captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, one year later-- the country reflects on the murder of george floyd as the city of minneapolis struggles to reform its police department. then, taiwan on edge-- we speak with the country's foreign minister about the ever-larger shadow china casts over the region. and, brazil in crisis-- covid 19 exacerbates the many inequities across the country, hitting minority and indigenous communities the hardest. >> ( translated ): as with any pandemic, what we see are all inequalities are illuminated. the most vulnerable, the people that were more isolated, ethnic minorities, they are the ones that really are suffering the most.

>> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.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: around the country today, americans have marked the anniversary of george floyd's death.

it came at the hands of minneapolis police, one year ago today. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: one year after the murder of george floyd, community members gathered to pay their respects and renew demands for racial justice and police reform. they also held an outdoor festival at the intersection where he died one year ago today. using music and food, the owd tried to turn a place of agony into a place of hope. >> it's been a troubling year, a long year, but we made it. >> alcindor: on may 25, 2020, george floyd was killed by former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin, who keeled on floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. in april, chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges. he awaits sentencing next month. in august, three officers who

the murder triggered nationwide protests and calls for police reform that ve continued throughout the year, including yesterday at a march to the minnesota state capitol. george floyd's family has taken a lead role in those efforts. today, the family was in washington. they met first with house speaker nancy pelosi and other congressional leaders amid a push for a federal bill, dubbed the “george floyd justice in policing act.” the legislation would ban chokeholds, among other provisions. floyd's brother philonise urged the senate to pass the house- approved bill. >> we need to be able to set standard procedures in place just like we need meaningful legislation when they signed that george floyd policing act. we need this on biden's desk. the senate, we need to get this taken care of. >> alcindor: the family spoke separately with democratic senator cory booker and republican senator tim scott, who are leading negotiations for a compromise to get the bill passed.

at the white house, president biden and vice president harris hosted the family privately. they spoke to reporters afterward. >> he did let us know that he supports passing the bill but he wants to make sure that it's the right bill and not a rushed bill. >> alcindor: at today's white house briefing, press secretary jen psaki said president biden was hopeful a consensus could be reached. >> we have also been respecting the space needed for the negotiators to have these discussions about where they can find common ground and where they can find agreement. >> alcindor: the federal efforts come as many cities and states have moved to change policing policies after floyd's death. last july, minnesota became one of the first states to ban police chokeholds and mandate mental health training for officers, among other things. and today, the floyd family announced the launch of a fund to benefit businesses and community organizations in the neighborhood where george floyd died. they'll be using money from the fami's $27 million settlement with minneapolis.

before today's event at “george floyd square,” an associated press journalist captured the sounds of what he said were 30 gunshots a block away from the intersection, a reminder of the challenges facing the neighborhood. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now from the white house. so, yamiche, as you reported, george floyd's family met with president biden today. what more do we know about that meeting? >> reporter: well, this was an hour-long, private meeting between president biden who has known tragic public loss, and the floyd family that, of course, also knows tragic public loss of course at the hands of police. president biden, i'm told was very personal with this family. he's gotten to know this family over the last year. he's had multiple conversations with them before and after the verdict. he's talked a lot about the family's well being asking them how are they doing, how are they coping, do they have the resources they need. the president also released a statement, and i want to read part of it to you. he said, for any family experiencing a profound loss,

the first year can feel like they got the news a few seconds ago, and they've had to relive that pain and grief at each and every time those horrific nine minutes and 2-9d seconds have been replayed. that statement, of course, talking about the the nine minutes and 29 seonds derek chauvin kneeled on thneck of george floyd. i'm told by the floyd family as well as in public statements that the president spent time talking to them about processing their grief. he also spent time playing with gianna flo, that's george floyd's daughter. she ran into the president's arms, he said, and also said, i'm hungry, do you have some snacks? he gave her ice cream and cheetos. a genue back and forth there. the president said he would be pushing for policing reform. >> woodruff: the president had called for congress to pass the george floyd policing reform act by now, by this anniversary, but, so far, no bipartisan agreement. what do we know about where that

ands? >> well, president biden spoke to the floyd family about this and he said he was not happy with the idea that the deadline that he set which is today, the year anniversary of george floyd's murder, that there wasn't a policing legislation that he could sign into law today. that said he told the family he doesn't want to rush this, that he wants it to be a bill with substance. that said the biden administration's overall racial justice agenda is going forward. just today, kristin clark was confirmed by the senate, the first black woman to head the civil rights division at the department of justice, that's the division that works specifically with police departments on policies and practices. she's expected to be sworn in by vice president harris tonight. etch though the legislation is stalled, there's still a gulf to go, there is, of course, kristin clark there now at the d.o.j. >> woodruff: finally, yamiche, the death of george floyd, of course, triggered these conversations about policing but also about race and racism in america, and you've done a lot

