captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight... >> we the jury, find the defendant travis mcmichael guilty. >> nawaz: ...all three men involved in the murder of ahmaud arbery have been convicted in a case that was seen as a measure of racial justice in the united states. then, desperate journey-- kurdish migrants return home after being used as pawns in a geopolitical struggle between belarus and the european union. >> ( translated ): we reached lithuania. they beat us and sent us to belarus. then belarus sent us back to lithuania. it's like they were playing football with us. >> nawaz: and, defending earth. nasa launches a mission to deflect an asteroid in a major test of game-changing technology that could protect our planet from future celestial threats. all that and more on tonight's

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thank you. >> nawaz: three white men were found guilty today on multiple counts of murder and other charges in the killing of ahmaud arbery, who was black. greg mcmichael, his son travis mcmichael and neighbor william "roddie" bryan were convicted on charges of felony murder for chasing and killing arbery in georgia last year. bryan and greg mcmichael were acquitted of malice murder, which is connected with intent to kill. the verdict was closely watched around the country. >> the state of georgia versus travis mcmichael, case number cr000433. jury verdict form. count one, malice murder. we the jury find the defendant travis mcmichael guilty. guilt >> nawaz: the three could face life sentences in prison. before video of the shooting was leaked, it was more than two

months before anyone was arrested. ahmaud arbery, who was never armed, was shot in february 2020 while he was jogging in brunswick, georgia. the mcmichaels' pursued him in a pick-up truck and bryan joined them moments later. they claimed arbery resembled a suspect in a series of break- ins. after a struggle, three shots were fired, two of which struck arbery in the chest. moments after the verdict was read today, a crowd erupted in cheers outside the glynn county courthouse. and arbery's mother, wanda cooper-jones, spoke of her son. >> i just want to tell everybody thank you. thank you for those who marched, those who prayed. most of all the ones who prayed. >> yes, lord. you guys. lord. thank you. now, quez, which you know him as ahmad, he will now rest in peace. >> amen! >> nawaz: arbery's murder and this trial proved to be another key moment in the ongoing conversation around racial

justice and the legal system. paul butler is professor at georgetown law and a former federal prosecutor. he joins me now. paul butler, welcome back to the "newshour". thanks for being with us. so this is obviously an incredibly high profile case. even president biden issued a statement in response to the verdict. paul butler, generally speaking, what went through your mind when you heard the verdict today? >> amna, in her closing statement to the jury, the prosecutor had this refrain, it was the 911 call that one to have the defendantsmade when -- that one of the defendants made when he said his emergency w wasblock" man running." in those words, there's an american history of racial violence and white supremacy and unequal justice under the law, and you might say that, today, these jurors disrupted that history. criminal trials are not designed to be instruments of social

change, they're about bringing individual wrong doers to justice. but sometimes verdicts reveal something out social progress. today, we learned that, in glynn county, georgia, in a trial in which three white men hunted down and killed a black man, those men were convicted by a virtually all-white jury. in this country, that counts as progress. >> nawaz: paul butler, we don't always hear from defendants in cases but travis mcmichael took the stand in his defense. in hindsight, what do you make to have that decision? you know, defendants in murder cases typically don't take the stand, but when self-defense is an issue, jurors like to hear from the accused person. they want to know his story. travis mcmichael didn't have a story to rebut the compelling evidence that he didn't act in

self-defense, that he started the fight when he chased mr. arbery and then shot him, but there was no legal justification. so whether he took the stand or not, i don't think, made a big difference based on the prosecution's evidence. >> nawaz: self-defense was central in this case and in the trial of kyle rittenhouse in wisconsin. kyle rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges. both mcmichaels and mr. bryan were not. and i have to mention after the rittenhouse verdict, you said he is now the poster child for reareactionary white men who sek to talk the law in their own hands. >> each of the three men he shot posed a deadly threat to him, he

said. one grabbed his gun, another attacked him with a skate board and a third aimed a gun at him. in the georgia case, mr. arbery was unarmed, so it was harder for those defendants to say they thought he was going to kill him. another difference is mr. rittenhouse had a $2 million legal defense fund that allowed his lawyers to stage two practice trials, one where mr. rittenhouse took the stand, and another where he didn't take the stand. so, as far as we know, the defendants in georgia didn't have those resources. >> nawaz: paul, if there was no video in this case, do you think we would have the verdict that we saw today? >> if there was no video in this case, i don't think we would have had a prosecution. remember, no charges were brought for months after these defendants killed mr. arbery. on the day they killed him, they were allowed to go home. it wasn't until the video of

