despite the chauvin conviction. and much more. >> woodruff: now, to the covid- 19 disaster in india. more than a year into the

pandemic, the caseload there is skyrocketing, as are deaths. as amna nawaz reports, while vaccines are being rolled out, stopping the spread is proving a monumental task. >> nawaz: a grim reminder in india, that the global pandemic is far from over, as the second- most-populous country in the world recorded the most new covid cases in a single day: nearly 315,000, more than any other country, at any point in the pandemic. india's infection total of 15.9 million is now second only to the united states. >> ( translated ): people are really scared, they are terrified. most people have isolated themselves in a self-imposed lockdown. they are not stepping out unnecessarily and the roads are all empty. >> nawaz: early in the pandemic, in march 2020, prime minister narendra modi swiftly imposed a nationwide 21-day lockdown, the largest in the world.

but in recent months, even as cases rose, modi hosted huge political rallies, flouted social distancing, and allowed mass gatherings, including thousands of hindu pilgrims at a time along the ganges river, for the kumbh mela festival. on tuesday, modi addressed the virus surge. >> ( translated ): 'til a few weeks ago, the situation was in control, and then this second wave of coronavirus has come like a storm. friends, in the current situation we have to save the country from another lockdown. i would also like to request states to only use lockdown as a last resort. >> nawaz: meanwhile, hospitals are overrun. oxygen supplies are depleted. and crematoriums are overwhelmed. the 65-year-old journalist tweeted as his oxygen levels plummeted-- ”my oxygen is 31 when some will help me” he wrote april 17th. no hospital could take him. he died soon after.

on wednesday, an oxygen leak in western india led to 24 deaths, including this woman's mother. >> ( translated ): my mother died, she could not get oxygen and she died in agony. she has been here since the past five days, she had recovered. there was no oxygen, she died in agony, she had trouble breathing, she died. everyone there died. >> nawaz: the new delhi high court has ordered the government to divert oxygen from industrial use to hospitals to try and save lives, as the number of coronavirus cases continue to grow. dr. ramanan lakshminarayan, is an economist, epidemiologist and senior research scholar with princeton university. he joins me now from new delhi, india. doctor, welcome to the newshour and thanks for joining us. you are in new delhi, can you just describe what it is you're seeing there? >> amna, it's probably the worst humanitarian crisis that i've ever witnessed, there are people

without a hospital beds, there's no oxygen. i'm hearing of people who are dying because the oxygen ran out in their hospitals. it's undescribable. and i hope to never witness anything like what we're going through right now. >> nawaz: as an epidemiologist, when you see that spike, you see that curve going like this, do you worry what happens if that goes unchecked? >> well, as an epidemologist i have known that the place that curve goes is basically determined entirely by human behavior and people's attitudes. so it's there because mass gatherings were allowed, because the messaging was poor in terms of how serious the virus was and is. and the system is already overrun right now. and it's hard to imagine what it's going to look like when we have another million cases over the next three or four days and another million after the next three or four days up to that. >> nawaz: you mentioned the mass gatherings, the reopenings. we all remember when prime minister modi locked down the entire country. what led to the decision to

reopen to this degree? >> the country was locked down when the cases will be 500, simply because it was an understanding that it could simply not deal with the kind of upswing we're seeing right now. a year ago, when the system was unprepared after september. the cases started coming down. and like with many other countries, people both in government and outside assumed that the worst was over and that india had crossed into some sense of herd immunity and the cases were not going to come back. now, that was obviously not true in a country the size of india. even if you have 300 million infections in the first round, that still leaves over a billion people who have not yet been infected. and that's sufficient to have a second, maybe even a third and the fourth wave. and that's what we're seeing now. >> nawaz: many of the reports we're seeing are coming from urban centers and from cit locations. what about the non urban areas, but about rural areas where we know the majority of india's population lives? >> 70% of india lives in rural areas and the virus is definitely spread.