of reporting about this over the last year. you've traveled, you've talked to people. what is your sense of where we are one year later? >> reporter: well, one year later staff the death of george floyd, we have really experienced a profound shift in perspectives and also profound disappointment in lived realities of so many people of color in this country. so there is this real breath that's been breathed into the black lives matter movementive movement with corporations and companies looking at sytemic racism, having the racial reckoning that we always talk about, really talking about diversity and the need for change. but there also has been this real pushback, pushing back on talking about the idea of slavery and the 1619 slavery there. there is, of course, this idea that black americans are two and a half to three times more likely to be killed by police than white americans and each day black americans are waking up terrified to have the police,

teaching their children how to survive police interactions, even if they're doing nothing wrong. a lot of change, much more to go. >> woodruff: those conversations are going to continue. yamiche alcindor, reporting on this day that all of us are marking. yamiche, thank you. >> reporter: thanks. >> woodruff: members of george floyd's family also met today with congresswoman karen bass of california. she is the house democrats' lead negotiator on police reform legislation named after george floyd. i spoke with her a short time ago. representative karen bass, thank you so much for joining us. let me first ask you about your conversation with the george floyd family. tell us about it. >> this is a very difficult day for the family. anytime there's an anniversary, a birthday, you know, or today, commemorating it was one year ago, it's a painful day for them, and, so, our conversation was just them encouraging congress to finish the job, and

also expressing that they thought it was more important that the job be done correctly rather than rushing to have a bill just to meet a deadline. so i was happy to hear that. i was happy to hear, to know that they were not disappointed, but that they were encouraged because our talks have been moving forward. >> woodruff: you say they have been moving forward. what did you tell them about the status of the talks. >> i told them that senator booker and senator scott and i were talking regularly, that we were examining the comprehensive bill that was passed in the house, and, you know, it's almost never that a bill passes the house, goes to the senate and nothing changes. so we were also talking about different parts of the bill that they feel are very important. for example, the part of the bill that essentially holds officers accountable. what happened to their brother that the entire world witnessed, they never want to see another family go through that. >> woodruff: you're referring to something called qualified immune at this, legal protection

for officers. you've said that this has to be in the bill. republicans have said they don't want it in the bill. where do you see this headed? >> well, it's one of many items that are on the table for us to negotiate, and i'm hoping that we will find a resolution. you know, what the bill isn't a and what this moment in our history is about is really looking at the profession of policing and modernizing it. you know, the profession that has the ability to take away your freedom and take away your life really should meet the highest of standards, should be transparent, should hold each other accountable. if an officer sees another officer brutalizing someone, then they have a legal obligation to intervene. that's one of the provisions in the bill. we have 18,000 police departments across the country, and 18,000 different ways of doing policing. any profession that reaches that point needs to have national standards, national

accreditation, and, so, that's what we have been talking about. >> woodruff: is there, though, congresswoman bass, amadele ground when it comes to this sort of legal protection? could it be protection for the department, which we know has been raised by some? >> well, that is one of the options that we're examining, but there's also the issue of holding officers accountable and being able to prosecute an officer. you know, one of the things that is so painful for families and communities when they see incident after incident, tape after tape, and then the officers aren't even prosecuted, they don't even file charges, and that's because the standard to file charges to prosecute an officer is so high that they walk away with no charges. and, so, the overall point is accountability, whether it's qualified immunity, whether it's how you prosecute, whether it's having a registry where officers

who are bad can't just bounce from department to department. you know, we've seen several egregious cases recently and we've seen that the officers have either resigned or they're fired, but i think what most people don't realize is all they have to do is just go down the road to another town and be right back on a police force, you know, having no accountability for whatever bad actions they took in their last job. >> woodruff: so do i hear you saying there may be another way to hold officers accountable that could be a work-around when it comes to qualified immunity? >> well, right now, what is on the table is qualified immunity. if my colleagues, whether it's senator scott or someone else, can show how we can keep an officer accountable, then i'm open to hear it. i haven't heard so far. >> woodruff: is that what they're working on? >> so right now it's qualified immunity. it might be. it might be. there absolutely have been

