judy: good evening. tonight, -- >> i the darkest time for our country, for the whole of europe, i call on you to do more. judy: a plea for aid. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensk 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 in atlanta area spas, asian americans continue to face physical and verbal abuse amid a

nationwide spike in violence. all that and some more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. ♪ consumer cellular. bdo, accountants and advisors.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skoll foundation.org. >> the lintels and foundation. committed to improving lives through the u.s. and developing countries. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: i think he is a war

criminal, those were the words of president biden today referring to vladimir putin and his campaign in ukraine. civilians still bear the brunt of the fighting, especially in ukraine's south. now entering its fourth week, the war shows little sign of letting up. a daytime curfew is in effect in kyiv, leaving streets emptied as the sounds of russian shelling can be heard echoing from the city's outskirts. jane ferguson is in the capital city and she begins our coverage. >> in ukraine's capital, 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 franklin eakly -- frantically try to evacuate

and comfort anyone alive there is no consolatn. residents look up as billows of smoke rise over their homes, now rebel. nearby fillings were also not spared. natalia who lives close to the explosion site shows there are remains inside her apartment. >> thank god we are lucky we are live in not injured. we had taped the windows but the blast blew it anyway. >> hundreds of miles to the south, the port city of mary a pole 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. the basement used to be a food storage area. now turned into a morgue. dead bodies lay waiting to be picked up. >> because all the other hospitals are bombed and none could collect them. there is no emergency services. there is nobody. >> in the latest lost -- the greatest lost of all.

this baby was 22 days old. to stop the work, president zelensky urged the west to do more. speaking to a packed auditorium of congressional members this morning -- >> 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 russia would not be able to terrorize our free cities. >> several hours later, president biden announced an additional $800 million of assistance to the embattled nation. the package includes antiaircraft 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. >> meanwhile, their cautious hopes of a potential breakthrough in talks between moscow and kyiv. both sides made progress on a peace deal that would include a cease-fire if ukraine promises

neutrality and abandons its nato ambitions. >> russian president vladimir putin showed little sign of compromise. >> all our goals will be achieved. will provide security for rush and our people and we will never allow ukraine to serve as a base for acts of aggression against our country. >> and he had a chilling message for those within russia who oppose the war and look to the west for progress. >> the russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traders and simply spit them out like a fly that accident we flew into the mouth. spit them out and i'm convinced such a natural and necessary cleansing of society will only strengthen our country. >> 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 north, russian soldiers continued to operate northwest and northeast of kyiv.

judy: we'll have more from jane ferguson in ukraine later in the program. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. will rurn to the full program after the latest headlines paired 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 and since the pandemic hit but the central bank hiked one quarter of a point today. fed policymakers signaled there could be up to six more rate increases this year but chair jerome powell said they will be flexible. >> will be looking to see whether the data show inspected -- of expected improvement inflation. we'll be looking at the inflation outlook and making a judgment. each meeting is a live meeting and if we conclude it would be appropriate to raise interest rates more quickly, we will do

so. stephanie: the fed also predicted much slower economic growth this year. we will explore all of this later in the program. on the pandemic, the world health organization reports cases are rising again after falling for more than a month. new infections worldwide jumped 8% last week. the who said the increase could be just the tip of the iceberg. afghan refugees be allowed to stay in the u.s. at least 18 months without being deported. by the new administration 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 take over last year. i ran today released two british iranian nationals had been held for more than five years. it came after london agreed to repay a 40-year-old debt of more than half $1 billion. charity worker nah'zuh=neen

zaghari ratcliffe was shown on iranian tv boarding a plane. >> i supporters we can start being a normal family again. it has been a long time. we were just saying last night gabrielle was asking us, is mommy coming back tomorrow? i said i don't know for sure. i now know pretty surely she is coming home. stephanie: retired engineer was released after five years. he had been convicted of spying for israel, which he denied. north korea has fired another missile but this one exploded shortly after lunch. south korea's ella terry said the failed lunch took place outside the capital city. there is no word on the type of missile. an earthquake struck northern japan today triggering the tsunami alert and power blackouts. it was centered at cl fukushima where a quake and tsunami in

