judy: 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.

judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> cfo. caregiver. eclipse chaser. raymondjames taylors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. >> for 25 yearsconsumer cellular is been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway.

♪ >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities . >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and 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. >> we will return to judy woodruff and the full program

after these headlines. president biden spent the day in tulsa, oklahoma, recalling the racial massacre on this date 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. in california, a state task force to study and recommend reparation for african-americans held its first meeting today. the commission, the first of its kind in the country, is made up of nine members, some of them descendants of slaves appointed by governor gavin newsom and state legislature leaders. the undertaking will take two years to address systemic racism in the state. a counsel to examine the state's historic role with indigenous people was established in 2019. 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 levels of asbestos that cause ovarian cancer. a jury in missouri agreed. johnson and 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 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 field. >> pope francis revised church law today to criminalize sexual abuse of adults by clergy. lay people 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 superiors. slaughterhouses across the u.s., canada, and australia have shut down after a new ransomware 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. the biden administration has reversed a drilling program in alaska approved by the trump administration. the interior secretary issued an order suspending oil and gas leases in the arctic national wildlife refuge. this move will likely revise a political fight with republicans and the oil industry pushing open -- pushing to open up the area to drilling. while environmentalists and native alaskans continue to block those efforts. the u.s. has formally ended today the policy of making legal

asylum-seekers from central america stay in mexico while their cases are decided. the trump-era restriction affected thousands of migrants. still to come, what the tulsa massacre reveals about economic racial disparities today. how to combat a massive spike in covid cases across latin america. questions arise about community college tuition amid a precipitous drop in enrollment. plus, much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: now to 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. yamiche: 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 take place. and while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. yamiche: 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 on domestic aerial assault of its kind on an american city, here in tulsa. eight of greenwood's arly two dozen churches burned like mou zion.

my fellow americans, this was not a riot, this was a massacre. yamiche: mr. biden also met with survivors of the massacre. in 1921, from may 31 to june 1, 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 fiting 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 the police murder of george floyd, in mieapolis, 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 initiatives aimed at tac those disparities, including, an effort to combat inequity in home appraisals and hoing discrimination. boosting the share of federal contracts by 50% over five years for small, disadvantaged businesses. >> does anyone doubt this whole nation will be better off with these investments? the rich will be just as well off, the middle class will do better, and everybody will do better. yamiche: the president also would use funds tied to his proposed american jobs plan, including $10 billion for community-led infrastructure projects and $31 billion 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. judy: and yamiche joins me now. so tell us a little bit more about the reaction to the president's visit to tulsa today, and more about what he i saying about how to address the enormous racial wealth gap in this country. yamiche: president biden's history making trip was definitely welcomed by many people but it was also met with a lot of questions that remain unanswered tonight. president biden spoke at length about the massacre in tulsa. he said this was a scar on our nation's history. he said this is something we need to learn about, that the nation needs to confront and deal with and contend with our past. he also tald about the fact that we need to do more and he country needs to do more right now to deal with this racial wealth gap, which is why you saw the white house today rollout these initiatives. but the big question is what can be done for the people of tulsa right now?

there are survivors the president met with who are 106, 107 years o, who say right now they cannot pay their bills, they were never able to go to school. and there are a lot of people who are wondering whether or not there should be reparations for those people right now. the white house is not answering that washing. they do say the president supports a study on reparations. that said, the president announced vice president harris will be leading the administration's effort on fighting against republican-let efforts against voting rights. the president said republicans are doing un-american things in trying to -- judy: how are these proposals being received? we know that has quickly come some criticism of what the president did not talk about. yamiche: that's right. the president talked a lot about disadvantaged communities and trying to work on lessening this racial wealth gap. but there are a number of people

included the president of the naacp who says the president really needs to deal with student loan debt. the naacp says that disproportionately impacts black americans, especially black students. they say until you start talking about student loan debt, you cannot get to hone or business ownership because people are tied down with that debt. when the president was a candidate he said he was supportive of a plan that would wipe out, erase $10,000 worth of student loan debt for each american. but since his election, he has not moved forward with that. the wte house chief of staff ys they are looking into whether or not the president can wipe out student loan debt with only executive action. that i a question still hanging in the air. student loans is top of mind and the president did not deal with that today. judy: yamiche alcindor reporting. thank you. 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 financial well-being of black americans. the wealth gap that yamiche just reported on is believed to have widened last year during the pandemic. and it exists among all levels of education. we explore this now with william darity, a professor of economics and african american studies at duke university who has long studied and written about this. professor, very good to see you. thank you so much for joining us. we know what hapned in tulsa 100 years ago, horrible in human terms. what about in economic terms? what did it mean over time not just for the people of tulsa but more broadly for black americans across this nation? prof. darity: it has been estimated that 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 has to do with the deprivation of resources for multiple generations. tulsa is only one instance of this type of atrocity. there were upwards of 100 massacres of this type which took place in the united states from the end of the civil war into the 1940's, which had tremendous implications for the capacity previous generations of black americans to provide resources for subsequent generations. judy: you have done a lot of thinking and writing about what is due. not only the individuals who experience these massacres, riots across the country, but to black americans across time. what in general do you believe is owed. prof. darity: i believe 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 the civil war, black americans were promised 40 acre land grants that were never delivered and so if we look over time, the black-and-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. anher 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 populati, but process less than 2% of the nation's wealth.

