captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: boosters. an f.d.a. advisory panel authorizes another shot for johnson & johnson vaccine recipients, ages 18 and older. then, it's friday. david brooks and jonathan capehart analyze president biden's efforts to alleviate supply chain issues and navigate republican pushback to vaccine mandates. and, filming a revolution. a musician's mission to bring archived footage of a 1969 concert series, and its call for social justice, to audiences today. >> this is not just putting a concert together.

this is-- this is correcting history. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> fidelity wealth management. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm

raymond james. >> b.d.o. accountants and visors. >> 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 friends of the newshour. >> 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: an f.d.a.'s advisory panel has endorsed a booster dose for another covid-19 vaccine. today's action involved johnson & johnson's single-shot vaccine.

the f.d.a. advisers said the extra shot can be administered two months after the initial vaccination. we will get details, after the news summary. attorneys for nikolas cruz say that he will plead guilty to murdering 17 people at a high school in parkland, florida in 2018. they announced it as cruz appeared at a court hearing today. the defense said he will also plead guilty to 17 counts of attempted murder at a hearing next week. a jury will decide later if cruz gets the death penalty. in afghanistan, at least 47 people were killed today, and 70 wounded, when suicide bombers attacked a shiite mosque in the southern city of kandahar. the carnage came during friday prayers. afterward, locals cleared away debris, as witnesses described a coordinated strike. >> ( translated ): after the attackers came, they fired on the guards and threw a hand grenade.

one blew himself up in the corridor, and the other entered the mosque and detonated his explosives as worshipers were busy with prayers. >> woodruff: tonight isis has claimed responsibility. they have carried out several deadly bombings since the taliban seized power in august. a long-serving conservative party lawmaker in britain was stabbed to death today. it happened as sir david amess met with constituents in a town east of london. investigators combed the area for evence, as people paid respects with flowers and notes. police arrested a 25-year-old man. there was no word on a motive. across lebanon today, schools, banks, and government offices closed in mourning for seven pele killed in gun battles. shiite muslim and christian militias fought for hours in beirut on thursday. one woman told today of how her daughter-in-law died. >> ( translated ): sniper shots were coming from the buildings

on the other side, and they shot her while she was still in the house. she is the mother of five children. she's young. my son's family is ruined. what should he do? >> woodruff: the violence was some of the worst since lebanon's civil war ended in 1990. back in this country, the biden administration says it's going to the u.s. supreme court to stop a texas ban on most abortions. a lower court left the law in place last nht. the statute bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. a u.s. capitol police officer is now accused of obstructing justice after the january 6 assault on the complex. michael riley was arrested today. federal prosecutors say that he warned one rioter to take down incriminating posts on facebook, and kept him updated on the f.b.i.'s investigation. a former chief pilot for boeing's 737-max program was

pled not guilty to federal fraud charges today. prosecutors say mark forkner hid information about an automated flight control system. it was later implicated in two crashes that killed 346 people. on wall street today, major indexes wound up their best week since early summer. the dow jones industrial average gained 382 points today to close at 35,294. the nasdaq rose 74 points. the s&p 500 added 33. for the week, the three indexes were up 1.5% to 2%. and, former president bill clinton spent a third day hospitalized in southern california. an aide said the 75-year-old is recovering from a urological infection. president biden spoke with mr. clinton by phone today, and said he's doing fine. still to come on the newshour: some 30 countries unite in the global fight against ransomware. david brooks and jonathan capehart analyze president

biden's battle against anti-vaccine mandates. one city's recent efforts to honor a black man whose land was taken away from him decades ago. and, much more. >> woodruff: the f.d.a. panel that recommended a second shot of the johnson & johnson vaccine today has been busy the past two days considering whether more americans should get a booster dose, and when. william brangham helps us break down what people need to know. >> brangham: that's right, judy. in addition to their j&j recommendation, this panel also looked at whether mixing doses from different manufacturers can improve protection against the virus. their recommendations still have to be approved by the

f.d.a. and the c.d.c. we explore this with two people. dr. celine gounder is an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at new york university's grossman school of medicine, and cares for patients at bellevue hospital center. and, dr. ashish jha. he is the dean of brown university's school of public health. good evening to you both. thank you both for being here. dr. goundre, the second dose to have the j&j vaccine is recommended for all adults 18 and older. johnson & johnson is a funder to have the "newshour", we should say. but the company got roughed up today during the testimony. there was questions about their data. one panelist seem to suggest that this should have been a two-dose vaccine all along. all that said, do you think the evidence for this booster is merited in? >> look, i do think it was noble to try to have a single dose

vaccine. from the perspective of operations logistics, with an additional dose of the vaccine you boost the immunity with the johnson & johnson. >> reporter: dr. jha, could you remind us why we're actually having this conversation about boosters? is it because the vaccines are slipping somewhat in their efficacy? is it because the delta variant is so pott? why are we having this conversation?

