captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> in the darkest time for our country, for the whole of europe, i call on you to do more. >> woodruff: a plea for aid. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy implores the united states congress to increase its support of his country as russian forces carry out their brutal assault. then, one on one. we speak with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell about the ongoing war in ukraine, and president biden's nominee for the supreme court. and, hate in america. one year after deadly shootings at atlanta-area spas, asian americans continue to face physical and verbal abuse amid a nationwide spike in violence.

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>> woodruff: "i think he is a war criminal." those were the words of president biden today, referring to vladimir putin and his campai in ukraine. civilians still bearhe brunt of the fighting, especially in ukraine's south. now entering its fourth week, the war shows little sign of letting up, despite negotiations between ukraine and russia. a daytime curfew is now in effect in kyiv, leaving streets emptied, echoing with shelling from russians on the city outskirts. that is where our jane ferguson is, and she begins our coverage again tonight. >> reporter: in ukraine's capital today, firefighters battled to put out a blaze after yet another brutal strike. civilians and their homes continue to be russia's targets of choice. the top floor of this residential building-- completely gutted. emergency workers frantically try to evacuate, or comfort, anyone alive. but there is no consolation.

residents look up as billows of smoke rise over their homes-- now rubble. nearby buildings were also not spared. natalya, who lives close to the explosion site, shows the remains inside her destroyed apartment. >> ( translated ): thank god we are lucky that we are alive and not injured. we had taped the windows, but the blast blew it anyway. >> reporter: hundreds of miles to the south, the port city of mariupol continues to suffer some of the fiercest fighting. this hospital, one of the few remaining to take in injured patients, is dealing with the slaughter of civilians. its basement used to be a food storage area-- now turned into a morgue. dead bodies lay waiting to be picked up. >> ( translated ): because all the other hospitals were bombed, and none could collect them. there's no emergency serces. there's nobody. >> reporter: and the greatest loss of all-- that of life barely begun.

this baby was 22 days old. to stop the war, president zelenskyy today urged the west to do more. speaking to a packed auditorium of congressional members this morning... >> ( translated ): is this a lot to ask, to create a no-fly zone over ukraine, to save people? is this too much to ask? a humanitarian no-fly zone, so that russia would not be able to terrorize our free cities. >> reporter: several hours later, president biden announced an additional $800 million of assistance to the embattled nation. the package includes anti- aircraft systems and small but lethal drones. >> this could be a long and difficult battle, but the american people will be steadfast in our support of the people of ukraine. >> reporter: meanwhile, there are cautious hopes of a potential breakthrough in talks between moscow and kyiv. today, both sides made progress on a peace deal that would

include a ceasefire, if ukraine promises neutrality and abandons its nato ambitions. but, russian president vladimir putin showed little sign of compromise. >> ( translated ): all our goals will be achieved. we will provide security for russia and our people, and will never allow ukraine to serve as a base for acts of aggression against our country. >> reporter: and he had a chilling message for those within russia who oppose the war and look to the west for progress: >> ( translated ): the russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors, and simply spit them out like a fly that accidentally flew into the mouth-- spit them out. i am convinced that such a natural and necessary cleansing of society will only strengthen our country. >> reporter: a senior u.s. defense official said today, russian forces remain mostly stalled. but today, for the first time, russian warships launched missiles near the key port of odessa. in the nth, russian soldiers continue to operate to northwest and rtheast of kyiv.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the federal reserve raised its benchmark short-term interest rate for the first time since 2018, in an effort to tame inflation. the rate had stayed near zero since the pandemic hit, but the central bank hiked it one quarter of a point today. fed policy-makers signaled there could be up to six more rate increases this year, but chair jerome powell said they will be flexible. >> we'll be looking to see whethethe data show expected improvement on inflation. we'll be looking at the inflation outlook, and making a judgment. and we'll be going-- each meeting is a live meeting, and if we conclude that it would be appropriate to raise interest rates more quickly, then we'll do so. >> woodruff: the fed also

predicted much slower economic growth this year. we'll explore all of this, later in the proam. wall street took heart from the fed chairman's statements, and major stock indexes rose 1.5% to more than 3.5%. the dow jones industrial average gained 518 points to close at 34,063. the nasdaq rose 488 points. the s&p 500 added 95. on the pandemic, the world health organization reports that cases are rising again, after falling for more than a month. new infections worldwide jumped 8% last week. the w.h.o. says the increase could be "just the tip of the iceberg." afghan refugees will be allowed to stay in the u.s. at least 18 months without being deported. the biden administration today granted temporary protected status to those already here, if they pass a background check. more than 76,000 afghans entered the u.s. after the taliban