if we were to close that gap it would require us to make an national expenditure in excess of $11 trillion. judy: an you norma's -- an e normous sum. president biden is talking about addressing housing inequities, taking a number of specific steps to try and ensure that the racial gap in the value of homes and the availability of housing is improved. he is also looking at economic opportunity, helping businesses. how far do steps like these go towards accomplishing the kind of broad reparations you are speaking about? prof. darity: so, this is a situation in which the proposals are not necessarily bad ideas, but they will not go very 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 is a difference in black and white wealth owning's. so if you look at the typical american's combination of assets, about 25% are attributable to an individual primary residence. but the remaining is attributable to stocks and bonds, rick -- retirement accounts, and nonresidential real estate. a focus exclusively on homeownership will not get us far, and the amount proposed is extremely small relative to the entire gap. judy: the biden administration at this point is not taking a position on reparations. they said it is something they are studying, but one can assume that part of what is 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 sometng like infrastructure through. prof. darity: it is over 155 years due. but you are correct. i do not think it is likely that a serious reparations plan would pass the current congress. however i'm has been a seachange in public attitude about reparations for black americans. in the year 2000, only about 4% of white americans endorsed reparations. by the year 2018, that percentage had risen to 16%. low, butefinitely not 4%. today, the best estimates suggest it is about 30% of americans who endorse the idea of reparative justice for black americans. so the momentum is moving into the right direction. we have to see if this is something sustainable.

other types of policies like the president is proposing fall far short of addressing the racial wealth gap. judy: i hear what you are saying, they fall short. we didn't mention the aid the president was speaking about where entire communities have been split open and divided because of highways that have gone through. are these kinds of steps, are they harmful, or can they even count as first steps toward what you are saying is necessary? prof. darity: 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 will just not have much of an effect on the black white wealth. judy: finally, if you could say something right now to president biden about what else he should do, what would it be? prof. darity: i think it would

be very, very exciting and encouraging if he were to appoint a presidential commission to address the history of racial atrocities in thu.s. and design a full-scale proposal for reparations. he said he is in favor of some type of commission. it seems it is a congressional commission he is referring to. i think it would be very impressive if we had a presidential commission to take on that task. judy: professor, we thank you very much. prof. darity: thank you for having me. judy: secretary of state antony 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 caribbn worsens. today in peru, the government revised the official death toll, almost tripling it to 180,0 mang it the worst death rate per capita in the world. it's where the newshour's ali rogin begins her report. ali: in lima, peru, sprawling hillside cemeteries are reaching their limits. leaving the family of covid-19 victim joel bautista desperate. >>ha decided to bury him in t garden in front of my house, because there is no solution. what else can i do with my dead brother in my house? ali: 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 cases 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. >> 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. ali: 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. >> in recent weeks the hospital is at 130% to 150% of its capacity. ali: in may, latin america and the caribbean accounted for about 30% of covid deaths worldwide, despite being only 8% of the global population. covid varian are among the chief culprits. the p1 strain, first detected in the brazilian amazon, has spread throughout the region. in peru, officials say it's caused 40% of new cases. >> we are certain of the presence of the brasilian variant, with cases in between

eight and 10 regions around the country where we have a significant frequency of it. ali: critics blame brazilian president jair bolsonaro for what they say is a cavalier attitude. >> 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. ali: 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. >> impeachmentnow. out with bolsonaro. i can't stand him anymore. there will be more deaths if he stays on. >> the 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 wilprofoundly affect the economy. ali: a low vaccination rate is making matters worse. as of late may, only 3% 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 vaccines because of its diplomatic ties with taiwan. neighboring el salvador, an ally of china, donated some of its stockpile. >> the salvadoran people are with the honduran people with this humanitarian donation going beyond borders. ali: 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. ali: in some cases, even aggressive vaccine diplomacy is insufficient. so far, bolivia has only received about 5% of theive million doses it expected from russia. >> since the vaccination of people with kidney diseases and caer began, the process has accelerated a little. but we see this could go on until 2026 or even 2027. ali: 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. >> colombia has lost its fear and we'll keep on until there is real change.