discussions and maybe in my next meeting i will hear other alternatives, but i can't emphasize enough right now qualified immunity is what is on the table. >> woodruff: and you said at the beginning, the floyd family is asking -- is saying what comes from these negotiations is more important than the speed. >> right. >> woodruff: so do i understand you to say this could drag on for some time? >> well, i think that what we obviously did not meet the deadline today, i don't believe it's going to drag on for months. i do think we need more time. i don't think it makes sense to set a deadline right now, because i would just be making one up, but i can tell you that we have made significant progress, and i am hoping that we will be able to get this job done shortly. >> woodruff: but is it your sense -- i mean just to go back to this question about holding officers accountable, that there may be give on the part of republicans on that? >> well, i mean, i think all of us come to the negotiating table with an open mind, we have to.

otherwise, there's no point in negotiating. you can just submit your opinions and then walk away. so, i think on both sides, there's an open mind and a willingness to say, okay, if not this thethat. so show me. right now the section lowering the standard to prosecute an officer, also qualified immunity is on the table, but there's many, many other aspects of the bill that we are also talking about -- having national standards, national accreditation, banning no-knock, banning choke holds, providing grants to communities to reenvision public safety, what does a community need to be safe. >> woodruff: in the last analysis at this point, congresswoman, do you think there will be a bill that passes the senate? >> oh, i do think there will be a bill that passes the senate. i believe that president biden will have a bill to sign. >> woodruff: all right. we will leave it there and we

will continue to follow it very closely. thank you so much congresswoman karen bass. >> all right, thank you. >> woodruff: and let's focus more >> woodruff: let's focus more on what's happening in minneapolis one ye later. in november, voters will be asked to approve a measure that could dismantle the police department and fold it into in a broader department of public safety. the police department has been mired in controversy for decades and soon will be the subject of a department of justice investigation. but the campaign to bring change is fraught with complications. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has our report, part of our series: race matters. >> reporter: derek chauvin's conviction for the murder of george floyd brought celebration and relief in minneapolis, after nearly a year of anguish, protests, destruction. it was short-lived >> a 10-year-old with a gunshot wound to the head!

why is this community not angry? >> reporter: shamonda greer's grandson, ladavionne garrett junior was one of two young children critically injured in separate gunfire incidents in the city's majority black northside neighborhood. >> because the cop didn't shoot him? where's everybody? we only march when this is against thpolice, huh? >> reporter: greer made an impromptu appearance at a news conference called by several city leaders last week to address violent crime. nationwide, it continues the sharp upward trend that began in 2020. compounding matters, the police department has seen an exodus of recent retirements, resignations and leaves of absence. chief medaria arradondo pleaded for the community's help... >> i am down about a third of our department. we cannot do this work alone. we have got to come together, this violence cannot continue. >> reporter: even as some city leaders and citizens express

concern about an understaffed police department just when crime is rising in minneapolis, critics of the police department say the answer to the spike in violent crime is not necessarily to hire more officers. >> i don't think that we need more cops. >> reporter: corenia smith heads yes 4 minneapolis, a black-led coalition of citizen groups campaigning to dismantle the police department. they successfully launched the petition drive to put the issue before voters in november. the idea came up soon after floyd's killing when nine of the city's 13 council members pledged to defund the department. smith says the slogan simply means folding armed police officers into a larger public safety department that can respond with a wider range of skill sets. >> a holistic department that includes licensed peace officers if necessary. it includes people being able to better respond to domestic violence calls and includes

people being able to better handle our homeless population, folks who are dealing with addiction. >> reporter: why black-led? >> i think black led because people at the forefront and most impacted should be leading the change. >> reporter: the m.p.d. has long had a fraught relationship with the city's black residents, about 20% of the population, now including at least 100,000 african immigrants. >> the traffic stops in minneapolis, you know, tend to affect disproportionately black and east african drivers. >> reporter: former public radio journalist mukhtar ibrahim founded a news start up called sahan journal, focusing on issues in the growing immigrant communities. it published this video last december in an article about a traffic stop in 2015, involving four somali youth. >> plain and simple, if you ( bleep ) with me i'm gonna break your leg before you get a chance to run. >> can you tell me why i'm being arrested?

