captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, 100 years later-- the anniversary of the tulsa massacre renews calls to address the massive and widening racial wealth gap in the u.s. then, a deadly surge-- latin america sees massive spikes in covid cases across the region after the explosion of the virus in brazil. plus, rethinking college-- questions arise about applications and tuition for community colleges amid a precipitous drop in enrollment, especially among students of color. >> financial reasons was the primary reason given for students dropping out. almost 40% of those students had a scenario where they had to decide between rent, food and a college expense.

>> 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. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv

>> the 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: president biden has spent this day in tulsa, oklahoma, recalling the racial

massacre in 1921 that left hundreds of black citizens dead. he met with survivors and touted plans for a racial reckoning. we'll have the story, after the news summary. the u.s. supreme court today refused to hear johnson & johnson's appeal of a $2 billion verdict over its talc products. 22 cancer victims alleged the company's baby powder and other products contain asbestos that cause ovarian cancer. a jury in missouri agreed. johnson & johnson faces more than 21,000 similar lawsuits. florida is now the largest state yet to ban transgender athletes from girls and women's sports teams in public schools and universities. the new law enables athletes to sue, if they lose to transgender competitors. republican governor ron desantis signed the bill in jacksonville today, and argued it's about

equity, not discrimination. >> it's not a message to anything other than saying "we're going to protect fairness in women's sports." we believe that it's important to have integrity in the competition, and we think it's important that they're able to compete on a level playing fid. >> woodruff: opponents charged the law endangers an already vulnerable group. pope francis revised church law today to criminalize sexual use of adults by clergy. laypeople who hold church office will also be criminally liable for abusing adults or children. the changes follow scandals over seminarians and nuns being sexually victimized by their periors. slaughterhouses across the s., canada and australia have shut down after a new ransom- ware attack. it targeted jbs, the world's largest meat processor. several large jbs plants in the u.s. stopped slaughter operations today. the white house says a criminal

gang in russia is the likely culprit. on the pandemic, the white house is set to resume full, in-person staffing next month, with some exceptions allowed. meanwhile, the paycheck protection program officially ended today. overall, it lent nearly a trillion dollars to small businesses. the united states today formally ended the policy of making central american asylum seekers stay in mexico while their cases are decided. the trump-era restriction affected thousands of migrants. president biden had paused the program in january. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 45 points to close at 34,575. but the nasdaq fell 12 points, and, the s&p 500 slipped two. still to come on the newshour: what the tulsa massacre reveals about economic racial disparities today. how to combat a massive spike in covid cases across south america. questions arise about community

college tuition amid a precipitous drop in enrollment. plus much more. >> woodruff: we begin in tulsa, a century after a storm of racial killing engulfed the city. the president's visit today came as the nation is reassessing race relations-- past, present and future. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports. >> alcindor: 100 years after the tulsa race massacre, president biden came to mark one of the darkest chapters in american history. >> for much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness.

but just because history is silent, it doesn't mean that it did not ke place. and while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. >> alcindor: he's the first u.s. president to travel to tulsa to do so. he acknowledged the scars seared onto the nation's conscience. >> private planes dropping explosives, the first and only domestic aerial assault of its kind on an american city, here tulsa. eight of greenwood's nearly 2 dozen churches burned like mount zion. my fellow americans, this was not a riot, this was a massacre. ( cheers and applause ) >> alcindor: mr. biden also met with survivors of the massacre. in 1921, from may 31st to june 1st, a white mob rampaged through the greenwood district in tulsa, oklahoma.

it was once a thriving african american community known as“ black wall street.” the violence killed as many as 300 black people. thousands of black families were left homeless and fighting for survival. and, 35 city blocks lay in ruins. a century later, mr. biden's visit came amid a national reckoning on racial justice in the aftermath of the police murder of george floyd, in minneapolis, last year. the president has pledged to do more to address racial inequities and to try lessening the racial wealth gap. a survey released last year by the federal reserve found that the median wealth of black families is less than 15% of white families. the median for white families was $188,000 compared to just $24,000 for black families. today, the biden administration announced several new itiatives aimed at tackling those disparities, including: an effort to combat inequity in home appraisals and housing discrimination.

