♪ judy:. on the "newshour" tonight. forced landing. belarus diverts an international flight to arrest a journalist. prompting accusations of state piracy and journalism. one year later. the father of michael brown killed in ferguson, missouri, reflects on how the country has and has not changed in the years since george floyd's death. desperate journey. we follow one migrants struggles to reach the u.s., escaping the violence and poverty of his home country. >> i've heard from friends what you make in honduras and one year you make in two months. then you can go grocery shopping calmly.

life is so much better there for economic and security reasons. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs "newshour." ♪ >> major funding has been provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what's new? >> audrey is expecting. >> twins. >> we want to put money aside. change in plans. >> let's see what we can adjust. >> we want to be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> ok. >> mom, are you painting again? you can sell these. >> change in plans. >> at fidelity a change in plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway.

financial services firm raymond james. the william and flora human foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. the chan zuckerberg initiative working to build a more healthy, just and inclusive future for everyone. at czi.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. >> i'm stephanie with "newshour" west. we return to the full program after these headlines. president biden condemned belarus in the strongest possible terms for forcing the landing of flight and arresting a dissident journalist. in a white house statement biden said he has asked his advisors for options to hold those responsible to account. the new york city school system will return to fully in person learning this fall. mayor bill de blasio announced today. he said remote options will not be offered for the systems one million students. los angeles schools also announced a return to full in person learning come fall. remote options there will be available in special cases. the world health organization

warned today that unequal distribution of covid-19 vaccines is prolonging the pandemic. in geneva, the agencies had criticized what he called "a scandalous and equity." >> a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the worlds vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world. the number of doses globally so far would have been -- enough to cover all health workers and all people if they had been distributed equitably. >> india is bracing for its second tropical cyclone in 10 days. this times battering the country's east coast. to storm is churning in the bay of bengal before expected landfall wednesday with winds of 100 miles an hour. last week storm killed 140 people on india's west coast. mali's fragile government is under threat tonight. soldiers arrested the

transitional president and prime minister hours after a government reshuffle left out two cabinet members who are supportive of the military takeover nine months ago. the u.s. state department called for the detained leaders. more than 170 children are still missing in eastern congo two days after a volcano eruption. at least 22 people have died in 500 homes destroyed as lava blanketed villages. some 5,000 people were forced to flee. the volcano observatory says government funding has prevented any advanced warning to the public. the deposed leader of myanmar aung san suu kyi appeared in court in person today for the first time since a military coup in february. state tv showed a still image. her lawyers said she wanted followers to know that her political party stands by them. >> one thing she said is that the party, her party grows out

of the people and wherever the people are, it must be. there she is. the party may exist wherever the people are, she said. >> she is charged with breaking a colonial era secrets law, among other crimes. supporters say the proceedings are a sham. and phil mickelson has become the oldest player to win a major pro golf tournament. at age 50, he captain on the 18th hole to claim the pga championship in south carolina by two strokes. it is his sixth major championship overall. still to come on the "newshour" , a string of anti-semitic attacks raises tensions. we follow the journey of one migrant's struggles to escape violence and reach the u.s. the father of michael brown

reflects on what has changed since george floyd's killing. how a houston museum is widening its lens to showcase latin american art. plus much more. >> this is the pbs "nehour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: today the european union slapped sanctions on belarus, one day after authorities ordered what europeans call a state-sponsored hijacking. yesterday a civilian airline was forced to land in minsk so that authorities could arrest a journalist to have been critical of the regime. it has been called the biggest political crisis for global aviation in years. nick: when ryanair 4978 was forced to land, authorities did

not only remove the luggage they arrested 26-year-old activists raman pratasevich. he ran an online news service that helped to organize mass protests against president lukashenko. known as europe's last dictator, who has been in power one -- and power one year longer than he has been alive. tonight belarusian authorities released a video of him giving what seem to be a scripted confession of organizing protest. today the ryanair chief executive blames the belarusian government and said four security agents were on board to ensure the hijacking succeeded. >> i think it is the first time it is happened to the european airline. this was the case of state-sponsored hijacking and >> the flight path shows the plane flying in a straight line to lithuania when it did a u-turn and landed in menkes. -- in menkes. -- in minsk. a bomb squad official explains