in fact, even on this round, the predominantly affected populations are the urban well- off who escaped the virus in the first round. the lockdown protected the well- off even as it ravaged the poor and urban areas. this time around, it's definitely in rural india as well, where the infrastructure is much weaker. >> nawaz: but what about vaccines? doctor, we know india is a vaccine producer. where is india and its vaccination process? >> india got off to a great start with two vaccines, one made by developed by oxford and licensed to india by astrazeneca. the other one was a truly indigenous indian vaccine. india was exporting a lot of vaccines, but the production was not accounted for properly in the sense that there's a shortage of vaccines now. there's hardly enough even to meet the domestic demand, let alone export vaccine to other countries. >> nawaz: we know some states have implemented lockdowns, do you expect there to be more leaders taking that step? do you think another national lockdown is necessary to slow the spread now?

>> i think a national lockdown is unlikely, both because it's probably not necessary. the virus is not bad everywhere. it's probably not sustainable given the condition of india's economy. but state level lockdowns like in new delhi, maharastra, these would likely continue. and in some sense, that's the only tool that is left to governments to be able to signal the seriousness of the virus. if that message is not clear after all the scenes we hear, every family is affected by covid at this point, that i'm aware of it. if people don't take that seriously, both policy makers and ordinary folks, we could see this being a lot more painful over the next few weeks than it already is. >> nawaz: that i >> nawaz: that is dr. ramanan lakshmi nahyan joining us from new delhi, india, tonight, thank you so much for your time, doctor. we wish you well.

>> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: now, let's turn to the ambitions of the climate summit and the very real challenges to president biden's plans. michael mann is a climate scientist and professor of atmospheric sciences at penn state university. he is author of, "the new climate war: the fight to take back our planet." our continuing coverage of these issues this week is part of the international journalism collaborative called "covering climate now". michamichael mann, welcome to te newshour. let me start by asking how ambitious is president biden's plan as he laid out his plan? >> thank you, judy. it is good to be with you. it is a bold plan. make no mistake about it. i think that joe biden is

surprising some of the skeptics who didn't think that he would lead on the issue of climate change. they were skeptical that he would show the sort of bold leadership that's necessary. but here we have the united states really laying down the gauntlet for other countries, a commitment to lower carbon emissions by a factor of two within the next 10 years. that is doable, and it is essential if we are to avert catastrophic warming of the planet, more than three degrees fahrenheit warming of the planet. that's what we have to go globally, and here the united states is setting an example for other countries to follow. >> woodruff: let me read for you what "the new york times" is reporting would be required by the end of the decade in order to meet the president's goal of cutting emissions in half. more than half of all new cars and s.u.v.s would need to be powered by electricity, not gasoline. nearly all coal-fired power plant would need to be shut

down. forests would need to expand. and the be number of wind turbines and solar panels would quadruple. iis that realistic? >> well, you know, nothing that's worth doing is easy. and it's certainly a monumental task, but there is quite a bit of research now, teams from stanford and the university of california, for example, that have demonstrated that we can get there with existing technology. we don't need a miracle, bill gates, who has said that in the past. we have the technology necessary to solve this problem. what we need is the political willpower, and we need the policies and we've got leadership from the president in terms of executive actions that address the climate crisis. we're also going to need a legislative component. we're going to need climate legislation to make its way through congress if we are going to meet those commitments. >> woodruff: what are going to be the easier pieces of of this

and what are the harder pieces? >> so there's a lot of low-hanging fruit, as it were. there are lots of things we cn do, for example, that save us money and they decrease our carbon emissions. they're win-win. clean energy jo creating a resilient, smart grid that can be powered with renewable energy. these are all things that will improve our infrastructure, that will provide jobs. but, again, it's not going to be easy. if we are to wean ourselves from coal and natural gas and oil essentially within a decade, we are going to need policies that incentivize that shift. we need to put a price on carbon. we need to provide massive subsidies for renewable energy. we need to block the development of additional fossil fuel infrastructure. these are all things that the biden plan supports. but again, we need to codify that in terms of legislation, if we're going to accomplish that.