boosting the share of federal contracts by 50 percent over 5 years for small,isadvantaged businesses. >> does anyone doubt this whole nation will be better off with these investments? the rich will beust as well off, the middle class will do better and everybody will do better. >> alcindor: the president also would use funds tied to his proposed american jobs plan, including 10 billion dollars for community-led infrastructure projects. and 31 billion dollars in small business programs to increase access to capital. the tulsa centennial has also fueled a national conversation about reparations for centuries of slavery and racial discrimination. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now. >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now. so, yamiche, tell us more about the reactions to the president's visit to tulsa today and more about what he's saying about how to address the enormous racial wealth gap in this country. >> reporter: president biden's

historymaking trip was welcomed by many but met with a lot of unanswered questions that remain tonight. president biden spoke at length about the massacre in tulsa, that it was a ar on the nation's history, that this is something we need to learn about, that a nation needs to confront and deal and contend with its dark past, but he also talked about that he and the country needs to do more now to deal with the racial wealth gap, which is why you saw the white house today roll out these initiatives. the big question is what can be done for the people of tulsa now. there are survivors the president met with who are 106, 107 years old who say that, right now, they are not able to pay their bills, they were never able to close -- go to school, and there are a lot of people wondering whether or not there should be reparations for those people right now. the white house is not answering that question. they say the president supports a study on reparations. that being said, the president announced vice president harris, she's going to be leading the administration's effort on

fighting back against republican-led efforts. when it comes to voting rights, the president said republicans are doing un-american things in trying to restrict voting. republicans say they're aimed at voter integrity even though there was no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. >> woodruff: we know there's quickly come some criticism act what the president did not talk about. >> reporter: that's right. the president talked about disadvantaged communities and trying to lessen the racial wealth gap, but there are a lot of people including the president of the naacp after needs to deal with offstudent loan debt and unless you talk about that, you can't get to homeownership or business ownership because people are tied with that debt. the president, when he was a candidate, said he was supportive of a plan thatould wipe out a race, that is,

$10,000 worth of student loan debt for each american, but since his election, he has not moved forward. with plans like that, the white house chief of staff says they're looking at whether the president can wipe out student loan debt with only executive action. that is a question in the air. so student loans is top of mind and the president did not deal with that today. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor, reporting on president bidenas visit to tulsa today. thank you, yamiche. >> reporter: thank you. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: tulsa's history is casting a larger light on the long-term effects of institutional racism, lost income and opportunities and the toll this all takes on the wealth of black americans. the wealth gap that yamiche reported on is believed to have widened last year during the pandemic. and it stretches among all levels of education. let's explore this more and the president's initiatives. william darity is a professor of economics and african american studies at duke university who

has long studied and written about this. professor darity, very good to see you. thank you so much for joining us. we know what happened in tulsa 100 years ago, horrible, in human terms. what about in economic terms? what did it mean over time, not only for the people of tulsa, but more broadly for black americans across this nation? >> so it's been estimated the property losses, apart from the casualties and death, the property losses are estimated at a present value of in excess of $600 million today, and the implications across time have to do with the deprivation of resources for multiple generations. tulsa's only one examples or one instance of this ty of atrocity. there were upwards of 100 massacres of this type that took place in the united states, from the end of the civil war into

the 1940s, which had tremendous implications for the capacity of previous generations of black americans to provide resources for subsequent generations. >> woodruff: and you've done a lot of thinking, a lot of writing about what is due, not only the individuals who experienced these massacres, riots across the country, but to black americans across time. and what in general do you believe is owed? >> so i believe that the difference in wealth between black and white americans best captures the cumulative intergenerational effects of all of these atrocities, including the fact that at the very end of te civil war, black americans were promised 40-acre land grants that were never delivered. and, so, if we look over time, the black-white wealth gap is a consequence of what has occurred

over multiple generations, and it captures the disadvantage that has accumulated for current generations, and it amounts to $840,900, on average, between a black and white household. another way to think about this is black americans who have ancestors who were enslaved in the united states constitute about 12% of the nation's population but possess less than 2% of the nation's wealth. so if we were going to close that gap, it would require us to make a national expenditure in excess of $11 trillion. >> woodruff: $11 trillion, an enormous sum, and what we are hearing from president biden today is, among other things, we're talking about addressing housing inequities, taking a number of specific steps to try to ensure the racial gap in the

homes and availability of housing is improved, looking at developing businesses, how far do steps like these go toward accomplishing the kind of broad reparations you're speaking about? >> so this is a situation in which the proposal are not necessarily bad ideas but they don't go far in terms of eliminating racial wealth differences. the amounts are simply too small, and the focus is targeted on specific asset areas that are not necessarily the full range of assets in which there's a difference in black and white wealth ownings. so if you look at -- if you look at the typical american's combination of asset about 25% are arittable to an individual's primary residence, but a remaining 75% is

