judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a deadly shooting. at least eight people are killed at a rail yard in san jose, california in the latest episode of mass gun violence in america. then, race matters. during this week of reckoning and reflection, we look at the growing solidarity despite past struggles between black and asian american communities. and, the future of flight. a new wave of innovative electric airplanes is poised to reduce aviion carbon emissions and change air travel forever. >> this is the third revolution of aviation. the first revolution, of course, was powered flight. the second revolution was jets.

electric propulsion is the third revolution. judy: all that and more on tonight's “pbs newshour.” ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> csumer cellular. johnson & johnson.

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thank you. judy: a rail transit facility that serves silicon valley in northern california is now the scene of the nation's newest mass shooting investigation. authorities say an employee killed eight co-workers today, then killed himself. around 6:30 a.m., shots erupted at a railyard rth of downtown san jose and sent sheriff's deputies and police scrambling. the attack is the latest in a series of mass shootings this year. san jose mayor sam liccardo called it a tragic day. >> now is a moment for us to collect ourselves, to understand what happened, to mourn, and to help those who have suffered to heal. judy: police said victims were employees of the valley transportation authority, a public transit system in santa clara county. authorities said the gunman took

his own life. he was identified as sam cassidy, who also worked at vta. police said this morning they were searching the complex for possible explosives. >> right now public safety is assured at this point. we do have investigators on scene, pretty much doing our investigation to see exactly what happened and transpired. judy: federal law enforcement is assisting with the investigation. authorities also responded to a fire at cassidy's house. vta light rail service was suspended at noon today and replaced with bus service. >> it's just very difficult for everyone to be able to try to wrap their heads around and understand what has happened. judy: california governor gavin newsom visited the scene later in the day. >> to the victims, to those who have lost their lives and the families who lost their loved ones, yes, our hearts go out, but we are resolved not to make this meaningless, but to bring meaning at this tragic moment in

our state and our nation's history. judy: authorities have also set up a reunification center for the affected families. late today, president den urged congress to take action on gun violence. he said, quote, every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our nation. congressman ro khanna represents part of san jose, and he joins me now. representative, thank you so much for joining us. of course our hearts go out to everyone who has lost a family member, loved one today. what more can you tell us about what happened? rep. khanna: this is just deep hurt in the community eight lives senselessly lost. a sense of deep tragedy at the vta. these are people who go every day to keep the public transportation running. when people talk about my district the talk about apple and google. they forget there are a lot of workers who make the

infrastructure, transportation work. and they had horrific violence. there is anger and unanswered questions. judy: among the unanswered questions of course is motive. we know the shooter was an employee, so he presumably knew at least some of the people who are now dead or injured. do we know any more about that, about the shooter's house being on fire today? rep. khanna: judy, we don't know his motive but there are reports coming out that he had reportedly incidents of domestic violence, that his former girlfriends were concerned he could pose a threat to others. i guess the question is people are asking is how does someone like that get access to a gun, literally in a few seconds, can kill numerous people, change a community's life, change of family's life. it is appalling. i have been in congress for five

years, and we have still not passed a gun legislation. and people really are frustrated. they want to see action. judy: in that vein, we look today and the associated press is reporting this is the 15th mass killing just this year, in 2021. 86 people have died in these mas s events, all of them shootings. this compares to 106 people who died in all of 2020. as you say, it just keeps happening. what are the american people to take away from this? rep. khanna: i am hopeful that the president can break through. he is someone who has deep empathy, he speaks to the broad range of americans, he served in the senate for over 30 years. we've passed in the house some common sense legislation. it simply says have a background check.

