i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, the invasion at an impasse -- russian forces make no significant gains in ukraine territory, as they continue to pummel several major cities and peace talks are set to resume. then, the voice of the kremlin -- we speak to vladimir putin's spokesman about the future of russia's ongoing conflict with ukraine. and, struggle and stigma -- how people ocolor with eating disorders facedditional cultural and medical challenges in confronting their conditions. >> the lifetime prevalence of any eating disorder among women of color is about the same or greater compared to white women.

judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> it is the little things. the reminders of what is important. it is why fidelity dedicated advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan. a plan with tax sensitive investing strategies. planning focused on tomorrow, while you focus on today. that is the planning effect, from fidelity. >> consumer cellular. bnsf railway. bdo, accountants and advisors.

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judy: president biden today stood by his comments over the weekend that russia's vladimir putin, quote, cannot remain in power, end quote. mr. biden was asked about that this afternoon, and again insisted his remarks were not a call for regime change. instead, he said he was expressing his moral outrage. meantime, in ukraine, president volodymyr zelenskyy said he was open to discussing neutrality for his nation, in exchange for a cease-fire, nearly five weeks into the russian invasion. but we begin again with the astonishing carnage and destruction wrought by russia. from eastern ukraine, special correspondent jack hewson begins our coverage. jack: this city in ruins and under siege continues to suffer unspeakable horrors. displaced residents of mariupol despair at the destruction when they return to their homes, now rubble. valentina: i have lived here since my birth, my husband as well. we got married here and had

babies. what now? what is left for us? i don't want to go anywhere from mariupol, but there's nowhere to live here. jack: for many, there's also nowhere to go. according to local officials, nearly 5000 people have been killed and 160,000 remain trapped inside the city, without heat, water, or electricity. calling for a complete evacuation, the mayor said mariupol is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. those who've managed to escape and reached the polish border recount what life is like under siege. alina: we melt snow to have at least something to drink. we cook on open fires under shelling and bombs, just, because if you don't, you will have nothing to eat. jack: a senior u.s. defense ficial said today russia is making the most progress in the southeast. taking mariupol could allow russia to secure a land corridor between crimea and the donbass region.

the official also said russian forces are likely trying to cut off the donbass from the north, as troops move south from kharkiv to izyum. but, near kyiv, russian troops have stopped their advances. instead, ukrainian resistance continues to be determined. the mayor of irpin, a kyiv suburb, said today ukrainian troops retook the city. oleksandr: we have good news today. irpin has been liberated. irpin is ukraine. glory to ukraine, glory to heroes. jack: on the diplomatic front, the outlook seemed less promising. ukrainian and russian delegations arrived in turkey for peace talks that could begin tomorrow. president volodymyr zelenskyy again said he could consider giving up ukraine's bid to join nato and compromise over the status of the donbass region. but he said there could be no peace deal until russian troops withdraw. pres. zelenskyy: who will sit down for talks if the russian troops are here? who will sign anything? nobody. jack: russia's foreign minister,

sergey lavrov, also dampened any hopes of a meeting between the two war commanders if they don't agree on key issues. mr. lavrov: just to meet and exchange views on what do you think, what do i think, would be now counterproductive. jack: meanwhile, reverberations continued from the president's off-the-cuff remark saturday in warsaw. pres. biden: for god's sake, this man cannot remain in power. jack: today, president biden defended his comments over charges they might escalate the conflict. pres. biden: i'm not walking anything back. jack: the newshour's lisa desjardins asked for explanations. lisa: whether those are your personal feelings or your feelings as president, do you understand why people would believe you, as someone commanding one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, saying someone cannot remain in power is a statement of u.s. policy? and, also, are you concerned about propaganda use of those remarks by the russians? pres. biden: no and no. lisa: tell me why. you have so much experience. you are the leader of this country. pres. biden: because it's ridiculous. nobody believes we're going to take down -- i was talking about taking down putin. nobody who believes that.

the last thing i want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with russia. that's not part of it. i was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man. it's outrageous. it's outrageous. and it's more an aspiration than anything. he shouldn't be in power. jack: for the pbs newshour, i'm jack hewson in kharkiv, ukraine. judy: we turn now to the view fr inside the kremlin and an interview with president vladimir putin's chief spokesman, dmitry peskov. he's also the deputy chief of staff to putin. special correspondent ryan chilcote, who was just reporting in russia for us for the last several weeks, spoke with peskov this morning. ryan: dmitry peskov, thank you very much for joining us. sec. peskov: thank you. it's my pleasure. ryan: over the weekend, we heard president biden call president putin a butcher and say that it is impossible for him to remain in power. president biden then said that he was not advocating for regime

change. and yet you have said that the kremlin still finds these comments alarming. why? sec. peskov: well, it is quite alarming. first of all, it's -- first of all, it is personal insult. and one can hardly imagine a place for personal insult in rhetorics of a political leader, and especially a political leader of the greatest country in the world, of the united states. so, we're really sorry about that. and his statement involves whether putin should not or should be in power in russia. of course, it is completely unacceptable. it is not for the united state'' president to decide who is going to be and who is the president of the russian federation. it is people of russia who are deciding during the election.

