captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this editn for saturday, march 19: ukraine's president calls for more peace talks as the humanitarian crisis grows and russia's invasion enters its fourth week. in alabama, changes to the state constitution to reckon with its past. and singer-songwriter aimee mann on her latest album and mental health. next, on “pbs newshour wkend.” >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine.

the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. >> 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 cahelp find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> sreenivasan: good evening, and thank you for joining us. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky is again calling for comprehensive peace talks with russia, warning that it will take generations for russia to recover from its losses. and russia said it used a hypersonic missile with a range of up to 1,250 milesor the first time in combat. in a video address from kyiv released overnight, zelensky also accused the russians of intentionally creating a humanitarian catastrophe by blocking the supply of goods in besieged ukrainian cities like the southern port of mariupol. an estimated 400,000 people are reportedly trapped there as intense fighting moved into the city center today. russian defee ministry ficials announced yesterday that the military was quote "tightening the noose" around the city, where at least 2,500 people have already been killed. about 140 miles away, in a supermarket turned makeshift shelter, ukrainians who managed to flee described a dire situation in mariupol with no access to basic services like

electricity or water. >> ( translated ): those who could do so left the city. but a lot of cars were bombed and they burned down, so those people couldn't leave. there were lots of people dying on the streets, dead bodies were lying in the streets. >> sreenivasan: today, ukrainian officials announced there was agreement with russians to create ten humanitarian corridors to let civilians out and supplies in, including one to mariupol and several near the capital of kyiv. however, previous agreements to create safe passage for civilians have mostly failed. since the russian invasion began on february 24, the united nations estimates that nearly one in four ukranians have either fled the country or been internally displaced. earlier with npr reporter jason beaubien, who was in lviv. jason, tell , first of all, where have you been the last few hours, where have you been in the city? >> i've actually been down in a bomb shelter for the last few hours, just got out of there

like 15 minutes ago. we've had two air raid drills so far today and yesterday, you know, we were down in the bomb shelter and they were actually cruise missiles that were striking out at the airport. so the sirens go off, everybody's quite diligently respecting them. >> sreenivasan: yeah. so while there are people who are trying to flee, there are also these air raid sirens that are telling them to hunker down. >> yeah. and it's particularly difficult for people who are out on the road, you know, the people that are trying to be moving around. they aren't in a position to necessarily get to somebody's basement. people who are in places like lviv, like me, are able to, you know... they know where they are and people who are even out and about oftentimes will end up just sheltering in some neighbor's basement. but it is much more difficult for the people who are on the road and trying to move out of some of the more intense fighting that's happening to the east. >> sreenivasan: tell me a little bit about that fighting. what are the attacks that have become of concern?

>> yeah, there continues to be, you know, missile attacks, mortars around the capital, around kyiv. it doesn't seem like the russian forces are actually making a lot of progress, but you're getting more and more shells that are landing on residential compounds closer and closer to the capital, you know, down in mariupol. the city is still beeged. some people are maging to get out of there. most of the fighting, the intense fighting is happening on the east. but even today, you know, there was an air strike out near the border with romania, which hadn't happened before. this hypersonic missile that the russians launched hit a couple of miles from a hotel that some of my colleagues were heading out to in the next few hours. so things are changing very rapidly. you're getting attacks in places that you weren't before. yeah, it's still very fluid. >> sreenivasan: what's so special about a hypersonic missile? >> well, we haven't really seen these used much at all before.

the russians claim that this is the first one used in this conflict. these things can travel at 3,800 miles per hour. they're able to maneuver while they're in flight. they're very difficult to intercept. it's a new breed of missile. and so that's what's so concerning about this. it's a little bit odd that they're only rolling it out now. ukrainian officials are saying that russia's basically using ukraine as a testing ground for some of these experimental missiles that they're dragging out, but it did seem like this one is effective in ukraine. officials did confirm that it struck a munitions depot and appeared to hit its target. >> sreenivasan: jason, is the use of this raising new concerns? >> i mean, obviously this is very concerning because we all know that that russia has nuclear weapons, so this idea that they are rolling out new weapons to try attacking a different part of the country, it's concerning.