>> woodruff: michael mann, we know this is a global crisis-- hence, the 40 world leaders participating in today's summit. tell us how important is it what other major contributors of emissions, like china, like india, how important is it what they do, how much they contribute to dealing with this? >> yeah, well, it's essential. you know, we are the world's largest cumulative emitter of carbon pollution. for nearly two centuries we've been producing carbon pollution. right now, china is the largest current emitter of carbon pollution. so clearly we need the world's two largest emitters, the united states and china, to come together to, in fact, create an atmosphere that leads other countries to make meaningful commitments. that's what happened under the obama administration. we had a bilateral agreement between the u.s. and china that really had teeth in it, and it

laid the groundwork for a very successful paris treaty. now what happened, subsequently, obviously, donald trump came in. he pulled out of the paris agreement. that pook the pressure off of china, and after having been decommissioning coal-fired power plant, they start building them again. so i think there's reason to be optimistic that now with the u.s. once again demonstrating leadership, reacng a bilateral agreement again just last week with china, that creates an environment where other countries-- and in particular some intransigent actors like australia, scott morrison, who has really made feeble commitments thus far-- this is going to put more pressure on them. >> woodruff: so finally, you raised something i do want to ask you about, and that is because of our political process, because we elect a new president who could be of a different party every four years, every eight years, how much could that be a setback to what the united states and the world are trying to do?

>> yeah, well, you know, live by the executive action, you die by the executive action, which is to say that anything that one administration does through executive actions, as you say, can be reversed. and that's what we saw with the trump administration. so much of the progress that had been made under the obama administrationas reversed in just four years. and there's all that lost time, that opportunity cost of not having been acting in the meantime. and so, you know, what we need to do, as i said, we need to use those executive actions, and right now, the biden administration is doing that, but it can only go so far. we need to codify those changes in terms of gislation. and with a divided congress, with a divided senate, with a tie-breaking vote by the democratic vice president, and some democrats who might not sign on to expansive climate legislation, clearly, joe biden is going to need all of the diplomatic and tools at his

disposal. and democrats in congress may have to use some of the parliamentary tools that they have at their disposal, if we're to get climate legislation that will complement the executive actions that are ing taken, and that's what we need. >> woodruff: ambitious, but, clearly, also complicated. michael mann, with penn state university. thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: as we mentioned, today is earth day. while emissions and climate change are front and center, this is a good moment to look at another major environmental problem. as the world has become hyper- hygienic since the pandemic began, plastic is playing an oversized role. stephanie sy looks at how the single-use nature of many

pandemic items are piling up in our landfills and in our environment. >> sy: they're the one item we now know helps stop the spread of covid-19: face masks. they come in different shapes and sizes, and many are disposable. over the past year, they've become an important part of living safely in the middle of a pandemic. around the world, 129 billion are used every single month. and three million are thrown out every single minute. and most are made of layers of plastic microfibers. it's creating a new kind of plastic pollution, contaminating waterways and hurting wildlife. maria algarra is the founder o“" clean this beach up” in miami. >> let's see what we can collect in a couple of blocks in south beach. >> sy: at the beginning of the pandemic, she found she had to expand her cleanup beyond the beach. she started the gle challenge, asking people around the world

to tag places they found latex gloves littered. the results came flooding in. and before long, single-use face masks were strewn everywhere too. >> during every single cleanup that we do on a shoreline, we're collecting from 50 to 100 masks. >> sy: to see just how easy it is to spot pandemic pollution, we asked our newshour staff to keep their eyes open for it. from washington, d.c. to california, they shared videos and photos of this new kind of litter. why is the mask pollution particularly concerning to you? >> it's not just about the fact that masks are not biodegradable or recyclable. it's about the fact that they are a hazard for our wildlife, not just because they can eat the mask, but also because animals get entangled in the straps. >> sy: algarra and her team found a mask twisted around a puffer fish. birds are getting caught up in them. and marine life are eating them.