>> because i feel like arresting you. >> reporter: months after one of the four youths in the car filed an official complaint, the officer, roderic weber, was fid, ostensibly for these comments. but when freelance journalist tony webster, working for sahan journal, sued to get the full record, it turns out there was a lot more in that exchange, captured on audio from the cameras of back-up officers called to the scene. >> hey you know what? remember what happened in blackhawk down, where we killed a bunch of you folk? i'm proud of that. >> reporter: referring to the 1993 u.s. intervention in somalia, made famous by the movie blackhawk down, weber added: “if we'd finished the job, you guys wouldn't be here, right now.” >> i think that story really displayed one part of the minneapolis police department's culture in terms of how it interacts with, you know, communities, especially, you know, immigrants. >> the officers who were

present, didn't say anything, acted as if there was nothing that happened. that's not unusual. >> reporter: historian bill green says the weber case is just one example of a pervasive culture of tolerance for racist and violent conduct. of the nearly 2600 complaints of police misconduct, 77 resulted in discipline, mostly suspensis; weber's partner got 30 hours without pay; or letters of reprimand. a "minneapolis star tribune" report last year found also that in the past two decades eight terminations were reversed in arbitration, required by the union contract and protected by state law. none of that will change with the city's ballot initiative. >> the power of the police federation, for example, really comes from the state for all intents and purposes. the real place where we need to see some of this systemic change is outside the hands of minneapolis city government. >> reporter: and that's not

likely to change in minnesota's legislature, where rural democrats and especially republicans, express strong support for the police. republican senate majority leader paul gazelka says an honorable profession has been maligned for the misdeeds of a few. >> they are demoralized because there's this big blanket view by too many people that is harmful. we need the police to keep our streets safe. >> reporter: yes 4 minneapolis campaigner smith admits the ballot measure won't preempt state law. but she says it would allow the city to the reduce minimum police staffing now required by the city's charter. in time, she says minneapolis can reduce its dependence solely on police for public safety. >> this first step of removing this barrier, and for folks to be able to say, this is what we want, this is the direction that we need minneapolis to head in. >> reporter: historian green says it's a tough sell.

even in a city known for its liberal politics. >> you have to respond to the person who owns a shop on the street corner, who's worried about crime, you now have to whether crime is going to crop up because people feel like now we're not going to be held accountable, because there are no cops around or police around to deal with it. >> we are doubling down on safety beyond policing. >> reporter: for his part, mayor jacob frey, also up for re- election, opposes the charter amendment. he and chief arradondo have promised their own reforms: increased violence prevention efforts, better field training for graduates of the police academy and no more traffic stops just for low level violations like broken tail- lights or expired license tabs that disproportionately affect minority drivers. and punctuating the campaign will likely be crime news that grabs the headlines. >> it's two kids now! what, is it going to be a third kid this weekend?

when are y'all gonna step up? >> reporter: tragically, a third child was shot even before last weekend arrived, unlike ladavione and nine year old trinity ottoson smith, still battling for their lives, aniya allen succumbed to her injuries. she was six. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in minneapolis. >> woodruff: fred's report is in partnership with the under-told stories project at university of st. thomas in minnesota. please join us tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern on your local pbs station or oine for our primetime special, america after george floyd. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, moderna announceits covid-19 vaccine strongly protects children as young as 12. the drugmaker plans to ask the

f.d.a. for emergency authorization. the agency already approved pfizer's vaccine for teens. and, half of all u.s. adults are now fully vaccinated. still, the c.d.c. urged caution today, during the holiday. >> if you are unvaccinated, in the context of memorial day weekend, we are really encouraging you to adhere to our guidance for people who are unvaccinated and of course to get vaccinated. >> woodruff: also today, white house covid adviser andy slavitt demanded that china and the world health organization give definitive answers on the virus' origin. there've been renewed reports that it might have escaped from a chinese lab. airlines began avoiding belarus today, after a plane was forced down there on sunday, and a dissident journalist was arrested. animation from a swedish firm showed airliners diverting around belarusian airspace.

european officials had urged the move. belarusian president alexander lukashenko has been cracking down on leaders of last year's mass protests. the white house says president biden and russian president vladimir putin will hold a summit next month in geneva. it's to be their first face-to- face encounter since mr. biden took office, and will follow his first international trip. the biden administration issued an international call today to rebuild gaza, without helping hamas. the latest war between hamas and israel ended friday in a cease- fire. in jerusalem today, secretary of state antony blinken met with israeli prime minister netanyahu, and said helping gaza now could stave off yet another war. >> we know that to prevent a return to violence, we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying

issues and challenges. and that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in gaza and starting to rebuild. >> woodruff: blinken did not meet with hamas, which the u.s. regards as a terror group. he did announce the u.s. consulate in jerusalem will reopen, to help manage relations with the palestinians. back in this country, a federal judge in new york dismissed an indictment against steve bannon, a former adviser to president trump. he was accused of defrauding investors in a southern border wall project. mr. trump pardoned bannon in january, just before leaving office. republican leaders in thu.s. house of representatives denounced marjorie taylor greene today for saying face-mask mandates are like the zis' treatment of jews. house minority leader kevin mccarthy called it "appalling," but he did not demand disciplinary action. it's the latest in a series of

blow-ups involving the georgia congresswoman. a house hearing today put a spotlight on the growing drought emergency in the western u.s. nearly all of arizona, california, nevada and utah are now in extreme drought conditions. a u.s. interior department official told the hearing that the drought is on an epic scale. >> in california we're approaching one of the driest years since we started recording in 1896. water years 2020 and 2021 are the second driest twyear period on record. in the colorado river basin, we're undergoing the driest 21 year period in over 100 years of record keeping and one of the longest drought cycles in the past 1200 years. >> woodruff: scientists blame the drought on climate change caused by humans, as well as other factors. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost 81 points to close at 34,312. the nasdaq fell 4 points, and

the s&p 500 slipped nine. still to come on the newshour: why the justice department does not want to release a secret memo on charging former president trump. taiwan's foreign minister discusses the ever-larger shadow china casts over the region. and covid 19 exacerbates the many societal inequities across brazil. >> woodruff: late last night the justice department released a document that played an important role in the decision not to charge for president trump with obstruction of justice. our john yang explores. >> yang: judy, the nine-page

memo is to then-attorney general william barr from the justice department's office of legal counsel, which provides legal advice to government agencies. barr said it was the basis for his conclusion that there wasn't enough evidence to establish that president trump broke obstruction of justice laws. a watchdog group sued to make it public and earlier this month a judge said it must be released. last night, the justice department released a heavily redacted version and appealed the judge's order to release the rest of it. noah bookbinder is predent and c.e.o. of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, or "crew," which sued for the memo's release. mr. bookbinder, thank you so much for joining us. your group filed this suit literally the afternoon of attorney general barr's news conference. what does this struggle over this document whether to keep it

secret or not, what does this represent to you sort of the larger implications of this struggle? >> absolutely. well, what it looked like happened back when the mueller report came out was that the attorney general and people at the justice department reporting to him -- this is bill barr -- set out not to do a real legal analysis of whether donald trump had obstructed justice, but rather to publicly defend donald trump and to make the case for why he hadn't done anything wrong, and that's why we wanted to see this memo that he said he relied on to make this announcement that there was no basis to say that donald trump had obstructed justice, and the justice department has fought for years to keep it from going public. i think, in large part because it does show that there was a whitewashing to protect the then

president. >> reporter: what did we learn? we've got a page and a half, essentially, last night. what did we learn in that page and a half? >> what we did learn is -- and we really got two things -- we got that page and a half, and then we got the full, unredacted version of a federal judge's opinion, talking about this document and about this case, and from those two things we did learn that the justice department lawyers essentially said that what they were thinking about was not so much the legal analysis but the case that could be made to the public. and, so, it really was starting to kind of blow the lid off of this and show that what we all thought was happening really was what was happening. >> reporter: and judge amy's ruling does have strong language

about the justice department. she wrote the d.o.j. has been disingenuous to this court with respect to the distance of a decision-making process that should be shielded by deliberative process privilege. in other words, she's saying here that this is not a decision-making process because the decision's already been made. >> that's right. the way she laid it out is the justice department was clear that they weren't going to prosecute donald trump. they believed their rules set out that you couldn't prosecute a sitting president, so, essentially, this was sort of a p.r. document. this is, you know, what should we say to the public. and for the justice department to come and say this was some kind of deliberative pre-decisional document is not really honest because there wasn't a legal decision being made. and, you know, we really had hoped that having gotten this

just absolutely scathing decision from judge jackson that the justice department would look at this and say now is the time to really -- really go for a clean slate and sort of admit that the department, under bill barr, had been dishonest, behaved badly, and now it's time to come clean, produce the document, and clean up the department and show that it's not going to be used for the protection of any president. and it's disappointing that, instead, they have chosen to continue fighting this case. >> reporter: noah bookbinder, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, thank you so much. >> thank you very much for having me. >> woodruff: taiwan is the most tense issue between beijing and