ryan: i want to ask you about nuclear weapons and clear some things up. there's still quite a bit of confusion about russia's position. we heard yet another official over the weekend, this time former presidentmitry medvedev, say that russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if it faces an existential threat, even if the other side has not employed nuclear weapons. so could you please clarify for us what exactly would amount to an existential threat to russia? for example, if you were unable to achieve your objectives in ukraine, even though there is no one fighting in russia, there's no strikes on russia, could that be perceived as an existential threat? sec. peskov: well, first of all, we have no doubt that all the objectives of our special military operation in ukraine will be completed. we have no doubt about that. but any outcome ofhe operation, of course, is not a reason for usage of a nuclear

weapon. we have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat for existence of the state in our country, we can use and we will actually use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat or the existence of our country. let's keep all this -- well, let's keep these two things separate, i mean, existence of the state and special military operation in ukraine. they have nothing to do with each other. but, at the same time, if you remember the statement of the president when he ordered the operation on the 24th of february, there was a part of his statement warning different states not to interfere in the affairs between ukraine and russia during this operation.

he was very strict in his warning, and he was quite tough on that. and i think that everyone understands what he meant. ryan: well, he meant that he would use nuclear weapons? he was suggesting he would use nuclear weapons if a third party got involved in the conflict? sec. peskov: no, i don't think so. i don't think so. but he was quite bold in saying that, do not interfere. if you do that, we will have all the possibilities to prevent that and to punish all those who are going to interfere. ryan: look, mr. peskov, if you stick to your -- the dictionary definition of existential threat that we were discussing, clearly, nothing that is taking place or that is even really, quite frankly, imaginable that could take place could reach that bar of threatening the existence of the russian state. so, why not just clear this up right now? why can't you, on behalf of

russia, rule out the use of nuclear weapons in this conflict, right here? sec. peskov: no one is thinking about using, about -- even about idea of using a nuclear weapon. ryan: president biden also this weekend warned president putin to not even, as he put it -- quote -- even think about going on one single inch of nato territory -- close quote. can you imagine a situation where russia would feel it necessary to bomb or send forces into a nato country during this conflict? sec. peskov: well, if it is not a reciprocal act, so if they don't make us do that, we cannot think about that. and we do not want to think about that. ryan: the u.s. and other nations, as you are aware, say russia is committing war crimes in ukraine. they say your forces seem to be deliberately targeting civilians in your operations there. the international criminal court has launched an investigation.

and the prosecutor at the international criminal court says that russia has not responded to his request for contributions. if you are not doing anything wrong in ukraine, why not cooperate with the icc? sec. peskov: we do not accept the jurisdiction of icc. we did not -- we did not acknowledge it before, and we do not accept it right now. and we are not going to accept it further. so, about the civilian targets, actually, it is a very important question. you have to know that, from the very beginning of these special operations, russian military had a very strict order from the chief commander not to aim at civilian targets. and they are not doing that. they are not shelling houses. they are not shelling apartments. they are not shelling civil objects. they arenly shelling and

they're aiming objects of military infrastructure, in the context of one of the main goals of the operation, demilitarization of ukraine. then who is ruining the infrastructure, the civil infrastructure of mariupol, for example? those nazi battalions inside mariupol, they're simply killing those who would like to escape from the city. and these nazi battalions, they are using the apartments as a shelter for their guns, for their armaments, for their tanks, for their snipers. that is causing the reciprocal fire. so, it is not russian military who are doing that. ryan: well, dmitry sergeyevich, i would say, in all fairness, everyone outside of russia has been watching hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage that has come out of the country

showing widespread targeting of civilian infrastructure, apartment buildings, theaters, hospitals. i want to ask you briefly about sanctions and specifically energy supply. western -- european countries right now get a lot of their gas, as you are well aware, from russia. they currently play dollars and euros for that gas. vladimir putin has said he wants them to pay in rubles. so it looks like we have a stalemate here. will russia turn off the tap? will it cut off its gas exports to europe if those countries refuse to pay for that gas in rubles? sec. peskov: i don't know what is going to happen when they reject this possibility. so, as soon as we have the final decision, we will look what can be done. but, definitely, we are not going to make a charity out of it and to send gas free of charge to western europe.