so if i needed to dispose of this mask, maria, do you have advice on how i could do that to minimize harm to animals and the environment? >> the idea is to dispose of your mask properly, put it in the bin, but also remember to cut or rip off the straps that will be saving so many lives. >> we are the top waste >> sy: jenna jambeck has made a career out of studying the waste we create. >> we are the top waste generator by country and per person in the world. >> sy: the university of georgia professor is currently driving and camping the length of the mississippi river with her husband and two kids, all the while hunting for plastic debris. it's part of an initiative started by mayors of cities along the river to reduce plastic pollution by 20%. jambeck brought her scientific expertise and as a fellow at national geographic, a network of educators. one way they're helping is with data. the “marine debris tracker” is

an app that lets people log exactly what they're finding and where. and like maria algarra noticed on the ground in miami, jambeck said it didn't take long for reports of p.p.e. in the environment to roll in. >> so, including masks, gloves and wipes, we've seen over 11,500 items reported through just our app alone. i just think it's so reflective of sort of our actions and our activities and what we use on a daily basis. some of that leaks out and we sort of immediately pretty much saw that through this system. >> sy: and why and how are these things making their way into the environment? >> so you go to the grocery store, you're using a disposable mask, you go in and you need it. you know, the whole time you're shopping and you come out and let's say you put a mask and gloves and then you're like, well, these are dirty. now, what do i do with them? well, we often don't think about

end of life, meaning what do we do when we need to dispose of anything in the environment? it just really came to light, i think, through the p.p.e. that we were wearing. >> sy: and it's not just medical protective gear that's adding to pandemic pollution. many busy families balancing home school and work from home schedules in the last year relied on endless days and nights of takeout; much of it, including my family's comes in plastic containers and with single-use utensils. >> i saw a lot of to go packaging to go like clamshells, both foam and plastic bags, plastic bottles. >> sy: in some cases, places overcompensated on individual plastic packaging, believing it would prevent covid from spreading. but many of these containers aren't recyclable. and in the u.s., we recycle less than 9% of the plastic we use. one company based outside

phoenix, arizona, “footprint”, is trying to disrupt the plastic packaging industry. c.e.o. and co-founder troy swope showed us around. >> to take waste and make something that only has a very short useful life, this is the best option for the planet. >> sy: the containers are made of plant-based fiber, including wood the company says is sourced from sustainable forests. swope says they are compostable and biodegradable. their biggest client is con- agra, which uses footprint containers for some of its brands. takeout salad company sweetgreen is a big client, and even mcdonald's is testing out some of their lids. to compete with plastic food packaging, “footprint” tests its containers for durability. this simple experiment looks at whether the oil from the salad dressing bleeds through the product. the key for why it doesn't, swope says, is a proprietary coating they literally bake in and they claim is free of harmful chemicals.

>> number one, we focus on being plastic free and the importance of that is at the end of life, we wanted something that had multiple end of life options. so the best way to put it is we wanted something that nature could digest. so at the end of the day, if you just left on the side of the road or got in an ocean, it would just disappear without being toxic to animals or to the water. >> sy: so do your products cost the same as the plastic alternative? >> we design everything to be cost competitive with plastic. so from day one, we wanted to have a massive impact on the planet. so we at day one, we said we are going to have to develop the technologies to compete with plastic, not only in performance, but in price. >> sy: but it's not just where a product ends up that matters, it's how it begins. energy and water go into manufacturing, even of biodegradable packaging like footprints' that boast lower carbon emissions. >> alternative materials are definitely going to be part of the integrated approach, i think, to this. but we don't necessarily also just want to switch all of the single-use over to that.

we would you know, i think we would like to reduce quantities first still if we can. >> sy: and ultimately, says maria algarra, change will be driven by what each of us demands of government, corporations, and ourselves. >> we could clean every single beach, every shoreline in the world, and that won't stop plastic pollution. the change starts with us and our choices and our consumption. >> sy: for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: while the verdict in the trial of derek chauvin, the police officer found guilty of murdering george floyd, brought celebration to the streets of minneapolis, that same community came together today to mourn the death of another black man killed at the hands of police. john yang has more on how the country is reacting to one instance of accountability in a long history of unanswered calls for justice.