the u.s. china considers taiwan a breakaway province. taiwan argues it is on the frontline of democracy against chinese authoritarianism and is increasingly facing military harassment. nick schifrin speaks to taiwan's foreign minister, and sets the scene. >> schifrin: in taiwan, authorities fear drills, are becoming reality. taiwanese pilots scramble american-made fighter jets, to practice responding to chinese military incursions. taiwanese soldiers practice defending their island from a would-be chinese invasion. taiwan believes beijing is preparing for war. the chinese military recently released this video of chinese drills simulating amphibious assaults. and almost every day chinese jets cross taiwan'self- identified air defense identification zone. never before have so many chinese planes come so close to taiwan. senior biden administration officials tell pbs newshour they

do not expect an imminent invasion. but in march, the outgoing top u.s.ilitary commander in the region, predicted war was coming. >> i think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact in the next six yrs. >> schifrin: the trump administration increased arms sales to taiwan. the biden administration continued expanded us naval operations, and became the first administration to invite taiwan's envoy to inauguration. i spoke to taiwan's foreign minister from taipei, and asked him what he believed were beijing's intentions. >> i thinkeijing has been preparing for war against taiwan, and that is what we have been seeing, they are preparing for it. if you look at the number of sorties it's around 2,900 last year. so the threat has been increasing. and when we examine closer way, the chinese sometimes even cross the middle line of the taiwan straight and you know in the middle of the taiwan strait has been safeguarding peace and

stability of the taiwan straht for decades. i think they are also trying to cut off, cut off taiwan from the international society. for example they are trying to squeeze us out from the international organizations. they prevent us from entering into the world health organization. they are preventing us from getting international recognition. they are forcing other countries not to have official contact with us. and moreover, chinese are also engaging in a cognitive warfare. they use cyber attack, disinformation, and something similar to disrupt the democratic process here in taiwan, to create a conflict in between the government and the society, or to create a distrust in between taiwan and our major ally, which is the united states. >> schifrin: focusing on the military threat, if you believe that beijing is preparing for war and getting better, presumably at pointing at taiwan by conducting these missions,

these exercises in some ways, is taiwan getting better at defending itself, at doing the things it would need to do if those exercises actually become the real thing? >> yes, we are getting better. but at the same time, we also understand the kinds of gap of defense capabilities that we have with china, and therefore we are assessing the kinds of situation that we need to be in and trying to prepare ourselves for it. we understand our own responsibility as a frontline state guarding against the expansion of authoritarianism. >> schifrin: the u.s. is increasing its arms sales to taiwan, but as you mentioned, it is restricted by agreements decades old of what it can sell to taiwan. do you believe the u.s. is giving you enough to defend yourselves? >> if you look at the track record of the last few years, the last two or three years, we

have been able to get what w need, for taiwan to be able to defend itself. >> schifrin: are you satisfied with the commitment that the u.s. has made to defend taiwan, or do you prefer a less ambiguous commitment and a more specific commitment to defend taiwan if attacked from beijing? >> i would tell you the full picture is that we are seeing the united states getting more and more serious about the situation in this part of the world. you know beginning from last year, the united states has been patrolling or going through the taiwan strait with its naval vessels, once-- at least once a month. and that is a very strong determination of the united states to show its presence. and the united states is not only sending a fleet to the region, the united states is also sending military aircrafts into the region. and i think the level of engagement between taiwan and the united states on military terms, or defensive issues, has

been increasing to a level that we haven't seen before. we need that u.s. support and the u.s. has shown its support to taiwan. and i think this is much better than getting into the debate or of the strategic ambiguity or strategic clarity. >> schifrin: is it possible, do you think, that instead of preparing for war, some china experts here tell us that instead beijing simply wants to deter independence, that they are tually sending a political message more than a military one. >> that might be possible that they have that kind of thinking. but if you look at the situation here in taiwan, we are by ourselves. we are not administered by china. we just had repeated and periodical national elections and we have been seen by the international society as a success story of democracy. so taiwan is by itself. and therefore pointing to taiwan that taiwan is seeking independence.