2011 left a nuclear plant in ruins. today's tremors shook large swaths of eastern japan and offices and homes rocke violently in tokyo. a huge sandstorm from the sahara desert is sweeping across europe. the dust cloud reached as far north as london today and is for east as serbia. the worst was in spain were 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. >> it affects me because my lungs were not well. when i walk around here normally, i don't take the face mask off. >> 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. stephanie: in this country, the u.s. justice department has settled civil cases arising from the shootings at a parkland,

florida high school that killed 17 people and injured 17 others. th 120 7.5 million dollars settlement resolves 40 civil cases brought against the federal government over the fbi's failure to prevent the mass shooting and not follow up on a tip. actor jussie smollett was released from jail on bond today pending an appeal of his conviction for lying to police. he was sentenced to 150 days in jail for falsely reporting he had been the victim of a homophobic hate crime. nine people were killed in deadly car crash including six students and a coach from a new mexico university late tuesday night. memorial paid tribute to the golf team members from the university of the southwest shade they were coming home from a tournament in texas. two other students are hospitalized in critical condition. still to come on the newshour, the effect of the federal reserve rate hike on the u.s. economy. how a poet is striving to expand

and preserve his artform. plus, much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: we returned to the war in ukraine now and to that nation's capital, kyiv. jane ferguson is there and she joins me now. tell us where things stand from where you are. >> right now in kyiv, we have been hearing more explosions throughout the day and those are on the perimeter to the north of the city where russian positions are continuing to bombard the city with artillery fire. we are in the middle of a long day six hour block down here because the authorities, the mayor of kyiv, said nobody could go out from tuesday night

through today as well. there was a fear this is a particularly tense moment in this war as it goes forward. there is a duality to that because as we have heard, there are some potentially positive signs there could be a peace deal or a cease-fire on the horizon. as is often the case, you not only get intensive negotiations that may be making some progress. at the same time, you have fighting across the city. all across this country, we have had scenes of horror. whether or not is in the south or here in kyiv or other cities like kharkiv on the east of this country. the bombardment continues. it is worth pointing out russian forces in the north just outside the city have not been able to move forward in any significant way. they are continuing to rely on artillery and airstrikes across the country to try to edge

forward while those peace talks happen. judy: what are thought to be vladimir putin's options if a peace deal does not come together? >> the reality is 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 in kyiv have told us the tone from the russians has markedly changed. we know also that cilento today -- that zelensky in an impassioned speech called for the no-fly zone to is very unlikely he is going tget that. the no-fly sewn is effectively nato or the united states in a hot war with russia. the other weaponry that is being sent -- defense systems, those

are working incredibly well. the handheld missiles that ukrainians are using to take out tanks and helicopters are working to that reduces prudence options. no from senior officials at the department of defense the russians need to resupply. they do not plan to be moving so slowly in this country. they did not plan to be balked down, to be using artillery fire to get inside these cities. and yet the department of defense officials have been saying they have not seen any movement to resupply so it is not clear if putin is going to try to push forward it is going to try to take these cities with plan b, effectively to pummel them with artillery before coming in. in which case, would he have enough troops to occupy these

cities, never mind take them? just a couple miles from where we are standing, the russian troops are still there waiting and trying to push forward and enter the city. which is why the capital's volunteers continue to pour into the war effort should they look like trained killers but three weeks ago, they were living regular lives. one, maybe reached appeared another, and i.t. manager. all in their 20's. all holding a gun for the first time. in this crumbling industrial site, 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 the call.

three weeks ago, what were you doing? >> i am a director. >> you were a florist? >> today, i am a warrior and i defend my country from russian enemies. >> this 25-year-old goes by a nickname. 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. >> she prefers i am a flower maker. my mother is a volunteer. >> your mother stayed? >> because she has a local. >> how does she feel about your job? >> everyday, called me. >> he is part of a younger genetion of educated western leaning ukrainians who see the

future of their country as democratic. >> ukraine take right course to independent and freedom. i live in poland. i have a lot of travels around the world. i see the world. i know how it must be. not like in russia. >> their trainer, the only one here who was in the army before the war, has trained dozens of inexperienced men in three weeks before the war began to can you tell me what it is like to train a whole generation of young men who did not plan to be soldiers? how did they take to this kind of work? >> all the guys are high motivated. they learn very fast. some of them have had certain skills 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 across ukraine these days. >> part of that edge over russian soldiers is these young men are fighting to defend their homes. resolve here goes a long way to make up for an experience. patrolling the streets of tf at night, they are reminded they have much more to lose. you come from this neighborhood. you grew up here? >> i grew up here. >> so you know it. >> i know the street like the fingers of my right hand. >> do you still have family in this area? >> no. my mother is now in europe. i stay here to protect my city. >> so this is personal. >> of course. >> the mayor of kyiv announced a 36 hour curfew starting tuesday