ryan: it's kind of a binary thing, right? sec. peskov: yes. ryan: it sounds like president putin is insisting he gets paid in rubles. they're insisting they will not pay in rubles. so, my question simply is, are you going to turn off the gas? sec. peskov: well, it depends. no payment, no gas. ryan: how concerned are you, mr. peskov, that some of your best clients, your best customers for european gas, germany, a number of european countries, are now turning their backs on russia and russian gas? doesn't that give you a pause about the future of russia's economy? sec. peskov: well, this is, of course -- this is what -- we wouldn't want to see it in our reality. but we have to adapt ourselves to meet conditions. and, unfortunately, those conditions, they are quite unfriendly. and they are enemy, enemy-like for us. we entered the phase, the phase of a total war. and we in russia, we will feel

ourselves amongst war, because western european countries, united states, canada, australia, they actually -- they actually -- they are leading war against us in trade, in economy, in seizing our properties, in seizing our funds, in blocking our financial relations. and we have to adapt ourselves to new reality. you have to understand russia. you have to understand russia. what was the reason of studying the operation? for a couple of decades, we were telling the collective west that we are afraid of your nato's moving eastwards. we too are afraid of nato getting closer to our borders with its military infrastructure. please take care of that. don't push us into the corner. no. now we said, listen, guys, we are not happy with this coup in ukraine. and you have guarantees by

poland, by france, and by germany. you would probably remember the document with the signatures of the relevant foreign ministers. no reaction. then, we said, listen, guys, we're not happy with the possibility of ukraine's getting into nato, because it will endanger us additionally, and it will ruin the balance of mutual deterrence in europe. no reaction. then we said, listen, guys, we want equal relationship. we want to take into account each other's concerns. if you don't into account our concerns, then we will be a little bit nervous. no reaction completely. ryan: there are so many more nato forces now closer to russia than they ever were as a result of this conflict. do you feel like, in your efforts to address your concerns, you have made the situation worse? sec. peskov: well, the situation is quite concerning. you're right. you're right.

but we're wise enough to understand that, previously, before, prior to the operation, nato was doing the same, but with a smile on its face and gradually. we're deeply convinced that nato machine is not a machine of cooperation and is not a machine of security. it's a machine of confrontation. ryan: dmitry peskov, thank you very mucfor your time. sec. peskov: thank you very much for your invitation. judy: and now for some perspective, we turn again to andrew weiss. he served in the george h.w. bush and clinton administrations on the national security council staff and the state department's policy planning staff. he is now vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace, a think tank. andrew weiss, welcome back to the "newshour." first off, i want to ask you what you made of mr. peskov's comments about nuclear war, about russia's intentions when it comes to using nuclear weapons.

andrew: hi, judy. i think the comments from dmitry peskov about whether or not the ukraine war is an existential threat to the survival of the russian state are somewhat encouraging. this is about as good as any comment from a russian official is likely to be. and it's as close to a partial walk-back of what president putin has said as we're likely to get. so, all in all, it's reassuring. the problem is, of course, that such declaratory policy is highly elastic, in that, if putin sees what in his eyes is an existential threat coming out of the war in ukraine, he can turn things around and come up with a justification himself. judy: so are you referring in part to what mr. peskov had to say about -- he said, we see these as separate things, this so-called special operation and something that would be an existential threat to our territory? andrew: that's right, judy. and the reason why western leaders have been on edge about this is, in the immediate aftermath of putin's launch of

the war on february 24, he cited unfriendly actions by nato countries, including the imposition of economic sanctions, as justification for raising the alert level of russia's nuclear forces. he wasn't pointing to anything specific as providing that justification. and that, i think, sort of made people in various western capitals nervous that putin was getting a little bit overanxious to waive his nlear saber. the problem is, is, would russia potentially try to use either chemical, nuclear or biological weapons as a way of upending the dynamic on the battlefield? and i don't think that concern has gone away by any stretch. there's still a lot of worry about that in western governments. judy: no question. even though he said no one is thinking about using nuclear weapons, he said even the idea of a nuclear weapon. let me also ask you about what he said about nato. ryan chilcote was asking him, what are your intentions about nato? under what circumstances would

you strike a nato country? and he said, well, if it's not a reciprocal act, so if they don't make us do that, we cannot think about that. we don't want to think about it. is that reassuring as well? andrew: i think it is. there's a couple of challenges here, though. the first is that the biden administration has tried to make clear that it does not see a direct military role for the united states in this conflict. that's a sensible and appropriate policy to be communicating publicly. the problem is, the longer this goes on -- and my baseline assessment is that this conflict is starting to morph into something that resembles the bosnian war of the 1990's. if this goes on, on a vaster scale for a longer period of time, the risk of some form of spillover or impact on the western supplies of military equipment to the ukrainians is going to be with us basically on a chronic basis. and so, at some poin the russians are likely to strike those western supplies of military equipment to the ukrainians. the question is, how does that kind of strike unfold? is any westerner hit or killed, potentially, god forbid, in the