>> yang: in minneapolis minnesota today, the funeral of black 20-year-old daunte wright, shot by a white brooklyn center officer as he tried to flee a >> all three counts! all three counts! >> yang: the funeral comes just days after a minneapolis jury said former police officer derek chauvin was guilty of murdering george floyd, a rare conviction of a police officer in the killing of a black person. but just minutes before in columbus, ohio, a white police officer shot and killed black 16-year-old ma'khia bryant outside her foster home. >> say her name! >> ma'khia bryant! >> yang: the news unleashed a new wave protests, grief and anger over police killings, especially white officers killing black americans. columbus police released body- camera footage of the shooting hours later. it appears to show bryant holding a knife as she lunges

toward another person a moment before she is shot. >> we need a police officer here now! >> yang: ned pettus, the city's public safety officer, said state officials were investigating. >> under any circumstance, that is a horrendous tragedy. but the video shows there is more to this. it requires us to pause, take a close look at the sequence of events, and though it's not easy, wait for the facts as is determined by an independent investigation. >> yang: a day later, a white police officer shot and killed a 40-year-old black man in elizabeth city, north carolina. police have yet to release body- cam footage. >> it's just sad. >> yang: the shootings are a reminder of the unending pattern of killings of black americans, often at the hands of the police who, despite the chauvin conviction, are rarely convicted of a crime.

in the 2014 killing of unarmed, 18-year-old michael brown in ferguson missouri at the hands of a white officer, no charges were ever filed. the incident sparked days of unrest. two years earlier, trayvon martin, an unarmed black 17- year-old, was shot and killed in sanford, florida by neighborhood watch captain george zimmerman. the killing became a national flashpoint. zimmerman was eventually acquitted. martin's mother, sybrina fulton, continues to speak out. >> first of all, i want to say whoever said 'time heals all wounds' did not lose a child. because we are never going to heal. this country has done something to us that will never be repaired. >> yang: in chicag the recent police shooting of 13-year-old adam toledo, who ran from police with a gun before holding up his empty hands, shook a community

which just years before lived through another police shooting where law enforcement initially lied about what happened. white police officer jason van dyke became the city's first patrolman in almost 50 years to be convicted of murder. the verdict came four years after the shooting, and only after police were ordered to release dash cam footage of van dyke shooting black 17-year-old laquan mcdonald 16 times after he appeared to be walking away from police. to see how communities across the country are reacting to the verdict in the chauvin trial, i'm joined by public media reporters from places that have also been forced to confront the killing of unarmed black americans. jason rosenbaum is aeproter for st. louis public radio. brandis friedman with wttw, chicago's pbs station. and wilkine brutus of wlrn, south florida's npr member station. welcome to you all. thank you all for joining us.

brandis, in chicago, of course, even as the trial was going on, chicago was dealing with the adam toledo case there in itself. what's the reaction been there to what happened in minneapolis? >> i think all of this has kind of reinforced what a lot of activists have already been saying, even since last summer, and even long before the george floyd death last summer. obviously, you're aware that we have the laquan mcdonald case several years ago, a 17-year-old young man killed at the hands of a chicago police officer, and he was convicted a couple of years ago. so a lot of folks are calling for a lot more accountability out of the chicago police department and the mayor, and, specifically, they want to see civilian oversight over the chicago police department, which has been something they have been fighting for, for quite a while, and they think will take quite some time before they reach something where both sides are kind of satisfied. >> yang: and, jason in st. louis, of course the michael brown case in ferguson, a