mr. arbery's tragic death went viral that the police and prosecutors acted interested in this case at all. >> nawaz: all three men will now go to federal court in a matter of weeks to face federal hate crime charges as well. based on what you' seen in the past, paul, what do you expect to happen there? >> in the federal case, the defendants are charged with hate crimes, which means, if they are convicted, their sentence will be enhanced based on racial animus that the jury finds. in the state case, the prosecution rarely brought up race. it had evidence of racism by the defendant, but it didn't use that evidence. the most disturbing was that one defendant said that travis mcmichael called mr. arbery the n word after he shot m. we can be certain that the prosecution will try and get that evidence in, in the federal

case. i think, in the state case, the prosecutors were concerned that -- i think in the state case, the prosecutors were concerned about looking like they were injected race in the case, especially before this virtually all-white jury. they gambled in the state case that they could win their case without this evidence, and they were right. i'll be interested to see if the defense changes its tactics with regard to race in the federal case. in the state case, they consistently evoke race, including the problematic ways one lawyer complained there weren't enough white men over 40 in the jury pool. that same lawyer tried to get black ministers excluded from the courtroom. another defense attorney talked about mr. arbery's long, dirty toenails. but this virtually all-white jury did not let them get away

with those racist tropes, and that's a sign of progress. >> nawaz: paul butler, former federal prosecutor, now professor at georgetown law. paul, good to see you. thanks for your time. >> always a pleasure, amna. >> nawaz: the u.s. economy has churned out striking new numbers, with unemployment claims at their lowest since 1969 and inflation at its highest since 1990. the labor department reported today that first-time applications for jobless benefits fell to 199,000 last week. and, the commerce department found consumer prices rose five percent in october, from a year earlier. the higher prices contributed to a rise in consumer spending, up 1.3% last month. the european union warned today that a record new rise in covid cases is threatening the bloc's economic recovery. a number of european governments

have reimposed restrictions. and, the world health organization says vaccines have given people a false sense of security. >> even in the midst of a very, very strong resurgence in cases and even in the midst of some of those countries under huge pressure in their health systems, we are seeing pre- pandemic levels of social mixing, gatherings and many other things. and the reality is the virus will continue to transmit intensely in that environment. >> nawaz: austria went into lockdown mode this week, and slovakia approved its own lockdown today. france will announce new restrictions tomorrow. at least 31 migrants died today, trying to sail from france to britain. their boat sank in the english channel, off calais. four suspected traffickers were arrested later. this was the deadliest such incident yet. attempted channel crossings by people fleeing afghanistan, iraq and elsewhere have grown sharply this year. in germany, three major parties have agreed to form a coalition government, two months after national elections.

olaf scholtz, leader of the center-left social democrats, will become chancellor. that will end angela merkel's 16 years as chancellor, leading the major center-right party. the coalition also includes the pro-business free democrats and the environmentalist greens. sweden's first female prime minister, magdalena andersson, resigned today just hours after she was appointed to the post she won parliamentary approval today as prime minister, then lost a budget vote. with that, her coalition partner, the greens, quit the minority government, and andersson stepped down. >> ( translated ): although the parliamentary base appears to be unchanged when it comes to the government, it ought to be tested by parliament anew. for me it's a question of respect but i also don't want to lead a government where there could be reasons to question its legitimacy. >> nawaz: andersson said she is still interested in leading a one-party government run by her center-left social democrats. back in this country, millions of americans were on the move today, as thanksgiving travel

neared pre-pandemic levels. that's despite higher gas prices and a new surge in covid-19 infections. lines of people were seen at airports in houston, miami, new york and elsewhere, and highways were full. the travel group a.a.a. estimated well over 50 million people headed out for the holiday. president biden has tapped shalanda young to lead the white house office of management and budget. she has been serving as acting director. if confirmed by the senate, young would be the first black woman to lead the budget office on a permanent basis. and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average lost nine points to close at 35,804. the nasdaq rose 70 points. the s&p 500 added 10. still to come on the newshour: partisan wrangling over district maps could decide control of congress. author john feinstein discusses his new book on racial struggles in sports. the history behind the white

house tradition of pardoning thanksgiving turkeys. plus much more. >> nawaz: thousands of migrants remain trapped at the border between belarus and poland; now with the snow falling, and many living without shelter. they're pawns in a standoff between the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenka, and the european union. and while many migrants remain, many have decided to return home. in a moment, special correspondent simona foltyn will report from northern iraq on some who've returned there. but first, producer ali rogin starts with the situation in belarus. >> reporter: on the belarus side of the border with poland, migrants who once hid in the woods are now stacked in government warehouses. they clamor for electrical