takeover last year. iran today released two british-iranian nationals who'd been held for years. it came after london agreed to repay a 40-year-old debt of more half a billion dollars. charity worker nazanin zaghari- ratcliffe was arrested six years ago and convicted of plotting to overthrow iran's government-- a charge she denied. she was shown on iranian tv today boarding a plane. her husband and daughter waited in london for a long-delayed reunion. >> well, i suppose that we can stop being a moment in history and start being a normal family again. yeah, it's been a long time, hasn't it? we were just saying, you know, last night, gabriella was asking, "is mummy really coming back tomorrow?" i said, "well, i don't-- i don't know for sure. i think we're close to her." i'm mean, i now know, pretty surely, she is coming home. >> woodruff: retired engineer anoosheh ashoori was released after five years.

he had been convicted of spying for israel, which he denied. north korea has fired yet another missile, but this one exploded shortly after launch. south korea's military said that the failed launch took place just outside pyongyang, the capital city. there's no word on the type of missile, or whether debris and toxic fuel landed on civilian areas. an earthquake struck northern japan today triggering a tsunami alert and power blackouts. it was centered at sea, off fukushima, where a deadly quake and tsunami in 2011 left a nuclear plant in ruins. today's tremor shook large swaths of eastern japan, and offices and homes rocked violently in tokyo. more than two million homes lost power. and a huge sand storm from the sahara desert is sweeping across europe. the dust cloud reached as far north as london today, and as far east as serbia. the worst was in spain, where

hazy skies and dust covered much of the country for a second day. people in madrid worked to clean away the dust-- and to draw a clear breath. >> ( translated ): well, it affects me, because my lungs are not well. it affects me quite a bit. when i walk around here, normally, i don't take the face mask off. if i'm short of breath, i move it down a bit. >> ( translated ): yes, it affects us. all the dust has made it into the store and has stained the products. when a person walks in, you have to mop, so obviously it affects us. >> woodruff: similar storms blow out of north africa every year, but this one is carrying even more dust than usual. still to come on the newshour: the effect the federal reserve's rate hike could have on the u.s. economy. how poet cornelius eady is striving to expand and preserve his art form. plus, much more.

>> woodruff: we return to the war in ukraine now and to the nation's capital kyiv. our jane ferguson is there and joins me now. so, jane, tell us where things stand from where you are. >> reporter: right now, in kyiv, we have been hearing more explosions throughout the day, and those are on the perimeter, particularly to the north of the r of the city where russian positions are still continuing to bombard the city with artillery fire. now, we're actually in the middle of a long 36-hour lockdown here because the authorities, the mayor of kyiv said nobody could go out from tuesday night through today as well. there was a feathat this is a particularly tense moment in this war as it goes forward and, of course, there's a duality to that because, as we heard in the earlier report there, judy,

there are some potentially positive signs that there could be a peace deal or at least a cease fire on the horizon. but as often is the case with these things, you not only get intensive negotiations that may be making some progress, at the same time you have fighting all across the city. we've had all across in country we've had scenes of horror, whether or not it's mariupol in the south or here in kyiv or other cities like kharkiv on the east of this country, the bombardment continues. it's worth pointing out that russian forces here in the north just outside this city have not been able to move forward in any significant way, so they are continuing to rely on artillery and airstrikes across the country to try to edge forward while those peace talks happen. >> woodruff: and, jane, what are thought to be vladimir putin's options if a peace deal does not come together?

>> the reality is, judy, despite the incredibly strong words, his remarkable words today, when he gave the televised speech, his options are dwindling. we know that there has been a little bit of movement in those peace talks. officials here in kyiv have told us at the "newshour" that the tone from the russians has markedly changed, and, now, we know, also, of course, zelenskyy today in an impassioned speech called for that "no fly" zone. in reality, it's very unlikely he's going to get that. the "no fly" zone is effectively n.a.t.o. or the united states potentially in a hot war with russia. however, the other weaponry that is being sent, the defense systems, those are working incredibly well. the handheld missiles that the ukrainian forces are using to take out tanks and aircraft like

helicopters are working. that massively reduces putin's options. we also know from senior officials at the department of defense that the russians need to resupply. they did not plan to be moving so slowly in this country, they didn't plan to be stuck, to be bogged down, to be using artillery fire to try to get inside these cities, and, yet, the department of defense officials have also been saying that they haven't seen any movement to resupply. so it's not clear if putin is really going to try to push forward and is really going to try to take these cities with plan b, effectively to pummel them with artillery before coming in, in which case, would he even have enough troops to occupy these cities nevermind take them. so what we know is, here in kyiv, just a couple of miles from where we are standing, the russian troops are still there, waiting and trying to push forward and enter the city.