flashpoint in this whole issue. what's been the reaction in st. louis? >> it's been a reaction of relief, and also, frankly, a lot of surprise. with the michael brown case in ferguson, there was never any sort of trial, either on a state or federal level, so to see a police officer be found guilty on a litany of charges for killing an unarmed black man, i think a lot of activists here aren't used to that sort of thing. st. louis and the st. louis region have changed quite a bit since 2014 when michael brown was shot and killed by a ferguson police officer, both politically and policywise. but i think that they feel like, well, this does bring a sense of closure to one incident. there's a whole lot of ways to go when it comes to overhauling police departments and engendering trust between black people here and police departments around the region. >> yang: staying with you,

jason. of course, in st. louis-- in ferguson last year in the midst of the protests over the george floyd death, ferguson elected its first black player. st. louis itself elected its first black mayor. has this changed people's attitudes? is there hope now there's going to be a greater connection between the communities and city hall? >> certainly there is hope. one of the things that i think people around the country need to realize is, as i've already said, michael brown was shot and killed seven years ago. and it took almost seven years see monumental political change, like tashara jones being elected the first black mayor of st. louis. it's not only monumental because of that designation, but she ran on a number of platform planks that featured things that activists here have been calling for since brown's death, which include shifting money from the police department to things like social workers and closing

things like the workhouse, which is a notorious jail here in the city. so now is kind of the time for people that have been calling for change to put a lot of the calls of action into action. and they're hoping for people like jones to actually follow through on them. >> yang: wilkine, in florida, of course, the trayvon martin case was sort of the first-- or one of the first to rt of focus attention on this issue. it wasn't-- it wasn't police, but it was a community watch captain. what's changed since then in florida, or has anything changed in florida? >> yes, trayvon martin's case was certainly a catalyst to bring attention to this sort of broad movement to address police and law enforcement accountability. there are certainly parallels that i can think of regarding the case surrounding cory jones, a man who was shot to death, and that was an accountability case

where the police officer actually went to prison. and it showed the sort of multiracial solidarity. and that multiracial solidarity added pressure to local elected officials to pass sliegz-- or at least attempt to pass legislation. and we're certainly seeing that in west palm beach, where the mayor start a task force to address some of the disparities to address some of these underserved communities, which includes access to affordable housing, access to affordable healthcare. there is a myriad of social economic issues that extend beyond police brutality, and the trayvon martin case certainly amlified that, and certainly amplifiered #say her name. there are also black female victims involved in all of this. so that's certainly something to consider when we're talking about trayvon martin, and any other cases involving law enforcement accountability. >> yang: and brandis, in chicago, of course, since laquan

mcdonald, there's a new mayor. there's a new state prosecutor-- state's attorney. and, yet, we now find with the adam toledo case many of the same issues back, many of the same frustrations back. has anything really changed? or what has changed? >> i think it depends on who you ask. the mayor, who is currently in office, she was the one who headed up the previous mayor, rahm emanuel's, police accountability task force in the wake of the laquan mcdonald shooting. she ran as a reform eand i think she's getting a lot of criticism now for not really presenting the reform that she promised would come. she just this week has said that she does stand by her superintendent of police who took the job just a little over a year ago, what some might say is probably the worst time to take a new job like that. but some things have changed since the shooting of laquan mcdonald. of course, there's the descent decree the city and police department have entered into with the federal government. and that is, obviously, a very long process. there's a lot of work to be done

there. and as i mentioned, what a lot of activists here would really is a lot more civilian oversight, where they are the ones who decide who the superintendent of police is and where they have control over the budget and things like that. so they've got a long way to go. .>> yang: jason, brandis menged the descent decree of the chicago police department. the ferguson police are also operating under a consent decree. has that lead to changes in the department or public attitudes towards the department? >> it absolutely has. but many people in the st. louis region feel that the fact that the federal government only put a consent decree on ferguson and not many other surrounding cities that are either largely black or largely white with long records of police misconduct against black people, was a huge missed opportunity. and just changing ferguson is