if you are a law-abiding citizen, you can use your guns. but don't put a gun in the hands of someone who has allegedly committed domestic violence. don't put a gun in the hands of someone who is going to go and kill people at a workplace. i don't understand why thiis so complicated. 80% of the american people support it. what is changed as we now have a president capable of getting the senate to move. i really hope that will happen. judy: what do you know about the gun laws in california that might have made a difference in this incident? rep. khanna: well judy, we have some of the strictest gun laws but one of the unanswered questions is why with the red flaw -- red flag laws not invoked? we need to get more details. did the domestic violence charges rise to the level where the red flag law should have been invoked? whwas there not more intervention in terms of mental

health counseling and intervention in this person's life, who clearly had issues. someone does not just get up one day and snap and decide to kill dozens of people, or try to kill dozens of people. this has been something that was building up andhere was not intervention and we have to understand why. judy: i heard governor gavin newsom say we don't want this event to be just another shooting. they just keep happening and keep happening. we want it to mean something. how does that happen? because these events just keep repeing themselves. rep. khanna: we have to look at the specifics in this case and see what california can do. are there areas we need to strengthen red flag laws so there could be intervention to take this person's weapon away when there were warning signs? the second thing is, is there

enough in terms of mental health counseling and what resources were available to the vta? finally, we need to honor the families of the vta and vta workers. in silicon valley too often they are not recognized, but today they are grieving. it was supposed to be a day of celebration. they finally had rides returning to normal after the pandemic, and now it is one of the worst days in their life. this is not politics. i have reached out to people. they are shocked and devastated, they are never going to forget this. it is sad this is happening in workplaces in this country. judy: terrible and sad, and as you say, it was supposed to be a very different kind of a day. congressman ro khanna, thank you very much. and again, our condolences to the entire community. rep. khanna: thank you, judy.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy newshour west. we will return to judy woodruff and the full show after the latest headlines. president biden ordered u.s. intelligence agencies to redouble efforts aimed at pinpointing the origins of covid-19. he asked for findings in 90 days, and pressed china to cooperate, amid fresh reports that the virus might have escaped from a chinese lab. at a white house briefing, spokeswoman karine jean-pierre said it's vital to get answers. >> we need to get to the bottom of this. as we all know, we've lost almost 600,000 americans to covid-19 and we have to get a better sense of the origin of covid-19 and also how do we prevent the next pandemic. stephanie: jean-pierre also made a bit of history at that session. she is the first openly gay woman, and the first black person in 30 years, to deliver the daily white house briefing.

a court in the netherlands has issued a landmark climate ruling. it ordered the oil and gas company royal dutch shell to cut carbon emiions by a net 45% by 2030. the court found shell's current emissions plans are not enough. climate change activists in the hague said it wi have a ripple effect, worldwide. >> we're very, very happy that we now have this groundbreaking ruling where the court is crystal clear in the fact that corporations should indeed contribute to solving the climate crisis based on human rights law. stephanie: also today, a group of exxon mobil shareholders voted to replace at least two board members over climate policy. they want the company to do more to move away from fossil fuels. the company had defended its efforts. california's pacific gas and electric have to pay up for

neglect that caused northern california wildfires over the past two years. they reached a $43 million settlement with three counties, and state regulators are fining the utility $106 million for mishandling power outages. e-commerce giant amazon made it official today, it's buying the media company mgm for nearly $8.5 billion. the deal adds thousands of mgm's feature films and tv programs to amazon's streaming service. it's the latest major move in the media industry as other services try to gain ground on netflix and disney-plus. people across the pacific region of the world got a special view overnight, a so-called super blood moon. a time-lapse of still photos showed a total lunar eclipse that gave off a reddish-orange color. the full moon was also closer to earth than usual, making it brighter. retired long-time republican senator john warner of virginia died of heart failure last

night, at his alexandria home. john yang takes a look at his life. >> hearing no objection, so ordered. john: john warner represented virginia in the senate for 30 years, respected on both sides of the aisle for his independence and efforts at consensus-building. a former navy secretary and veteran of both world war ii and the korean war, he was an important voice on military affairs. >> america has always led in the calls of freedom. john: as armed services mmittee chairman, warner backed president george w. bush on the iraq war, but split with the commander-in-chief over his later troop build-up. >> wake up. we're paying a heavy price. john: his independent streak was also on display when he opposed president reagan's bid to put robert bork on the supreme court, defied the nra on gun issues, and refused to back fellow virginia republican oliver north's 1994 senate campaign.