how there might've been explosive on board. the european president accuse the government of outrageous and illegal behavior in the hijacking. today leaders band the belarusian airlines from flying over european countries are using european airports. lukashenko has been fighting for his political licensee arrested opposition figures last year ahead of what the international community called a stolen election. his regime has arrested many protest leaders and reporters who cover the uprising but the ryanair incident, is unprecedented. >> not just as the committee to protect journalists, but a lot of belarus watchers realized how far lukashenko can go. >> gulnoza said is the europe and central asia program coordinator at the committee to protect journalists. prasevich founded the nexta forum on the telegram ap it shares user-generated content from protests, with millions of subscribers, and helped demonstrators avoid state censorship.

>> the free information and videos also that were being distrited became very important for belarussians as the authorities were trying to close down or to control other media outlets who were providing the same sort of information. >> today belarusian opposition leader sviatlana tsikhanouskaya, said she feared for pratasevich's safety. >> he may be tortured now as an enemy of lukashenko. we are dealing with the harshest regime in europe in decades. >> for more we turn to matthew, the director of the kenan organization. why would lukashenko consider raman pratasevich such a threat? >> a few recents. pratasevich has been in exile, a

sentence of 12 years for alleged terrorism -- so this is not new. in the last several months in the aftermath of the stolen august presidential election which resulted in hundreds of thousands of people coming out in the streets in minsk. the new service next step which pratasevich cofounded, this has been viewed as a national security threat, threat to the regime by the lukashenko government in minsk. the opportunity to snag this opponent was too tempting for them. >> the word snag is pretty much what the europeans called it today. tonight, we have seen the european union announced these sanctions, including a ban on belarusian airlines flying over e.u. countries and the use of belarusian airlines in the e.u. airports. what is the implication of that,

and how effective is it likely to be? >> it is interesting and a couple of respects. one is proportionate in the sense that it is responding in terms of commercial air travel, which is where the violation was done. violation of basic principles of commercial air trave freedom of navigation, this plane was downed under false pretenses for political reasons. the e.u. is responding in that dimension. second, it is isolating belarus because this is a landlocked country surrounded by e.u. and the ukraine which is likely to go with the e.u. on this. and it only has an eastern border with russia. this in effect doubles down on the political posion lukashenko was in after this crackdown which was to become fully dependent on vladimir putin and the kremlin. in terms of physical access to the outside world, belarus is in that position total dependency on russia. >> you describe how this further isolates v belarus, but what

leverage do the europeans and the americans ha to get lukashenko to change? >> the dilemma of lukashenko's position for the west is that he has chosen sides. when lukashenko was bouncing back and forth between currying favor and the west and in moscow, playing one against the other, one could have argued that limited pressure could achieve limited ends. a certain amount of economic sanctions pressure, a certain amount of diplomatic pressure, naming and shaming, was able to get prisoners, political prisoners released. at this point, having signed up essentially fully for vladimir putin's protection and abandon any pretense of good relations with the west, it's hard to see how that kind of leverage is successful. that said, given time , because i do not thinkputin and lukashenko view one another as reliable partners. it is likely in a few years when there is a falling out and

there was a reason for lukashenko to change course, he will seek to curry favor in the west by releasing political prisoners, including pratas evich. so, there is good reason for the westo impose those sanctions as leverage. but i would n expect quick success. >> you and i talked about authoritarianism increasing not only in minsk. i wonder has this kind of thing, this hijacking is europeans put it, ever happened before, and what message does it send to the rest of the world if larouche and government believes that it succeed -- if the belarusian government believes it succeeded? >> this was described across the board is unprecedented, or fran kly, it's a hijacked by a state. a. state-sponsored act of terrorism. the russians are claiming this sort of thing has been done by the west. there was a case in 2013, pedro

morales was leaving russia and no european country would refuel his aircraft so he was forced down. i do not see a direct comparison. this is an attempt to actually grab, to snatch out of midair someone who's viewed as an enemy of the regime. it really is an act of terrorism. >> therefore, could we see repeated by other countries, perhaps by moscow, which has back to this effort? >> the russians view their territory in terms of absolute sovereignty. at this point, although they certainly take part in international civilian air travel agreements, if they have reason enough to try and grab someone or target someone who is on an aircraft, say alexei navalny, they poisoned him intentionally before he got on a vilian airline. the russians view their airspace is totally up for grabs, fair game for their political warfare. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. .