attrittable to retirement accounts, stocks and bonds, business ownership and nonresidential real estate. and, so, a focus exclusively on homeownership is not going to get us very far, and the amount that's proposed is extremely small relative to the entire gap. >> woodruff: well, the biden administration, at this point, is not speaking about -- they're not taking a position on reparations. they've said it's something that they are studying but one can assume that part of what's going on here is the political reality of how difficult it would be to get something of that magnitude passed through the congress when the president is having a hard time even getting something like infrastructure through. >> so it's over 155 years due, but you're correct, i don't think it's likely that a serious reparations plan would pass the current congress. however,here has been a sea change in public attitude about

reparations for black americans. in the year 2,000, only about 4% of white americans endorsed reparations. by the year 2018, that percentage had risen to 16 -- low but definitely not 4%. and today, the best estimates suggest that it's about 30% of americans who endorse the idea of reparative justice for black americans. so the mo mennum is moving in the right direction. we'll have to see if this is something sustainable, but other types of policies like the president is proposing fall far short from addressing the racial wealth gap. >> woodruff: i hear what you're saying, professor darity, they fall short, and we didn't mention the aid the president is speaking about in terms of transportation, where entire communities have been split open and divided because of highways, for example, that have gone through. but are these kinds of steps,

are they harmful, or can they even count as first steps toward what you were saying is necessary? >> if they were, indeed, steps that held the promise for a comprehensive effort in the future, then i would be more enthusiastic about them. these are not bad things to do, they just will not have much of an effect on the black-white wealth. >> woodruff: and finally, if you could say something right now to president biden about what else he should do, what would it be? >> i think it would be very, very exciting andencouraging if he were to appoint a presidential commission to address the history of racial atrocities in the united states and design a full-scale proposal for reparations. he has said that he's in favor of some type of commission, but it seems that it's a congressional commission that he's referring to. i think it would be very

impressive if we had a presidential commission to take on that task. >> woodruff: professor william darity of duke university, we thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. # >> woodruff: secretary of state anthony blinken is in costa rica, meeting with leaders from central america. one of the likely topics will be vaccine equity, as the covid-19 crisis across latin america and the caribbean worsens. today in peru, the govnment revised the official death toll, almost tripling it, to 180,000, making it the worst death rate per capita in the world. it's where producer ali rogin begins her report. >> reporter: in lima, peru, sprawling hillside cemeteries are reaching their limits. leaving the family of covid-19

victim joel bautista desperate. >> ( translated ): we have decided to bury him in the garden in front of my house, because there is no solution. what else can i do with my dead brother in my house? >> reporter: the bautistas found a burial plot at the last moment, but across latin america, families like them are dealing with a devastating second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. argentina has been under strict lockdown since late may, when cas skyrocketed. south america's largest soccer tournament, the copa america, was supposed to take place in argentina. but on monday, officials moved it to brazil, where cases also remain high. some brazilians said the move was misguided. >> ( translated ): the country is not yet ready to host a copa america because of the health issues. they have not taken care of those of us here; imagine those who come from other countries. >> reporter: in colombia, intensive care units are stretched beyond their capacities. in ecuador, this hospital turned a cafeteria into a covid ward, then added tents as the numbers grew.

>> ( translated ): in recent weeks the hospital is at 130% to 150% of its capacity. >> reporter: in may, latin america and the caribbean accounted for about 30% of covid deaths worldwide, despite being only eight percent of the global population. covid variants are among the chief culprits. the p-1 strain, first detected in the brazilian amazon, is now in 18 surrounding countries. in peru, officials say it's caused 40% of new cases. >> ( translated ): we are certain of the presence of the brazilian variant, with cases in between eight and 10 regions around the country where we have a significant frequency of it. >> reporter: critics blame brazilian president jair bolsonaro for what they say is a cavalier attitude. >> ( translated ): to health professionals, we regret the deaths from covid and the other deaths in brazil. but we must face the problem. life goes on! we are already talking about the third wave, if the third wave comes we will also have the fourth, fifth, sixth, infinite waves.