>> william, it's a critical question. the reason we are having this is twofold. one, we are saying some waning of the effectiveness of vaccines, typically about six months after the second dose for the mrna vaccines and two months after the j&j vaccine. the other is the delta variant and affect people with such high viral loads that you need a very high level of protection to keep yourself safe. we're finding, six months after the vaccine, it's just no longer as good as it needs to be, particularly for high risk people where a breakthrough infection can end up being a rale problem. that's what we saw in israel, in european countries and starting to see here in the united states. >> reporter: dr. gouender, there was a discussion today about whether or not people can mix and match vaccines. there wasn't a vote taken on that but seems there was support for that idea.

again, explain why someone might want to do that. if i took a why do i want to have a shot of b next time around. >> well, think of it like maybe a mug shot of a criminal. if you have two different photographs, one from the front, one from the side, you have a better chance of recognizing that person out in public than if you only have one snapshot. similarly, these vaccines give your immune system different ways of looking at the virus, and, so, your immune system has a better shot of recognizing it down the line. >> reporter: i love this idea of the virus having a mug shot and we see two sides of its face to try to figure out better how to get it. dr. jha, a broader question about the pandemic. i mean, we are seeing a couple of weeks of pretty good news, cases, hospitalizations and deaths all seem to be on a downward trajectory. i mean, we are still losing, we should say, somewhere around 1,800 people a day, which is, of course, tragic and we become

somewhat enured to these numbs, but do you have a sense of why the numbers are seeming to trend downward now. >> we are seeing dramatic falloffs in infections in the south. my sense of it is part of that is driven by the fact that the deep sth tends to be very, very hot over the summer and, so, people spend a lot of time indoors, and where it's cool people can spend a good deal of time outdoor, that's helping. we're seeing this come up with the delta variant without a clear explanation that it does steep rises, lasts about two months and then turns back down. we saw this in the u.k. and india. so there's an element that's not fully understood. but i amot so convinced yet the country is completely out of the woods. it is getting colder here in the north. in the midwest and great plain states where vaccination numbers are still low, i remain worried

there are parts of our country that are quite vulnerable to more cases of infections and deaths so we have to be more careful as we go into the fall and winter. >> reporter: dr. gounder, a similar question to you, i don't want to portray this as light at the end of the tunnel, but do you think this trend will continue and we might have a rough fall or winter or do you think this might be a change for the better more permanently? >> well, i do think we need to be cautious, particularly in parts to have the country where people will be spending more times indoors, so the northeast for example. in addition, we do see a bump in the transmission of respiratory viruses, whether sars-cov2 or influenza or regular cough and cold viruses in the winter months and especially around holidays like thanksgiving, christmas, new year's when people are traveling more. so i do think we will see maybe not an extreme surge like we've

seen over the course of the summer but i think we'll see an increase in cases later this fall. >> reporter: dr. jha, about this cyclickicle nature you were describing, i think it's very frustrating for people who like t think we're near the end of this, can we be done with the mitigation measures, are we done or not, what do you mean i have to wear masks again. this is described as us lurching between crisis and complacency. this is a challenge for health officials in we don't know how to communicate we're not sure how the rollercoaster is going to go. >> there's a complexity. it is not like we have no information or no idea. we are pretty confidenthis fall and winter will be clearly better than last one because there is so much population immune at this. it is hard predict the pumps up and down but the bumps are getting smaller. i believe the worst of the perching is behind us at this