which why the capital's volunteers continue to pour into the war effort. they look like trained killers. but three weeks ago, they were living regular lives. one a barista, another an i.t. manager. all in their 20s. all holding a gun for the first time. in this crumbling industrial site in kyiv, they train to catch sleeper cells of russians in the city. how to repel an attack on a vehicle; how to protect government officials; and, how to face an enemy without hesitation. the russian invasion sparked calls for ukrainian civilians to join the fight to defend the country. over 100,000 responded to that call. three weeks ago, what were you doing? >> i was living my normal life. in normal lifei'm a director of greenhouse. i am a flower maker. in normal life. but today i'm a warrior, and i defend my country from russian enemies.

>> reporter: this 25-year-old goes by the nickname clahus. so, you went from being a flower grower to a soldier. your mom went from being the mother of a flower grower to the mother of a soldier. >> yeah, my mother, she prefers i am a flower-maker. but my mother is in kyiv, she is a volunteer, she is helping people. >> reporter: your mother stayed? >> yeah, yeah, because she is a local from kyiv, too. >> reporter: how does she feel about your job? >> she is scared, of course. every day she calls me, says "how are you? is everything okay?" >> reporter: he's part of a younger generation of educated, western-leaning ukrainians, who see the future of their country as democratic. >> ukraine last years before take right course, to europe, to independence, to freedom, to

normal life. i lived in poland five years, i studied in poland. and i have a lot of travels through world, so i see world and i know how it must be. not like in russia. >> reporter: their trainer-- the only one here who was in the army before the war-- has trained dozens of inexperienced men in just the three weeks since this war began. can you tell me what it's like to train a whole generation of young men who didn't plan to be soldiers? how do they take to this work? >> ( translated ): all of the guys are highly motivated, and they learn very fast. some of them have had certain skills, back from their civilian life. i think some of the ukrainian civilians with three weeks of training are better prepared than the regular russian army soldiers. we see this all across ukraine these days. >> reporter: part of that edge over russian soldiers, is that

these young men are fighting to defend their homes. resolve here goes a long way to make up for inexperience. patrolling the streets of kyiv at night, they are reminded they have much more to lose. so, you come from this neighborhood, you grew up here? >> yeah, i grew up here. >> reporter: so you know it? >> yeah, i know that street as the fingers of my right hand. >> reporter: do you still have family in this area? >> no-- my family now in europe, and i stay here to protect my city. >> reporter: so this is personal? >> yeah, of course. >> reporter: the mayor of kyiv announced a 36-hour curfew starting on tuesday evening. the volunteers scour for anyone on the streets after lockdown. as the capital kyiv goes into an extended lockdown, there is a

sense that things in the city are more tense than they have ever been. and yet, there is an opportunity here for peace. while politicians push for more talking, it's troops like this out on the street that worry that there could be spoilers here as well. as the russian military remains stalled on the capital's outskirts. we stop at a checkpoint on one of the city's main highways. this one entirely manned by volunteers from the neighborhood. these men say they are keeping watch for the russian invasion, and will call others from the neighborhood if they try to enter. >> ( translated ): we have to defend the country. we are defending it with bare hands. this is all that we have. we are not territorial defense, we are not military, we are self-defense. we gather together 10, 20 men, and we defend the neighborhood. >> reporter: waiting together in the frigid cold, the sound of russian shells landing is never far away.