♪ judy: the cease-fire in gaza is holding for now. while the confrontation between israel and the palestinian group hamas was taking place, there were growing reports of anti-semitic attacks and slurs in several american cities. we focus on the disturbing questions this raises once again about the intolerance and hate in america. william: judy, the anti-defamation league tracked reports of online comments, verbal confrontations, and physical assaults in the u.s. during that 11-days of bombing in gaza and in israel, finding quote a "drastic surge" in anti-semitic language and attacks. that included an attack on a 29-year-old man in new york who was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed in times square. in los angeles, five people suffered minor injuries after they were attacked by people

waving palestinian flags. in tuscon, arizona, a synagogue was vandalized. the adl also reported thousands of tweets or rewteets that -- or retweets that seemed to echoed the phrase, "hitler was right" last week, five jewish organizations, including the adl, wrote a letter to president biden about their concerns over the seeming rise in these hateful attacks, asking him to speak out more forcefully against them. for more on all of this, we turn to jonathan greenblatt, the ceo of the anti-defamation league. great to see you. in the past your organization has or documented that when there is violence between israelites and palestinians that anti-semitic attacks in the u.s. go up. compare now to then pin are we seeing more now? >> yes. it's certainly true that in the past conflagrations in the middle east and israel and the palestinians or its neighbors have created an uptick of

anti-semitism in america, but what we are seeing now is more drastic and frankly more what we are seeing now is more drastic. the adl tracks between the two weeks of the conflicts and the two before, 63% increase. and that surge is far greater than what we have seen in prior incidents like 2014, for example. what i would also know is not just the qualitative. the span of the attacks, they spread like wildfire across the country. you mentioned a few. california. arizona, wisconsin, illinois. michigan. new york. new jersey. south carolina. florida. acts of harassment and vandalism and violence. number one, the span is much greater than we have seen but secondly the tone. the brazenness, the audacity of these assaults in broad daylight. you know, we have seen people

say if wear jewish start then -- if you wear a jewish star, you should be killed. we've seen people hurling bottles at homes. we have seen people driving their cars and marauding through juice neighborhoods -- through jewish neighborhoods and yelling, we will rape your wo men or something like allah akbar, reaping violence one incident in ny beating a nd bloodying a jewish man whose only crime was wearing a kippah. left unconscious in street while bloodied him, really quite disgusting and in america is uncomfortable

>> what do you aribute this to? the trump administration you were quick to point out political language that follmann to anti-semitism. do you see political leaders who are exacerbating this? >> none of the people committing crimes wearing maga hats,very -- i believe political language can have real-world consequences. yes, we called out the prior president and his acolytes through charlottesville and marauding to capitol hill. in this case we have people beating jewish people. what i might draw a parallel to is the hate crimes committed against asian americans. where unhinged fictionalized conspiracies about china first spotted by political leaders led to real-world consequences as asian americans were attacked on the streets. while today we have unhinged,

fictionalized conspiracies about israel that somehow the jewish state is systematically slaughtering children or committing genocide. that leads to real-world attacks on schuurs people -- on jewish people on thetreets of america. although the political tenor may be different, the real outcome is the same. and that is why we think people regardless of where you are on the spectrum need to speak out clearly and firmly and force fully and say, in an unambiguous way, that anti-semitism is unacceptable because, again, this is not activism. it's hate. and it should be called out as such. >> in the letter you sent to the white house he specifically asked president joe biden to speak up more force fully. have you heard from the white house since you sent that letter? >> we have been in touch with the white house. joe biden has been good on these issues his entire career. from his time at in the senate to vice president and now as