point. that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. we have some tough days. the key point is pandemics are always -- they're always changing and they always pose new challenges and we just have to be flexible as we get through the next three to six months. there might be periods of time when we're relaxing indoors, and others where we can relax the restrictions. we need to be flexible in the month ahead. >> reporter: dr. gounder, in this conversation on potentially the waning of this pandemic, there's discussion of whether the virus whether become endemic. can you explain the terminology, what does that mean and do you think we're headed in that direction? >> i do think we're heading toward the virus being endemic. what that means is you have an ongoing steady level of transmission of the virus in the community. you're not having big surges like we have been having over the course of the last two years now but you do have ongoing

stable transmission. that does mean that it is important that everybody get vaccinated, if you've not en exposed to this there's a decent chance in the next couple of years you certainly would be, and you would still be at risk for the disease and other severe consequences of getting infected. >> reporter: dr. jha, last question to you. we're seeing these panels and recommendations for boosters coming out, and we believe these approvals will continue to come. is it your sense that we will need boosters going forward, that we may all get a second or third booster now, but then, down the road, six month, a year, two years, that we might be doing this, reuing these over and over again? >> yeah, that is my sense. i think, given the contagiousness of delta and given that my sense is it's going to be the variant that's going to be with us for a while, we'll see periods of time where you have waiting immunity and people are going to need to get

revaccinated or boosted up again. my best guest is it will probably be annual for a while the way we get flu shots, and that is something our system can handle. our system can handle that. but i think the idea this would be the last shot we ever get in our lives, probably not. we should be ready for the next few years, maybe an annual booster for this virus. >> reporter: all right, dr. ashish jha and dr. celine gounder, always good to see you both. thank you very much. >> woodruff: the treasury department said today that u.s. companies are paying $102 million in ransomware payments every month. the white house this week convened leaders from 30 countries to coordinate efforts against what has become a growing, global problem. nick schifrin has that story.

>> schifrin: just in the past six months, ransomware hackers debilitated one of the u.s.' largest meat producers, and a crucial pipeline. they disrupted ireland's national health system. and, they are currently wreaking havoc in an israeli hospital system, which had to cancel all non-emergency procedures. at this week's virtual conference, the countries pledged to improve cooperation in law enforcement; inhibit, trace, and interdict ransomware payments; and harden infrastructure. anne neuberger is the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology. she organized the conference. and she joins me now. anne neuberger, welcome to the "newshour". so talk about this conference. this was the largest multi-national gathering to discuss ransomware. what specific commitments did you get from these displunts. >> ransomware is a transnational threat. i'll unpack that with the example you used, the israeli hospital. in that case, you could have the human attackers in one country, the exchanges that they use to facilitate the movement of

elicit currency in a second, registered to one country, operating in a third country, and the infrastructure from which they conducted an attack and yet a fourth, fifth or sixth country. so we brought countries together to really coordinate our fight against ransomware, and the key takeaway was countries talked about what's working today in that cooperation, where the gaps are and committing to working together to, across those gaps t fight ransomware more effectively. >> reporter: many of the most pernicious cyber criminals operate from inside russia. china is a leader on cyber espionage. why was china and russia not invited? >> from a russia perspective president biden established a white house to kremlin discussion on ransomware when he last met president putin in the summit in june and we've had candid and direct exchanges in that exchange regarding ransomware and regarding criminals operating from within russia. so we felt that was the most

effective way to address that. you noted from a chinese perspective, we did similarly an attribution regarding china harboring ransomware actors a number of month ago. but with regard to who was included, we brought together countries who have a stake in addressing the components, building resilience. tracing currencies,ism matting diplomatic norms and disrupting the actors. this was a first meeting to have the set of country and we look forward to including more country in the fight moving forward. >> reporter: the u.s. has shared with russia specific names of cyber criminals who operate inside of russia that it wants to see prosecuted by russian authorities, and we ha seen a few of those cybercriminals go dark. is that because the russian government has crashed down on them? >> i won't speak to the causes at this moment. what we're focused ton is the outcomes, and we're really looking to see a reduction in core disruptive ransomware

attacks against critical infrastructure overall and, certainly, the information that we've shared has been to provide information regarding that and looking to the russian government to take key next steps. >> reporter: you said you're focused on outcomes. you suggested in the past that you've sen some signs that ransomware groups have responded to administration essure. but with all due respect, how would you know if ransomware is improving if the f.b.i. says it only has visibility into only 25% of ransomware in the u.s.? >> it's a good question. ransomware is a tough threat, and one of the challenges the u.s. government has is having adequate visibility because so many ransomware attacks are not reported, and that the one to have the reasons why encouging notification to the u.s. government when ransomware attacks occurs o we can better trace the attacers, trace the infrastructure they use drive disruption efforts is so important. what we're focused on fundamentally are the four