ali: police are using increasingly brutal tactics. since protests 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. >> 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. ali: 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. >> it is the only available alternative. but this is like selling your fridge to buy food. the reality is you're making it worse. ali: 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. 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 and making them fit. ali: three weeks later, the team had three working prototypes, which quickly made their way into hospitals. >> 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 your ventilator, it worked as expected, it just fills us with pride because we know it's one more life that we've saved. ali: one more life saved, and one fewer addition to a growing crisis.oll in a region in for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin.

judy: 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 community colleges. they have long been seen as an opportunity for students of all backgroundto earn a degree. but those same students have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic, and many have had to drop out. hari sreenivasan reports for our series, rethinking college. >> may of 2019, i was diagnosed with breast cancer. i was carrying my second son. i was 16 weeks pregnant. hari: by the time fandrea preston finally finished her cancer treatment, covid-19 had shut down much of the country. but after 10 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 you're task oriented, driven person? so he was like, go to school for cybersecurity. hari: now in her first semester at northern virginia community college, fandrea's able to do all of her classes online, take 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 collegesropped 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. >> 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 that would be able to help me provide for my family. hari: 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 at 3:00 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. hari: 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. then the zooms are crashing. there was no space, so you got to think about it. there are six children right from college all the way down to elementary plus me. i'm in college. we're all trying to log in to zoom. we're all trying to do our homework. it was it was so you couldn't focus. hari: 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. hari: 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 students were more comfortable with in-person environment than online courses. hari: 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. hari: why has this decline has been so severe? tom brock and his colleagues at columbia university's community college research center have 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 drafted in 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. hari: but northern virginia community coege has been able to buck this national trend. nvcc'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. hari:n 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 high 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? hari: 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. hari: 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. hari: and they're both confident they won't let a pandemic get in their way. for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan. judy: tennis star naomi osaka's decision this week to withdraw from the french open has led to major reaction and new conversations about professional 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.

amna: 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. 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, announcing she'd be withdrawing from the tournament to protect her mental health. she shared she's suffered, quote, long bouts of depression since the u.s. open in 2018 and also huge waves of anxiety before speaking to global media. for more on this, i'm joined by zina garrison, three-time mixed doubles grand slam champion, olympic gold medalist, and former top five tennis player in the world. and howard bryant, 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. thank you both so much for being here.

zina, you know what it is to compete at the highest level, the pressure that comes with it. when osaka said she would not be doing those press conferences because it was bad for her mental health, what was your reaction? zina: my immediate thought was someone probably should have talked to her before she actually put out the statement that she was not doing any press. my second thought was that she was in trouble. i noticed that right after miami that she actually said she was going to be needing a rest. so i kind of felt something was going on with her mentally. but the most important thing is it is really tough, because when you are asked to step away and you ask people to let me step away and they don't give you that opportunity and it blows up to something else, just more pressure comes on. amna: howard, help us understand

what she is talking about here. osaka says with the press conferences, having to take these questions, give us a sense of what goes on this room. a t of people will say this is part of the deal. what would you say to that? howard: it is not just people who say that, it is the tournament's themselves. they are contractually obligated to be in those rooms. however, i feel like when you are looking at this, i see no reason why this had to escalate to the degree it did. here is what happens with the media. essentially you go into press, and zina knows this. tennis players, it's an individual sport, it is a lonely sport, you are by yourself. and you do press after your matches. there is no open locker room, it is not 24/7 access. however, immediately following wins and losses, there is a cooling-off period of 15, 20 minutes, sometimes winner take a

longer time, but then you sit down and you talk. if you are going to win a championship, you are probably doing this eight times. over the course of a season they're answering so many of the same questions and i think especially because you don't have teammates, you are being asked about your deficiencies. naomi osaka was entering a period of the calendar where she had not played well. take that, combined with the fact you have the olympics looming, combined with the fact she will be asked to defend her u.s. open championship, and then take all of that and add to it the year anniversary of the murder of george floyd and jacob blake, where she took a very prominent role. it is very clear the pressure is getting to her and teams of being out front. amna: what about this? because this is not about any one thing. it is 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 cannot really take apart all those issues. they are all complicated and layered together. how much of aole do you think that place? zina: -- plays? zina: it is a role that unless you are a black athlete basical ly in an all white sport, you don't understand. sometimes it is pressure getting in, having to go to the tennis court and somebody just asking you to see your badge because they don't believe you can play. there are little things. in osaka's case she made $52 million last year, so naturally everyone is like what is the big deal? she should not have any problems. she has sponsorships, she has people counting on her, she has to pay her team members, everybody is pulling at her. also, these young players, especially young tennis players,

they don't really have true friends. when i was growing up i had the opportunity to at least have my high school friends i could go in talk to, you don't talk about tennis. now everyone around them is talking about, trying to figure out how they can make them number one, or how they can get more sponsorships. then you are having to rely on social media as some of your friends, or put things out that maybe you don't want to put out and then someone comes back and says something? that's pressure within itself. howard: zina makes an amazing point that we are not paying enough attention to. i think we have a real generational issue here as well. i think when you are looking at the way this generation communicates, i think zina made the point immediately that once this went public, you are no longer talking about mental health and talking about what is going on with naomi osaka, now it is a fight.

