captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, march 20: russia bombards ukraine as the ground war slows and president zelensky calls for peace talks. the state of texas faces challenges after redrawing the lines for congressional and state districts. >> communities of color in fort bend county were really just right on the edge of being able to win political power. across the board in texas, what you see is the creation of these suburban rural districts. >> sreenivasan: and author poet claudia rankine on her new play about race and privilege. >> if people were privileged but-- and were not also in control of the government and also in control of my possibilities as an american citizen, i.e. my voting rights,

my all of that, then it wouldn't matter so much. then we would just talk about class differences. >> sreenivasan: next on “pbs newshour weekend.” >> 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 has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-bed customer service team can help find a plan 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. with russia's invasion of ukraine now in its fourth week, ukrainian president volodomyr zelensky is again calling for comprehensive talks to end the conflict. zelensky's plea comes as several ukrainian cities remain under heavy attack from artillery and missiles, and the humanitarian crisis worsens. at the samtime, russian military casualties are reportedly mounting as ground advances slow. in his now nearly nightly video address, president zelensky said the time had come for a mediated

solution to the war. >> ( translated ): i am sure you understand that negotiations are not easy and pleasant, but they are needed, for it is about life. ukraine has always sought a peaceful solution. moreover, we are interested in peace now because we count everyone killed. >> sreenivasan: during the same speech, zelensky also accused russians of committing war crimes in their siege of the southern port city of mariupol. the city has been under bombardment from russian forces for more than two weeks, leaving those still there with no access to basic services like electricity and water. the city council in mariupol said an art school where 400 civilians were sheltering was bombed yesterday, and there were reports of victims trapped under ruble. but as of this afternoon, those claims were still not verified. this follows the russian airstrike on a theater filled with sheltering ukrainians in mariupol on thursday. it was marked with the word“ children” in large white letters so that it would be visible from the air. at least 130 people survived,

but hundreds may still be trapped under the rubble. russia denies that it targets civilians. in the southern city of kherson, protestors confronted russian military vehicles today, chanting “go home.” russia says it controls, but in response to the protests the vehicles turned around and left. about 40 miles away in the city of mykolaiv, the search for survivors continued this weekend at marine barracks destroyed on friday by a russian rocket attack. as many as 40 ukranians died in the blast according to reporting fr "the new york times," which would make it one of the deadliest attacks of the war. the ukrainian military estimates that it has killed 14,700 russian soldiers since the war began. u.s. officials estimate the number to be about half that, but still a staggering number. in an interview today, the russian state television producer who protested on live tv last week said she plans to stay in the country, and that the russian people were not united in supporting the war. >> ( translated ): i believe that many people, more than half

of the people in russia, are against the war. >> sreenivasan: as the ground war bogs down, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations said u.s. intelligence has raised concerns that russia could use chemical weapons in ukraine. >> we've been clear: ithey escalate to this level we will respond aggressively to what they are doing. you've seen the consequences so far of our actions against russia and against putin, and they are feeling those consequences, and they will feel more if they take this unfortunate decision to use chemical weapons. >> sreenivasan: president joe biden is planning to travel to brussels this week to participate in a nato summit and join a european council meeting there to discuss russia's invasion of ukraine. for updates on the russian invasion of ukraine and more national and international news, visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: for more on how the war is playing out politically here at home, and a

look at the upcoming supreme court nomination hearings for ketanji brown jackson, i spoke with newshour weekend special correspondent jeff greenfield. jeff, as this war in ukraine continues, there are some surveys now that say that americans would be willing to pay a little bit higher at the gas pump or rally around the flag. >> well, surveys have also shown that americans want to eat more vegetables and watch more documentaries on television, but the broader point is that this famous line that "politics stops at the water's edge," it's very rarely true. even when we've had wars like korea, vietnam, iraq, there've been huge divisions. and even in world war ii, which is often cited as the great unifying war, there was enough discontent with how the war was being fought and the burdens on the home front that in the 1942 midterms, a year after pearl harbor, the democrats lost 44 house and nine senate seats. so, you have to be careful before you assert, yeah, no, this is going to make everybody rally around the flag.