approaches to disrupt ransomware and seeing and testing each one of those approaches, as i noted and looking to see what are the outcomes. overall, do we see a reduction in ransomware? you noted the limited investment the u.s. government has and that's why're working so closely with the private sector to se what they see as well and to incorporate that into our overall strategy. >> reporter: those disruption methods you've discussed and were in the joint statement do not include offensive operations. do you believe the u.s. should, as cyber expert recently suggested, reveal criminals' details, take down payment servers and hack the hackers as the u.s. did against i.s.i.s.? >> we're trying a lot of creative approaches. not all are we public about or can talk about, but we're fully committed to ensuring that it's a lot harder for attackers to use global infrastructure, global currency exchanges to pursue their pernicious work. >> reporter: you've tried as you mentioned tonight to crack

down on cryptocurrency but some inverts in cryptocurrency are pushing back saying that they do not want to share the details of any of the holders of that cryptocurrency. how can you actually solve this problem without those investors' support. >> two questions, one ise really believe in the innovation that cryptocurrency brings -- for example, access for the unbanked. we also believe that we need to crack wn on illicit use of cryptocurrency. in some ways the public nature to have the block chain makes cryptocurrency, there's greater visibility into various transactions. know your customer rules which they're accountable for, under current regulatory practices where they need to know who's opening an exchange account and report that is the path we'll use. it's currently required under u.s. law for a cryptocurrency exchange for somebody to look into opening an account is this a legitimate use for investment,

legitimate transactions, purchasing a painting, whatever the purchase is, or is it somebody using to launder illicit funds as ransomwareware attackers do. >> reporter: anne neuberger, deputy national security advisor, thank you very much. >> thank you, nick. >> woodruff: from supply chain bottlenecks, to the vaccine mandate debate, and the virginia governor's race, it's been a busy week in politics. and that brings us to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that is "new york times" columnist david brooks, and jonathan capehart, columnist for the "washington post," who is joining us tgt from home. and we welcome both of you on this friday night. very good to see you. jonathan at home, we love the flowers. >> they're back is that they're back. jonathan, let's start with -- i love this term supply chain, so

much attention on this, bottle bottlenecks, people can't get what they ordered on time, president biden trying to get around this by telling the ports they have to stay open 24-7 or at least working with the ports to get that done and taking other steps. in the end, though, this is largely a private sector thing, it's an international phenomenon. do the american people -- do you think voters will get that? >> no. the short answer to that question is no because you put your finger on it, judy, the president of the united states doesn't have any control, really, over the economy, doesn't have any control over private industries and whether they're shipments get in or get out. however, this is always a political problem for the president of the united states, no matter who that person, is no matter what the party. but the problem for president biden is going to be he ran on competence.

he ran on being the person following a very chaotic presidency that was going to bring order to politics but also competency to executing the duties of the job. i know i just said that the president has no control over the economy, but that doesn't matter to the american people when, you know, their goods don't come in on time or they can't find a job or their wages aren't going up, they don't care about the intricacies of why that is, they care that the president of the united states said things would be better and they're not better. that is the political problem that the president has here in all this. >> woodruff: so how much of a headache is this for the presiden >> you know, i think pretty significant, as jonathan said, when people see the economy, they don't care what's causing it they're in a bad mood. if they're in a bad mood because they can't get christmas prentsz e presents, they'll take it out

on the politicians. the worrying thing for me is the inflation rate is much higher than many economists said and it's in real estate, rental is going up, housing costs are skyrocketing. when you have rents and wages going up as fa as they, are that leads to long-term inflation. the worry for me, this whole supply chain problem is caused by supply and demand. incredible amounts of demand because people were locked down for a year and a half and not so much supply because the factories and the ports e shut down. we now have huge demand. we're about probably, possibly, to spend another $3.5 trillion, pour that into the economy, that's going to further increase demand and possibly further increase inflationary pressures. for the people trying to pass this reconciliation and infrastructure bill, it has to be a bit of a concern that they're about to create even more inflation. so i'm not sure biden is to blame but it does have policy effect on how we talk about