president. he announced his run for office to crime the anti-semitism that he saw in full view at charlottesville. so, just this morning he tweeted out a firm statement. we do think it is critical for the administration to stand squarely in solidarity with the jewish community in this moment when so many of us are feeling frightened. i've heard from jewish people across the country. they are feeling scared. they have extremist on the right and radical voices from the left and they are wondering, is it safe for me to go out wearing a kippah? is it safe for me to walk to synagogue on a saturday? this is in america in 2021. we think leaders, not just president biden, but members of congress need to speak out and call it anti-semitism, without making equivalents or excuses for any other form of prejudice, you can have fierce debates

about middle east policy but that is not an excuse to assault and victimize jewish people in america, in europe, anywhere. >> jonathan greenblatt, ceo of the anti-defamation league, thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. judy: one way the biden administration is trying to address the challenges posed by migrants at the southern border is by focusing on where the journey for many begins. the u.s. is offering incentives to honduras, guatemala, and mexico to better control their borders to stem the flow. tania and neill report. tania: it has been eight days since he lost his job in a factory he was among 12 workers

fired without severance after protesting for higher pay. he barely survived on $12 a day to support his wife who also lost her job at the same factory. his sister and his three-year-old daughter. after back-to-back devastating hurricanes that struck central america last year the family lost their home and belongings and had to move in with an uncle. and a last brutality: shortly after that johan's father was murdered by gang members in an attempted robbery. at just the age 23, johan is the sole breadwinner for a desperate family. >> it's really difficult since my dad died. he's been a father to us. since he was 9 years old he's worked for all of us and our mother. he's the one who raised us. >> they live under constant risk in choloma, one of the most dangerous cities in honduras, the murder capital of the world.

two gangs operate here -- ms-13 and 18th street -- responsible for thousands of homicides this past year. johan fears anything can happen to him at a moment's notice. he says his only way out is to go to united states where a very different world awaits >> i've heard from friends what you make in honduras in one year you make in two months in the united states. there you can go grocery shopping calmly. here they will assault you or can even kill you. life there is so much better there for economic and security reasons. everything is so much better. >> since feburary of this year tens of thousands of hondurans have organized on social media to join in caravs heading north. they're hastily-formed, and johan received information to meet at 6am. he shares his last dinner with his family before he sets off on his trek >> it's really difficult because people talk about how dangerous the road is. but with the trust in god we know he will make it there okay.

>> the next day several hundred people across the country took to the streets in the scorching sun making their way to the honduras-guatema border - johan starts the first leg of his journey alone by walking, then hitching a ride on the back of a pickup truck where he meets a group of young men. for hours they take whatever vehicle they could find. along the journey johan hopes seemed high that he would make it to a more welcoming usa/united states. what do you think of president biden? >> from what i hear in the news, he's a better president. he'll give asylum he will help. not like donald trump who didnt want anyone to enter. this president from what i've seen is much different than donald trump and he's different in a way for migrants. >> so you're confident you're going to get asylum? >> whatever happens either i'll get asylum or i'll cross illegally. whatever happens the mission is to make it up north. at the official border crossing at the honduras-guatemala border hundreds of people arrive - many families including mothers with newly born babies.

fights break out as several migrants are stopped by honduran authorities. >> we are not bothering anyone. i am paying withy own money. >> what are the police saying to you? >> that they want us to go back. >> we are migrants. they are saying here is the border. this is the problems with the guatemalen they dont want to let us in. we are hondurans. how can we be illegals in central america? >> do you have documentation? >> they will not let me pass. >> frustrated families storm through and continue to walk. to avoid the military, johan joins scores of migrants on an illegal path through the jungles to get to guatemala. as they make their way, our team crossed official borders where we arrived to a dramatic scene -

army are armednd vigilant, because the government has declared a state of emergency. they have been given permission to use force on the migrants when they arrive. this deployment of security forces comes in the wake of a recent agreement made by the biden administration with central american governments to militarize the southern borders and of central american countries to make the journey more difficult for migrants in this particular caravan. >> so, mexico made the decision to maintain 10,000 troops at its southern border, resulting in twice as many daily migrant interdictions. guatemala surged 1,500 police and military personnel to its southern border with honduras and agreed to set up 12 checkpoints along the migratory route. honduras surged 7,000 police and military to disperse a large contingent of migrants. drive-thru guatemalans, as we drive through guatemala, we see several large groups of migrants are met with militarized checkpoints stopping and detaining migrants along the trek. we drove 4-5 hours into the guat-honduras border and the army has detained 45 migrants for illegally entering