warner was first elected in 1978, often campaigning with his then-wife, actress elizabeth taylor. she would introduce herself as a housewife from a small town in virginia. after retiring from the senate in 2009, he endorsed democrats, including hillary clinton for president in 2016, and virginia's current senators, tim kaine and mark warner, no relation, who narrowly lost a 1996 bid to unseat john warner. in the senate today, republican leader mitch mcconnell remembered his former colleague. >> my predecessor as chairman of the rules committee was a principled patriot across the board. he was also a truly old-school virginia gentleman. john: in 2009, the navy named a submarine for warner, an uncommon honor for a living person. its homeport -- norfolk, virginia. warner died with his wife and family at his side.

for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. stephanie: john warner was 94 years old. the author and illustrator of beloved children's books has also died. his works include the very hungary caterpillar and brown bear, brown bear, what do you see. he died studio at his studio in massachusetts. erik karlsson was 90 years old. still to come on the newshour, the new push for infrastructure investment looks to correct past mistreatment of minority communities. the military coup in myanmar uses the bodies of its victims to intimidate the democracy movement. and after recent attacks, a look at solidarity between blacks and asian americans. plus, much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington

and from the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism. judy: over the past 14 months, the u.s. government has allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to help small businesses survive the pandemic's economic hurdles. all that funding has been managed by the small business administration, whose head was on capitol hill today giving an update. our own lisa desjardins has been following the money as well an she joins me now. lisa, we know several of these programs are ending and we learned today at least one of them is far short of the money these businesses need. tell us where all this stands. lisa: that's right. there is so much good news about opening, increased vaccinations, people's lives moving forward. but it is important to talk about small businesses. at the beginning of this month, about one third of america's

small businesses were still struggling to get back to 2019 levels. to help them of course what we have been talking about all this time is eight from bills pass to the u.s. congress to help these small businesses. some of them extensions, some new programs. i want to look at where those programs are now, the lifeblood for those businesses. ppp, the paycheck protection program, that is the biggie. look at this. that program has actually run out of funding at this point. it has given out about $795 billion. technically it is still open to applications, but that money has now run out. another want to talk about is relatively new called the restaurant relief funding program. that program close for applications a couple days ago on monday. among -- a much smaller program. that is the one that is far short of the money it looks like restaurants need. $28.6 billion.

we learned today restaurants across the country have applied for $76 billion. that is almost $50 billion more than the program has on hand. one more to mention, there is a program called shuttered venues for theaters, concert venues, museums, other nonprofit large group activity centers. that program does still have money left and will be open until that money is gone. that seems to be the one area where there is still some give. judy: let's go back to what you are saying about restaurants and the massive shortfall they are facing. you have been talking to restaurant owners. what are you learning about what this shortfall could mean? lisa: it is hard to think of any industry, we do not know of any industry that can prove it was harder hit during the pandemic than the restaurant industry. one million restaurants operate in this country in normal times. according to the national restaurant foundation, they say

90,000 restaurants closed either permanently or long-term during the pandemic. the issues many of the restaurants have thin margins even in the best of times. 5% to 6% they are making over what they charge. let's look at this program which is struggling to have enough funding. again, this program is called the restaurant relief fund. it is intended to cover sales, the drop in sales between 2019 and 2020. for restaurant paycheck protection money, that money will come out as well. they can do both but they cannot double that. again, the funding, $28.6 billion. so far restaurants have applied for $76 billion. the small business administration was clear today in saying they are going to have to make choices. they will not be able to give this money to every restaurant that applies. that could mean 100,000 restaurants that have applied for this money will not get it.

how will they decide? when congress passed a this restaurant program said the small business administration must give it out first two priority groups. that includes the following. restaurants owned by women, by veterans, and by social or economically disadvantaged groups. that includes racial minorities and other minorities. so what we have now is a situation of different business owners, different restaurant owners getting different things from this program. our producer was able to reach out to some of them and talk to them about the experience. first i want you to hear from this woman. she owns a catering business in southwest florida. she believes she will get some of this relief money. >> a big sigh of relief. we think we're ok. and then i look at my summer bookings and recognize that i've got another big hole in the company. and so, the restaurant grant is filling that hole.