of course, we hope against it, but we must face it. >> reporter: bolsonaro discouraged social distancing and face masks. he dismissed covid-19 as a“ little flu” and encouraged the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure. in brazil's largest cities, tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated over the weekend, blaming bolsonaro for the high death toll. >> ( translated ): impeachment, now. out with bolsonaro. i can't stand him anymore, there will be more deaths if he stays on. >> ( translated ): all of this covid pandemic is down to a disastrous policy from the federal government, of an anti- scientific policy of denial that goes against social distancing because of the claim it will profoundly affect the economy. >> reporter: low vaccination rate is king matters worse. as of late may, only three percent of people in latin america and the caribbean were fully vaccinated. the united states has come under pressure to share its vaccine surplus with latin america, in part to counter china's conditional vaccine diplomacy. honduras has struggled to get

chinese vaccin because of its diplomatic ties with taiwan. neighboring el salvador, an ally of china, donated some of its stockpile. >> ( translated ): the salvadoran people are with the honduran people with this humanitarian donation going beyond borders >> reporter: china is also sending vaccines to uruguay. seen as an initial success story, the country's cases are surging. it secured enough vaccines for just over half its population. president luis lacalle pou said china's help signified strengthening ties. >> we are ready to upgrade our bilateral cooperation in the area of health, i would consider it very firmly, to a new stage. >> reporter: in some cases, even aggressive vaccine diplomacy is insuffient. so far, bolivia has only received about five percent of the five million doses it expected from russia. >> ( translated ): since the vaccination of people with kidney diseases and cancer began, the process has accelerated a little. but we see this could go on until 2026 or even 2027.

>> reporter: as the virus worsens all over the region, it's exposing deep fractures between governments and citizens. in colombia, demonstrators defied second-wave lockdowns starting in late april, responding to a planned middle- class tax hike intended to help the pandemic-stricken economy. but even after president ivan duque withdrew it, the marches grew, as did the demands. now, protesters are calling for widespread government and police reform. >> ( translated ): colombia has lost its fear and we'll keep on until there is real change. >> reporter: police are using increasingly brutal tactics. sincprotests began, 63 people have died and hundreds have been reported missing. health officials worry that deaths will continue to rise, as protesters contract covid-19. >> ( translated ): we can't continue like this. we need to take measures so as to resolve the political issues of the country, but now it is a matter of life and death.

>> reporter: across the region, the covid crisis is also fueling an economic one. in chile, the government is allowing citizens to draw down their pensions for a third time, which economists say is only forestalling a bigger disaster. >> ( translated ): it is the only available alternative. but this is like selling your fridge to buy food. the reality is you're making it worse. >> reporter: but the people of latin america are also determined to make it better. in medellin, colombia, a group of engineers and physicians responded to a ventilator shortage by building their own model from scratch. mechanical engineer mauricio toro spearheaded the project. >> one of the biggest challenges that we had was all the parts that were necessary for the ventilators were not available. the existing ventilator so we ended up having to manufacture parts locally to tweak existing parts that were not 100% the part that we needed, but modifying them three weeks later, the team had three working prototypes, which

quickly made their way into hospitals. >> ( translated ): there was definitely a learning curve in the team, i would say none of us had ever made a ventilator. every time we talk to a doctor and they say we use the ventilator, it worked as expected, just fills us wi pride because we know it's one more life that we've saved. >> reporter: one more life saved, and one fewer addition to a growing death toll in a region in crisis. for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin. >> woodruff: graduation season is in full swing at colleges and universities around the country. even though the pandemic is easing its grip in the u.s., it's triggered many bigger questions about what schools should be doing in the months to come. we start a special series tonight and begin with the latest on mmunity colleges. they have long been seen as an opportunity for students of all

backgrounds to earn a degree. but the same students have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. and many have had to drop out. hari sreenivasan reports for our seri, "rethinking college." >> may of 2019, i was diagnosed with breast cancer. i was carrying my second son. i was 16 weeks pregnant. >> sreenivasan: by the time fandrea preston finally finished her cancer treatment, covid-19 had shut down much of the country. but after ten years as a medical assistant in the middle of a pandemic, the mother of three decided to go to community college. >> my husband was like, you need to do something. he was like, you know how your task oriented, driven person? so he was like, go to school for cybersecurity. >> sreenivasan: now in her first semester at northern virginia community college, fandrea's able to do all of her classes onlinetake care of her kids at home, and is already applying for jobs. but that's not the story for