these gigantic bills. >> woodruff: there is reporting they will negotiate that number down, but, still, jonathan, what are a president's options when it comes to something like inflation? i mean, you and david both agree there are limits to what a president can do, so what are the options? >> i mean, i guess the option is to look at the fed chairman and say, please do something to tamp the breaks as much as you can on inflation. but, you know, to switch gears a little bit, i think the administration is hoping to pick up on what david was just talking about in terms of the 3.5 reconciliation bill. the president, today, said flat out it's not going to be 3.5 trillion. you know, a couple of weeks ago, the signals were there that 3.5 trillion is not going to be the number that it has to be lower and that that's what the battle is going on in terms of,

you know, the negotiations on bill. jen psaki was on with the save america guys, the guys she worked with in the obama administration, and the key thing is urgency. these negotiations aren't going on forever, this must get passed. today einterviewed labor secretary marty walsh who also had the similar message that the provisions of the build back better act are needed and they are needed now, and, you know, when we're talking about supply chain disruptions and we're talking about inflation, when we're talking about american families hurting, from the biden administration's perspective, no, they don't have control over the economy, but what they have control over which is passing a reconciliation and an infrastructure bill, they want to get that done. and whether that adds to

inflation or not remains to be seen because there's no bill to talk about jut yet. >> woodruff: how much does timing matter in all of this, whether they get it passed? you know, they're saying reeled love to get it done by the end of october, people are saying it's not realistic. >> it doesn't matter that much. the inflationary worries are an argument for phasing in what they want to do and make it slower so you don't get a big burst of demand. what's puzzled me is politics operates on the position if a politician does something for you, you reward him or her with support. politicians have poured $5.2 trillion into people's pockets, literally written them checksics and it has not helped the politicians at all. donald trump did not see his favorability nor joe biden saw their favorability go up when they wrote a check. you can do great favors for people and they don't reward you. this is unusual. so it could be that political

favorability is at the attached from what kind of services are being offered or could be, which is what i suspect, the voters will punish you for bad things and not reward you for good things. that's not a good position to be in if you're the president of the united states. >> woodruff: talking about the headaches that president biden is dealing with right now, jonathan, he's been arguing, the pandemic is underway, companies need to man date, as much as they can, employers need to man date that people who work are take the vaccine, getting a lot of pushbacks from the republicans, from republican governors, where do you see that battle doing? >> i'm just going to repeat what you've said on our air many times, it is reprehensible that republican governors are standing in the way of public health officials from being able to help their states and their communities get a handle on this

pandemic. the idea that a governor would stand in the way of private enterprise from being able to say to their employees, you know what, you need to have a mask, you need to get the vaccine if you want to continue working here. this is not supposed to be political. this is supposed to be about public health, and the sooner we get a handle on the coronavirus pandemic, the sooner all these things we have been talking about, unemployment, inflationary pressures, the need to have a reconciliation bill and an infrastructure bill to get people back to work won't be necessary. but when you have rev governors like ron desantis in florida or governor abbott in texas doing these things, they're politicizing ago public health emergency and they're also slowing down the economic recovery that the people in their states desperately need. >> woodruff: so it is political, it has become political. >> yeah, and i agree h

reprehensible is a good word for it. a political bait and switch. some things are matter of community, communal health and safety. a stop sign is a matter of communal health and safety. this vaccination is a matter of communal health and safety. to say it's a matter of liberty is not true, they're just making it so political. second, we're learning that the people who are not taking the vaccine, most of them are not adamant vaccine haters, they're hesitant. they've got some underlying health issues or they're just concerned or low trust in the healthcare system often for good historical reasons, and if you mandate it, turns out they get the shot. so let's say united airlines has 60,000 capitol police, only 232 said no. so if you mandate it, turns out it works, people get the shot and that increases public health. so it's not like they're forcing people to do things, they're nudging them to do what's in the

common good. >> woodruff: you're saying people themselves are not always motivated by politics. >> it's not like they're a bunch of tucker carlsens saying, no, this is turny, they have concerns. if you nudge them, if you try to explain, if you have trusted people saying, no, the vaccine is safe, they will get the vaccine. >> woodruff: jonathan, in the couple of minutes we have left, i want to turn you both back to the virginia governor's race. we've talked about it a little bit before. this week, we had president trump in virginia at a rally again saying the 2020 election was stolen from him, but among other things, the crowd was asked to pledge allegiance to a flag that flew over the united states capitol on january 6th. the republican glenyunken didn't answer a question about it at the time, later he said he thought it was the wrong thing to do, but where are we headed on this issue?