it's just like creating a scapegoat and or finding an excuse to attack taiwan. what we are really concerned, if china is seeing some domestic difficulties, they might follow the classic wisdom of an authoritarian regime. they will find a scapegoat somewhere outside to divert the domestic attention. and we are very concerned that taiwan may be the very convenient scapegoat for china's own failure domestically. >> schifrin: the biden administration has released new guidelines on meetings between american and taiwanese officials, the administration says it has eased previous restrictions. have restrictions actually been eased? >> yes, indeed. the restrictions have been eased, and we are seeing the kinds of contests that we haven't seen before. and it's not only the ease of all the restrictions. the biden administration has also been sending all kinds of goodwill gestures to taiwan, like reassuring taiwan that the relations are being a rock solid, providing taiwan was

necessary oral support, and also lining up the like minded countries like japan, australia and g-7 countries and now korea to address the concern about the peace and stability in the taiwan strait, and all these are being appreciated. >> schifrin: what do you say to critics of that announced change, that it goes against some of those decades of agreements that the u.s. has had with beijing? and by coming closer to taiwan, by having those meetings, it cod actually increase the chances of the war with beijing that we were talking about at the beginning. >> there have been some senior official contacts in between the two sides, except that we kept it very quiet. as far as we see it, the chinese are not increasing its military operations around taiwan because of that kind of ease off of the guidelines. on the other hand, we see the chinese seems to be preparing

fowar against taiwan based on its own merit whenever it feels that that uld send its bombers to fly close to taiwan to scare the taiwanese people. and when we are in a weak point like the pandemic, we are in, the chinese with the sudden increase this disinformation campaign against taiwan. >> schifrin: foreign minister joseph wu, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. i hope i have the chance to welcome you in taiwan in person. >> woodruff: all across brazil, slums, known as favelas, have long beeplaces of crime and poverty, marked by overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. they are among the hardest hit by the pandemic, in a country where the death toll just passed 450,000. in the second of two reports, newshour special correspondent

simon ostrovsky and producer charles lyons report on brazil's covid crisis. >> ( translated ): i couldn't speak. i couldn't breathe, the whole time thinking i was going to die, suffocated. >> reporter: camila de oliveira souza is a hairdresser who lives in vila kennedy, a favela about an hour drive from the famous beaches of rio de janeiro. late last year she woke up one morning without any sense of taste. things got worse, quickly. she was taken to a local hospital, where there were no beds and she was forced to sleep in an armchair. several days later a doctor told her if she stayed any longer she'd likely die. she returned home, where she isolated in her cramped apartment. >> ( translated ): manpeople turned their back on us, many people mocked the situation, but many people also reached out. >> as we see with any epidemic or pandemic, what we see are all

inequalities are illuminated. when you look at the number of deaths in brazil, or in the u.s for that matter, what we see is the most vulnerable, the people that are most isolated, the ethnic minorities, they are the ones that are really suffering the most. >> reporter: marcia castro is chair of the department of global health and population at harvard's chan school of public health. she said an equitable response by the brazilian health service would have led to fewer deaths. that didn't happen. with its thousands of crowded slums and hundreds of indigenous communities that are underserved, brazil's minorities are dying at a much higher rate than the average across the country. camila might just be a statistic if it weren't for non-profits that picked up the slack from a government that ignored people like her. how come the favelas have done so much worse than the average across brazil?

>> ( translated ): the pandemic did not cause, but actually exposed the already existing problems of these communities. >> reporter: mario love works with an organization called cufa, a favela union that fights to improve the lives of people in favelas like vila kennedy. can you talk about some of the specific problems, coronavirus related, that the favelas have faced? >> ( translated ): one of the times that i was delivering some hygiene products, the basic materials that help prevent contamination, i went to a house that had 14 grandchildren inside of it, and that's not even taking into account the rest of the family. this is the reality that shows how the virus can be spread not only inside a house, but in the streets as well. >> reporter: but overcrowding is not the only issue brazil's slums, favelas, face. >> ( translated ): the population living in the slum-- it does not have access to sanitation. when the pandemic crisis that we are facing started, we had and still have a great difficulty

having access to water. >> reporter: priscila franca is a co-founder of the sao paulo- based national anti-racist front, an n.g.o. that fights racism against the mostly black populations in favelas there. >> ( translated ): we live in a most people living in favelas are black people, they're poor people, and most of them are women, they're heads of families. speaking of inequalities, we live in a country where 97% of people living in the favela do not have access to any kind of medical insurance. >> reporter: poor sanitary conditions and overcrowding increases the likelihood of infection, and yet lack of medical insurance decreases the chance of favela residents getting proper care. across the country, in the amazonian state of para, ribeirinhos, river people, suffer opposite problems. their isolation is their achilles heel, making it challenging for them to get the medical help they need during a global health crisis like this one.