process? it's those kinds of scenarios for escalation that, again, i think are quite concerning, and that by no means can be negated for the coming months, if not years to come. judy: and, finally, your thoughts on what he said about, we, the russians, are not targeting civilians. he referred to nazis in mariupol. i mean, clearly, the evidence is otherwise. andrew: yes. no, it's really unconvincing. there's a lot of familiar talking points coming out of the kremlin. the idea that this horrible humanitarian disaster that's unfolding in the city of mariupol is somehow being inflicted by ukrainian fighters on their own people is just not -- is not credible. judy: andrew weiss with the carnegie endowment, we thank you so much. andrew: thank you. stephanie: i am stephanie sy with newshour west. we will return tthe full program after the latest

headlines. a federal judge found former president trump may well have committed crimes in connection with the u.s. capitol riot. the judge, in southern california, spoke in a ruling that ordered john eastman, a trump adviser and california lawyer, to turn over e-mails to a select congressional committee. u.s. district judge david carter wrote, quote, the court finds it more likely than not that president trump corruptly attempted to obstruct congress on january 6, 2021. a trump spokesman called the ruling absurd and baseless. the house committee investigating the january 6 attack on the capitol voted tonight to hold trump aides in contempt of congress. a committee report issued yesterday said the pair worked to keep trump in power even after he lost the election. the full house will now take up the case. president biden laid out his proposed spending blueprint for the coming fiscal year, including higher taxes on the very wealthy and more money for

police. it totals $5.8 trillion, with a deficit of $1.1 trillion. at the white house, the president said his budget embodies american values, including his call for a so-called billionaire's minimum tax. pres. biden: for most americans, the last few years were very hard, stretching them to the breaking point. but billionaires and large corporations got richer than ever. a firefighter and a teacher pay more than double -- double -- the tax rate that a billionaire pays. that's not right. that's not fair. stephanie: the president floated some of his tax ideas in last year's budget plan, to no avail. republicans said this new budget falls short on boosting defense and cutting deficits. the u.s. senate judiciary committee has postponed its vote on supreme court nominee ketanji brown jackson until next monday. republicans sought the delay. they said they're still missing confidential sentencing

documents to help them evaluate jackson's record. democrats want the full senate to vote on the nomination before a spring recess begins, april 8. the house of representatives voted tonight to honor pioneering supreme court justice is ruth bader ginsburg and sandra day o'connor. o'connor and ginsburg were the highest court's first two female justices. statues of them will be erected in the capital once president biden signs the bill into law as expected. on the pandemic, china's largest city, shanghai, went under a phased lockdown todato control a growing outbreak. the country's financial hub ordered mass testing for 26 million residents as police in hazmat suits closed bridges, tunnels, and roadways. and there was public disagreement on whether the lockdown should have come sooner. >> i feel it came a little too slow. it would have been better if we had acted earlier. it has been more than 20 days since risk control and

management efforts began. >> i am not surprised about the lockdown because the outbreak spread suddenly this time. of course, the state and the government have done a good job. stephanie: the lockdown is china's most extensive since the initial outbreak in wuhan, two years ago. the islamic state group has claimed responsibility for the second deadly attack in israel within a week. it happened sunday, when a pair of arab gunmen killed two police officers and wounded four people in hadera. police then killed the attackers. the sunday shootings came ahead of today's historic meeting in israel, with four arab nations that have normalized relations with the israelis. the focus was on dealing with iran and peacemaking with the palestinians. foreign ministers from morocco, bahrain, the united arab emirates, and egypt were joined by u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. the israelis hailed the gathering. yair: this new architecture, the shared capabilities we are

building, intimidates and deters our common enemies, first and foremost iran and its proxies. they certainly have something to fear. stephanie: the palestinians said all such meetings are worthless if they don't address palestinian statehood. back in this country, actor will smith has issued an apology to chris rock after assaulting him on stage at the oscars last night. smith said his actions were out of line, inexcusable, and acceptable. smith received the award for best actor after he slapped rock. we will return to the oscar highlights later in the program. still to come on the “newshour”" tamara keith and amy walter discuss the latest political news. we look back on memorable moments from the academy awards. plus much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter

cronkite school of journalism at arizona state universi. judy: as we reported, fresh from his trip to nato and poland, the president was at the white house today and asked to explain a set of comments he made about vladimir putin. lisa desjardins has more on the political fallout. lisa: that's right, judy. esident biden today insisted his comments that putin cannot stay in power were not a change in u.s. policy. here with me to discuss this and other political news, our fantastipolitics monday team, amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter, and tamara keith, of npr. tam, let's start with you. welcome back to a frigid washington from your trip with the president. tamara: yes. lisa: you heard those words in warsaw. you heard what president biden said today, that this was his sort of moral judgment and not u.s. policy. do you understand what he meant? and what does it tell us about the white house right now? tamara: well, it was definitely a double-take moment when he said that at the very end of this speech.