other republican candidates may be asked to do the same thing. >> you used the word i used earlier, reprehensible. glenyunken was not there. his running mate was there but left before the program got started. but the fact glen yunken did not automatically and vigorously denounce what happened at that rally is very concerning. terry mccull luff jumped on it right away hammering him over this and right ofly so. sure, this is happening in the virginia governor's race, but that video that you just showed and what it represents is more than virginia, it is about our american democracy and how there are people out there who ae wallowinin the big lie, pledging allegiance to flags that were flown over a rally

that was part of the insurrection that sought to overturn a free and fair election in this country. that should not be a democratic issue, that ought not to be a republican issue, that should be an american issue and glen should have jumped out there immediately and said that is wrong and i don't want any part of it, yet he didn't. >> woodruff: just 30 seconds. i give him a little more credit. when i read the transcript of what he was asked, it wasn't clear to me he understood. he might have thought the question was about the pledge of allegiance, not about january 6th. when he knew it was about january 6th, he then said it was weird and wrong so he was clear. the question is whether voters are going to vote on donald trump. my impression is they will vote on the economy and covid, the issues that directly affect them, not so much donald trump, but i could be wrong. >> woodruff: well, we have a date certain when that election takes place. we will find out. david brooks, jonathan capehart,

thank you both. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: a newly-dedicated park outside st. louis, missouri is one of the latest attempts to reconcile a decades-old wrong brought about by eminent domain, the power that governments have to seize private property for public use. historically, urban renewal and eminent domain have separated hundreds of thousands of african americans from their property, and locked them out of generational wealth. i'm joined now by our st. louis community reporter, gabrielle hays. welcome, gabrielle, this evening. so this all happened, started back in the 1950s. tell us what happened in st. louis. >> yeah. so dr. howard p. venable was a

musician, an month mole gist, a man of many talents, after medical school, getting married and having a daughter, he wanted to buy a home. in 1956 he bought two plots of land and wanted to build a house on one. the issue is the people in his neighborhood and local government didn't want him to live there and, so, they pulled out all the stops including the eminent domain doctrine to make sure he couldn't live there. so they went back and forth through the court, he sued several times, and in the end he lost and had to move to baldwin hills and that's where he settled until he died in 1998. >> woodruff: what argument did the city usen taking his property and did they end up compensating him? >> yeah, so they used the eminent domain doctrine, which allows the government or governments to seize land for public use if they provide

compensation. the thing was dr. venable wanted to keep his land and he wanted to live there, so he fought and fought as long as he could. in the end, we're told by people who tracked the case and by documents, that, in the very end, i believe in 1959, he was paid31,000 to settle that action. and, so, that's important to consider, especially when we talk about now because, if you look at homes who live -- who sit or homes that sit on that street, they've gone for over $1 million, right. so you think about him getting $31,000 in the '50s, and what that would look like today that matters. >> woodruff: as you said, he fought it for years. his family hasn't forgotten, and just recently there's been something dedicated in his honor, in his memory that his family has insisted on. what are they saying about all this right now?

>> yeah, so the family has been involved from the very start. the city acknowledged what happened. they're sort of journey started in 2019, they established a task force. they have been to work with the family to try to figure out how to move forward, right, and how to make sure this story isn't forgotten. so they created a task force, they've rededicated that land to dr. venable, so now it bears his name. but the family also wants to make sure that it doesn't end there, in fact his nieces and nephews said this can't be a one off, right. that can't be the end of the road is changing the name on the sign and even the city recognized this as well, so their hope and what they're asking for is not only that the name of the park be changed, but also for there to be an annual day of recognition and for there to be some type of program to make sure that people of color have an equal opportunity to live in that neighborhood.