many community college students in the u.s. right now. between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020, nationwide enrollment in public two-year colleges dropped 10%. this spring, the slide continued, and it was even worse among students of color, colleges enrolled around 14% fewer black and latinx students and nearly 20% fewer indigenous students. >> one day my youngest son was getting an award at school and he didn't tell me. and as a mom that really broke my heart, it was kind of in that moment i knew that i needed to get one job. i would be able to help me provide for my family. >> sreenivasan: at the time, fulisha oscar was working three jobs. but now the single mother of six is working on her associates degree at madera community college in central california. she is a survivor of domestic violence and wants to use her degree to one day open a shelter. >> i wake up a3:00 a.m. in the morning. and i put a computer desk and a computer in my closet so that i could actually have a quiet area to study. >> sreenivasan: but when the coronavirus came to california,

work dried up and the family was forced to stay at home. for fulisha, school became overwhelming. >> our internet wouldn't work then. we couldn't are the zoom's or crashing. there was no space. so you got to think about their six children right from college all the way down to elementary, plus me. i'm in college. we're all trying to log in t zooms. we're all trying to do our homework. and it's just so much noise. it was it was so you couldn't focus. >> sreenivasan: so last summer, she dropped out. but after getting a makeup resale business up and running, and better adjusting to remote life, fulisha had enough funds and confidence to return to school last fall. so what should schools be doing for students like you? >> i know a lot of people lost their jobs, so there was a worry about food or rent. just remind them of the services available. that there's support. there are psychological services on campus. there's counselors, academic counselors on campus. >> sreenivasan: at the college

of southern nevada, the state's largest college, they're hoping to bring back students like fulisha. this fall the school's enrollment declined 12% from the year before. the school sits in the heart of las vegas, that's a hub for hospitality and tourism. at its peak last april, unemployment in the city hit 33%. federico zaragoza, the college of southern nevada's president, says the economic shutdown had an immediate impact on his students. >> financial reasons was the primary reason given for students dropping out. almost 40% of those students had a scenario where they had to decide between rent, food and a college expense and many of our studentsere more comfortable with in-person environment than online courses. >> sreenivasan: zaragoza hopes that by connecting students to financial assistance, food pantries and mental health counseling. they can help students get back on a successful career path. >> even if you have more people

looking for work, if the job skills that they bring aren't the line to the skills required by employers, you're still going to have structural unemployment. >> sreenivasan: why has this decline has been so severe? tom brock and his colleagues at columbia university's community college research centehave poured over u.s. census data and find households with community college students are harder hit. in a lot of these households, if the breadwinners lose their job, the person who might be going to community college might be kind of drafted in to help the house. >> absolutely. and it's important to remember that it may be the breadwinner himself or herself who is the community college student. >> sreenivasan: but northern virginia community college has been able to buck this national trend. n.v.c.c.'s president anne kress says enrollment increased this year. what did you do to make that happen? >> we got out $750,000 in emergency aid very quickly. we were able to loan laptops. we turned our parking lots into wi-fi hotspots. we also turned individuals who work at our college into what we

called remote student support specialists. they reached out to students who might be a little bit missing in action. they let them know about the aid that they would qualify for. they let them know that we were here to help them. >> sreenivasan: on top of the school's efforts, kress says virginia's new free community college initiative could have a significant impact on students. the program provides free tuition for low and middle income students in hh demand fields, as well as funding for other expenses, like transportation and childcare. that extra help can make a huge difference for students like fandrea preston. >> i'm not working right now through the pandemic and i'm trying to better myself with the career and to provide for my family in the future. so these funds are going to help me with the child care and utilities and food to put on my table. and not have to worry about... are my lights going to get cut off? >> sreenivasan: and if community colleges can't hold onto their students, tom brock believes the effects could ripple across the labor force. >> community colleges largely

train health care workers, for example, they also train students in careers like construction and welding and other things needed literally, quite literally, to get the economy humming again. >> sreenivasan: some worry that even if schools can get students back in class. the average completion rate for community college students is still very low. as of 2019, only 40% of two-year college students complete their degree. but for fandrea preston and fulisha oscar, they know how important their education is... >> i wanted my children to see how important education was. and i kind of felt like it was my responsibility as the example and the head of the household to kind of not only say it, but to act it out. i know everyone is going through something. everyone is. i mean, it is hard, but you have to keep pushing. >> sreenivasan: ...and they're both confident they won't let a pandemic get in their way. for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan.