not going to be the cure-all for the systemic racism that's been permeating around a huge region. and ferguson has changed. as you mentioned, there's a black mayor. many of the key people within city government are african american, and african americans have more representation on the city council. and because the consent decree was in place, they've had to make changes to the police department and city government because they've had no choice. but the fact that the rest of the region hasn't had that same force, i think many people feel was a huge missed opportunity on behalf of the obama administration, and because we had a more-conservative president that didn't really get into consent decrees or pattern of practice arrangements, there was really no opportunity to do anything else in the st. louis region. interestingly, the justice department has resumed thawith the minneapolis police department and republicans, like roy blunt of missouri, have praised the justice department

for doing that. and they're hoping that more things that are happening in ferguson happen in other police departments around the country. >> yang: wilkine brutus in south florida, brandis friedman in chicago, and jason rosenbaum in st. louis thank you very much. >> woodruff: can summer camp change the world? the documentary "crip camp" makes the case that one particular camp impacted the lives not only of the young people there but the culture at large, through the fight for disability rights. the film, from the production company of barack and michelle obama, is vying for an oscar this sunday. jeffrey brown has our look for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> brown: summer camp in upstate

new york, 1971. fun and frolicking, a woodstock- era vibe. but camp jened was an unusual camp for young people with a wide range of disabilities. and that, says jim lebrecht, an attendee born with spina bifida, made all the difference. >> boy, i have to to tell you, as a 15 year old, it was like freedom. you didn't feel like you were a spectacle. you didn't feel like people were staring at you. you didn't feel like you were, you know, a burden. >> brown: which was different from life back at home? >> when you're the only, feel like you're the only person out there, yeah, you knew you were really different. there i wasn't different. >> brown: many years later, lebrecht and nicole newnham have made “crip camp”-- a documentary about camp jened and the larger disability rights movement. it features interviews with former campers and counselors and archival footage shot in the '70s.

>> brown: it then follows camp participants who became trailblazers in a wider struggle. >> it really all started with this theory that jim had, which was that the camp was connected to this change that happened, and the idea was to try very hard to kind of go back and find those seminal moments that connected through these characters that you meet as a band of friends in summer camp. and kind of filling that in i think enabled us to see something which otherwise we wouldn't be able to see, which is the impact of something very small and how it grows into something big. >> brown: among the key protagonists: judy heumann, a camp counselor who'd contracted polio as a child. she would go on to become a leading disability rights activist, in this scene at a new york city protest. >> there were only 50 of us. but basically, with the one street, we were able to shut the whole city down. >> judy, to me, just opened up my mind about the fact that, oh

my gosh, we could actually fight back. like, this isn't fair. i mean, i know it's not fair that i have a hard time getting around in the real world, but that we actually have legal recourse. >> and the structure that we thought of was like this camp experience of liberation was like a stone thrown in a pond. and you saw the ripples outward. and as the ripples of the impact of that liberatory experience grow, the movement grows and the community grows with it. >> brown: the film follows former campers who moved to california's bay area and built a flourishing community. several took part in a harrowing 1977 sit-in in san francisco to demand federal regulations guaranteeing civil rights for the disabled.