you know, there's the potential that they could be rolling out something else that we don't know what it is. >> sreenivasan: jason, the people in the bomb shelter that you've been spending time with, i mean, where are they now in terms of their interest in staying or leaving? and just psychologically, what's the past couple of weeks done to them? >> people are just very emotional, very emotional about what's happening, very emotional about feeling in a state of fragility here, not knowing when this is going to end, when they will be able to return to their homes, particularly the people who are displaced. here in lviv, this is a city of about 700,000 people, and there's 200,000 additional people who come in here and fled from other parts. it's a very hard time for ukrainians. >> sreenivasan: npr's jason beaubien joining us from lviv, thanks so much. >> you're welcome. >> sreenivasan: four u.s. marines were killed in a scheduled nato training exercise in norway yesterday. the weeks-long exercise called "cold response" includes an estimated 30,000 troops from 27

countries and is not related to the war in ukraine. authorities said the marines died when their osprey aircraft crashed in the arctic circle. norwegian police said there was bad weather in the area but the cause was still under investigation as of this afternoon. alaska congressman don young, the longest-serving republican in the history of the house of representatives, died yesterday. as the senior member, he swore in speaker nancy pelosi, and in a statement today pelosi called young quote "an institution in the hallowed halls of congress." >> congratulations, madam speaker! >> sreenivasan: young was first elected to congress in 1973. he described himself as "intense and less-than-perfect" and his career included ethics investigations and criticism of his sometimes abrasive style. young died while traveling home to alaska last night. a cause of death was not released. representative don young was 88 years old. for more national and international news, visit pbs.org/newshour most people might not think

often about their state constitution, but alabama's governing document has been hotly debated since it was written in 1901. earlier this month, the alabama senate passed some important changes to the constitution that will be on the ballot for voters this fall. "newshour weekend" special correspondent megan thompson reports from montgomery for our series “alabama reckoning,” exploring the state efforts to address the racism of its past. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: felt thompson and evan milligan share two passions: music and politics. ♪ ♪ >> we're trying to change the playing field here through music. >> reporter: they put out an

>> alabama's prisons, our state constitution ♪ back in 1901 they got together ♪ got tgether. somake our homeland the greatest. >> reporter: you might be wondering why would anyone wante constitution. >> that document is despicable and disgusting. >> really, really, really, really, awful. >> reporter: how so? >> i sang the song "written with a devil a pen" because it was specifically written to keep people of my hue in a certain place. >> ♪ no more stealing votes from the blacks folks ♪ we'll just take their rights away ♪ >> reporter: it turns out, the state constitution of alabama has been the subject of criticism and contest since it was drafted at the turn of the last century. >> so we're looking at the original signed copy of the alabama state constitution of 1901. >> reporter: steve murray is the director of the alabama department of archives and history. >> we the people of the state of alabama, in order to establish

justice... >> reporter: murray explains that after reconstruction ended in alabama in the mid-1870s, a coalition of white agricultural and industrial elites came to power. they sought lower taxes and lax regulation. but a rival populist movement made up of african americans and ral whites threatened their control. >> there were legitimate political challenges in the form of the populists who came close to actually winning important elections in state government in the 1890s. so the adoption of this document in 1901 was intended to legally shrink the electorate and to consolidate power. >> reporter: to write the new constitution, 155 white men gathered in montgomery in may 1901. john knox, the president of the convention, made their goal clear: "to establish white supremacy in this state." alabama voters approved the new constitution that fall in an election riddled with fraud. in some majority black counties, more people were recorded as voting for it than actually

lived there. >> this is something that's painful to see and read. but this is the reality. the headline says, "the citizens of alabama declare for white supremacy and purity of ballot." >> reporter: the new constitution made law several tactics to suppress the black vote. >> either owning land or owning personal property of a certain value, being able to pay a poll tax, being able to pass a literacy test. >> reporter: and it worked. the number of black alabamians registered to vote fell from 180,000 in 1900 to fewer than 3,000 by 1903. the new constitution also segregated schools and banned interracial marriage. and, to satisfy the drafters' financial interests, it also caed the property tax at a low rate. >> the state's tax structure is actually created within its core governing document, which is unusual. most states do not operate that way. >> reporter: and, to make sure those dissenting rural areas were kept in check, the constitution took power away