>> ( translated ): i was a security guard before the war, and when this happened, i just couldn't sit at home doing nothing. i'm from western ukraine, but i was living here in kyiv, and i decided to stay here and will stay here until the end of the war. we must win this war. >> woodruff: the newshour's reporting on ukraine is supported in partnership with the pulitzer center. and for more on the situation in ukraine, and ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy's plea to congress today for more aid, i spoke with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky moments ago. leader mcconnell, thank you very much for joining us today. between what you heard from president zelenskyy this morning and the facts on the ground that you're learning, do you think there will be a significant increase in american support for ukraine? >> i sure hope so. the president really needs to step up his game. he has frequently done the right

thing but never soon enough. >> we now know where we are, the russians are in the country. we need to do everything we can to give them the tools to fight with. many of these tools are in the hands of eastern european n.a.t.o. allies who are anxious to help, and it appears, for example, in the case of the soviet era migs that our administration is discouraging the n.a.t.o. allies from doing everything they can do. we should encourage them to send everything that would be helpful, and we have aproved loan gar tees in a package last week to give the countries new american equipment to upgrade the systems that they sent into ukraine so that their own

defense is not diminished by their helping their ukrainian neighbor. >> woodruff: the polls we're talking about sending the migs from a n.a.t.o. base in germany. you say you're comfortable with the n.a.t.o. doing that because they said this could lead to a dangerous outgrowth of what already is a big conflict. >> i disagree. putin is not trying to start a war with n.a.t.o., he's got his hands full in ukraine, and what i don't like is putin determining the conditions under which we assist ukraine. the ukrainians need help, they need it now. particularly do they need the kind of weapon systems that go after not only helicopters but higher-flying planes, those systems are nearby in eastern n.a.t.o. countries.

they want to help them. we ought to be facilitating it rather than discouraging it. now the one place i agree with the administration on is we can't have a u.s.-enforced "no fly" zone in ukraine. that would, indeed be a direct conflict potentially between us and the russians, but, short of that, we need to do everything else we can, and i fear that we're not doing that, and even when we do take the steps that are needed, not soon enough. >> woodruff: well, you're in agreement with president biden, then, on the "no fly" zone, but you may have heard president zelenskyy saying today that what's going on in his country could already be the start of wo world war iii. in other words, now is the moment to close the skies over his country. >> there are several ways to do that. i just mentioned to you, there are weapon systems available in eastern n.a.t.o. countries that can effectively deal with soviet

air power. they're from the ground. they're not airplane-enforced "no fly" zone. and we get those weapons to the ukrainians, i think they can do the job themselves. >> woodruff: in other words you're saying you have information that the u.s. is actively discouraging that. what i want to ask you, mr. leader, is president biden has received credit from many for holding the alliance together in an unusual way, in fact, with the war in ukraine. are you advocating that the u.s. get out front of the alliance? >> well i think vladimir putin has done a lot to unify n.a.t.o. it's been remarkable to see the finns and the swedes potentially deciding to become n.a.t.o. members, we'll see, public opinion has shifted dramatically there. you've had a total change in germany with direct shipment of weapons, with their increasing

their defense budget. vladimir putin has done a lot to unify n.a.t.o., and the president has been beneficiary of that. i commend him for the role that he played in it, but i think fear of the russians is the primary reasons we have the most unified n.a.t.o. we've ever had and putin certainly didn't anticipate that. >> woodruff: have you spoken privately with president biden about this in recent days? >> no, not lately. >> woodruff: and what about have you had conversations with president zelenskyy? >> not directly. i was among those this morning listening to his inspired speech, talking to the ukrainian ambassador. they're having plenty of outreach to us. the ukrainians, i think, are doing a spectacular job of making sure. we fully understand the carnage that's going on there, the video that president zelenskyy showed today, it was very, very effective.

i think you've got broad bipartisan support in congress to push the administration to do much more quickly. >> woodruff: senator mcconnell, as you know, the biden administration is spending a lot of money to send military weaponry to ukraine. they announced another 800 million worth today. but when it comes to financial sanctions, one argument that's been made is that for them to be truly effective, there needs to be more financial transparency here in the united states. for example, real estate transactions, companies, investors should be registered in the name of the person who's actually making that investment. do you think that's the kind of reform that's needed here to back up sanctions on russia? >> well, on the sanctions front, i hope we're doing everything we can to shut down the accounts of the oligarchs and others who are involved with the putin administration and squeezing russia as tightly as we can in

every single way. i'm not sure exactly what ought to be done in the area that you brought up, but the whole point of sanctions is squeeze the russians, the enablers are present with putin, the oligarchs that surround him, and, really, i'd like to see us go further and squeeze the wole country, because if we took -- if we sanctioned their energy exports, they would be out of business. >> woodruff: and as you know, the administration has cut off oil and gas supplies from russia. >> we have, but it's a very small amount compared to the dependency europe has, and if putin keeps on, the europeans may decide on their own to take even further steps. >> woodruff: two other questions, senator mcconnell, the first one having to do with your earlier saying that one of the reasons vladimir putin was