evening. the volunteers scour for anyone on the streets after locked on. as the capital goes into this extended lockdown, there is a sense in the city there are things are more tense than they have ever been and yet there is an opportunity here for peace. while politicians push for more talking, it is troops like this on the street that worry there could be spoilers as well. officials fear russian backed cells could be preparing to destabilize the city from within as the russian military remains stalled on the outskirts. we stop at a checkpoint on one of the 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. >> we have to defend the country. we are defending it with barehands. this is all that we have. we are not territorial defense. we are not military.

we are self-defense. we gather together 10 to 20 men and we defend the neighborhood. >> waiting together in the frigid cold, the sound of russian cells landing -- russian shells lending is never far away. >> i was a security guard before the war and when this happen, i could not 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. judy: that reporting from jane ferguson to the newshour is reporting on -- from jane ferguson. the newshour reporting is supported in part or the pulitzer center. let a mere zelensky's plea to congress today for more aid. i spoke with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell from kentucky. thank you very much for joining us today. between what you heard from president zelensky this morning and the facts on the ground that

you are learning, do you think they will -- there will be a sniffing increase in american support? >> i sure hope soap air the president needs to step up his game. he has frequent lead on the right thing but never soon enough. we now know where we are. 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 nato allies who are anxious to help and it appears for example in the case of the soviet era in poland the administration is discouraging some of our eastern nato allies from doing everything they want to do. we'll to encourage them to send everything to the ukrainians that would be helpful to them and we have provided guarantees and a package that passed last

week to give those countries new american equipment to upgrade the systems they sent into ukraine so that their own defense is not diminished by their helping the ukrainian neighbor. judy: so the polls were talking about sending the meigs from a u.s. nato base in germany. you are saying you are comfortable with the u.s. doing that because the administration said that could lead to a more dangerous outgrowth of what is already a big conflict. >> i simply disagree. putin is not trying to start a war with nato. he has his hands full in ukraine. what i do not like is putin determining the conditions under which we asst ukraine. ukrainians need help. they nd 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 nato countries. they want to help them. we ought to be facilitating it rather than discouraging appeared one place i agree with the administration on is we cannot have a u.s. enforced no-fly zone in ukraine. that would indeed be a direct conflict potentially between us and the russians. short of that, we need to do everything else we can and i fear that we are not doing the and even when we do take the steps that are needed, not soon enough judy: you are in agreement with president biden on the no-fly zone but you may have heard president zelensky today is saying what is going on in his country could already be the start of world war iii. in other words, now is the moment to clothe us -- to close

the skies over his country. > there are several ways to do the pit i just mention to you there are west of -- their weapons systems available in eastern nato countries that can effectively deal with soviet airpower. there from the ground. -- they are from the ground. they are not airplane enforced no-fly zone. we get the weapons to ukrainians and i think they can do the job themselves. judy: you are saying you have information the u.s. is actively discouraging that, but what i want to ask you is president biden has received credit from many for holding the alliance together in an unusual way. are you advocating the u.s. get out front of the alliance? >> i think vladimir putin has done a lot to unify nato. it has been remarkable to see the fins and the swedes potentially deciding to become dado members. -- become nato members.

public opinion has shifted dramatically. a total change in germany with direct shipment of weapons increasing their defense budget. vladimir putin has done a lot to unify nato and the president has been a beneficiary of that. i commend him for the role he played in it but fear of the russians is primarily the reason we have had the most unified nato we have ever had and putin did not anticipate that. judy: have you spoken privately with president biden about this? >> not lately. judy: have you had a conversation with president zelensky? >>not directly. i was among those this morning listening to his inspired speech. i talked to the ukrainian ambassador. there is plenty of outreach to us. the ukrainians are doing a spectacular job we fully

understand the carnage going on there. the video that president zelensky showed today was very effective. i think you have broad bipartisan support in congress to push the administration to do much more quickly. judy: senator mcconnell, the biden administration is spending a lot of money to send military weaponry to ukraine. they announced another 800 million worth today. when it comes to financial sanctions, when argument that has been made is for them to truly be effective, needs to be more financial transparency in the united states. for example, real estate transactions, investors should be registered in the name of the person actually making that investment. do you think that is the kind of reform needed here to back up sanctions on russia? >> on the sanctions front, i