from municipalities and centralized it in the legislature. today, the offensive sections on race are no longer in force. they've been struck down by amendment, federal law and the supreme court. but the racist language is still sitting in the document. and other sections that are in force still contain references to the poll tax and school segregation. >> it's despicable that it's actually written in a gal document. you will be looked at as less than. you will be looked at as trash, you will be looked at as do for me, but i won't do for you. >> the way that this system was designed, the racial lens of it. and that's still very real here as far as every metric. >> what i have in my hand is one of the most significant things that i've done as a member of th body. >> reporter: merika coleman is a member of the alabama house of representatives. >> and what this resolution does is removes the racist language from the alabama state constitution.

( plause ) >> reporter: coleman's resolution would eliminate references to the poll tax and school segregation, and delete sections that have already been repealed. it passed the alabama senate unanimously this month and will go to a statewide vote this fall. for coleman, it's partly about improving alabama's reputation. >> and when i think about all of the new industry that we try to recruit here, many peopl, the only image that theyave of alabama is hoses on african- american youth in the streets of birmingham. that's not who we are. we're not perfect, but that's t who we are today. >> reporter: coleman also proposes deleting a section about involuntary servitude that >>o form of slavery shall exist in this state and there shall not be any involuntary servitude otherwise than for the punishment of crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted. >> reporter: the 13th amendment of the.s. constitution contains nearly identical language, as do 19 other state constitutions. opponents argue it legalizes forced labor in prisons.

in alabama, it was used until 1928 to justify the state's convict lease system. prisoners, overwhelmingly black, and often arrested on trumped-up charges, were leased to private industry to do harsh manual labor for no pay. >> it was a horrible institution. and alabama was the last state to abolish the convict lease system. >> reporter: in the last four years, three states have deleted language on involuntary servitude, and tennessee will have an amendment on the ballot this fall like alabama's. >> i hope alabama, which oftentimes and it's so sad to say, is 48th or 49th or sometimes 50th, except for in football, that in this instance that we are ahead of the eight ball, that we're at the top. and maybe we can be an example for other states around the country. >> reporter: while coleman's resolution would eradicate these dated, racist provisions, it won't touch some of the other ideas from 1901 that continue to hamper the state. today, alabama has the second- to-lowest tax collections per capita in the nation.

to fund operations and social services, the state relies heavily on the sales tax, which falls disproportionately on the poor. if a town or county wants to raise taxes or make other changes, they can. but they must do it through an amendment to the constitution, which requires approval by a supermajority of the legislature, and then, in some cases, the voters of the entire state. >> a lot of the time we spend in the legislature is on local issues, an issue that only impacts one county or one city. >> reporter: and this creates another problem. since 1901, the document has been amended almost 1,000 times. at somewhere around 400,000 words, alabama's constitution is 50 times longer than the u.s. constitution. not only is it the longest state constitution by far, it's thought to be the longest constituti in the world. to help make it at least a little bit more user-friendly, coleman proposes to recompile

the whole document, grouping amendments by county and putting economic development provisions in the same place. there have been numerous attempts to overhaul the constitution over the years, including a lawsuit that made it to the supreme court, reforms proposed by seven governors, democrat and republican, and repeated calls for a new constitutional convention. most all have failed, stymied by the legislature, courts, or special interests. coleman's resolution has had virtually no opposition, partially because it won't touch the issues that have been controversial the past. which raises the question: how much of a difference will it actually make? >> some people have said, well, what does this really do? your state constitution setsp your value system. and that 1901 constitution didn't see me as equal. and so i think it's really important for us to use that symbol as a catapult to not only change the wording, but to

change the hearts and minds. >> sreenivasan: singer- songwriter aimee mann won a grammy in 2018 for a deeply personal album called "mental illness." following that release, she was asked to write songs for a stage adaptation of the best-selling memoir "girl, interrupted," the story of a young woman in 1968 aspiring to be a writer, who was committed to a mental hospital. "newshour weekend" special correspondent tom casciato has more on her latest album, "queens of the summer hotel," and its relation to her own mental health. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: aimee mann has no trouble relating to the women described in susanna kaysen's memoir of being confined to a mental hospital. >> i certainly know people who are bipolar, who have eating disorders, who were severely traumatized, to do a lot of self harm. you know, i mean, drug