emboldened to go into ukraine is because to have the way the biden administration handled the leaving of afghanistan. however, russian scholars like stephen cotcan say, no, it is russia's own autocratic history, it's vladimir putin himself who are the complete and full reason russia has gone into ukraine. what about that? >> i simply disagree. i think putin has wanted ukraine a long time, he was waiting for an opportunity where he thought america was in retreat, pulling back from the rest of the world. there was a vivid picture of the evacuation of afghanistan for everybody in the world to see that america was coming home and pulling in our horns and not inclined to take the forward position we have in the past. it was like a green light to vladimir putin. he wanted to do this a long

time, this is the perfect time to try to take back ukraine. >> woodruff: and, finally, mr. leader, a question about the supreme court nominee, judge ketanji brown jackson, as you know, has been nominated by president biden, the confirmation hearings begin in the senate judiciary committee next week. her nomination has been enthusiastically endorsed by prominent conservative judges -- thomas .gifth, michael ludig who called her the most credentialed and experienced nominee in history. what would be a compelling reason to deny her a seat on the court? >> well, as you know, the senate is a co-partner with the president in the personnel business. he nominates and we decide to confirm. one of the concerns that i and many of us have is the integrity of the court itself. when i met with judge jackson, i tried to suggest to her in the nicest possible way that she

might want to mirror the comments of ruth bader ginsburg and stephen breyer in opposition to court packing and to term limits for the supreme court. both justice ginsburg and justice breyer have been outstanding in beating back the voices of the left attacking the supreme court by suggesting that it be packed or term-limid. she decided not to take a position on that. i wish she had. i don't think that signals anything at all about how she might rule in a particular case, but simply the integrity of the court itself. that was disappointing. i think she is a very intelligent, clearly qualified nominee. the issue always is are you a judicial activist or do you believe in the quaint notion justice scalia always reminded of us of that the job of the judge is to follow the law. >> woodruff: so you think not taking a position is enough to

disqualify her? >> i haven't made a decision. i haven't announced how i'm going to vote. the hearings are next week. they will be thoroughly respectable, quite different from the way the democrats created clarence thomas, quite different from the way the democrats treated brett kavanaugh. >> woodruff: senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: federal reserve chair jay powell acknowledged today that he and the wider federal reserve board had underestimated the threat of inflation last year. but, with the annual inflation rate now closing in on 8%, that attitude has changed, and powell committed to ramping up a fight against ever-rising prices, beyond what had even been projected john yang has the story. >> yang: judy, today's rate increase, and the prospect of more to come this year, is a

sharp reversal from just two years ago, when the fed cut rates to near zero to support the economy as the pandemic shut much of it down. nick timiraos is the "wall street journal's" chief economics correspondent. he is author of a new book on the fed's response to the pandemic, “trillion dollar triage." noshing, thank you so much for joining us. today's quart-point increase was widely expected but the road map ahead of the prospect of more increases through the -- through this year was not. how much more aggressive is this fed stance than what had been anticipated and what's the fed trying to accomplish here? >> well, it is more aggressive than what had been anticipated, though investors in bond markets had begun to sense the fed might raise rates at every meeting this year, and that is what the fed projected at this meeting today. they said they could raise rates

at their six remaining meetings this year, that would be a faster pace of increases since 2005. the problem here is that supply and demand are out of what can, and as you -- out of whack and the fed misjudged this last year and, so, now they're trying to catch up. >> woodruff: how is this going to affect average americans -- mortgage rates, car loan rates, credit card rates? >> even before the fed raised interest rates today, you had seen borrowing costs go up because the fed had effectively signaling they were going to do this. so mortgage rates have gone up by more than a percentage point in just the last two months. you're seeing it's getting more expensive for businesses to borrow and the corporate bond market, and that should continue as the fed becomes more and more hawksh about dealing with the supply and demand balances. you know the fed can't do

anything about busted supply chains, but they can fix demand, they can reduce demand, and that the what higher interest rates eventually will do. they will reduce job growth, slow the pace of wage growth. that is how the fed fights inflatn. when jay powell says we will use our tools, he's talking about slowing economic growth. >> reporter: how does powell assess the risks of what's going on in ukraine and the geopolitical situation? >> yeah, it's a tough time for the fed because they had been counting on supply chains improving. at the beginning to have the year, they thought inflation would come down largely as these bottle next eased and it's a little bit like the mike tyson quote, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face, and what the ukraine war does to the fed, it's a blow, because you know have more disruption in supply change, oil