it was clearly, and sources have confirmed, and i think now the president himself has confirmed that that was not part of the prepared remarks. that was not part of the plan. in many ways, that phrase, that sentence is in conflict with the whole rest of the speech that he was trying to give, where he was trying to convince the allies that -- and the american people that this is going to be a long conflict that they are going to have to steel themselves for, that this is bigger than russia and ukraine, but this is about sort of a global battle, a generational battle between democracies and autocracies. all of these big ideas that he was trying to get across, literally spelling out, saying nato is not an offensive force. it is only here for defense. and then he says this thing. and the other thing that he explained today, and that was clear even on saturday night, when he said this, is he had

just come from the stadium, where he met with refugees who had been trapped in their basements in mariupol, who held -- he held a little girl in a pink jacket. lisa: memorable photos, yes. tamara: and told these girls -- these little girls that they were brave, and that they -- and these girls were praying for their fathers and grandfathers who were left behind in ukraine. so, all of this emotion and passion comes with him blurting this out. and he is now defending it. he is both saying, i'm not walking it back, and, also, it is not a statement of administration policy. it is not a policy of regime change. but that does not change the fact that this has sort of derailed the conversation about what he was -- that he was trying to have. lisa: amy, what are the politics here for maybe a confusing moment for the president on a very important issue that americans are watching closely, ukraine? amy: right. well, americans, i think, would agree that this is a pretty popular statement, vladimir putin, bad guy, vladimir putin doing bad things, vladimir putin should go, right?

it makes a whole lot of sense, until you have to understand, as tam laid out, that this is very delicate. not just keeping our allies all together, which is really been a success for the biden administration, but continuing to keep them together is going to be a challenge, keeping the public focused on the fact that this is going to take a lot longer, and it could be dragged out, and understanding that this is so delicate that any word that is said, any hint that this may involve more than just american support, in terms of sending weapons, sending aid, could get us into a conflict with a nuclear-armed russia. that's also the balancing act. it's interesting looking at public opinion. it's a balancing act that americans are trying to grapple with too, right? they say, we think there should be sanctions on russia. we absolutely support that, even if it means we pay more at the gas pump. we absolutely support sending aid to ukraine. in fact, we want to see more.

we want to see the administration do more, do more, help, help, help. do you want american troops to go to ukraine? absolutely not. lisa: on the other hand, right? amy: are you worried about a nuclear conflict with russia? absolutely. and so this sort of give and take is incredibly frustrating for so many people to watch. and you can understand too how, even when you're the president of the united states, you see this. it comes out. but, as tam pointed out, there are consequences to this. and this is a president who ran on a message that said words matter. it's very important as we go back onto the world stage that we do not just flippantly either send out tweets or say things off the cuff. lisa: on those themes of words mattering and conflicted american voters potentially, i want to talk about messages we have got from both parties in the last week. president biden put out his budget. we know it's a symbolic document, by and large. but, tamara, what did you make of who that budget is for? who is president biden trying to

win over in this important election year? tamara: right. budgets are vision documents, a vision that will not become reality, but it is important for the president to be able to say what he stands for, and budgets can often serve as sort of a guidepost r the party, for what they stand for in this election year. and so the president included in his budget a significant amount of funding to put more police on the beat. that is something he says he wants. it's something he's been talking about for a while. it is also a direct answer to the democrats are soft on crime, democrats want to defund the police. this is the president saying, i know that was a conversation in the st election. i would like the conversation in this election to be something different. also, a billionaire's tax, which is a populist thing that progressives can get behind. amy: yes. and it's such a contrast to where we were in 2021, right, when the president releases a budget that was $6 trillion, right?