>> sreenivasan: and even in this response, we're starting to see the partisanship and the polarization that we're now getting used to. >> it's, yes, very sharply, very quickly. i think ted cruz said in so many words that it was biden that caused the invasion by putin, and other republicans have pointed everything from the botched withdrawal in afghanistan to the fact that they feel biden hasn't been strong enough. and in response, democrats say, you know, you remember trump all but tried to eradicate nato. he was putin's best buddy. he was pointing the finger at ukraine for political reasons. so, yeah, there's been an enormous amount of polarization, and think that's going to have some impact in whether or not the country stays united. >> sreenivasan: we do have one other bit of news on capitol hill that will happen this week, which is the supreme court nomination. what do you expect?

>> not anything very inspiring. before she was on the supreme court, when elena kan was an academic, she wrote an article about these hearings, and she called them a "vague and hollow charade." i don't even know why they call them hearings because nobody listens. senators don't really ask questions. they bloviate. they ge 10 minute speeches to make political points, depending on the nominee either buttressing the nominee or trying to attack them. and the broader point here, i think, is that you don't learn anything about what these justices mean because they've all almost all been told, don't make any statements about how you might rule. so, it's, it's, it's theater is what it is. >> sreenivasan: and even in this case, it completely goes down along partisan lines. i mean, there are now people who are on this committee that are concerned about the fact that as a public defender, she defended men at guantanamo bay and saying, hey, she's somebody who

defends terrorists. >> let me broaden that point a little bit. when antonin scalia, a committed judicial conservative, was nominated by reagan, he was confirmed 98 to nothing. when ruth bader ginsburg was nominated by clinton and actually told the committee, "yeah, i'm going to support abortion rights," she was confirmed 96-3. today, it's almost unimaginable that a nominee from a president of one party is going to get more than a handful of votes from the other party, from senators. in fact, when jackson was nominated for the court of appeals, when usually senators give a president a lot more deference because it's a lower court, she got all of three republican votes. and there's one other point i think to your point, these hearings often are staging areas for political arguments. when barrett, amy barrett was nominated, the democrats used it to say, you're going to kill obamacare, and here's what's terrible about trump's health plan-- by the way, she didn't. and to your point, we're now

hearing, well, she was a public defender. we're looking at all the terrible people she defended. she was on a sentencing commission that unanimously argued for lower sentences. she's soft on sexual offenders. and that's because crime, as we talked about a few weeks ago, is an ascending issue. and the republicans want to make sure that the country, to the extent anybody listens, is hearing that this nominee is, to use the old phrase, soft on crime. and that's why the idea that, you know, there's going to be any light, as opposed toeat out of these hearings, i wouldn't put a whole lot of money on it. >> sreenivasan: jeff greenfield, thanks so much. >> good to be with you, hari. >> sreenivasan: last week, maryland announced it was delaying its gubernatorial primary election amid a legal challenge to its new electoral maps. it's just the latest state embroiled in litigation as the result of redistricting-- the

redrawing of congressional and state legislative maps following the decennial cens. it is a fraught political process as both parties work the system to their advantage. special correspondent karla murthy traveled to texas to see how the changing demographics have shaped the redistricting fight there. >> reporter: march 1 was primary election day in texas, and one place residents could cast their votes was at the maryam islamic center in sugar land, a suburb of houston. >> we saw voting centers happening in churches, we saw them happening in schools, and we really wanted to have a way to serve the community, just like those other centers do. so, there's actually voting taking place right now here in the mosque. it's something we're very proud of. >> reporter: nabila mansoor and her family of pakistani descent are part of a growing immigrant population from south and east asia in fort bend, the most diverse county in the state. >> it was always a very multicultural area, but in terms

of the growth, it has just changed dramatically. and much of that growth has been propelled by new immigrant communities coming in. there have been a lot of people moving to texas, and a lot of them are attracted to suburbs like sugar land, missouri city, really the southwest area of houston. >> reporter: so when the 2020 census was underway, mansoor, who's an attorney, wanted to make sure all of her new neighbors were counted. census data is used to determine how much funding an area gets, for things like public schools and new roads. it's also used for redistricting, the process of redrawing voting maps to reflect population changes every ten years. >> the census was the, kind of, the preliminary part, but the real, i would argue the real fight was in redistricting, because that should translate into power in terms of voting. >> reporter: but mansoor says that's not what happened. in texas, the census showed that 95% of population growth in the