prices, exphod at this prices and, on top of that, you have china, large parts of china, manufacturing hubs, going back down into lockdown. so that will keep pressure on inflation for longer than the fed was anticipating. at a certain point, 9, 10 inflation, the fed will get concerned that consumers and businesses will expect prices to be high for longer, and that is how you start a wage-price spiral that we don't want to have in this country. >> reporter: we've heard some economists, larry summers, former treasury secretary, among them say this is too little, too late to really fight inflation and today you had on wall street traders saying that it was too much, that it could tip the economy into a recession. what did powell have to say about those criticisms? >> well, powell was asked about whether this would -- you know, whether there was a rise and risk of recession and as one analyst put it, you know, the

fact he's being asked the question isn't great. if the fed chair has to say no recession, it suggests the risk is rising somewhat. i think the takeaway of all of this, if you look back two years ago when the pandemic was bringing commerce to a halt, powell, you know, got after his colleagues a little bit and said it feels like we're swimming after a speedboat. we need to do more, we need to get ahead of this. it seems like right now the fed is in a similar place obviously with the risks coming from the completely opposite direction. they need to find that gear where they can get interest rates up faster but not so fast that, you know, they ( crashing sounds ) the plane here and you have a hard landing. >> reporter: nick timiraos of the "wall street journal." thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: today marks one

year since a mass shooting at three atlanta-area spas left eight people dead. six of them were women of asian descent. as our amna nawaz reports, attacks against asian americans have continued. this story is part of our occasional series "race matters." and a warning: it contains some graphic images. >> nawaz: surveillance video captured what police called a“ brutal hate-crime.” on friday, a man punched a 67-year-old asian woman 125 times, as she entered her apartment building. yonkers police commissioner john mueller. >> i think that is one of the hardest things that i've er had to watch, in my own nearly 30-year career-- i mean, 120-plus punches, seven stomps, and then he-- he ended up spitting on her. so, you know, it'sust-- it's really hard to watch. >> nawaz: the suspect was arrested. the victim is recovering in the hospital. it is the latest in a surge of attacks against asian americans

since the covid-19 pandemic began. almost 11,000 incidents, ranging from verbal harassment to physical assault, were reported between march of 2020 and december of last year. nearly 60% of violent attacks happened in new york city and urban areas of california. last month, 35-year-old korean american christina yuna lee was stabbed to death in her manhattan apartment. in january, 40-year-old chinese american michelle alyssa go was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks in new york city. police have not called go or lee's killings "hate crimes." still, asian americans were left reeling. also in january, 61-year-old yao pan ma died from injuries he sustained when he was attacked while collecting cans in new york. and the violence continues. in a recent post to his followers, teenage content creator michael chen described how a man stabbed him outside a new york city restaurant on saturday. >> from behind, he just smacks my neck with some knife.

and there it is now. >> break the silence! ( chanting ) >> nawaz: today, remembrances and rallies to combat anti-asian hate were held across the country, on this, the first anniversary of the mass shooting at three atlanta-area spas. for more on this, i'm joined by erika moritsugu. she is a deputy assistant to the president, and the asian ameran and pacific islander senior liaison at the white house. she is in atlanta today, to mark the anniversary of the spa shootings. erika moritsugu, welcome to the "newshour", and thank you for making the time. that year, the year since that attack has been so awful for so many. i've heard from people who are scared. they carry pepper spray. they don't let their elders out alone at night. they feel nowhere safe and not enough is being done to keep them safe. so what can you say to those asian-americans? what are you doing in your role to try to keep them safe?