and it's just, i can't imagine, well, i wouldn't be here without it. the company would have been long gone. lisa: a very different experience in maryland. i want you to take you to david jones. it's a chain of restaurants. three of his restaurants are still in areas that have limitations. he thinks he may not be able to get this money, simply because he does not fit any of the priority groups. here is what he had to say. >> we fully expect the fund to run out before it gets to us, and by all theommunications come out from sba. and that's unfortunate. but it would have really done a tremendous benefit to us and our employees, because i certainly would like to get some of our employees back up to where they probably should. we have people that are still behind on car payments and things like that. lisa: i did talk to members of

congress today. democrats are going to push to add more funds, but republicans, it does not sound like they are on board with that. judy: of course this is not the only set of issues before the congress and the president right now. there are big deadlines coming up in terms of what is congress going to do about policing reform, about the january 6 commission. what do you know about where those stand? lisa: that's right. i spoke to south carolina congressman tim scott today, one of the lead negotiators on that. republican. he told me in his mind it is june or bust, meaning he is setting a deadline to figure out leasing reform over the next month. meanwhile, just an idea of the pressure going on this at this time, where we are with this, one of the moms, the parents of one of the police officers engine alt in january 6, officer

brn sicknick who died after defendant capital, she put out a statement today about wanting a january 6 commission. she said, not having a january 6 commission -- to look into exactly what happened is a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their jobs that day. on that iss, it is in the air at the same time, here is where we are with that. theenate could possibly vote on a january 6 commission as soon as tomorrow. not for sure, but it's possible. some republican senators like collins and romney are trying to work out a deal on that, but most republicans oppose it. others tell me republicans, they think january 6 is something they do not think and be repeated. judy: so much to follow and we will keep on asking you these kinds of questions. lisa desjardins, thank you.

president biden has proposed using some of the $2 trillion in his infrastructure plan to repair the harm done to many minority communities, when highways were originally built through them. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has the story of one such example, from minnesota's capital, st. paul. it's part of our race matters series. fred: for most drivers, this is just i-94, the freeway in and out of downtown st. paul. but for 73-year-old bill finney, the city's former police chief, this is more hallowed ground. >> we are now parked on the spot where my house was. fred: the finney home in this spot was taken away by the

freeway, six decades ago, one of 700 families displaced from st. paul's once-thriving and tightly knit black neighborhood. so this is like going down memory lane for you? >> oh my god, yes. fr: those families are memorialized at a plaza commemorating the rondo community's evisceration dismantling by i-94, shaded yellow on the map. >> so that disrupted a who lot of people i see present in these pictures, you know, and in some cases, some of the folks even moved out of state. fred: and community was never quite the same? >> never, no. fred: it was one of thousands of communities where land was taken by eminent domain to build the interstate highway system. approved in 1956 and by far the largest infrastructure project in u.s. history. and finney, who in retirement serves as a county undersheriff, says rondo fit a pattern. >> i ride motorcycles, and i ride from coast to coast, north

to south. i notice that where the freeway is very, very straight for as far as you can see, you know one of two things -- they're either going through a rural area, or they're going through a poor area. now all of a sudden, the freeway makes rights and left turns and sometimes switchbacks and stuff like that. and you understand that they're going around people that have money, or businesses. i don't think that's right. but people that didn't historically have a large voice had little to say. fred: the path of least political resistance. >> absolutely. fred: he and others say the displaced rondo families were paid less than their homes were worth and they struggled to find new housing in a city where many areas didn't allow blacks to settle. they were displaced not just from rondo but from the middle class, says civil rights attorney artika tyner, a fifth generation daughter of rondo. >> they lost that sense of building intergenerational

wealth of being able to pass down homes and businesses too. sometimes we just talk about the homes but at its peak, rondo had over 300 businesses that were black owned. we still feel a ripple effect today. not only does minnesota have one of the lowest rates of home ownership of african americans in the nation, we also have some of the greatest disparities and poverty ratebetween blacks and whites. >> today, we acknowledge the sins of our past. today, we ask for forgiveness from those who lived through those days when our community was at its worst, and for those who continue to rebuild the shattered pieces of rondo. fred: in 2015, the city of st. paul held a ceremony to apologize to the rondo community. >> the apology is a starting point, not a resting place. i can't cash an apology at the bank. fred: what many community leaders hearsay would really put neighborhood back together is an idea that would do so, quite literally, and with concrete.