>> woodruff: naomi osaka's decision to withdraw from the french open has led to major reaction and new conversations about athletes, mental health and the media. at 23 years old, she's not just the winner of four grand slams and ranked second among women in tennis. she's also the highest paid female athlete in the world. amna nawaz explores some of the issues this case has raised. >> nawaz: judy, this all began when naomi osaka refused to speak to reporters after her first round victory at roland garros on sunday. she was fined $15,000. and then the leaders of the grand slam tournaments threatened suspension or even disqualification if osaka did not meet her contractual obligations. osaka issued her own lengthy statement yesterday on twitter. in it, she said she needed to withdraw, saying the tournament was affecting her mental health.

as she put it: "the truth is i have suffered long bouts of depression since the us open in 2018 and i have had a really hard time coping with that." and she said, "i get huge waves of anxiety before i speak to the world's media." let's unpack some of what this has raised. zina garrison is a former top five tennis player who's won a gold medal and a three time mixed-doubles grand slam champion. howard bryt is a sportswriter and author with meadowlark media. he's the author of the recent book," full dissidence" and a children's book about serena and venus williams, called "sisters and champions." welcome to you both and thank you so much for being here. zina garrison, i want to start with you because you know what it is to be a superstar in this sport, to compete at the highest level, the pressure that comes with it. when osaka said she wasn't going to do the press conferences because it was bad for her mental health, what was your reaction? >> well, i my immediate thought was that someone probably should have talked to her before she actually put out the statement that she wasn't doing any press but -- and my second thought was, you know, that she was in

trouble. so i noticed that, right after miami, that she actually said she was not going to be playing some tournaments, that she needed a rest, so i kind of felt something was going on with her mentally. but the most important thing is that, you know, it's really tough because, when you you ask to step away and you ask people to let me step away and then they don't give you that opportunity and then it blows up to something else, it just builds on -- more pressure comes on. >> reporter: howard, help us understand what she's talking about here, though, because osaka says it's the press conferences, having to take the questions, give us a sense of what goes on in that room because a lot of people say that's part of this deal, when you compete at this level, you sit before jou journalists and e the questions. what do you say to that? >> they are contractually obligated to be in those rooms. when you're looking at this, i see no reason why this had to

escalate to the degree that it did. here's what happens with media -- session ri, you go into press -- and zina knows this -- tennis players have the most dr. they're one to have the athletes -- it's an individual sport, it's a lonely sport, you're by yourself, and you do presses after matches. there's no open locker room, it's not 24-7 access. however, immediately following wins and losses, you go -- and there's a cooling off period of 15 minutes, 20 minutes, sometimes winners take a little bit longer time, but then you sit down and you talk. if you're going to win a championship, you're probably doing this eight times and -- over the course of -- over the course of a season, you're answering so many of the same questions, and i think, especially because you don't have teammates, you're being asked, especially in your deficiencies, and when you're looking at someone like naomi osaka, she was entering a period of the calendar where she does

not play well. she hadn't played well on clay, hadn't played n grass, take that combined with the fact you have the olympics looming, combine that with the fact she's in the championship, and then take all of that and add to it the year anniversary both of the murder of george floyd and the shooting of jacob lake where she took a very prominent role, and it's very, very clear that the pressure is getting to her in terms of being out front. >> reporter: zina garrison, what about this because it isn't about anyone thing. it's not just about the sport, just about mental health. she is a black woman who competes in a predominantly white sport in tennis, and you can't really kind of take apart all of those issues,hey're all complicated and layered together. so what about that? how much of a role do you think that plays? >> well, i was going to say that plays a big part of it and it's a role that unless you're a black athlete and basicallyin an all-white sport, you tend to

have to understand, sometimes it's just pressure getting in, having to be able to go to the tennis court and somebody just asking to see your barge because they don't believe you can play, there's little bitty things. but in osaka's case, she made $52 million last year, so naturally everybody's like, what's the big deal? she shouldn't have any problems, whatever. well, she has sponsorships, she has people that are counting on her, she has to pay her team members. everybody's pulling at her. and also, these young players, especially young tennis players, th don't really have two friends. you know, when i was growing up, i had the opportunity to have at least my high school friends that i could go and talk to, you don't talk about tennis. now everyone around them is talking about, you know -- or trying to figure out how they can make them number one or how they can get more sponsorships, and then you having to rely on social media and some of your friends or maybe put things out

maybe you don't want to put out, and then someone comes back and says something, that's pressure within itself. >> yeah, i think zina makes an amazing point that we're not paying enough attention to as well. i think we have a real generational issue here, as well. i think that, when you're looking at the way this generation communicates, i think zina made the point immediately that, once this went public, you're no longer talking about mental health and talking about what's going on with naomi osaka. now it's a fight. now it's a fight btween the grand slams and it's between her because i still feel like this story exploded the way it did because the instagram post took away any sort of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, and then the grand slams, instead of the french open dealing with this individually, they go to wimbledon, then they consult with the u.s. open, then they