>> thank you, amna. it's extraordinaryo be here in atlanta today with the grieving family and local community on behalf of the president and vice president. i came here to be in solidarity with them and let them know that the president and vice president don't just continue to talk about their trip here this time last year, they think about it all the time, and that was one thing that was a marker to honor the victims, to be with the families and the local community members, and also to talk to them openly about measures that the president and vice president have taken. what more needs to be done? we know more needs to be done and also to listen to what is they need to restore from the trauma they're facing. the listening piece is important to know that they have a point of access to the policy-makers but also sit in quiet fellowship and solidarity with them because, you know, this is about the families that are still grieving, and this is about a local community that's still in

trauma, but atlanta's murders last year was also a national moment, and the impact of those shootings shook the asian-american community to its very core and reverberated across the nation which is why the president and vice president traveled to meet with the asian community leaders last year and the commitment and the work continue today. >> reporter: what is the solution? more police? more help for people who need mental health support? what is the combination of things you think need to be in place that aren't already there? >> definitely in terms to have the mental health crisis, part of the president's state of the union address, where we have policies and programs that are going to roll out in the wake of that. police need for spraining about reporting and collecting data and building trust with communy members particularly in the asian-american community where there are language barriers, a trust barrier, which is why we fund community-based programs to make sure it's more

comfortable that -- there are safe, trusted faces for fos to do to when they need help h. we also have a widespread gun violence epidemic, and you heard the president and vice president speak about that a lot, and that was part to have this morning's discussion, the community leaders and family members in particular. >> reporter: let me ask you this, though, the 11,000 number that we cited earlier is alarming, but we should also note that there have been more attacks, more of those reported attacks in 2021 than there were in 2020. and i know previously a lot of people cited previous president for presidentrump and some to have the inflammatorrhetoric he used as part of the reason we're seeing the anti-asian sentiment being if you would. but he's gone, so why is it getting worse today than before? >> and it preceded him, too, you know. it's caught the imaginations to have the general public becau to have the trauma of the murders last year and a lot of the incidents that we've seen and the deadly incidents

particularly against asian-american women, you know, new york city with the tragic murders of four asian women, two murders of asian women just earlier this month in albuquerque, new mexico, that we barely heard anything about, and, of course, the horrible beating in yonkers. all of this isn't a surprise to asian-american women who live in the intersection of racism and misogyny and have for over 100 years, starting with the page acts that preceded the chinese exclusion act where chinese women were not allowed to emigrate to the united states. what it has done is surfaced and continues unabated, yes, because you can't legislate away hate in people's heart, and, so, what we try to do is build more of a community-oriented and point of outreach and points of access to the federal government agencies and in the regions and also from washington, d.c. when we can to make sure that we're

implementing measures that are solutions in the moment because we are in a crisis and, you're right, the shocking deaths, even if we don't hear about them all the time, continue to persist. >> reporter: erika, you're in the center of pour and there because of a fight over representation. senator duckworth and others were angry president biden failed to name a person of asian descent to his cabinet. you're more than a year in. what's been the hardest part and what does success look like for you into this role. >> the hardest part is to recognize a lot of the animating structural problems that give rise to the violence and the hatred that has continued unabated for the past couple of years, to see how deeply entrenched that is. i think success is to be able to do several things at the same time in an inclusive way that

makes sure it's impactful and sustainable, too, because, once this crisis is over, you know, we need to be resilient to withstand the next crisis as well. >> reporter: that is erika moritsugu, deputy assistant to the president and the relationship american pacific islander senior liaison at the white house. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you so much, amna. >> woodruff: tomorrow, the national book critics circle will present the black poetry group "cave canem” with the inaugural "toni morrison achievement award," saying,“ no institution has played such a definitive role in shaping the poetry of the 21st century.” the co-founder of that group is poet cornelius eady. and, while he continues to shape the landscape of american literature, he is also expanding his own artistic pursuits.

jeffrey brown spent time with him, for our arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> brown: cornelius eady is a poet who's always been drawn to music-- these days, alongside guitarists charlie rauh and lisa liu. we recently watched a rehearsal of songs eady wrote in the last two years-- what he calls“ pandemic folk songs.” >> that's how i got through it. that's what art's about for me. right? you're also trying to find a way to translate your experience. >> brown: now, eady has another project-- to help preserve the place of poetry in the larger culture. he's director of poets house in lower manhattan, founded in 1985 as a library and cultural space, one of the country's largest dedicated to poetry, where poets, poetry lovers, and anyone curious could explore some