last decade came from people of color, but when the state's congressional maps were redrawn last year, the republican controlled legislature created more white majority districts. i'm standing in the center of sugar land, which used to fall under one congressional district. but after redistricting last year, it's been carved up. under the old maps, the asian- american population in sugar land, who tend to vote democratic, was largely concentrated in congressional district 22. the new map divvied up the community among neighboring districts. what was left of the 22nd was roped in with a more rural white majority that tends to vote republican. >> communities of color in fort bend county were really just right on the edge of being able to win political power. >> reporter: michael li is senior council for the brennan center at new york university law school. he says the texas suburbs, once a republican stronghold, have now become some of the most diverse areas in the country-- and a lot more democratic.

>> republicans treated the suburbs really as hostile territory and it's something to be neutralized. and so, across the board in texas, what you see is the creation of these suburban rural districts, right where, where rural voters are being used to shore up republican advantages. >> reporter: with the influx of new voters, district 22, which had been a safe seat for republicans for decades, had recently been trending purple. >> reporter: in the 2020 congressional election, a multiracial coalition supported indian-american sri kulkarni, a democrat. he sent out campaign materials in more than ten different languages. although he lost, he came closer than any democrat in years to flipping the seat, and would have been the first asian- american elected to congress from texas. jennifer cazares lives in congressional district 22 and

supported kulkarni. >> we had built this coalition of, you know, a group of people who were trying to eventlly elect a candidate of our choice, and it feels like you can never win right and not win for your candidate, but just win to be heard. >> reporter: she says the odds of a candidate like kulkarni winning now are even slimmer. >> our voices are silenced, our communities are divided. and so, those lines affect us and our political power. >> reporter: cazares joined one of several lawsuits that have been filed against the state of texas, alleging the new maps discriminate against minority voters. last december, the department of justice also sued the state. >> as the supreme court has observed, a core principle of our democracy is that “voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.” >> reporter: james pressler is a republican precinct chair in the sugar land area. critics have pointed to

congressional district 22 and said, you know, the way these maps were drawn actually across the state of texas have diluted the poweof people of color. >> i don't agree with that because i, as i've been a lifelong republican, i'm seeing people of color enter into our party and run. >> reporter: pressler points to a handful of local races which had republican candidates of color running. >> both sides work it to their advantage and they always blame the other side when they get when they don't get what they want. and, you know, sometimes i think the democrats always go to the race issue, and it's really not accurate or fair. but it's, you know, both, both, both parties use it to their advantage when they can. >> reporter: he cites democratic contlled legislatures in new york and illinois that have also drawn maps aggressively in their favor. >> republicans are very angry about the maps in new york. democrats are very angry about the maps in texas.

>> reporter: michael li cautions that as districts become less competitive between democrats and republicans, they become more competitive within the parties. >> the only thing that matters is the priry. and we know, you know, in texas and elsewhere, the primary electorates of both parties are more ideological, more extreme. so, i think there's the potential that this gerrymandering will produce greater polarization of both parties and make it harder for congress to, to work. >> reporter: he says some states have managed to create fair maps using independent redistricting commissis. they include michigan, colorado and california. >> so, i think that there definitely will be a push for more independent commissions. it is sometimes hard to do because it means the legislature giving up power, but, you know, i thk there's a lot of evidence now that commissions could be a really big part of the solution to the problems that we're seeing, both in terms of political fairness, but also in terms of racial fairness and representation. >> reporter: meanwhile, litigation over the maps in texas could take years to resolve, leaving the newly drawn