they want a financial contribution to washington university in dr. venable's name to ensure that students have an opportunity to learn there. so they are very much so part of this process, but for them it's bigger than just acknowledging the story, it's about making sure that it moves forward and that no one forgets. >> woodruff: so important to tell the story. gabrielle hays, our community's reporter in st. louis, thank you so much. >> thank you >> woodruff: and you can read gabrielle's full report on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: it was the summer of 1969, and video cameras captured a series of concerts harlem, featuring artists who

would go on to become musical legends-- the likes of stevie wonder, nina simone and gladys knight. but for decades, no one s interested in the footage. the musician known as questlove took up the challenge, in a documentary that brings history to life. it's part of his ongoing work in music, a also, now, in a new book. jeffrey brown talked with questlove recent, for our arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: the musicians? some all-time greats. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the music? lifting you to the sky. the setting? the harlem cultural festival, in 1969. all of it-- stunning and amazing to see, and in 2021. but even more mind-blowing? how close it came to being lost forever. the moment you saw what happened here, you knew you were on to something? this was something big? >> absolutely, yeah.

and even to be here and to see this structure? like, i definitely remember this shot. >> brown: the renowned musician ahmir thompson, better known as questlove, made his directorial debut this year with the acclaimed documentary "summer of soul." but when we met recently in marcus garvey park, the site of the original concerts 52 years ago-- when it was still called mount morris park-- he told me he hesitated to take on the project when first shown the archival footage. >> i was just like, no, this is too much responsibility. like, this is not just putting a concert together. this is correcting history. and i didn't know if i was worthy enough to be in the position, to be the person that leads the charge. >> brown: a very specific time and place in history. through a series of concerts attracting some 300,000 over six weekends in the hot summer of 1969, the film documents a

musical revolution as it was taking place. it also captures expressions of black pride and power, and demands for social justice. that offered thompson another way in. >> it wasn't lost on us that, literally at the same time that we're in the editing process of the film, suddenly there's a political charge in the air that was just like 50 years ago. and then, once the knob started, turning up a little bit more with the black lives matter protests, then i was like, wow, like, the same exact things that we're editing right now is happening in real time. >> brown: questlove, now 50, is a man who clearly loves to connect-- to different kinds of music, art forms, histories. he's been around music his whole life, joining his parents in soul and doo wop bands, even as a child. ♪ ♪ ♪ he first came to fame as the drummer and co-founder of the roots, the hip-hop band founded

in philadelphia in 1987. ♪ ♪ ♪ the roots started as house band on "late night with jimmy fallon" in 2009, and have continued with "the tonight show." he's a d.j., producer, songwriter, author. he even hosts a food program, looking at love of cuisine, and at equity issues. and, he's deep into a lifelong role as music educator and historian. >> i'm one of those people that, when i learn something, i get excited, and i feel special and i feel, like, smarter. people want to feel enlightened. so, for me, my thing is, like, i want to be the guy that throws e alley-oop shot, and then you put the ball in the hoop, and then you feel like, i did that you know, i helped a little bit. but that, to me, that's the important part. >> brown: his new book, "music is history," is a kind of playlist of songs that speak to

events since 1971-- the year he was born. but it's a questlove-style playlist: lesser-known songs matched with events in unexpected ways. >> i personally believe that music is a polaroid shot of life. and the way that i remember history, i frame it through music. >> brown: you're not picking the best known, or most loved-- >> not even the best known. you know, i'm still trying to provide a play-- i'm trying to plant seeds. >> brown: early hip-hop, he says, offered him a kind of education: learning about music through sampling from earlier recordings, while connecting to contemporary issues in the lyrics. >> hip-hop planted seeds. between '88 and '92, i went to the library a lot to look up old articl that, you know-- to do those scroll things that they do at libraries. i mean, we have the ternet now, but back then, you had to

stay at the library for eight hours. that was my internet. and i kind of wanted to do the same thing. this time, i'm using history to drop seeds on music that people should discover. >> brown: but even the classics can fa off the map. thompson told me of teaching at n.y.u. and realizing how few of his students knew of an album he-- and many-- consider a milestone of popular music: ♪ ♪ ♪ michael jackson's 1982 "thriller." >> if there's a chance in time for people not to know, like michael jackson's "thriller"-- "was that a thing back in the day?" like, that's when i knew, well, everything's up for grabs. like, i can never take for granted that history will be remembered. and it's not a glamorous. like, who gets in the rap game to want to be, like, your hall monitor teacher. "okay, class"-- ( claps ) like, that sort of thing. >> brown: time to remember history. >> but, you know, i guess you could say i'm music's hall monitor. ( laughs ) >> brown: there's another connecting thread in his work,