outlets. they use outdoor hoses to bathe in the freezing cold. it beats sleeping in the forest, but not by much. despite the shelter, the migrants are still left out in the cold; caught in a power play by europe's last dictator, alexander lukashenko. >> lukashenko has orchestrated the migrant crisis on the border, and it's retribution for e.u. sanctions. >> reporter: melinda haring is the deputy director of the eurasia center at the atlantic council, a nonpartisan think tank. she said that as lukashenko became more authoritarian and more isolated in the west, he sought ways to appear legitimate. >> so he is saying, i control the migrants. i'm in charge of the situation here, and you're going to have to negotiate with me. >> reporter: his regime used social media campaigns: offering visas, direct flights and hotel reservations to people in iraq, syria and afghanistan. they lured migrants to belarus with the promise of getting to the european union. but when they arrived, authorities abandoned them at european borders. in response, the european union

threatened new sanctions. in the past week, camps on the belarus side of the border have disappeared. >> it reached such a fever pitch that lukashenka had to back down. >> reporter: belarus sent some migrants to the warehouses, and many others back towards europe. these siblings, from syria, said belarus officials drove them to the polish border. >> ( translated ): they forced us every day to cross the polish border. they told us "you either die in belarus or you keep pushing towards poland." >> reporter: an aid group found the siblings, and polish border guards reviewed their documents. but most migrants on the polish border are treated harshly, leading to scenes like this, pushed out by belarus state tv, of clashes between guards and civilians. aid workers say poland set up an exclusion zone from which they are forbidden. stefan lehmeier is the deputy director of europe programs for the international rescue committee, a humanitarian group. >> anybody who is in there and needs help can only get that

help from local residents if those local residents respond or happen to find them. we cannot go in and help them, and even ambulances are turned away. >> reporter: he said poland won't process asylum claims. >> these asylum seekers know that they will have a hard time having their asylum claim assessed by poland. they know that most likely, if they get caught here in this country, they will be pushed back into belarus, which would be disastrous for them. >> reporter: poland says it is fighting a russian-backed scheme to destabilize europe. >> ( translated ): unfortunately, this is only the beginning of a longer crisis that lukashenko's regime has caused, probably directed by the kremlin. it is an attempt to breach the eastern border of nato and the european union. >> reporter: but the scenes on the border play straight into lukashenko's hands. >> ( translated ): we need to show the poles that we are not barbarians. we don't want any escalation, but we will protect those hapless folks as much as we can. >> this is a great opportunity for lukashenka. lukashenka can get in their face and say, you guys are

hypocrites. you say you believe in international law. well, how on earth are you pushing people back to belarus? >> reporter: sick of being pawns in a long game, cold, tired, and abused, many migrants are now heading home. >> reporter: i'm simona foltyn, in northern iraq. this is the final stop of a two- month-long odyssey to reach europe: a half-finished house in a dusty, desolate suburb of erbil, the capital of iraqi kurdistan. this kurdish family of eight sold all their belongings and borrowed $20,000 to pay for the journey to belarus, in hopes of reaching germany. instead, they became pawns in the geopolitical tug-of-war between belarus and the european union. jeehan harbi tells me their story >> ( translated ): we reached lithuania. they beat us and sent us to belarus. then belarus sent us back to lithuania. it's like they were playing football with us. >> reporter: for weeks, they camped out in the forest,

braving freezing temperatures. jeehan's husband dhiyab, pictured here, was badly beaten by border police on both sides. the sixth time lithuanians forcibly returned them to belarus, the family decided to return home-- traumatized, humiliated with the heavy burden of repaying their debt. >> ( translated ): i have nothing left here. i will work as a daily laborer to return the money, but i don't know if i'll manage. >> reporter: the family is among hundreds of iraqi kurds who've returned over the past week, many on government repatriation flights. to claim asylum in germany, jeehan and dhiyab had planned to cite threats and the kidnapping and killing of a relative during iraq's sectarian conflict in 2007, when they lived in the sunni arab majority city of mosul. but they've lived in kurdistan for 14 years now. what's really driving them away is poverty and what they call an unjust government. >> ( translated ): they don't do a good job for the poor people.

they just work for themselves. >> reporter: he is referring to the kurdistan regional government, or k.r.g., which runs this part of iraq. kurdistan is often described as a beacon of stability. the region has better infrastructure and services than other parts of iraq, and has offered refuge to persecuted minorities and activists fleeing violence elsewhere in the country. but beneath this veneer of stability, many kurds don't see a future amid a prolonged economic crisis d rising authoritarianism. kurdish officials, however, blame their woes on long lasting disputes over oil revenue with the federal government in baghdad. >> ( translated ): the k.r.g. has above one million civil servants, but unfortunately we've been cut off from the full budget and payments from baghdad for seven years. >> reporter: in the nearby town of rania, the city center teems with unemployed men.