>> i'm amazed at how many people >> brown: the activism would culminate in the landmark 1990 americans with disabilities act, prohibiting discrimination based on disability, and bringing changes to many aspects of american life. many years later, though, that fight continues. lebrecht himself, a veteran sound designer, has pushed for more representation of the disabled in television and movies, on and off camera. >> what i believe is that the entertainment industry needs to really embrace us as part of their diversity and inclusion efforts and apply the same mentorships and opportunities for people within the community to establish and cultivate their careers. the fact of the matter is that because you may not see us working side by side on a set or in front of the camera doesn't mean we don't exist. we are there. we're underemployed. >> brown: their own film, says newnham, aims to open a window for a new audience. >> this was the sort of goal

that jim and i held dear throughout the entire filmmaking process, was that we could shift people's view of disability from medical model or a charity model to a rights-based model. and that people could see the exciting kind of new perspective of coming to stories from a disabled point of view. >> brown: “crip camp” vies for an oscar for best documentary this sunday. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: the emergence of long covid has drawn attention to a poorly understood illness sometimes referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome. this week over a thousand people living with those diseases signed up to meet virtually with members of congress and their staff to push for more funding for chronic illnesses.

disability advocate rivka solomon gives us her brief but spectacular take. >> leading up to this interview, um, i was definitely nervous and anxious, but i've done a lot of public speaking. however, what's tricky about doing these kinds of interviews is that you never know when your brain is just going to fly away, and i will not be able to remember what it is. i want to say. i won't be able to formulate sentences. when i was 21, two of my college roommates, and i all got mononucleosis at the se time. they got better in a month or so, and i essentially never t better. after a year of being bedridden. i had a few years of semi remission, but it didn't last. it all came back with a second infection, pneumonia, and i stayed sick for three decades. they called it chronic mono than chronic epstein-barr virus, then chronic fatigue syndrome. and now they call it emmy

c.f.s., myalgic, encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome. most of us just call it m.e. there are up to two and a half million of us in the u.s. with emmy 24 million around the globe. we have no treatments, no cure, and people can be sick and disabled for decades. often bedridden like me, some unable to care for or feed themselves. 80% of people with m.e. got it. after a viral or bacterial infection like me and 75% of us are women. i might look vibrant and full of life right now, but what happens is that many of us with emmy, all of us with emmy have posted exertional malaise, that's called p.e.m. and that means that after we do anything that requires any energy output, we will often collapse. we have a disproportionate payback. so after i do this interview with you, i might end up bedridden and unable to move. literally. when you have m.e., it affects absolutely every single

dimension of your life. many of us, our families and friends don't believe that we're actually sick. it is a terribly lonely existence. right now there are millions getting sick with covid 19 from the coronavirus and some are not getting better. they're staying sick with what's called long covid. many with long covid will likely be eligible for an m.e. diagnosis after six months of being sick because they have many of the same symptoms as us. but something truly beautiful has come out of all this, the emmy community and long covid communities are helping each other. it is beautiful to see this it's like the old timers helping the newbies, but the newbies have much more political clout and are also helping us. one of the problems that we've had as a community is that there's been a faction of the medical establishment that has put forth and propagated the myth that this isn't a real disease, that it's actually a

psychological condition. so for example, the 1980s, "newsweek" had a headline on their front. they had a cover on, sorry, as you can see, my brain is beginning to go. right. you can see that happening here. even right now, as i'm doing this interview with you, um, i can feel the brain fog is, is taking over. and i can't remember what your question was. and i can't remember what the beginning of my sentence was, i don't remember the point that i'm trying to make the one thing i want people at home to take away is to believe a person when they tell you how they're feeling, don't dismiss them. don't disregard them, believe them, and have compassion. my name is rivka solomon, and this is my brief, but spectacular take on advocating for people with chronic illness. >> woodruff: and rivka solomon, we thank you for sharing your story and the story of so many others.

and you can find all of our brief but spectacular segments online at: pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines 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. captioning sponsored by wshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello and welcome to "amanpour." here's what's coming up. >> george floyd. >> george floyd. >> justice, accountability, relief. a big step forward for america i speak to black lives matter co-founder and the miami police chief about what this moment means for america and the world. then. >> it's important to the united states to be able to show the world as well as be able to show our own citizens that the rule of law can prevail. >> what the conviction of derek chauvin means for america's moral standing. national security adviser jake sullivan shows me with this and