it was this vision of a robust government that was going to. lisa: large, do things. amy: large, like, bigger than we have seen since the end of world war ii, is going to do big things. some of those things, like infrastructure, came true. but on so many of those other things, like the build back better plan, which included many of these priorities, child care, et cetera, that didn't happen. they also did not expect inflation to be where it is. and that is the bigger challenge right no of course. lisa: in just under a minute that we have got left, we also saw republicans getting some headlines last week in the judge jackson hearings i was at. those were some tough hearings. amy, who was that for? who were -- senators hawley and cruz especially, who were -- whose attention were they trying to get? amy: well, they're thinking ahead, not just to the 2022 midterms, but to 2024. the issues that they were talking about, whether it's on critical race theory, or some of the issues on gender specifically, that is something that we're hearing from

republican candidates as they're talking to base voters, so trying to get out in front right now on those issues while you have a platform. lisa: does that work with the -- are we seeing the base respond still to those issues? amy: well, they wouldn't be talking about it if they weren't responding. lisa: tam? tamara: and they also tried to paint her as soft on crime to more broadly paint democrats a soft on crime, which takes us back to the president's budget and the president trying to say, no, no, no, we're really serious about crime. i think that is a theme that we will see in 2022. lisa: we magically have an extra 30 seconds, as it turns out. [laughter] so, question, most overlooked issue right now, do you think, for the american public? just one word or two from each of you. amy: well, don't know that it's overlooked, but i do think that this idea about the role that inflation is playing really has to be driven home every single moment we talk about politics. even in this most recent polling from nbc, what they found in asking that issue about the war in russia, people are paying a whole lot of attention, but

they're much more concerned about what's happening at home with their own budgets. lisa: couple words. tamara: covid. lisa: yes. tamara: i know that it's over, but it's not over. amy: right. tamara: and it still is an issue. and i think 's going to have ripples in ourolitics this year and beyond. lisa: what a great conversation. tamara keith, amy walter, thank you both. amy: you're welcome. tamara: you'elcome. judy: almost 30 million americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. during the pandemic, the number of people seeking treatment has jumped. but as amna nawaz reports, eating disorders are often overlooked in people of color. a warning -- this story discusses the behaviors associated with these conditions. amna: for years, tre brown hid her disordered eating from her family. tre: it's a stigma to have an eating disorder in my community. one of my cousins made the statement, black people don't have eating disorders. that's a white person disease.

we know how to eat. amna: when most people hear the phrase eating disorder, what do you think they picture? who do they think of? tre: i think they picture a caucasian female. amna: it's a widespread stereotype. sara: in my head, it's always like a like a white girl, like a young white girl. gloria: in the media, it's always a thin white, middle-class, upper-class woman. amna: but that's not the full picture, says researcher karen jennings mathis. karen: the lifetime prevalence of any eating disorder among women of color is about the same or greater compared to white women. amna: and that could be an underestimate, since people of color are less likely than white people to have been asked by a doctor about eating disorder symptoms, says psychiatrist erikka dzirasa. dr. dzirasa: black women, for instance, are 25% to 40% less likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder than white women. you may not necessarily even be screened for an eating disorder

if you are a person of color. amna: brown, now 36, has struggled with anorexia and bulimia since she was a teenager. but she's never gotten treatment. tre: you have insurance companies fighting you, saying, oh, just eat. you have the doctors fighting you, telling you, just eat. so it's really hard. it's extremely hard. amna: do you think it was even harder for you because you're a black woman? tre: oh, of course. matter of fact, i went to a doctor's appointment back in october. the doctor told me, your eating disorder is not serious enough. and i said, so, if i die, will it then be serious enough? they don't take african americans serious. amna: eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, causing over 10,000 deaths a year. brown's eating disorder has taken an enormous toll on both her and her girlfriend, who did not want to be identified. tre: she goes to support groups because of me.

and we have had very difficult conversations. she's like, i'm afraid i'm going to wake up a you're going to be dead. and i can't carry that on me. so i'm putting up my boundaries. my mental healthas been affected because of your eating disorder. amna: brown moved out of the apartment they shared. she dropped out of her phd program. she stopped calling her 88-year-old grandmother, whom she used to talk to multiple times a day. tre: to me, eating disorder's like a whole other person, and that person takes control over you. so that person will lie, manipulate, do whatever it is that it can do to keep that relationship and that bond with you. and that -- if that means tearing down relationships and dynamics between your family, your friends, your mate, your job, your school, it's going to do it. amna: for many, the isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic

worsened or even triggered their eating disorder. sara molina was a thriving high school senior when covid hit. sara: and then everything shut down. and it kind of felt like very, like, out of control. and then things just kept getting closed for longer and longer and longer. and it was like, oh, maybe we will graduate? oh, no, we're not graduating. then it was like, oh, like, our graduation might be, like, socially distanced. then, no, it was like a powerpoint video. amna: sports were also canceled. sara: i played softball since i was like three or four, and it was my senior season. and it was just starting. and then i never got to have it. and then also not being able to exercise or go out, when that's like what i wanted to do. amna: so, molina controlled what she could, her eating. when she got to college, her anorexia became more serious. sara: i spent my 19th birthday starving myself. amna: she described how it ruined her birthday in a column she wrote for the indiana daily student. sara: when we cut the cake, i had a piece. after all, it was my cake and my whole family was watching me. i took a bite and almost began to cry.