those we spoke to blamed not baghdad, but nepotism and corruption inside kurdistan's own government, long dominated by two families and their respective political parties. these two friends are both recent university graduates. one is a licensed lawyer, the other a microbiologist who graduated top of his class. neither has been able to find work. >> ( translated ): if you have political support, you can go far in many fields. but if you don't have political support, nobody will hire you. >> reporter: and so the only option they see is to head for europe, no matter how. the window of opportunity to reach the e.u. through belarus may be closing, but already, travel agencies here in iraqi kurdistan are offering package deals for other european countries. a ticket and visa to croatia for example, sells for $7000. it's a price many here are willing to pay. we meet a man who facilitates trips to europe through a group

on the messaging app telegram. he claims that he isn't a smuggler, but wanted to remain anonymous in fear of authorities. he explains how the process works. >> ( translated ): people will give the money to an intermediary in erbil. when they reach their final destination in germany, they will confirm that they are at a certain hotel in germany and the intermediary will release the payment to the smuggler. >> reporter: the kurdish government has vowed to crack down on these networks. but without addressing the structural issues fueling the latest exodus of iraqis, the crisis at europe's borders is likely to endure. for the pbs newshour, i'm simona foltyn in iraqi kurdistan. >> nawaz: nasa has launched a satellite into orbit on a

mission to smash itself into an asteroid. it's a test to see whether it is possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were on a collision course with earth. we should say, the asteroid targeted in this case is not a threat to our planet. to break it all down, i'm now joined by pbs newshour science correspondent miles o'brien. miles, welcome back. always good to see you. tell us a little bit about this mission panned what n.a.s.a. hopes to accomplish here. >> well, as you just mentioned, it's the first spacecraft launched to test the idea of defending earth against an asteroid or a comet that puts a bulls-eye on us. it's a refrigerator-sized spacecraft, launched on top of a falcon 9 rocket in the early hours to have the day from vandenburg space force base in california. so far no problems, a $310 million mission. ten month journey, millions of miles to an asteroid, they're focused on its tiny moon.

dart is expected to impact the asteroid on september 6. mark your calendars. >> nawaz: dart, of course, stands for. >> it is the double asteroid redirection test,nd it's called that because it's a binary system of asteroids. didymos, the big one is 25 feet long, epic, and its moon dimorphos is about the size of the washington monument. dart is aiming for dimorphos. the idea is to nudge it, crash in and change the speed just enough, literally a centimeter per second or .02 miles per hour, doesn't sound like much, but if you nudge something like that far enough ahead of the date of impact, it could turn a city killer into a near miss and fun night for astronomers. >> nawaz: traveling a long way to hit a small bulls-eye, how will they pull it off and how will we know if it works.

>> we're going to have photographic proof. it is 6.8 million miles away. it's a tiny little rock, a feat of navigation ingenuity, but it's not hand flying. no way you could do that. it will home in on the little asteroid autonomously. and just crash right in, we hope. there is a tiny cube set that's attached to the big spacecraft that will separate right before impact. has a couple of cameras on board and it will document it, and we call that the money shot, amna. we know what this might look like. in 2005 there was a spacecraft called deep impact, it plowed into a comet called tempel-one. the goal of that mission wasn't planetary protection but rather just to kick up some dust and look and see what the comet was made of. but they found out it did change its orbit. >> nawaz: we should be clear this particular asteroid is not

a threat. but how big is the concern about astroid like it or a comet striking earth and causing some kind of calamity? >> dimorphos is the size of a kind of object that hits earth every few thousand years, amna. it would cause regional devastation. it's a big deal. we live in a rough neighborhood. want proof, take a look at the man and craters. most get covered up on earth including the giant crater $65 million after a big asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. city killers are more common. in 2013 we saw a 60-foot asteroid exploded in russia, equivalent to 30 atomic bombs and injured 1500 people because they all went to their wain dose and the windows broke and many people got cut. the most important thing really is to catalog all these objects. we know where 90% of the earth enders are, so we're ahead of the dinosaurs. but we still have a lot of work to do on the larger but not that

large objects. only 30% of those regional disaster rocks have been identified. so we have a lot of work to do. >> nawaz: so sending a refrigerator size spacecraft millions miles away to nudge a asteroid off course, is that the best plan we have if something were to target earth? >> we could recruits a team of misfit oil roustabouts led by bruce willis sent out to blow them up, but maybe we should leave that to hollywood. the impact idea is just one idea. the other idea is a gravity tractor, a spacecraft that would be near an object, overit or orbit it and perturb its trajectory enough to move it out of harm's way. and if the chips are really down and there wasn't much time and bruce willis was holding out for more money, you could launch a nuclear bomb into space and explode it year a big object hoping to nudge it out of our direction and out of harm's way.