consult can tennis australia, and it looks like you have this entire industry gnging up on a 23-year-old. >> reporter: we have the grand slam tournaments coming out with a statement saying they do support osaka, they will welcome her back when she's ready, but that they're going to take steps to improve the player experience in tournaments including as it relates to media. what did you take away from that? >> these are the conversations thanked have taken place behind closed doors over the past several months. number one, people have said, well, if you have mental health issues, you cannot guess and determine and anticipate when that's going to happen, but when you read naomi's statement, she's been dealing with this for years now. she played two clay tournaments, madrid and rome, and somewhere along the line someone in her team could have said we need to go to the french federation and say i'm not doing well. is there a way -- these press

conferences are nowhere near having the number two player in the world not be there. there's no reason that this could have happened -- and this this happened the way that it happened except for the fact that these sides did not communicate. there had to be a work-around. there are plenty of ways to deal with this. everybody lost mere. she is climbing to at that degree now -- she's got four majors, already. the fans lost, the tournament lost, everybody has lost in this simply because to have the lack of communication. >> reporter: zina, what about the mental health part of this because, obviously, there's an epidemic in america. one of every five americans has some kind of mental health diagnoseable illness in any given year. somebody like naomi osaka at the top of her game, two in the world, the highest paid female athlete in the world to come out and say this in this way, does this indicate this is more prevalent than we previously knew? >> it's very interesting because

naomi would be the one that has brought up that want there's not only mental health in the world but there's mental health in sports, and i say that because we have championed her for what she was doing for social justice, and now she has brought up something which has been going on for quite some time for different athletes, but for different athletes when they come out d say they need a rest or they're doing something, they say, oh, there's something wrong with them or they're crazy without looking into the actual background of it. >> and one last thing to zina's point is these athletes are taught from day one overcome, and if you don't, you're soft, if you don't, you're not tough enough, mental toughness, mental toughness, mamba mentality, and all of these things, and there's no room for this. especially in tennis, you have no coaches, no teammates, no one to talk to you.

everything you do out there is up to you. so the pressure that is on these athletes is enormous and substantial, and we make it seem like it's not a big deal because of two things -- one, the enormous amount of money, and, two, we have this paternalism where we say you're making a lot to play a kid's game. it's not a kid's game, it's a $100 billion industry. >> reporter: for all the controversy and debate, naomi osaka has us talking abt all these important issues, and that is absolutely a first good step. zina garrison, howard bryant, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: after a year of grief and sorrow for so many, a new book by acclaimed author chimamanda adichie explores a writer's recent personal sense

of loss, of a beloved father. jeffrey brown talked to her from her family home in lagos, nigeria for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> brown: like families everywhere amid pandemic, the nigerian-born adichie family, spread across three continents, found a semblance of connection through zoom: >> on seven june, there was my father, only his forehead on the screen, as usual, because he never quite knew how to hold his phone during video calls.¡ move your phone a bit, daddy', one of us would say. >> brown: days later, 88 year old james nwoye adichie was dead of complications from liver failure. >> on june 10, he was gone. my brother chuks called to tell me. and i came undone. >> brown: the words are from“ notes on grief”, by james' daughter chimamanda adichie, celebrated as one of the world's

leading writers-- author of novels such as “half of a yellow sun” and “americanah”. her ¡ted talks', “we should all be feminists” and “the danger of a single story”, calling for an openness toward the cultures of others, have attracted millions of viewers. >> i am just a storyteller. i'm a believer in stories and in trying to talk about the things i care about, feminism and how important it is to have a diverse sort of world, i use stories. and i think people, because there's something very universal about stories, and i think that's what maybe people respond to. >> brown: now, the story is her own, in a deeply personal essay about losing her father last year. >> i'm only starting to realize how much of my sense of comfort in the world comes from having been raised by him and by my mother. and so in some ways, maybe what i would also like for people to

get out of this is how important it is to be-- and i know this sounds really cliche-- but how important it is to be a good parent. i wanted this book to be a tribute to what it means to be a father. he was so present and so patient and he gave us room to be who we were. >> brown: james adichie studied mathematics in college in nigeria, came to the u.s. to get his phd at berkeley and then became nigeria's first professor of statistics-- a beloved teacher for decades, patriarch to a close-knit family. you write in the book, “grief is a cruel kind of education”. what did you learn about grief that most surprised you? >> i was surprised to discover that i could laugh a day after my father died, and it as surprising to me that laughter is part of grief. and i also realized how much anger i felt and still feel about losing my father. i've just been surprised by how it is such a multi-faceted