one embedded in the "summer of soul" film project. ♪ ♪ ♪ 1969, of course, was also the year of woodstock. and the film that came out the following year helped define and enshrine an era and its music. the harlem cultural festival was shot by a director named hal tulchin, with hopes it would become a film-- but he never found a distributor, andhe footage sat in a basement for decades. >> and i wondered, if this film were allotted the same path, like, would it have found me? ♪ ♪ ♪ for a lot of-- not even african americans, but just people in general that love music-- i just thought instantly, this film could have changed lives. >> brown: it raises the question of what gets remembered in american culture. what gets honored. woodstock did; the harlem cultural festival did not. why has it been so hard to preserve black music?

>> i'm so in love with music and just, the passion that i have for it, i want people to see the magic that i see. ♪ ♪ ♪ and oftentimes, because black creators aren't seen as artists or in importance, like, their canon isn't held up the same way-- it's often seen as disposable. our history's disposable. and that, to me, that's the true meaning of-- my definition of what black lives matter means. it's that even our creations, our art, our stories are just as important and life-changing. ♪ oh, happy day oh, happy day ♪ >> brown: some very good news: ahmir thompson-- questlove-- says since the film came out, he's heard from archives all over the country telling him of other largely unknown treasures. that means there's more to come.

for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in marcus garvey park in harlem, new york. ♪ oh, happy day oh, happy day ♪ >> woodruff: ken mascara has been the sheriff of st. lucie county in florida for the past 20 years. he has seen funding for mental health facilities plummet, and as a result, more and more mentally ill patients end up languishing behind bars. tonight, he gives his "brief but spectacular" take on making county jails safer, and smarter. this piece was filmed prior to the pandemic. >> well, if you have a loved one that's suffering from mental illness, it would only take a split second and a bad decision for them to end up in a county jail. a couple of years ago, we had

a-- i think he just turned 18 years old, act up, in a school. he was subsequently arrested for battery, i believe, brought to this facility. and, he was severely autistic. he did not have parents. he was in a-- a foster home. it took a-- a enormous efft. my-- all of our partners, to get him removed from r.g.l. into a in-tient treatment facility. here's a kid that should have never been in our facility. never. >> i'm the sheriff of st. lucie county. i've been here for 20 years. get a designated driver. if not, th holiday season, these might be the only lights that you see. over the past two decades, we've seen funding from the legislature diminish to mental health, in-patient, and out-patient facilities and programs.

so, people who do suffer from mental illness have no place to go. for law enforcement agencies that deal with mental health individuals, they tend to bring them to jail, because there's no other place to bring them. last year, it was roughly around 35% of our inmates that are on psychotropic medications. we were never, ever in a position to handle such severity of mental health inmates. we do have a section of the jail carved out that our mental health inmates reside in. and, of course we separate them from every other inmate, because we are a detention facility and awaiting inmates to go to trial. we have some inmates that have been here five or six years with us, during the pendency of their trial. how do we shift jail beds to treatment beds? it's going ttake money. it's going to take a committed governor, a committed legislature that funds these initiatives that really addresses mental illness, as well as drug dependency. we have many programs here that

we initiated that divert people out of our jail and, in general, out of the criminal justice stem. and i think, in the long run, those will benefit not only the inmate, not only the criminal justice system, but our community. you know, there's a sheriff-- i won't mention his name-- that always titled himself as being the toughest sheriff in america. i want to be known as one of the smartest sheriffs in america. my name is ken mascara, and this is my "brief, but spectacular" take on the tragedy of mentally ill in county jails. >> woodruff: and you can watch all our "brief but spectacular" episodes at www.pbs.org/newshour/brief. thank you for speaking out on that. and, be sure to watch "washington week" tonight. my colleague yamiche alcindor moderates a discussion of the latest on the january 6 investigation, political culture wars, and the nation's economic challenges. that's tonight on pbs. and coming up on newshour

weekend, a special two-part report on the growing "land back" movement, as some native american tribes choose to buy back ancestral lands taken from them. that is tomorrow and sunday night on pbs newshour weekend. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here monday evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and have a good weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the landscape has changed, and not for the last time. the rules of business are being reinvented, with a more flexible workforce, by embracing innovation, by lookingot only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. resilience is the ability to pivot again and again, for whatever happens next. >> people who know, know b.d.o.

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