maps in place for the foreseeable future. >> it's the waiting game, right? we're just waiti for things to change. and every time we get excited, it's like the goalposts just move a little bit further. but that doesn't mean their efforts aren't going to stop, and we're going to try to make sure that we get our voice heard in the new congressional district that we're in. >> sreenivasan: the covid-19 pandemic has altered the cultural landscape in many ways, including postponing the premieres of many theatrical presentations. one is acclaimed author claudia rankine's new play, entitled“ help,” a personal examination of white privilege through abstract staging and choreography. after a prolonged covid shutdown, “help” opens this week in new york city. newshour weekend's zachary green sat down with rankine in 2020, and again recently, to discuss the play, and how events over the last two years have affected

her and her work. >> you've joined us in our liminal space, a space neither here nor there, a space full of imaginative possibilities, a space we move through on our way to other places. and i want to tell you how i came to have brief conversations with white men. >> reporter: in march of 2020, poet and author claudia rankine's play, “help”, was about to open at the shed performance center in new york city. it's based on a "new york times" piece about conversations she had while traveling. >> he said he loved airplanes. >> no phones. no news. can't stand the news. i mean, 's non-stop these days. >> you shouldn't have voted for him. i didn't give it a thought. >> reporter: rankine says that she got the idea for the piece after the 2016 election, in which 62% of white male voters helped sweep donald trump into the white house. she believed that many of them were driven to vote for trump because of racial resentment. she says that resentment is also

the reason why many white conservatives favor slashing social spending. >> you never know who they're letting to first class these days. >> there is a perception among white people that people of color are taking things from them-- taking spaces in universities, taking their tax dollars-- when, in fact, many of the programs that began in this country began to help white people. and it wasn't until after the 1960s and civil rights buildup, the conception changed, and the notion was that, oh, now black people are taking those things. so we will vote against our-- our own best interest. >> reporter: “help” dramatizes rankine's experiences as a black woman interacting with white men, as well as their ubiquity in positions of power in the u.s. >> that's the majority of the senate, the majority of the supreme court. that's just a boardroom. it's just a police force.

it's the founding fathers. it's an insurance company. it's a line of surgeons. a line of histians. a line of bankers. >> i think what white people don't think about is the fact that i can, i, as claudia rankine, a black woman, could work as hard as you do. but the minute somebody knows that i'm black, they'll put aside my resume. they'll decide that i don't fit into the culture of the company that is peopled by white people. their structure has a door open for you, so that you can step through it and work hard. that same structure has to think twice about whether or not i should be let into that room. when i'm talking about privilege, i'm talking about that door. >> reporter: our conversation with rankine took place just before her play's first preview. four days later, the pandemic shut down new york's theaters. two years to the day since our first interview with her, we sat down with rankine again to

discuss the shed's re-mounting of her play and how the events of the last two years have changed it. we saw a number of high profile deaths of black people: breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, george floyd, daunte wright, among others. what has it been like for you to bear witness to all of these deaths and the- the response afterwds? >> i want to start by saying all of that had been happening, but it hadn't been happening with us sitting in front of the television in our homes where we got to see it day-in and day-out and follow the news incredibly closely. and the accumulation was devastating. >> reporter: in the latest version of “help,” rankine includes the january 6 insurrection, dramatizing it with video of the events of that day and relating it to her themes of privileges, rights, and who has power. >> january 6 became the thing that had to be incorporated into

the script and-- and tt was a moment that i didn't feel like i could write. i, i think it's so important as a historical moment that i don't want to get it wrong. i don't want the audience to be able to say that's not how, that's not what they said, that's not what they meant. >> reporter: how do all of those events to you kind of-- kind of relate to what the play is really examing? >> well, white privilege, inasmuch as it's tied to american democracy, because if people were privileged but-- and were not also in control of the government and also in control of my possibilities as an american citizen, i.e. my voting rights, my-- all of that, then it wouldn't matter so much. then we would just talk about class differences. but because white dominance is tied to institutional power, it's really important for us to mark these things cause the ramifications will shift our

possibilities, my possibility and your possibility. and you might not see it, but i will feel it first. i think you will feel it eventually, but i will feel it first. >> sreenivasan: tune in on monday for pbs newshour's live coverage of the senate confirmation hearings for president biden's supreme court nominee, ketanji brown jackson. that begins at 11:00 a.m. eastern at pbs.org/newshour and right here on pbs. check your local listings. 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. captioning 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. e 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.

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