guatemala. many have been without food or water for 4-5 hours and now they are about to be sent back to honduras in trucks in just a matter of minutes they are taken away. later that night, we hear from johan. just now received this video checking -- trekking through the jungle. he sounds exhausted. and out of breath. and shortly after that he just now sent a text message after that video, saying that he is really scared. and half of the people he was with were kidnapped. now we've tried to get in touch with him. i have called him several times and haven't heard anyhting back. -- anything back. we continue to wait for news from johan we come across reports of other migrants kidnapped from the same caravan -- a common danger for many heading north - so we just got word that johan is nearby. and he made it after all, and he's walking up right now. is that him? it is, and he tells us about his harrowing journey.

>> i was afraid because it was dark and there were 3 people that i didnt know and i'm in a foreign country and it's definitely not a good reason they are waiting for me. it scared me even more because they kidnapped the other people. i was also really afraid when i crossed the river. and halfway across the river i was out of energy. but i prayed to god in the middle of the river that he would save me. the only thing that came to mind was the image of my daughter. and so that motivated me to make it to the edge of the river and that's how i got out of the river. >> johan tried to hitch a ride for the guatemala-mexico border with his group but couldn't catch up to them on time. >> part of me is happy because nothing happened to me like other people who leave the house looking for the american dream and they lose a leg on the train. or when they are trying to cross a river what almost happened to me and they drowned. on one hand i'm happy and on the other hand i'm really sad because i didnt reach my goal. like they say god knows what he does and why he does it. he has a purpose for everyone of us.

so that is the mission. to try again. maybe right now was not my moment to pass. but if it. >> he has retied it to return to honduras. together the strength and the courage to try again for the usa for a better life for them all. for the pbs newshour i'm tania rashid with neil brandvold in guatemala ♪ judy: this week as we mark one year since the murder of george floyd we look back to another police killing that changed the country. nearly seven years ago, 18-year-old michael brown was shot and killed by ahite police officer in ferguson, missouri. his death led to weeks of protests and sometimes violent clashes with law enforcement and gave birth to the black lives matter movement.

earlier this month, yamiche alcindor spoke with brown's father, michael brown senior, about what has changed since his son's killing and george floyd's murder. >> thank you for sitting down and talking. it has been seven years since her son was killed. i wonder how you are doing. how you are navigating this time . >> every day is different. sadly, this thing with community police is still continuing. it definitely does bring back up old feelings, open wounds. , brings that anger, that madness or whatever back. >> so much has changed and so much hasn't changed since the death of your son // i wonder if you can talk to me a bit about when you learned about george floyd, if you saw the video and what that moment was like for you as a black man and as a father who had lost his son.

>> i was at home when it was at home when it was going live on the internet. we all went to minnesota to support and be down on the ground roots with the rest of the community. the energy, the energy reminded me of 2014. it was so much anger, pain. i met with the family. gave them words of encouragement and i told them, you know, any time you want to reach out, just reach out. my phone will be on because this is this is this is something that's going to be rting for years to come. and you want to try to understand why this happen to your family. so it's different stages with the trauma. you know, you get the denial, you got the anger, you got to trying to get past and then you get coping. >> where are you in your in your stages? >> mm. definitely not at the point of forgiveness.

i would say anger slash coping. but i'm in a space where i don't have to, i'm not around negativity to open old flames back up. >> where were you when derek chauvin was found guilty? and what went through your mind when you heard that that family was going to get justice? >> i was riding in the car and i heard it over the radio. and right then i was i was happy for the family, you know, but i know, it's not satisfying for that family because they still lost their loved one. people that lost that type of way, we're not satisfied. until we start to change the policies and different different cities, some people will get justice, se people won't. you know, so that's what we're working on. changing some things here in missouri, so another family won't have to go through this. i still got little, small