it is a fight between the grand slams and between her. 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 individual, they go to wimbledon, then they consult with u.s. open, then tennis australia, and now it looks like you have this entire industry ganging up on a 23-year-old. amna: what about that? you have the grand slams coming out with a statement this afternoon they will welcome back osaka when she is ready, but they will take steps to quote, improve the player experience at the tournament, including as a relates to media. what does that look like? howard: i take away from this is these are the conversations that should have taken place behind closed doors over the past several months. number one, people have said if

you have mental health issues you cannot anticipate that when that will happen. when you read her statement, she has been dealing with this for a few years. she played madrid and rome. and somewhere along the line, someone in her team could have set, we need to go to the french federation and say i am not doing well. is there a way -- these press conferences are nowhere near worth having the number two player in the world not be there. there's no reason that this happened the way it happened, except for the fact these asides did not communicate. there had to be a workaround. everybody lost here. she is climbing to a degree right now, she has four majors already. the fans lost, the tournament lost, everybody lost simply because of the lack of communication. amna: what about the mental-health part of this?

obviously there is an epidemic in america. one in every five americans has some kind of mental health diagnosable on this in any given year. someone like naomi osaka, the top of her game, number two in the world, to come out and say this in this way, does this reveal that this is much more prevalent than we previously knew? zina: it is very interesting because naomi would be the one who brought up there is not only mental health the world, but in sports. i say that because we have championed her for what she was doing for social justice, and then now i do not think she was asking for this, but she has brought up something now that we are talking about which has been going on for quite some time with different athletes, but for different athletes when they come out and say they need a rest or they are doing something, then they say oh, there's something wrong with them, or they are crazy, without

looking into the actual background of it. howard: one last thing to zina's point, is the athletesse -- these athletes are taught from day one, overcome. if you are., you are soft. mamba mentality. all these things. there is no room in this. especially in tennis. you have no coaches, no teammates, no one to talk to. 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 is not a big deal because of two things. one, the enormous amount of money, and two, we have this paternalism where we say you are making a lot to play a kids game. it is not a kids game, it is a $100 billion industry. amna: naomi osaka has us talking about all these important issues, and that is absolutely a good first step. thank you so much for our time.

judy: 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. she was at her family home in lagos, nigeria when she spoke with jeffrey brown for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: 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.

jeffrey: days later, 88-year-old james nwoye adichie was dead of complications from liver failure. >> on june 10, he was gone. my brother called to tell me. and i came undone. jeffrey: the words are from "notes on grief," by james' daughter chimamanda adichie, celebrated aone of the world's leading writers, author of novels such as "half of a yellow sun" and "americanah." >> culture does not make people. people make culture. jeffrey: 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 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'something very universal about stories, and i think

that's what maybe people respond to. jeffrey: 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. jeffrey: 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 surpred to discover that i could laugh a day after my father died, and it was 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 going to be fine. and i just was not prepared for all of that. jeffrey: 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 extended 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. jeffrey: 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 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. jeffrey: 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 reads, 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 is really 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 trying to say the unsayable. and writing is the only thing that helps me do that. and reading, i should say. and reading as well. jeffrey: alright, the book is "notes on grief." chimamanda adichie, thank you

very much. >> thank you. it's lovely talking to you. judy: president biden has set a goal of 70% of americans to have their first covid-19 vaccine by july 4. to get there, states and cities have to be creative in their vaccine distribution. as gabriel kramer from pbs station ideastream in cleveland reports, small local businesses, like barbershops, are stepping up to help. gabriel: 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 offering the covid-19 vaccine. >> we are a trusted entity in the community. they know urban kutz. they know me.

gabriel: 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 who 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 i guess, it feels like they're trusting me with their lives. gabriel: 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. 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, at the very least i could support him, while helping others at the same time. it's all about community, anyway.

gabriel: 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. so i figured, while i'm working, i can just go. gabriel: 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 different kinds of 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. gabriel: 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.

judy: such a great idea. creative and has everyone pitching in. and that is "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. ♪ consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bnsf railway. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed

to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. 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. >> 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.]

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