let's hope that doesn't happen. >> nawaz: here is hoping. here is hoping. miles o'brien, "pbs newshour" contestant. always good to see you. >> reporter: welcome, amna. >> nawaz: political lines are changing, as states across the country redraw their congressional maps, a process with huge implications for the balance of power in washington. lisa desjardins has more. >> desjardins: the decennial redistricting process is in full swing. the stakes are even higher than usual, because the margins in congress are so tight. democrats control the house of representatives by just three seats. due to population changes, this year six states, most in the south, gained a congressional district, with texas adding two more seats. in turn, seven states, largely

the rust belt, will be losing a seat. adding to that drama, consider: these maps are being made in a pandemic and amidst razor-sharp political divide. to dive in, i'm joined by two redistricting heavyweights, david wasserman of the "cook political report," and colby itkowitz of the "washington post." let me just start by setting the table for the two of you. in just a few words, can you describe this redistricting process right now? david. >> it's an arms race and republicans have an upper hand in it. they're likely to benefit in terms of seats by a modest amount. but the biggest victim in all of this gerrymandering is competition. we're likely to see the number of competitive seats in the house reduced by as much as a third >> desjardins: and colby? >> i would add to that disappointing for voting rights advocates. for voters who over the last decade had approved ballot initiatives by huge margins asking for politics and partisanship to be taken out of

this process. and in so many states, it still remains to be the case that politicians are drawing lines and choosing voters instead of voters choosing them. >> desjardins: okay, let's dive in first with the where. looking at some of the maps we've picked to illustrative state and we're going to start with illinois. first of all, here is what the state congressional maps look like at thisoment before they are changed. you see, red and blue divide red republican, blue for the democrats and of course yellow for competitive states. then here is the new map as it stands right now you see a change with that more blue growing and that night, that new blue district through the middle in the bottom. david, what's going on in illinois. >> this is pretty aggressive democratic gerrymander and currently illinois 13 republicans and five democrats. governor j.b. pritzker just signed a map into law that aims to give democrats 14 seats to just three for republicans. now of course, just because you draw a map doesn't win you

doesn't mean you automatically win the seats. democrats could still see a couple of districts backfire on them if they have a bad cycle. but it just goes to show the lengths to which parties go to to try and entrench their advantage. >> desjardins: let's talk about the lone star state with the two seat pickup texas. here is what the texas congressional map looks like right now. you notice those competitive seats, they're down around houston and a little bit north. here is where texas is moving to the new map. you see now more blue states and not just one strip of yellow becoming more partisan. colby, texas is a state that has gained largely because of the gain in its most diverse population. what do these seats mean what's happening there? >> so as the about four million new population found in the census, in texas, more than two million of that came from latinos and latinas did not gain a new district in this map.

and so there's a lot of litigation going on about that particular issue. now, when you look at the map, it looks like it's pretty fair democrats, to your point there is more blue of the two seats. one is going to democrats around austin republicans are taking the other. the republicans have strategically done is they've shored up there and come in and they've also taken away competitive seats. there's only that one competitive seat left. and what that means is that the demographics of texas continue to change as more latinos continue to move into the state. they're trying to ensure that those competitive seats wouldn't have turned blue. now they're saving republicans for the better part of the next decade. >> desjardins: and of course, both of these states, like many are going to see a number of lawsuits over all of these maps. in the meanwhile, i also want to ask you all about the who, who is drawing these maps, the map makers, we've seen something changed this year. that's really interesting. i want to show our viewers, which states have independent redistricting commissions, you

sum all that up as i know you have david and more than a quarter of congressional seats are being mapped out by these independent redistricting commissions. david, what are the maps made by those independent commissions look like so far? and what do we think that means in the in the end? >> so colorado and montana, both of which are gaining a seat have commissions, they've passed maps that create districts that could be competitive next year, but commissions are a big reason why democrats are at a disadvantage here because a number of blue states like california, new jersey, virginia, colorado, washington state, they've adopted these reforms, whereas redder states like texas, have not and so republicans have the power to draw more than twice as many congressional districts as democrats. and that's a reason why their favorite for house control next year. >> desjardins: one thing about

these commissions i'm not sure everyone understands the idea of an independent commission are we seeing examples or where are we seeing examples that perhaps the state legislature still is intervening in here when perhaps voters wanted something outside of the legislature to act? >> one state that we're still waiting to see what they do is new york, new york, voters passed what was called an advisory commission, an advisory commission went around the state of independent actors were that were put on this commission. they went around new york holding public hearings, they put together maps and they went aroundolding hearings again on those maps. but it's not binding. and so the map that they put together, the democratic legislature, in new york with a democratic governor can just override what they did, and draw a map to their advantage. and like dave said the democrats are at such a disadvantage in this process overall, is that you look to places like illinois and new york, do you think do the democrats unilaterally disarm? or do they try to draw lines as much to their advantage as possible, so that they can try to keep the house. >> desjardins: one last question for you both.