it's called reconnect rondo, a land bridge that would be constructed over a five block stretch of i-94. >> it's simply creating an african american cultural enterprise district that's connected to a land bridge, a structure. and on top of that structure, you can put elements that improve quality of life. fred: executive director keith baker says the project envisions affordable housing, business incubators, gathering spaces, and cultural amenities aimed at the black community, all managed by a trust to insure that benefits stay in the community. >> we just want to use the same systems, processes, tools, and resources that benefit business to be used to benefit community. fred: such as? >> well, let's just think about target field. fred: this is the baseball field for the minnesota twins. >> right. that sits over an infrastructure project, a highway. very familiar, has been ne,

but leveraged in the interest of business. the same thing can happen in my mind, in the interest of community. fred: just as states and cities subsidize major league stadiums to stimulate economic development, he says the reconnect rondo project will create jobs. the cost, in state, private, philanthropic and, critically, federal infrastructure dollars, is projected to approach half a billion dollars. >> i'm an optimist by nature, but i'm a realist as well. i know that this is not an easy proposition. fred: among prominent st. paul residents making a very personal case to minnesota lawmakers for transportation dollars is the city's firstlack mayor, melvin carter. >> my family was among those who had their lives and their livelihoods in the name of progress. fred: also promising, pledges from the biden administration to address inequality a racism. transportation secretary pete buttigieg discussed how infrastructure projects could figure into that push. he spoke to the news website, the grio.

>> there is racism physically built into some of our highways, and that's why the jobs plan has specifically committed to dollars reconnect some of the communities that were divided. >> nothing is ever guaranteed. but i think there is alignment tha's taking place right now. and we must seize that. fred: reconnect rondo will not bring back what was lost 60 years ago. but artika tyner says it offers a chance to sew back a community like the one she was raised in, and writes about in children's books, about elders children can look up to. >> the highlight of living and growing up in rondo were the small businesses, the inspiration, the role models, like looking at the mcgee law office to inspire me to become an attorney myself. it is that old notion of you can't be what you cannot see. that young child, he is excited about the time he spends with grandpa johnson. fred: for now, a $6 million request to conduct feasibility

and environmental assessments of the reconnect project is part of budget negotiations just a couple of miles from rondo at the state capital. they'll know in mid-june. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro in st. paul. judy: fred's report is in partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. since the myanmar military overthrew the government and staged a coup eight weeks ago, activists say security forces have killed more than 800 people. now, an open source investigation released today from a human rights organization and the associated press reveals how the myanmar military has sought to use those killings to terrorize the country. nick schifrin reports. nick: thanks to brave local journalists and activists, the world has witnessed the horror

of the crackdown in myanmar. much of it is so violent, we can't show it to you without blurring the video. activists shot, their bodies taken away. soldiers beating demonstrators. security forces killing demonstrators, and then dragging their bodies through the street. and now the human rights center investigative lab at berkeley and the ap found the myanmar military used dead bodies, corpses, who were killed indiscriminately, as a tool of war to try and control an entire population. alexa koenig is the center's executive director. she is also a professor at berkeley school of law, and she joins me now. welcome to the newshour. what did you investigate and what did you find? prof. koenig: we partnered with the associated press to trying get a sense of what was happening on the ground. we were beginning to hear a number of stories from sources and social media there was widespread violence. we all know about the protests

taking place. one of the things we began doing here at the lab is combing social media for videos and photographs that could help tell that story. we began scraping that information. ended up with about 2000 to 3000 tweets, and combing through them to get a sense of any patterns of behavior we might see. what quickly bubbled up to the surface was the fact we were seeing civilians or what looked to be civilians being shot i what appeared to be military in broad daylight come off and dragged into the backs of trucks. then we were hearing from some sources on the ground and through additional reporting that many of these bodies when they were returned and if they were returned to families, they were being told a very different story abouwhat happened to their loved one than what they could see in front of them. they may be told for example this individual had a heart attack when there was evidence of potential torture. nick: for those of us who have been covering this, watching these horrific videos, it often