hope we are doing everything we can to shut down the accounts of the oligarchs and others who are involved from the putin administration and squeezing russia as tightly as we can in every single way. i am not sure what ought to be done in the area you brought up, but the whole point of sanctions is to squeeze the russians. the oligarchs who surround him and i would like to see us go even further and squeeze the whole country because if we sanctioned their energy exports, they would be out of business. judy: the administration has cut off oil supplies from russia. >> we have, but it is a very small amount compared to the dependency europe has. if putin keeps on, the europeans may decide on their own to take even further steps.

judy: two other questions. the first one having to do with your earlier saying one of the reasons vladimir putin was emboldened to go into ukraine was because of the way the biden administration handled the leaving of afghanistan. hover, russian scholars, respected scholars like stephen kotkin are saying it is russia's own autocratic militaristic history. it is vladimir putin himself who are the complete and full reasons russia has gone into ukraine. >> 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

taking 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. judy: finally, a question about the supreme court nominee judge jackson. the confirmation hearis began in the judiciary committee next week. her nomination has been enthusiastically endorsed by some prominent conservative judges. thomas griffith, michael lou dague 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? >> the senate is a copartner with the president and personnel business he nominates and we decide to confirm. one of the concerns i have 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 we were 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 it be packed or term limited. 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 that justice scalia reminded us of, that the job of the judges to follow the law? judy: so you think not taking a position is enough to disqualify her? >> i have notade a decision. hearings are next week. they will be thoroughly respectable and quite different from the way the democrats treated clarence thomas. judy: the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. judy: the chair of the federal reserve, jay powell, acknowledged he and the wider federal reserve board that underestimated the threat of inflation last year but with the annual inflation rate closing in on 8%, that attitude has changed.

powell committed to ramping up a fight against ever rising prices beyond what had been rejected. john yang has the story. >> today's rate increase and the prospect of more to come this year is a sharper -- a sharp reversal fm two years ago when the fed cut rates to near zero to support the economy as the pandemic shut much of it dn. nick tamura was as the wall street journal's chief economics correspondent. of a new book on the fed's response to the pandemic, trillion dollar triage. thanks so much for joining us. today's quarter-point increase was widely expected but the roadmap ahead of the prospect of more increases through this year was not to how much more aggressive is this fed stands than what had been anticipated and what is the fed trying to accomplish? >> it is more aggressive than what have been anticipated

although investors in bond markets had begun to sense the fed might raise rates at every reading 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 supply and demand are out of whack and as you mentioned, the fed misjudge this last year so they're trying to catch up. >> how is this going to affect the average american? mortgage rates, carlin rates, credit card rates. >> even before the fed raised interest rates today, you had seen borrowing costs go up because the fed had signaled they were going to do this. mortgage rates have gone up by more than a percentage point in the last two months. they're getting more expensive for businesses to borrow. that should continue as the fed

becomes more and more hawkish about dealing with these supply and demand imbalances. the fed cannot do anything about busted supply chains but they can fix demand. that is what higher interest rates can do. they will reduce job growth, slow the pace of wage growth. that is how the fed fights inflation. when jay powell says we will use our tools, he is talking about slowing economic growth. >> what did powell say -- or how did he assess the risks of what is going on in ukraine and the geopolitical situation? >> it is a tough time for the fed. they had been counting on supply chains improving. they thought inflation come down largely as the bottlenecks east.

with the ukraine war does to the fed is a blow because you have more disruption in supply chains paid oil prices, commodity prices. on top of that, you have china, large parts of china, manufacturing hubs going into lockdown. that will keep pressure on inflation for longer than the fed was anticipating that a certain point, 9%, 10% inflation, the fed will get concerned 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. >> we have heard some economists, larry summers among them say this is too little too late to really fight inflation. today on wall street, traders saying it was too much. that it could tip the economy into a recession.

what did powell have to say about two it has him's? -- about those criticisms? >> powell was asked about whether there was a rising risk of recession should as one analyst put it, the fact he is being asked the question is not great. if the fed chair has to say no recession, it suggests the risk is rising should the take away is if you look back two years, when the pandemic was green commerce to a halt, powell got after his colleagues saying we need to get ahead of this. it seems the fed is in a similar place with the risks coming from a completely opposite direction. they need to find the gear where they can get interest rates up faster but not so fast they crash the plane and they have a hard landing. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me.