can you talk about the arms race as i think you called it? david, how much money is going into all of this? how much does this process impact who is in charge in our government versus other things we talk about, like voting rights, all of those debates. explain to viewers what's involved in the stakes right now, david? >> redistricting tends to get less attention than fights over voting procedures but it's much more consequential to outcome. that's why the parties are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into legal fights and, and strategy over redistricting. keep in mind that because neither congress nor the supreme court has acted to put up any guardrails against gerrymandering and state supreme courts could be the last backstop against the most extreme impulses of partisans who are in charge of drawing maps essentially choosing their own voters to benefit their own party's electoral prospects. >> desjardins: colby what stakes do you see? >> absolutely. i mean, nancy pelosi is holding on to the house like you noted by a very, very slim margin.

and so when you draw these lines, any little bit, you know, a shift of the seat here a seat there, couldn't be in the republicans take control in 2022. and so there is so much at stake, there legal fights in almost all of the states that have drawn maps the republicans are going to find places like illinois, like maryland and new york and the democrats are gonna hype everywhere else and you're gonna see this thing play out for years and years and years just to try to get back in theater to because that's how process processes. >> desjardins: not getting a lot of sleep right now and we appreciate it, david wasserman and colby itkowitz, thank you both. >> thank you. >> nawaz: many americans will be catching up on their share of football on thanksgiving and into the extended weekend. and as sports fans know, the n.f.l.'s approach to a number of

issues around race and politics have been the subject of much debate and concern. judy woodruff has a conversation about a new book that examines the larger struggles in that league and others when it comes to race. >> woodruff: activism, politics and racial discrimination have long intersected with sports. but many athletes have become more vocal in recent years about those issues. pro football's colin kaepernick put himself front and center when he took a knee back in 2016 to protest racial injustice and treatment by police. a new book looks at these and the many other battles black athletes have long faced. it is called "raise a fist. take a knee: race and the illusion of progress in modern sports." its author, sportswriter john feinstein, joins me now, and john feinstein, welcome back to the newshour. >> judy, always good to be back. thanks. >> woodruff: you have written, what is it, more than 40 books,

almost all of them about sports. >> right. >> woodruff: but you told me that this may be the most important one. >> it is to me because of the subject matter. i've written about a lot of different people in sports, as you well know, in different sports, but, for years, doing what i do, i've -- i think i've had some understanding that race plays a role in our entire society as we see all the time nowadays, but very much in sports. it's not hard, if you're a player, to get a chance to play because playing is a m meritocracy, but getting a job as a head coach in the n.f.l., getting a job as head coach in football, basketball, general manager jobs, c.e.o. jobs, those are much harder and there are numbers that back up tse facts. in fact the last 20 n.f.l. jobs that opened, 75% of the players are black, two black coaches have been hired, and believe me when i tell you there are plenty

of qualified candidates for these jobs and they're not getting them. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about that. starting with football, we know that a lot has changed with regard to black athletes and what they were able to do in football. it was, what, not too many decades ago blacks were considered unfit to be a quarterback. >> right. >> woodruff: but today, if you list the half dozen or so top quarterbacks in the country -- patrick ma hones, dak prescott, lamar jackson -- they're there at the top, but it's been a tore clues path. >> it has been. going back to marlin briscoe the first quarterback who played in either the a.f.l. or the n.f.l., 1968, denver, he was second in the rookie of the year voting and never got a chance to pay quarterback in the n.f.l. again. james harris, the first black quarterback to start for a team that went to the playoffs, was told he would be drafted much higher than the eighth round if

he would change positions. that's what they did in those days, ask black quarterbacks to change positions because they were fast and not "smart enough" to play the position. even know with all the progress we've made, that's the reason for the subtitle, lamar jackson when he came out of louisville in 2018 told to change positions, 15 years after briscoe, became a wide receiver, running back, and he refused. four white quarterbackser are drafted in the top ten, lamar jackson only went in the first round because he was last pick chowedden by rozy newsum the first black manager in the n.f.l., and we know what happened, lam jackson has become an m.v.p. and the best to have the group and loves to come in after a game and go, not bad after a running -- for a running back. (laughter) >> woodruff: colin kaepernick famously took a in a six years ago.