70,000 volumes, attend readings, and meet up. last august, though, amidst already-tough covid times, a burst pipe in the building led to massive flooding and destruction, forcing poets house to close. eady is helping plan the physical and conceptual rebuilding and reopening. >> it's trying to figure out how we serve, how we get to serve poetry, right. we get to serve poets. we serve the poetry community, we get to serve the community that doesn't know about poetry. we need it. we need this location in this culture. >> brown: but when you say it's needed-- i don't know if a lot of people feel like poetry is needed-- >> ( laughs ). >> brown: --if a poets house is needed. >> yeah, yeah. believe me. believe me, buddy. imagination is needed. you need to imagine. >> "where is the young black man? there was a blues that says, god, never coming back. >> brown: for now, poets house is putting on virtual "hard-hat" readings, including by eady

himself. >> "rambling can't keep still, longs for four walls. arms they can hold you, keep you steady. where is the young black man?" >> brown: eady, now 68, traces his own imaginings to his childhood in rochester, new york, his love of the library, and a teacher who encouraged him to write poems. one of his first was titled“ why?”-- a response to the assassination of martin luther king, jr., and was published in his high school magazine. >> after it was published, i'd be walking in the hall, and i noticed people would say, "that guy, over there, that's him-- he's the poet." >> brown: "he's the poet." ah, you heard yourself called a poet. >> for the first time. >> brown: and that made an impression. >> yeah. it made an impression. >> brown: eady would go on to write seven volumes of poetry, while also teaching at several universities-- currently, the university of tennessee. his book, “brutal imagination,”

based on the actual 1994 killing of two children by a white mother who made up and blamed an imaginary black man, was turned into a play. here is actor jo morton. >> i am not the hero of this piece. i'm only a stray thought, a solution. but now my face is stuck on lampposts, glued to plate glass, my forehead gets stapled to my hat. i am here-- but here, i am not. >> brown: his work has addressed everyday life. but-- and this was important to him-- an "everyday life" often less-explored in american poetry: the ordinary experiences of a black man in america. >> some ofhe "everydays" are simply just, you know, sitting here, talking to people, right? some of the "everyday" is simply just realizing that, you know, "oh, george floyd is on the ground and there's a knee on his neck, and he's being killed in

broad daylight." both things are true. both things happen. and both things, it's part of what i am as auman being, and also as a black person in this culture. so, i do feel i have some sort of duty or some sort of obligation that while i'm here, you know, i add to that. >> brown: helping create a larger space for the full expression of that experience-- especially at a time when there were fewer african americans attending major writing programs-- led to what eady is perhaps best known for: the creation, with fellow poet toi derricote, of an organization to foster black poets and poetry. it's called “cave canem.” >> cave canem was a part of that moment where, basically there was a kind of sea-change. people decided, people started to find each other, and once they started to find each other, they started realizing the power that they had. >> brown: the name was playful: taken from a 1995 visit to an ancient roman site, and a sign that translates to “beware the dog.”

but, it had a serious purpose. cave canem sponsored annual workshops, fellowships in university writing programs, literary prizes, and numerous other projects. the excitement and the need, eady says, was felt from the start. >> to understand that you're not crazy, that you're not by yourself? this "political" thing isn't really political. you could talk about where you come from, and you can talk about your family. you can talk about, you know, all the stuff that you do, with your hanging out. and all this is black, right? >> brown25 years later, cave canem alumni-- students and teachers-- represent a who's who of contemporary american literature, including pulitzer prize and national book award winners, poets laureate, presidential inaugural poets, and many other prominent writers. the talent, eady says, was always there. so you're not surprised by what's happened? >> no, no. it was like, you just saw this wave starting to build. it was incredible. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> brown: in the meantime, poet, and singer/songwriter, cornelius eady has a new album, titled“ don't get dead: pandemic folk songs.” >> i have a recording contract! at 68 years old. ( laughs ) isn't that wild! >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. >> woodruff: congratulations! and tune in tonight for "amanpour & company" on pbs. christiane sits down with the russian journalist who held up an anti-war poster on live state tv. >> listen, you made a protest on state television this week that reverberated around the world. i just want to know-- on a human level, how do you feel? are you feeling scared right now? >> no, you know, i don't feel scared, but at the moment, of

course, i feel a huge burden of responsibility, and i realize that my life has changed irrevocably. >> woodruff: "amanpour & company" airs at 11:00 p.m. on most pbs stations. you n check your local listings. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv.

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hello and welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. the stunning state tv protest seen around the world. i as russian journalist mikhail zygar about chunks in wall of the kremlin propaganda machine. and -- >> supporting raine is the right thing to do. also the smart thing to do. >> thrust into the trump impeachment spotlight, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch reflects on what brought us to this moment. the truth about the war. >> editor of "the new yorker" and former moscow correspondent david remnick talks to walter isaacson about putin's war of death and disinformation.