judy: today marks one year since a mass shooting at three atlanta area spas left eight people dead. six of them were women of asian dissent. attacks against asian americans have continued. this is part of our occasional series race matters. it contains some graphic images. >> surveillance video captured what police called a brutal hate crime peered on friday, a man punched a 67 euros asian woman hundred 25 times as she entered her apartment building dunkers police commissioner john mulder. >> one of the hardest things i have had to watch in my nearly 30 year career. 120 plus punches. seven stumps and he ended up spitting on her. it is hard to watch.

>> 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 pandemic began. most 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 should last month, a 35 euros korean-american was stabbed to death in her room -- her manhattan apartment. in january, if 40-year-old chinese-american was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks in new york city. police have not called the killings hate crimes. still, asian americans were left reeling. also in january, a 61-year-old died from injuries he sustained when he was attacked while collecting cans in new york. the violence continues.

in a recent post to his followers, a teenage content creator described how a man stabbed him outside a new york city restaurant on saturday. >> he smacks my neck with some knife and there it is now. >> 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 am joined by a deputy assistant to the president and the asian-american and pacific islander senior liaison at the white house. she is in atlanta tomorrow for anniversary of the spa shootings to welcome to the newshour and thank you for making the tim the year since that attack has been so awful for so many. i've heard from people. they are scared. they do not want to let their elders out alone or at night.

they feel not enough is being done to keep them safe. what can you say to those asian americans? >> it is extraordinary to be here in atlanta today with the grieving family and the local community on behalf of the president and vice president. i came here to be in solidarity with them and let them know the president and vice president don't just continue to talk about their trip here this time last year. they think about all the time. that was one thing that was a marker to honothe victims, to be with the families and the local community members and also to talk to them openly about measures the president and vice president have taken. what more needs to be done. and also to listen about what it is they need to restore from the trauma they are facing. the listening piece is important, to know they have a

point of access to the policymakers but also sit in solidarity with them because this is about the families that are still grieving and this is about a local community that is still in trauma but atlanta's murders last year was also a national moment. the impact of the shooting shook the asian community to its core and reverberated across the nation, which is why the president and vice president traveled to meet with leaders last year. >> what are some of the solutions? is it more police? is it people who need more mental health report? what is the combination of things that are not already there? in terms of the >> >> mental health crisis, and that was part of the president's state of the union agenda, we have a lot of programs and policies that are going to roll out in the wake of that. police need mor training about reporting and collecting data and building trust with community members particularly

in the asian-american community where there are language barriers peered where there is a trust barrier. which is why we fund community-based programs to make sure it is more comfortable, that there are safe trusted faces for folks to go to when they need help. we have a widespread gun violence epidemic as well. you have heard the president and vice president speak about that. there was a big part of this morning's discussion with the community leaders, the feeling members. -- the family members. >> when you look at the 11,000 number, it is alarming. there have been more attacks, more of e attacks and a 2021 then were in 2020. people cited the previous president and some of the inflammatory rhetoric he used as part of the reason we were seeing that anti-asian sentiment but he is gone. why is it getting worse today than it was before? >> and it preceded him.

it has caught the imaginations of the general public because of the trauma of the murders last year and a lot of the incidents we have seen and deadly incidents particularly against asian-american women in new york city with the tragic murders of four asian women. two motors just earlier -- two murders earlier this month. in albuquerque, new mexico, which we barely heard anything out and the beating in yonkers. all of this is not a surprise to asian-american women who live in the intersection of racism and misogyny. chinese women were not allowed to immigrate to the united states. it has surfaced and continues unabated because you cannot legislate away it. we have chided to build more of the community oriented and

points of access to the federal government agencies and the regions and from washington, d.c. when we can to make sure we are implementing measures that are solutions in the moment because we are in crisis. you are right. the shocking deaths even if we don't hear about them all the time continue to persist. >> you were in the white house. you are in the center of power. you are there because of a fight overrepresentation. center tammy duckworth and others were angry president biden had failed to name a single person of asian descent to his cabinet and this role was created. your nearly one role -- when you're in. what has been the hardest part and what does success look like? >> the hardest part is to recognize the fact that a lot of the animating structural problems that give rise to the violence and the hatred that has

continued on -- continued unabated for the last couple of years, to see how deeply entrenched that is. success is to be able to do several things at the same time in an inclusive way that make sure it is impactful and it is sustainable because once this crisis is over, we need to be resilient to withstand the next crisis as well. >> that is the deputy assistant to the president and the asian-american and pacific islander senior liaison at the white house. thank you for your time. judy: tomorrow, the national book critics circle will present the black poetry group with the inaugural toni morrison achievement award saying no institution has played such a definitive role in showed thing