children. you know, i don't want them to go through nothing like that; i don't even think i'd be able to take that again. so it's all about the communy and families, trying to make better things for families, you know, to be able to walk down the street, drive their car without being harassed or killed. >> thinking about your son, a teenager walking down the street. some people see that as a teenager walking down the street. who's threateng.that as someone- we know that in this country, black men in particular, black people in particular, have been criminaled. how does that change? >> definitely profiling. profiling has to stop. you have 16 to 18 year olds that look like grown men from the back. so i think interacting with those those teenagers should be in a whole different, different tone, frame, whatever you wa to call it. especially when they turn around and you see this baby face. there's no threat. you know, it's procedures that you can do. what's your parents number? where you going? follow them home, talk to a

parent. it shouldn't have to end in death. >> do you think that what happened to your son, it ends up leading to the conviction of this officer in the murder of george floyd. do you think that momentum and where our country is played into that? >> of course, that's what i think. some people might not, but that's what i think. yeah. he opened up a lot of doors for a lot of families. even the body cam, mike started that, you know, especially here in st. louis; it was other places that was half of the police force had them, and not all. but now it's almost everywhere >> what perspective could you share now that maybe you couldn't share in 2014, what perspective have the last seven years given you as you think about where our nation is now with the death of george floyd and the death of your son? >> well, i just say, if we don't unify, we're going to die. i don't care what color we is. you know, we have you have white allies we have all types of

people to understand what's wrong, you know. and if you support what you know is wrong, you the problem too you know, this the only way this world can be better if we start understanding what the problem is. all of us is not the enemy but we have been traumatized for so many years to where some people, you know, they don't know which way to go so we have to have different conversations // so we can try to wk on, you know, doing some good or better for our community. judy: undoubtedly there will be more of these conversations happening this week and on the anniversary of george floyd's death. members of the floyd family will meet privately with president biden at the white house. we will have much more on all of this tomorrow night. ♪ judy: it is a jampacked week for

the united states senators considering everything from china to the biden administration nominees, infrastructure and invention -- and investigating january 6. a perfect time for politics monday with amy walter. and tamara. it is so good to see both of you on this monday.. tam, i want to start with you on the maybe not so glamorous but very important subject of infrastructure. the president, the administration has been talking about for weeks. the president signal in the last few days that he is prepared to accept a sller amount of money. from converse -- from congress. where does it stand right now? tamara: what was fascinating about the counteroffer sent to senate republicans who are they are negotiating with is that they said, we will come down $

500 billion on our proposal. from $2.25 trillion to $1.7 trillion. but all of the things that they were coming down on a is where there is bipartisan agreement. they offered to come down on the agreement, in a way almost seeming like the point was just to highlight the vast disagreements with congressional republicans. in the end, they still don't agree on the definition of infrastructure. how big the package should be. or how it should be paid for. and it's not clear how they're going to get there or if they are ever going together. though the white house is still publicly insisting that they are having these conversations. the conversations are continuing . that they have not given up yet on something bipartisan. judy: amy, what is really going on?

a lot of people say, it is infrastructure. we know, yes, the white house has tacked on some things they say are important in terms of the social infrastructure of the country. but what is the nub, what is holding this up? amy: tam laid it out well. the definition they do not agree on. the price t they do not agree on. do not agree on how to pay for it. other than that, they are really this close to getting a bipartisangreement. there is nothing they seem to agree on here. it seems like what the white house is doing right now is setting the groundwork to be able to say, when democrats end up trying to pass something through a democratic only proposal through something called reconciliation, they say, "we tried. we want to be bipartisan. i brought all of the republicans." they will list the names, even the number of republicans who aren't in leadership ian invited to the white house. but, "we just could not agree."