addiction, like i have been fairly close with one from each of those categories. you know, a lot of it as i try to do justice to what i thought was being expressed in the book. >> reporter: one song describes the alarming speed with which a doctor could quote "diagnose" a young woman. >> ♪ in the time it takes to walk around the block ♪ i can have you scheduled for electroshock ♪ >> reporter: another, a self- harming woman seeking to extinguish her feelings with flame. >> ♪ can you just burn it out ♪ ♪ suicide is murder you've got to have motive, means, and opportunity ♪ and also, i just really felt like this is really in my wheelhouse. was born in 1960. i know what it was like to be female in 1968.

like, i know the kind of things that men said about women. and the persistent underestimation of your intellectual ability. nobody told you you can be whatever you want. and if you go against that system, your behavior can be interpreted by a doctor who's diagnosing you in 15 minutes as, you know, you're a crazy person for not accepting the reality of the... of the world you live in. but you're like, "yeah, but that's a crazy world." "i want to be a writer," which was susanna kyasen's thing. you know, something is essentially wrong with her because e wanted to be a writer. i mean, that's crazy. so, i feel crazy just talking about it. >> reporter: mann first gained attention in the 1980s as an mtv favorite fronting the new wave band 'til tuesday. in the next decade, she emerged as a solo singer-songwriter.

♪ ♪ but though her early solo albums garnered raves, they also failed to produce big hits, and soon she found herself without a record label. she spoke on a podcast about how that period affected her own mental health. you said something to the effect of starting to view yourself the way your rord label viewed you. >> when they're the only people hearing the music, and they're the only people giving you feedback, you know, and the feedback is always, t's not good enough." and, of course, for them, it's not good enough means, like, "i don't hear a single. we don't think it's commercial. so we don't feel confident about it." but it's very discouraging because like 100% of the feedback you're getting is you're not good enough. ♪ what was started with such excitement ♪

>> reporter: mann took the opportunity to start her own label, superego records, releasing two acclaimed albums, "bachelor no. 2" in 2000, and in 2002, "lost in space." >> "lost in space" was... i had a nervous breakdown. you know, like severe dissociative episodes, so i went into treatment and that... most of the songs in "lost in space" are about that. i mean, you could tell, there are songs about metaphors for being disassociated that, you know, like aren't too hard to figure out. >> reporter: for example, "lost in space." >> yeah, yeah, exactly. just pretending to care like i'm not even there i was diagnosed with p.t.s.d. i think i had very severe p.t.s.d. symptoms. um... >> reporter: and was that a childhood trauma? >> yeah, i think and, you know, which is tricky because i'm like, "well, my experience can't be that bad, right?" i don't like losing my family in

in the earthquake or something," but my mother left when i was three and i was always also taken away from the other parent, you know? so... and eventually, i was returned to my father, but it was after a long period of time, so he was kind of like a stranger. i guess that is traumatic. i mean, it obviously is because you don't have, like, symptoms out of nowhere. ♪ baby beware i'm just pretending to care ♪ you know, i mean, i just shut down. there was a period time where i didn't talk and... >> reporter: as a kid. >> yeah. >> reporter: were you writing verse in your mind when you weren't talking? >> no. i don't think trauma is like, really... i don't know. there's like a level of trauma that isn't, you know, is reay conducive to art. >> reporter: in a song from her "mental illness" album, aimee mann sings of being "stuck in the past." >> ♪ stuck in the past i plan it only on paper ♪ >> reporter: but one gets the impression from her latest work

that far from being stuck, she's using the past-- whether hers or someone else's-- to push her music, and herself, forward. >> you know, i mean, recovery is like an ongoing thing. i think, you know, your brain is a delicate machine and you have to keep adjusting and tinkering and, you know, reading the manual to try to figure out how it works. ♪ ♪ >> sreenivasan: if you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org. that's all for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." for the latest news updates, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night.

captning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group: retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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