seemed like the killings were random. but were they in fact not random at all and instead designed to terrorize? prof. koenig: i think it depends on what you mean by random peer i think a lot of times when you see these kind of apparently discriminatory -- indiscriminate killings, the very randomness of that can be an act of psychological warfare designed create a sense of widespread vulnerability among populations, a widespread sense of fear. it certainly raises the possibility that you or your loved one can be killed at any time in broad daylight with potential impunity. so i think theres a lot of attention brought to physical acts of warfare, the droppings of bombs, mass killings, etc., but less about the way psychology can be utilized to terrorize populations. nick: i want to highlight a particular video that unfortunately we have actually aired on the newshour before security forces in a pickup truck sp is a white motorbike

drives by. a member of the security forces fires from a few feet away. two men escape what one has been shot through the neck. that man was only 17 and his family says he was not a demonstrator. when the military hospital released him it claimed the cause of death was quote, fall from motorcycle. how did you confirm this incident and what does it tell you? prof. koenig: we used a satellite imagery to try and pinpoint the location where this particular incident occurred and to verify the surrounding context around it. i believe the associated press also did additional reporting to see if they could ascertain more information and more details. i believe the family has also said of course what they were told around this particular incident was their loved one died from falling off the bike. i think that is obviously indirect tension with what we see, the shooting of this particular individual. or at least shots ring out and him phong to the ground.

-- and him falling to the ground. nick: you also pointed out a dead body being loaded onto a military truck. what did the military do with the bodies of the people are killed? prof. koenig: another pattern that seems to have come to light is the frequent cremation of many of the people who have been taken by the military off the streets in myanmar. for many families and households, that would not be the cultural practice they would engage in. it means they don't have a chance to see their loved one's bodies and say goodbye. some people were disappeared and never heard from again. then we had that third cluster of individuals who were returned to loved ones but would stories that did not match about what they saw about what likely transpired while they were in custody around the time of death. nick: the myanmar military has cracked down of course before. 1998, 2007, and killed thousands. the difference this time is we have video. will that help those who are

seeking justice against this regime? prof. koenig: we certainly hope so. one trend we are seeing in national workrooms tribunals is an increasing use of content pulled from social media to help ruby facts of a particular case. we have had a couple instances in the international criminal court where a video is pulled from facebook and it has been used in international arrest warrants. increasingly we are seeing tools like the berkeley protocol which was a tool just released to help war crimes trinals understand how to use this content, as a foundation of evidence to shore up what survivors are saying is happening in their communities. nick: thank you very much. prof. koenig: thank you. judy: the recent attacks in this country against asian americans have been met with condemnation across the political spectrum and support from other communities of color, including

black americans. stephanie sy has a look at the state and history of those relationships. stephanie: judy, the recent show of solidarity among black and asian american activists belies a fraught history between these groups. for example, during the 1992 riots in los angeles, racial tensions exploded, with armed korean-american shopkeepers facing off against rioters. a year before the brutal police beating of rodney king, which set off the uprising, a korean shop owner had fatally shot a 15-year-old black girl, latasha harlins, for allegedly trying to steal a bottle of juice. thenmore recently, a hmong-american minneapolis police officer, tou thao, was one of four officers accused of standing by while derek chauvin knelt on george floyd's neck. both communities are now working urgently toward greater racial and social justice. the question is, how might they work side by side? i'm joined by tamara nopper, a

sociologist and fellow at new york university's center for critical race and digital studies, and brenda stevenson, a professor of history and african american studies at the university of california los angeles. ladies, thank you so much for joining us for this important conversation. professor stevenson, the last time i interviewed you we talked about how a broad racial coalition emerged after george floyd's killing and the black lives matter movement growing. as we started to see these increased attacks on asian americans, do you feel that solidarity held, or are those still those fractures among communities of color that we saw in los angeles nearly three decades ago? prof. stevenson: the answer is both things have occurred. the solidarity is still holding. many people in the african-american or african diaspora community including my family have been very much supportive of the stop asian