he was singled out, attacked by former president trump. has he been blackballed by the n.f.l. because of race? >> the thanksgiving coming up? absolutely, 100% he's been blackballed, not because of race but because he knelt, because he took on the establishment, because he said i see wrong and i'm going to not stand up for it but kneel for it. people forget, he was the starting quarterback in france the last 11 games in the 2016 season then couldn't get a job. nobody would sign him even as a backup. there are 64 quarterbacking jobs in n.f.l., and he wasn't -- all of a sudden he wasn't one to have the best 64 quarterbacks. n.f.l. people largely through the white media claim, oh, he wasn't as good a player, he couldn't get a job because he wasn't that good. no, he couldn't get a job because he was blackballed and roger goodell basically admitted

it. >> woodruff: you dedicate the book. one of the people you dedicate it to is a college basketball coach john thompson, famed coach at georgetown. tell us about him. you had a tempestuous relationship and he said he wanted you, a white man, to write this book. >> after he retired, we became friends. he became a mentor to me. john was as smart a man i knew in any walk of life. when i knew i wanted to try to write a book like this was during a 2017 anthem protest, when i would sit in the football stadium and hear 90% of the fans boo the players 90% who were black kneeling, and i went to see john and said i want to write a book about race in sports and he laughed and said in his deep voice, you might as well try to ex plan the holy trinity, pointed at me, and said, but that's why you have to do it.

several of my colleagues said the same thing. i can't claim to understand the black experience, but i can't claim to understand what it's like to be a big time college basketball coach and i've written about them years and years because i have been able to talk with them. same with this book. i talked about 100 guys, all of them had different stories, but i think they were stories that need to be told. >> woodruff: not all black ahletes have chosen to be activists. we think of michael jordan, tiger woods and others, but you write in the book about how every -- and you talked to scores of black athletes. >> i did. >> woodruff: every single one of them, you said, it's as if they have two jobs -- one is to be -- you know, to do their job, but the other is to be a blackman. >> yes. >> woodruff: you talked about driving while black. >> driving while black. i did not interview one black person who had not had at least one experience with driving while black, pulled over for no apparent reason and the first question is always where did you

get this car? pause a black person in the minds of many police shouldn't be driving a nice car, especially at night. there's a story that doc rivers, the coach of the philadelphia 76ers told me about one of his teammates kenny norman making the mistake of stopping to get gas in south central l.a., and the next thing he knew, he was across the hood of his car with hand curves on because the cops pulled up and just assumed the car was stolen. my favorite story was about colin jones the olympic scwimmer who went out to walk his dog one night, and a police car went by, made a u-turn, came back and the police officer said, where did you get that dog? it's my dog. what kind of dog is it? bulldog terrier. how long have you had it? since he was a puppy. and the guy goes, okay, and drives away. i said to colin, well, you're the first person i interviewed who was a victim of walking dog while back, that was different. >> woodruff: last thing, fans. you talked about the fans reacting over the last few years

to what's happened. what role do they play in this? >> that's a great question. i think they affect management with the way they react to activism, that if management senseups that fewer people are going to buy tickets, that tv ratings might go down, tv ratings went down in 2017, and, you know, donald trump was saying, that's all because of all these guys kneeling. i don't think it was because of that. but i do think that management is very conscious of that. >> woodruff: such an important story. so many important stories in here. "raise a fist. take a knee: race and the illusion of progress in modern sports." john feinstein, thank you very much. >> judy, thanks for having me. happy thanksgiving.

>> nawaz: in between muscling the "build back better" act through the house of representatives and departing for the holiday, president biden made time for another executive duty: the pardoning of two turkeys. lisa desjardins is back with this report on how the thanksgiving tradition began. >> i pardon you. >> desjardins: a new president carrying on an old thanksgiving tradition-- ( turkey gobble ) >> desjardins: before leaving washington for the holiday, president biden spared two lucky turkeys, peanut butter and jelly, from the dinner, or lunch, table. >> i have to admit to you, my wife doesn't like to admit it, that's what i like for lunch: peanut butter and jelly. >> desjardins: sprinkling in political dad jokes, biden said he's nuts about progress on hi“" build back better” bill and joked about his bird in the hand, the new infrastructure law. >> folks, turkey is infrastructure. peanut butter and jelly are going to help build back the

butterball as we move along. >> desjardins: this tradition has happened every november for the past quarter-century. but there are some, let's say, ruffled feathers, about how it all got started. >> president truman was the first president to pardon a turkey. >> desjardins: nope, not true. truman was the first president to receive a turkey from the national turkey federation. but there's no record of a pardon. according to the white house historical association, truman instead quipped that the birds would come in handy for christmas dinner. so, who was the first president to save a turkey? lincoln is the first on record. after the appeal of his young son, tad, the christmas turkey became a pet. president john f. kennedy was the first to spare a thanksgiving bird. in 1963, despite a sign hanging around the turkey's neck that read, “good eating, mr. president,” kennedy sent the gobbler back to the farm. richard nixon followed, retiring his turkeys to a nearby petting zoo.