it was a banana cake with white whipped cream frosting. it was one square piece of cake. why was it so hard for me? amna: molina knew she needed help. sara: i used to go on bike rides a lot or runs or walks, and i couldn't do any of that stuff just because my legs were so weak. and i would notice, when i was driving, i would have to take breaks to pull over because my hands and my legs were shaking so much. and, like, i couldn't find the strength to push down the pedal and stuff that. amna: her doctors recommended inpatient treatment. but most centers were full. sara: there were no spots open. and all the places we called, like, they would just be like, sorry, no, you can't come to this one. amna: molina ultimately got treatment last summer. but, as eating disorders spiked and medical admissions more than doubled in the pandemic, dr. dzirasa says the demand for help has far outstripped supply. dr. dzirasa: i don't know that we have enough resources or providers to actually meet the need, especially when we think

about individuals experiencing eating disorders that are coming from different ethnic backgrounds, because we have to make sure that they are receiving appropriate and culturally appropriate care. and that's really, really hard to find. amna: gloria lucas runs a support group for those with eating disorders in communities of color, nalgona positivity pride. gloria: so, what it means is that you're big booty positive. [laughter] amna: lucas sells merchandise on etsy to raise awareness of people of color with eating disorders. growing up the daughter of mexican immigrants, she felt alone in her experience with binge eating and bulimia. gloria: throughout those years, there was no awareness of it, no doctor, my parents. it's challenging to hold those conversations and especially when there's so much stigma on mental health. and then there's so much hatred towards fatness. and so it just makes that conversation -- like, it's hard. amna: so, lucas started her own

conversaons. she posts regularly about positive body image and eating disorders to her 144,000 instagram followers. but even with the support of her online community, the pandemic proved difficult. gloria: the eating disorder got worse. i mean, i feel -- i always say that eating disorders thrive in isolation, and the whole pandemic was people being isolated. amna: lucas went to an outpatient program, which she says is a luxury. gloria: i was only able to go to treatment because i was offered a scholarship. a lot of folks don't recognize that financial hardship that black, indigenous, people of color experience, or low-income folks in general. and treatment is very expensive. amna: lucas faced other barriers to treatment as well. gloria: sometimes, you have to explain yourself more than one way. a lot of these treatment centers are not created with people myself in mind.

and what i mean by that is culturally affirming spaces, rather than inclusive, right, because the whole idea of inclusive is that there's already a standard. amna: jennings mathis has studied diversity in the eating disorder field. karen: the majority of individuals who are in this field do identify as white, and the majority are female. and so that may mean that individuals who have an eating disorder and who identify as a person of color may not feel like they fit within that community. amna: tre brown is trying to get her life back together. >> hello? tre: hi, grandma. amna: she recently called her grandmother for the first time in two months. >> it's been so long. hallelujah, jesus. thank god. amna: brown hopes to access treatment soon with the help of a nonprofit. tre: i want to be able to sit down with my family and enjoy a meal. do you know the last time i sat down with my family and ate a meal? 2009.

i want to be able to do those things. and with this eating disorder, it is not possible, unless i get help. amna: brown and so many we spoke to for this story have a message for people of color out there who may be struggling -- you're not alone. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. judy: and if you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can call the national eating disorders helpline or get 24/7 crisis support by texting "neda" to 741-741. ripple effects continued today after some unscripted drama at last night's academy awards ceremony, as actor will smith struck presenter chris rock on stage.

this afternoon, the academy of motion pictures condemned smith's behavior and said it will, quote, explore further action and consequences. all this even as the evening saw several important firsts. jeffrey brown reports for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: first, some of the anticipated highlights. the musician ahmir thompson, known as questlove, winning for his documentary "summer of soul." questlove: i'm so happy right now, i could cry. jeffrey: the japanese film "drive my car" tops in the best international category. then, some notable awards speaking to a hollywood that has been heavily criticized for its lack of representation and opportunity. >> troy kotsur. [cheering and applause] jeffrey: troy kotsur won for best supporting acr for his role as the father in "coda," the first male deaf actor to win an oscar. troy: i just wanted to say that this is dedicated to the deaf community, the coda community, and the disabled community. this is our moment.