hate movement. many other people have not been. some of the people who have been accused of being part of this attack, this increased attack of asian americans have been african-american. so both things are happening. we are seeing the solidarity is not only holding but growing it there are also other problems, other tensions and conflicts that are there that are still being maintained as well. stephanie: you bring up the fact that a small number of the perpetrators of attacks on asian american have been other people of color, including african-americans. although the data shows the vast majority have been white perpetrators. tamara nopper, how do you see dynamics between the asian and black communities in the u.s. in this moment? tamara: thank you. well, on the one hand i think there is this increased call for coalition, and i think mormon

asian americans as individuals come activists come asian american organizations, are starting to publicly talk about anti-black racism and about asian americans confronting anti-blackness. i think one of the ongoing tensions though is a lot of solidarity discourse and solidarity discourse that nonblack people color communities, not only asian americs, but you see this with other nonblack people of color groups, there is often this disciplinary gesture involved in solidarity discourse, meaning there is often a lot of anti-black aggression. there is often a lot of assumptions that black people need to learn to be in coalition with other groups, or that black people supposedly are politically selfish, or helping perpetrate harm or violence against nonblack people of color if they don't the emphasis -- do not engage in solidarity. when seeing increased emphasis on solidarity.

i think there are tinges of anti-blackness in the solidarity approaches from nonblack people of color that is still being perpetrated. stephanie: professor stevenson, you are a professor of history. from that lens, what forces do you see at work that have sometimes pitted blacks and asians against each other this country? prof. stevenson: part of it is a lot of people do not know the history of african-americans or asian americans within this country. and so african-americans sometis do not understand that asian americans have had the very simar kind of discrimination against them and abuses against them because of their race. sometimes asian americans do not understand that african-americans have been, from day one, racialized and criminalized and victimized in this country. and so, there are miscues with

regard to what we have in common and what we share. and this common relationship to white supremacy, a common relationship to marginalization, culturally and racially, and all that within the country. and so, without this history, without knowing the kinds of histies in which we absolutely connect and have parallel lives in a nation that is partly defined by othering people who are not white american. difficulties are maintained. but that is changing, and more and more people are taking the time to understand that is a connection, absolutely. with the plight of african-americans and of the abuse of asian americans and white supremacy. stephanie: tamara, what are your

though on the phrase white supremacy, and how the system in the world we all live in, a society where racial discrimination has shapeall of us, where asian americans fit it in -- fit in in this equation? tamara: there has always been this ongoing debate about this kind of idea that asian americans are perceived as either honorary whites were so-called model minorities, or are we really embraced as a people of color coalition. there's also this question about what makes a race a race. is it just our politics? is it the way we are structured in relation to the state? so the question about asian american's relationship to whiteness is something that is a deep anxiety and asian american discourse and politics. i think part of the issue is

that we can think about what is our relationship to whiteness we also had to think about what is our relationship to blackness social scientists talk about thisdea of a black nonblack divide. they s it is not about people's relationship to whiteness that makes it a definitive factor in their life changes -- chances, but their relationship to blackness and how far they can be distance from blackness. it is not only thinking about what the premises, but their relationship to anti-blackness. stephanie: professor stevenson, you brought up these anti-asian attacks. the perpetrators, sometimes people of color. i wonder, how do we talk about violence within communities of color and between communities of color without reinforcing extremely damaging stereotypes? i mean, you wrote the book on the 15-year-old killed in los

angeles all those years back. how far have we really come? prof. stevenson: well, again, it's a strange dance that we have with race in america. we come forward with many steps, swirl around and we go in an opposite direction. so this continues to happen. but i think everyone has to own up to the fact that we live in a racialized society. the ways in which we find ourselves or define ourselves as being american, in part is to have digested some of that racism. so, no group does not have it. no group does not act on it. and we have to understand that and we have to have some real, hard discussions with ourselves, our families, our communities, and with other communities about w we fit into this dynamic of race within our society. do we perpetuate racism,