-- in shaping the poetry of it when he first century. the co-founder is poet cornelia ziti. why he continues to shape the landscape of the american literature, he is expanding his own artistic pursuits. jeffrey brown spent time with him for arts and culture series, canvas. ♪ >> cornelius is a poet who has always been drawn to music . we reach him -- we recently watched a rehearsal of songs he wrote in the last two years. what he calls pandemic folksongs. >> that is what art is about for me. trying to find a way to translate your experience. >> now he has another project, to help reserve the place of poetry and it will larger -- in the larger culture.

a library and cultural space. one of the country's largest dedicated to poetry. poets, poetry lovers and anyone curious can explore some 70,000 volumes, attend readings and meet up. last august, and made already tough covid times, a burst pipe in the building led to massive flooding and destruction forcing the poet house to close. >> thinking about how we can better use the space. >> trying to figure out how to get to serve poetry. we can serve the community that does not know about poetry. we need this location in this culture. >> when you see it is -- when you say it is needed, i don't know a lot of people feel that poetry is needed or a poets house is needed. >> believe me, imagination is needed. you need to imagine.

where is the young black men? >> for now, poets house is putting on virtual hardhat readings including by himself. >> rambling. cannot keep still. arms that can hold you keep you steady. where is the young black men? >> he 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 entitled why in response to the assassination of martin luther king jr. and was published in his high school magazine. >> after it was published, people would say that kai over there -- that is him. he is the poet. >> you hurt yourself called a pot -- you heard yourself called a poet.

and that made an impression . he has gone on to write several books of poetry and teaching at several universities. his book raised 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. >> i am not the hero of this piece. i am only a stray thought, a solution. but now my face is stuck to lampposts, my forehead gets stapled to my hat. i am here, but here i am not. >> his work has addressed everyday life. everyday life often less explored in american poetry. the ordinary experiences of a

black man in america. >> sitting here talking to people. realizing george floyd is on the ground and there is a knee on his neck and he is being killed in broad daylight. both things are true. both things happen. it is part of what im as a human being and as a -- what i am and as a human being. >> helping create a larger space with the full expression of that experience especially at a time when there were fewer african-americans attending major writing programs led to what he is perhaps best known for. a creation of an organization to foster black poets and poetry. >> it was a part of that moment where a sickly there was a seachange -- where basically there was a seachange.

wednesdays are defined each other, they started realizing the power they had. >> the name was taken by a 1995 visit to a roman site and a sign that translates to be where the dog. it has a serious purpose. it sponsored annual workshops, fellowships in university writing programs, literary prizes and numerous other projects. the excitement and the need he says w felt from the start. > to understand you are not crazy. you could talk about where you come from. you could talk about your family. you could talk about all the stuff you do when you're hanging out. >> 25 years later, alumni, students and teachers represent a who's who of contemporary american literature including pulitzer prize and national book award winners, residential inaugural poets and many other prominent writers. the talent he says was always there.

so you're not surprised by what has happened. >> know. you saw this wave starting to build. it was incredible. >> in the meantime, poet and singer-songwriter cornelius has a new album titled don't get dead, pandemic folksongs. >> i have a recording contract at 68 years old. isn't that wild? >> for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. judy: congratulations. tune in tonight for almanpour and company. a russian journalist who held up a russian protester on russian state tv. >> you made a protest that

reverberated around the world. i want to know on a human level, how do you feel? are you feeling skilled right now -- feeling scared right now? >> 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 erect of a bully. -- has change irrevocably. judy: you can check your local listings. that is the newshour tonight. train is online and here tomorrow evening -- join us online and here tomorrow evening. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular school has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and

connect. to learn more, visit consumer cellular.tv. >> the rules of business are being reinvented with a more exible workforce. embracing innovation, looking only at current opportunities but ahead to future ones. >> people who know, know bdo. ♪ bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and witthe ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west. from w eta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

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