this is about convincing some of the more moderate democrats, especially somebody like senator joe manchin who said out loud for many mont he wants to see more bipartisan cooperation on an issue like this. his republican congress from west virginia also engaged in this process. so, if they are able to convince manchin that they've been working on bipartisanship. it didn't work. needs to pass on democratic votes, then there we go. judy: so, tam, in a word, do we know whether the white house really wants a bipartisan deal or not? tamara: oh, man. [laughter[ they sure i'm putting -- they sure are putting on a public. they would love to have a bipartisan agreement they could get through that was more strictly, narrowly defined as

infrastructure and then a much bigger package they can push through reconciliation potentially. but they aren't there yet on even the, the things they sort of agree are infrastructure, the republican's agree are infrastructure like broadband but they do not agree on the price tag. judy: it gives us a headache thinking about it. thank you both are trying. amy, let's talk about the january 6 commission. this is something the democrats very much want a bipartisan commission. speaker pelosi has reworked it. finally a proposal past the house. now in the senate. what does it look like. what are the pressures on republicans, especially on those of public and who did vote to impeach former president trump over his role in the insurrection? amy: it seems like what a lot of republicans, especially on the senate side, have made the choice that it's riskier to have

the commission than to vote against a bipartisan commission, because the risk is that, once again, as we have seen in these last two elections, 2018 and 2020, if the election is a referendum on donald trump, if trump is the center of the conversation, that is not good for republicans. you've heard susan collins this weekend say, "i'm all for having a commission. here ithe thing. i want to make sure the report comes out at the end of 2021." i don't want this used by democrats to hit us over the head in an election year. even other republicans in the senate who supported impeachment saying, we have so many other avenues to investigate. the justice department is looking at this. other committees in congress are looking at this. i don't think we needet one more commission. it seems fundamentally the worry is that democrats are going to

use this to remind voters about what they didn't like about donald trump in an election year. judy: tam, we know it is not the white house that is necessarily behind this but a lot of interest there in seeing it happen. what about thinking on the part of democrats probably? tamara: i think that democrats do want this to happen. if they did not wanted to happen, then i'm pretty sure that speaker pelosi and the democrats in the house would not have compromised so much on the design of this comssion. but the reality is that they can keep. investigating it just won't have sort of the good housekeeping seal of approval of a bipartisan, non- partisan commission. instead, it could be a committee like that but it -- that investigated benghazi. there were five investigations of benghazi. or it could be various house

committees doing the investigations. it just won't be bipartisan. it won't have that same, that same approval. so, for republicans, though, the other risk, it is not just that trump could go after the republicans who voted for such a commission and exile them, like he tries to exile anyone who votes against him, but it is also the entire time the commission is meeting the former president could be making noise about it and try -- and drawing attention even more. judy: in connection with all of this, amy, with the falsehood that the election the november election was rigged and joe biden did not really win, you have these audits going on in a maricopa county in arizona, and georgia and other states looking at this. do we see republicans making headway on these efforts to frankly try to overturn the

election? amy: what is worrisome about these is not that the election will be overturned. the election is over. the courts have weighed in. and the legal process has gone, you know, has taken root. it's done. the problem is that we know that men republican voters, a majority of republican voters, do not believe the election results were fair. and that, even the process itself, for adjudicating disagreements is not trusted. these two states, arizona and georgia, are going to be battlegrounds for the for siebel future in 2022. they have senate races that can determine the majority in the senate. in 2024, they will be battleground presidential states for the electoral college. and what you have going on here is a complete undermininof trust, not just in the way campaign is operated but in the local officials. judy, we talked a lot about this

in 2020, how the guardrails of our democracy really were these local elected officials. and the work that they were doing. now even they are being undermined. and that is a worrisome trend. judy: never seen anything like it before. we thank you both. >> you are welcome. ♪ judy: now widening the lens to see more of art history. in the midst of the pandemic on the museum of fine arts houston open a new building that highlights its collection of latin american and latino works. jeffrey brown visited recently for our arts and culte series canvas. >> wire sculptures from the 1970's and 1980's. abstract paintings by several

brazilian artists in the 1950's. at 27 installation holding the belongings of a deported mic entitled "temporary storage. a mexican artist. different shapes and styles and forms. all part of a 20 year project to expand the story of art history. now the museum of fine arts houston has a new showcase the kinder building. to house its collection of modern and contemporary art. in a whole quarter of it everywhere you look is by latin american or latino artists feared. the curator that is the statement in itself. >> and it is a statement that museums can make. >> why is it important for this museum, for you? >> because of the ascendance of