stereotypes, etc., or are we actively trying to recognize that we hold some of that within ourselves and we need to eliminate it, or at least edit to a level where we can all act towards one another with respect, dignity, and equality? but it's very difficult. it's bound in the roots of american society. and once you eat up the tree of america, it becomes part of you. stephanie: the uprooting of all of that i think begins with conversations just like this. professor brenda stevenson with ucla and tamara nopper with new york university, thank you for joining the newshour. judy: on a day when exxon and

royal dutch shell took some hits in court and among their shareholders, it's clear there is increasing pressure on them to address climate change. fuel for transportation is a big part of the problem, and airplanes are especially difficult. miles o'brien looks at efforts to create electric planes of the future. it is part of a special nova documentary tonight. miles: chandler airport in fresno, california has been in operation since the wright brothers era. aviation 1.0. today, the art deco glory has faded. but joseph oldham is using this old underutilized place to help launch a new age of flight, aviation 3.0. >> this is the third revolution of aviation. the first revolution of course, was powered flight. second revolution was jets in the 1940's, early 1950's. electric propulsion is the third

revolution. miles: these are pipistrel alpha electros. the first certified all electric airplanes in the world. and he was gracious enough to give a fellow pilot the right seat. >> contact. clear. miles: it was as simple as flipping a switch. it was weirdly quiet as we taxied to the runway. >> the noisiest thing on this airplane are the brakes. miles: and watch what happened when we stopped to wait for traffic. >> you just sit here just like an electric car. miles: that's just cracks me up. >> electric propulsion systems are so simple that really there's just nothing that you really need to be that concerned about. miles: are we flying the future right now? >> we absolutely are. miles: it was a hazy day, the result of some raging wildfires

nearby, a reminder of the climate emergency which makes the decarbonization of aviation so urgent. how important do you think that is to think about taking fossil fuels out of aviation over the long run? >> well, it's huge. it's the only mode of transportation tt really has not moved aggressively towards zero emission. miles: globally, about 15% of the human carbon footprint comes from transportation. we see some signs of progress. electric car sales are rising as prices drop. but avtion? it's one of the hardest transportation problems to solve. pound for pound, liquid fuel contains 16 times more energy than the best batteries. so while short hops on smaller planes may be possible, the batteries needed to fly big airliners on long flights would

make the plane way too heavy. yet all over the world, engineers, entrepreneurs, and aviators are trying to meet the challenge. they are experimenting, starting small, creating some flying machines like never seen before. >> maybe we should step over and see how it is to sit in the aircraft. miles: joeben bevirt founded joby aviation in 2009. the aircraft he and his team designed, is now in flight testing for faa certification. it's the current leader in the race to fill the world wh electric air taxis. it carries a pilot and four passengers under six tilting motors. >> it provides us an aircraft which is incredibly good at hovering and incredibly good at cruising. that efficiency and cruise is what gets us our range and gets us ourpeed. miles: he says it can fly 200 miles per hour and has a range of 150 miles. >> in order to have the impact

that we want to have, in order to transform the way everyone moves every day, we will need to make millions of these. our mission is to save a billion people an hour a day. miles: a billion people flying air taxis? how could that be safe? at nasa's ames research center in silicon valley, they're tackling the air traffic control challenge. >> looks good. speed is ok. miles: sandy lozito is chief of the aviation systems division. >> we do not necessarily expect a centralized air traffic control tower to do it with individual directives telling the pilots how to come in and out of the vertiport. and so, that's a very different operation. there cod be much more independence on the part of the pilots and the individual operators as they move in and out of these areas. miles: we live in times that demand action to address the climate emergency.

but proponents of electric aviation say their business models do not rely on altruism. they believe they can win in the free market. >> we want to be comparable in the cost to the price of a taxi at launch and bring that cost down to e cost of personal car ownership over the coming years. miles: those competing in the great electric airplane race are convinced a revolutionary moment like that is in the air. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien. judy: the future is here. you can watch the great electric airplace race on pbs's "nova" tonight. that is it for tonight. thank you. please stay safe. and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour is been provided by. >> for 25 years, we're helping

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]