>> ( translated ): brazilian society is finding out, with the pandemic, that if we are in a difficult situation, we could be in much worse of one without the solidarity, the community associations, the indigenous movement, the favelas, a big movement of solidarity, doing at the government should do but didn't. >> reporter: caetano scannavino co-founded the n.g.o. saude and alegria, health and happiness, back in 1987. it's mission: to insure food security and a wide range of support during the pandemic, the organization went into overdrive, giving food and p.p.e. to over 50,000 people since the crisis began. >> ( translated ): we work with traditional population communities like indigenous people, people who were here

before the portuguese arrived, and they are in remote areas- there is no mobile, no cellphone, and no engy. >> reporter: caetano told me government health agents don't fully understand the complexities of helping the tiny river communies his n.g.o. serves. this is why brazil needs far more vaccines. small medical teams, likthis one, have to tvel for hours, to villages, like this one, where sometimes they're only vaccinating a dozen people, sometimes they're only vaccinating one person. with more vaccines, communities like this could be fully vaccinated and they wouldn't have to come back. but one marginalized group that is finally getting the vaccine is brazil's indigenous people, despite widespread misinformation campaigns earlier in the pandemic. >> ( translated ): there were many lies spread, and a lot of

fake news reached the villages. this ended up creating fear and mistrust among many people, so, coming from the indigenous, there was a high rate of rejection to being vaccinated. >> reporter: sonia guajajara is not only a leader in her territory in the north eastern brazilian ste of maranhao, she's also a nationally recognized figure who, in 2018, ran for vice-president of brazil on a far-lefticket that challenged eventual winner jair bolsonaro. now she serves as one of the executive coordinators of a national organization dedicated to indigenous rights and health. in mid-april, when sonia invited us to visit, she and others in her tribe had already been vaccinated. and yet, months earlier, many indigenous friends and relatives had been infected andied. according to data collected by guajajara's group, since the

beginning of the pandemic more than 54,500 indigenous people have been infected and more than 1080 indigenous have died, including dozens of elders. that's a massive toll for a country-wide population of roughly 800,000. and it's a death rate six times higher than thatf the rest of brazil. while guajajara said her peoples' communal way of living, and immunological vulnerabilities, contributed to the high rate of infection, sh mostly attributes the large number of covid deaths to president bolsonaro's harsh views on indigenous. >> ( translated ): in his first day of office, the first acts were to dismantle the digenous peoples' rights and to try to end the indigenous policy of brazil. it's impossible to have a health system that fits all indigenous people. we are 365 groups, over 6,000 villages all over brazil, in different regions. it should be a priority for the

system to make itself suitable to the different realities. >> reporter: guajajara says brazil's national immunization plan doesn't include the large swath of indigenous living in urban areas. she fears they won't get vaccinated quickly enough and continue to die. >> ( translated ): it is important to have international solidarity at the moment, to help put pressure on bolsonaro's gornment to be more responsible with the population. adopt responsible and effective measures in his public policies, to avoid the increase of infection and deaths. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm simon ostrovsky in maranhao.

>> woodruff: as we mark this moment, one year since a murder in minneapolis changed the nation, we hope you'll join us at 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight for our newshour special on pbs, "race matters:merica after george floyd." (chanting) >> in a year of racial reckoning, violence, abuse and inequities persist. >> we the jury find the defendant guilty. >> the chauvin verdict, a path to justice. yet much more is to be done. >> now's 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 10:00 p.m., 9:00 central. >> woodruff: and you can watch that special report here >> woodruff: watch the special report here on your pbs station at 10:00 p.m. eastern, and join the conversation by following the newshour online.

and that's the newshour for now. there is word a grand jury has joined a probe of former president trump and others at the trump organization. "the washington post" and others are reporting that the manhattan district attorney convened the panel. he's investigating whether trump properties were overvalued to defraud banks and insurance firms and illegally gained tax benefits. and that is the "newshour" for and that's the newshour for now. i'm judy woodruff. thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> 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 >> 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 newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. welcome to "amanur & company." here's what's coming up. >> the air space of belarus is unsafe for everyone. >> the west accuses belarus of hijacking a passenger plane to capture a journalist. we have an exclusive interview with the foreign minister of lithuania, where that plane was supposed to land. plus, discussions with a close friend of that detained journalist. also ahead -- >> there's no other option. we have to keep living. >> a special report on the palestinians digging themselves out of the rubble. >> then -- >> we're talking about a population change on the order of billions of people. >> why climate cnge will transform global migration. and finally --