ronald reagan carved out a spot in history by being the first to use the word “pardon” when talking turkey in 1987. the tradition became formalized in 1989, with president george h.w. bush. >> let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone's dinner table, not this guy. >> desjardins: the event has become a centerpiece of white house holiday tradition. >> this is the eighth i have had the privilege to meet and set free in the rose garden. >> desjardins: some birds have more flare than others, like jerry the turkey who sported a white house pass around his neck in 2000. and some years add more fun, like in 2004 when the george w. bush white house let online voters choose the turkeys names. >> this is an election year, and biscuits had to earn his spot at the white house. biscuits and his running mate, gravy, prevailed over the ticket of patience and fortitude. >> desjardins: the tradition

adjusts to the times. last year, president donald trump pardoned “corn” and “cob” at a time when the pandemic kept most families apart for thanksgiving. the president offered hope for a reprieve from disease. >> we give thanks for the vaccines and therapies that will soon end the pandemic. >> desjardins: in contrast, this year's event, post-vaccine, featured a live jam-band, a spread-out crowd, toasts and puns about booster shots. >> yes, instead of getting basted, these two turkeys are getting boosted. >> desjardins: all peanut butter and his wingman, jelly, know is that their journey from a farm in jasper, indiana won't end in an oven or fryer this thanksgiving. they're heading back to the hoosier state to be academics, or at least near academics, living out their days at purdue university. for the "turkiest" newshour, i'm lisa desjardins.

>> nawaz: for many of us, including myself, the covid-19 pandemic has felt like a rollercoaster. infections are down, then up. mask mandates are put in place, then dropped, then required again. poet jasmine gardosi was asked by the british charity national literacy trust to write a poem about the pandemic, which she did... riding an actual roller coaster. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> this pandemic? absolute rollercoaster. wild. but i'm trying to carry on as normal now. that's what everyone else seems to be doing. and i should be grateful we've got our freedom back. look at the direction we're going in, on the up. finally emerging into the light, back out there.

in the real world. yeah, my social skills have gone off the rails but... i'm getting them back on track. we've turned a corner, in a good way. i've loved going back to sweaty gigs, and sitting on trains full of people, and shaking hands with absolute strangers, and coughing once and thinking it's covid. the path forward is clear... so clear. we've done the hard work, so shouldn't it be downhill from here? see? everything's fine. it's going smoothly. i've found my rhythm. i'm in control. we've taken a turn for the better and then for the worse and then for the better and then for the... why does it feel like we're going backwards, and round in

circles at the same time? okay, you want the truth? i'm still terrified. i freak out in crowded places. i can't tell where my o.c. ends, and acceptable covid anxiety begins. i'm afraid so i stay home, i lay low, i say no. no matter what's happening with the number of cases, we're still riding through our own waves, like my shielding friends; they're still isolated. we're on the same coaster, different carts. same play, different parts. same storm, different boats, holding different floats, wearing different coats. just do whatever makes you feel safe. it's more than okay to go at your pace. we've still come so far, even if we're technically in the same place.

>> nawaz: and on the newshour online, covid cases in michigan are spiking just as flu season begins, which means school districts across the state are abruptly canceling classes, moving classroom instruction online, and other unusual measures to keep kids and teachers safe. read more on this growing turmoil, on pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: the rules of business are being reinvented, with a more flexible workforce, by embracing innovation, by looking not only at current opportunities, but ahead to future ones. >> people who know, know b.d.o.

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lidia: buon giorno. i'm lidia bastianich, and teaching you about italian food has always been my passion. it has always been about cooking together and ultimately building your confidence in the kitchen. so what does that mean? you got to cook it yourselves. for me, food is about delicious flavors... che bellezza! ...comforting memories, and most of all, family. tutti a tavola a mangiare! announcer: funding provided by... announcer: at cento fine foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic italian foods by offering over 100 specialtys for the american kitchen. cento -- trust your family with our family. announcer: authentic and original -- amarena fabbri. taste of italy for brunch with family and friends. amarena fabbri -- the original wild cherries in syrup.