the latino population and other groups here in the united states. these are the populations that are going to be defining the future of this country, in my view. and so it's important for the museumo position itself in that debate. >> since coming to the museum in 2001, ramirez, who was born in puerto rico, has helped build an enormous collection of works litt known to the american public and rarely seen in most u.s. museums. what did you want people coming to this museum and americans more generally to know about latin american art? >> i wanted them to know that latin americans were not just practitioners of 20th century art, they actively contributed new ideas and new approaches, because we in this field, we have been fighting from the very beginning against the notion that latin american art is derivative of u.s. or european art, that everything that latin americans did was to follow picasso or mondrian or

rauschenberg or many other artists. and that's a fallacy. americans might know the great mexican muralists like diego rivera. and the painter fra kahlo is a phenomenon unto herself. but beyond frida? the houston museum expands the picture dramatically -- to brazilian abstractionists from the 1950's and 60's, like lygia clark. >> it is what she called a bicho, which is trslated as critter. it is about the sensorial experience of manipulating the object. >> and in a very different mode, to the argentinian antonio berni's painting with found objects -- including street trash, a commentary on the migration of the poor from the countryside to the city. >> the idea is that this is the reality that these people live. and so what better way to represent their plight than to use the same garbage, the same trash they're exposed to every day.

>> the concern with social issues has continued in more recent years, as in mexican artist teresa margolles' harrowing, "lote bravo" from 2005. 400 adobe bricks made from the earth where bodies of murdered women were found, the 'femicides' in ciudad juarez. >> she picked up earth from those places and then working with an artisan, they produced these bricks. >> each one represents a woman. mirez: each one represents a woman. you can think of it as a memorial, but you can also think of it as a cemetery. >> a big focus for the collection now: art by american-born artists of latin american descent, already numbering more than 400 works by some 70 artists, like houston-based vincent valdez' painting of a young man suspended in the air, from his series titled “stranger fruit”. ramirez sees a vibrant and growing latino art world, but

one still in need of what she calls an “infrastructure”. >> galries, museums, collectors and institutionalized study programs. without these elements, the art cannot flourish -- i mean, it can flourish at the level the artists are producing in, but nobody's going to get to know what they're doing or to really understand its importance and its significance. >> do you see that changing, though? >> yes, i see that changing. i think the change is coming. it's going to take a while still. but i'm hoping that in 20 years it will be in a different, at a different level. >> the kinder building opened amid the pandemic and amid a social justice movement that's d museums nationally to re-think their missions. the timing may have been serendipitous, but ramirez says the effort here fits that larger reckoning. >> latin american or latino art, or african-american art it's not about a fad or a tendency or a trend or some fashionable movement that is in vogue right

now. it's about the fact that museums really need to reinvent themselves. they need to really reflect the demographics and the profile of the audiences they are serving. this country is living a transformation and museums need to position themselv to address that transformation. >> a new world -- just as artists like argentinian gyula kosice (yoo-la koh' sih che) have long been dreaming of and creating now, for all to see. for the pbs newshour, i'm jb -- i am jeffrey brown from the museum of fine arts houston. ♪ judy: as we reported, this week marks one year since george floyd was killed. but what has changed in this year protests and racial reckoning? on tuesday night we hope you will join us for an hour long special on pbs "race matters,

america after george floyd." ♪ >> in a year of racial reckoning, violence, abuse and inequities persist. >> we find the defendant guilty. >> the chauvin verdict -- a path to justice. yet much more is to be done. >> now is the time to act. >> how can we create lasting change? race matters. america after george floyd. a pbs "newshour" special report tuesday, may 25 at 10 p.m., 9:00 central. judy: and you can watch the special report on your pbs station. at 10 p.m. eastern. join the conversation by following the "newshour" online. that is the newshour for tonight. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at pbs "newshour" thank you, please stay safe, and we will see you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by. >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. the raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life well-planned. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway . the kendeda fund . ♪ >> the fop sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas -- the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> supported by the john d. and

catherine t. macarthur foundation committed to building, please a more peaceful world. and with the ongoing support of these initutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> this is pbs "newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -welcome to "america's test kitchen" at home. today, i'm butter-basting fish filets, jack's got some tips on shopping for frozen seafood, lisa's lining up her favorite spatulas, and elle's making a beautiful succotash with butter beans, corn, and red pepper.