jeffrey: ariana debose from "west side story" took the best supporting actress award, the first openly queer woman of color to win an oscar, and just the second latina to receive an acting oscar. rita moreno won for the same role in 1962. and jane campion was named best director for "the power of the dog," marking the second year in a row a woman has won. >> "coda." [cheering and applause] jeffrey: also game-changing, "cod became the first film from a streaming service, apple tv+, to be named best picture of the year. but the most shocking moment, actor will smith walking on stage to slap comedian chris rock, after rock made a joke about smith's wife, actress jada pinkett smith, who has a medical condition causing hair loss. the broadcast audio went silent, but social media video captured the exchange. chris: oh, wow. wow. will smith just smacked the -- out of me.

will: keep my wife's name out your -- mouth. chris: wow, dude. will: yes. chris: it was a "g.i. jane" joke. will: keep my wife's name out your -- mouth. chris: i'm going to, ok? ok. jeffrey: and then, just a short time later, will smith was back on stage for a tearful acceptance speech after winning the oscar for best actor for his role in "king richard," about richard williams, father of tennis stars venus and serena. will: richard williams was a fierce defender of his family. i want to apologize to the academy. i want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. jeffrey: earlier today, i spoke to npr tv and media critic eric deggans. eric, nice to talk to you again. you know, i think a lot of people assumed at the time that

this was a planned routine. i know i did. what about you? eric: i wondered that for a split-second. abc had clipped out the audio, but you could see the words that will smith was mouthing, and you could tell that he was angry. and you could tell that he was cursing at him in a way that was not intended to be humorous. and, in that moment, i knew that we had seen something genuine. jeffrey: you know, it was clearly so shocking in the moment as people began to realize it. and it's led to all kin of reactions. tell us a little bit about what you have heard in the aftermath. eric: well, there are a few different camps here. there are people who are condemning the violence at the moment. there are people who are fans of will smith who point out that his wife suffers from alopecia, which is an illness that causes you to lose your hair, and that they both may have been very sensitive about jokes about her close-cropped hair, and that maybe he had a reason to be

angry. but i sense that most people realize that responding to a bad joke with violence isn't permissible. and the question is, what should happen to will smith? and should have -- should the oscar producers, the oscarcast producers, have stepped in to prevent him from giving a speech when he won best actor? should there have been some sort of punishment in the moment for what he did? because if a member of the general public walked on the stage and attacked someone for a joke that they told, they probably would have been arrested. so, it's hard to imagine why the academy and the producers of the show didn't seem to do anything . jeffrey: what happens next, do you think? eric: he got his award. he got his moment in the sun. he was able to speak for as long as he wanted to during his acceptance speech, and then he left the ceremony for the oscar parties. the commentators like me have talked about, should there be some sort of censure or something that?

i have a hard time believing that any of that is going to happen. the punishment should have happened in a moment, and it didn't. jeffrey: let's talk about other things that happen last night. there were other highlights. you and i have discussed this issue before of hollywood representation. what hit you last night about some of these awards? eric: well, that's what's so sad about what happened with will smith and chris rock, because there were some really important moments, of course. troy kotsur, the supporting actor in "coda," became the first deaf man to win an acting oscar, and gave a heartfelt speech. the altercation between smith and rock happened right before the best documentary feature was awarded. questlove, who is the bandleader for "the tonight show with jimmy fallon," won that award for directing an amazing documentary called "summer of soul" that was as much of black history lesson as it was a concert film.

and, of course, we saw jane campion become the third woman to win a directing oscar for helming "power of the dog," and "coda" won as best film. jeffrey: that win for "coda," the first for a streaming service, is also something we have talked about over the years. it had to happen at some point, right? eric: well, what's remarkable about it is that "coda" is an apple tv+ film. netflix has spent tens of millions of dollars creating oscar-worthy films that people thought might have a shot at winning that big prize, and they were in contention with "power of the dog," but "coda" beat them out. apple, which spends ss money on original series and has less original series and movies, came along and made history, sort of snatching it out of netflix's grasp. so, even though netflix did pretty well in the oscars, there have to be some people over there who are feeling a little

bruised because apple kind of came up and snatched the big prize from them. jeffrey: all right, eric deggans of npr, thanks again. eric: thank you. judy: and this note, preliminary numbers show over 15 million people watched the oscars last night. that's up from fewer than 10 million last year. but that audience was less than half the audience in 2019, before the pandemic. on the newshour online, the pandemic exacerbated america's racial health disparities. we talk to an economist and physician who has been seeking solutions to these problems for years. learn more on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. jo 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

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "america's test kitchen"... we're headed to ireland. bridget makes julia irish stew with carrots and turnip. adam reviews all-in-one machines. and erin makes bridget classic irish brown soda bread. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." ♪♪