thing. there are moments when i think i'm fine and i'll be fine. and there are moments when i think i'm just never goingo be fine. and i was not prepared for all of that. >> brown: as with so many millions losing loved ones, the pandemic added to the sense of remoteness-- in her case, literal, as she was unable for months to leave her home in the u.s. to be with her family in nigeria. >> there's a measure, i think, of the death of a loved one being unreal, feeling that it hasn't happened. but when it's, there's a kind of distance that zoom calls and lockdowns and airports closed-- it creates a kind of distance that makes it even more surreal. >> brown: did your personal grief give you any better sense of how to confront the collective grief of the pandemic? >> i just feel a lot more compassion for, for different kinds of pain that people are

going through, particularly this period. the pain of absence-- because it's not just death, it's also one of the things i think this pandemic has done is that it has frayed human connection, because we can't hug each other and we don't see each other and screens just don't, it's just not the same thing. >> brown: in march, as this book was going to print, a second loss: the death of her mother, grace. the t-shirt she wore in our talk read: ¡daughter of grace'. does writing help? i mean, you're a writer, of course. so you write. but this seems more personal. >> it does help, and when i teach writing i like to say the standard thing, which is, you know, “don't think of writing as therapy.” but actually sometimes it is. and with this little book, which iseally an essay, i found it very, it was just my way of trying to find words. i'm trying to, i don't know,

talk to myself, trying to make sense of things. language general, i think is what i turn to as a reader and as a writer. and so i found it, even after my mother died, i found myself writing just for myself, about and writing is the only thing that helps me do that. and reading, i should say. and reading as well. >> brown: all right, the book “" notes on grief.” chimamanda adichie, thank you very much. >> thank you. it's lovely talking to you. >> woodruff: president joe biden set a goal to 70% of americans get their first covid-19 vaccine by july 4. to get there, states and cities have to get creative in their vaccine distribution.

as gabriel kramer from pbs station ideastream in cleveland reports, small local businesses, like barbershops, are becoming vaccination sites. >> reporter: barbershops are of course known for haircuts... beard trims... and some friendly verbal jabs. but twice this month, urban kutz barbershop on cleveland's west side was also a place to get another kind of jab-- with a needle. they're ofring the covid-19 vaccine. >> we are a trusted entity in the community. they know urban kutz. they know me. >> reporter: waverly willis is the owner of urban kutz. he has a history of going the extra mile for his customers-- free haircuts for the homeless and free blood pressure screenings for any patron, mostly men. >> two or three of the gentleman wo left here earlier told me that i was the reason that they got the vaccine and that makes me feel good to know that, essentially, it feels like they're trusting me with their lives. >> reporter: so when the cleveland department of public

health sought to recruit businesses to distribute the vaccine, it's no wonder that urban kutz was the first business to opt in. >> reporter: shan smith did not get a haircut last weekend. he just came to the barber shop to get his shot. >> i thought about not getting the shot at all honestly. when i saw that this gentleman here was willing to make this available in his facility to the public, i thought to myself, at the very least, i could support him, while helping others at the same time. it's all about community anyways. >> reporter: barbershops aren't the only out-of-the-ordinary locations offering covid-19 vaccines. in cleveland's slavic village neighborhood, the third federal savings and loan turned its parking lot into a drive-thru and walk-up vaccination site. one of the first in line was third federal employee tiffany watson. >> that's why i came, because i didn't want to have to figure out when am i going downtown, how i have to park or where am i going, how do i call to get it. i figured, while i'm working, i

can just go. >> reporter: the convenience was intentional, but not just for employees. anyone was welcome to get shots, which were given by metrohealth hospital staff. >> people work. people have all different life situations and different kinds of barriers. so again, i think the idea is we need to try all kinds of new things, pull down those barriers and make sure folks can make choices that they feel comfortable making. >> reporter: over at the barbershop, the goals were the same: make the vaccine easier to get and provide a comfortable place to get it. >> i'm going to continue to use urban kutz as a vehicle to help the community out. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, 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.

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we cannot be sure people won't come to arrest our families or to do something bad to them. >> democracy and free speech under attack in belarus and russia. i speak to two journalists about the threats they face. then, the right to bear arms. historian carol anderson joins me. >> iould tell every single parent watching this, go to your kid today, no matter how old they are and just say to them, it's hard to be a kid.

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