a newsroom special focus on the power of mothers to change the world. >> i grew up knowing they are powerful, influential, their role is essential. >> we hear about the mothers that shaped their lives and the lives of some of our nation's most revolutionary leaders. and, we discussed the landmark book, diet for a small plant. >> what we eat is central to our health, but it's also really a key part of our planetary health.

>> through support systems like paying moms for their critical work as caregivers. >> welcome to a special edition of kqed newsroom. how do we, as a society, value of the work that our mothers provide? we are looking back at several interviews, featuring authors who have highlighted the work of mothers. we begin with husband and wife anna and michael. when former stockton mayor michael tobin was a child, his father went to prison and he was raised by his mother, aunt and grandmother. his wife, author and scholar, tackles mother heard in her book, the three mothers. how the mothers of martin luther king jr., malcolm x, and james baldwin shaped a nation.

the two speak candidly about how mothers are often overlooked and how it is beyond time to shine light on their power. >> thank you for being here. let's turn a little bit to your work, which is about highlighting and bringing up the profiles of women and mothers in particular. this was your doctoral dissertation that you turned into your debut book. which has done extremely well. tell me about how you chose this subject. >> i have to say, i had an incredible mother who was a lawyer that advocated for women's rights in the u.s. and abroad. everywhere we lived she told me to pay attention to how mothers were being treated in each society, that society would do well and if they weren't, that society would not be able to accomplish whatever goals they

had. so when i started my phd, i wanted to do something to honor them. i narrowed it down to these three in particular, because they were all born within six years of each other, and then their sons were all born within five years of each other. >> you can't get into erything, but is there something you would like to share with our audience? >> one thing with each woman that we should have known that will allow us to feel that sense of shock that i felt doing this research. the book was 90% my original research number so this was not information that was available to us before. if you try to search these women, you would come up short finding anything about them. first, with alberta williams king, we knew in our history that mlk senior was a pastor and we all assumed this is where he inherited all of his gifts from. but in fact, it was alberta's

parents who established ebenezer baptist church, who raised her to believe that christian faith was always intertned with social justice. she participated in marches and boycotts and when she got married, her husband moved in with her. this was a family of influence. that is a part of our american history. with james baldwin's mother, she was a writer herself. she believed that you can change other people's perspectives on what was happening in the world through the power of words. and so she would gift letters to her loved ones, showing them the light, finding love, finding feeling even in the darkest of times. that is very much what james baldwin did. thinking about malcolm x and his mother, she was a radical activist, a nationalist long before her children were even a thought in her mind. she was writing for the world

newspaper, putting her name in writing, saying i will stand up for myself and my people. this. this is also what we celebrate and love him for. we should have known longer for my book that they were following in their mother's footsteps. >> let's turn to your book, which also celebrates three mothers from a very personal point of view. this is your own three mothers. your birth mother, your aunt and your grandmother. tell us about their influence in your life and how they shaped you. >> i realize they are so regular, ordinary and just people you meet at the grocery store or at church. but it really instills strong values. we weren't better than people, but no one was better than us. they were very clear that was

worth fighting for. every time i got kicked out of class, or thought someone was treating unfairly, they would take off work, be in the classroom, even when i was wrong. they also taught me about service. i remember being hungry and we would eat after, or going to the convalescent hospital with my grandmother to talk to the folks who were there and realizing that without getting lectures or speeches, they were teaching me what it meant to be a good person and a leader. >> you have advocated for universal basic income and ran a pilot project in scotland. tell us what your findings were in terms of the value of supporting mothers financially. >> what was interesting about the stockton pilot was 75% of recipients were women. not because weselected them, but families selected the

mother to receive the income and money. it allowed folks to go to work, they were two times more likely to go from part-time to full- time job. and two times less likely to be unemployed. the money was spent on essentials, utilities, school clothes, et cetera. we also saw health impact emma people stress levels were lower because they weren't anxious about paying bills. >> can you talk to us about the experience you have of raising black children? >> you need to teach them to be brave, to be open, and to be openhearted. how do you think about that, how are you addressing that? >> for me in my study of black

mother heard and how i think about our parenting, there are four tenants. we don't have a choice as to whether or t we will tell them how ugly this world can be, we have to tell them about things like white supremacy, we have to tell them how hard it can be out there, but the second part of it is we can't allow them to be defined by that. we need them to know that they are a part of changing this world, not only can they but that they should. but thirdly, it is not on their shoulders. we educate them about all those that came before them, what we have done in our own lives, inviting them to join us, it is not all on their shoulders. and the fourth one being that their joy, their love, their relaxation are just as important as the fight. it is the most important tool that we maintain humanity and

we also get to be happy here well we are fighting for more freedom. that is my kind of four tenant plan and we do that in different ways. >> what are your thoughts? údo >> building on the four point plan, emphasizing joy, just be happy, live. i recognize one of the most insidious things it does is it dehumanizes. it causes you to be superhuman to compensate for what people may think of you or it causes people to treat you as less than human. a big part of our strategy is for th to know that it's beautiful to be black. they are walking in a lecy of folks who have been excellent, who have helped change the world. and that they're human.

part of the human experience is joy and lahter and learning, and that there will always be supported. >> michael and dr., thank you for joining us. next up, an expert in the field of climate change. in particular, how our food plays a significant role in a warming planet. also the daughter of francis, who wrote the revolutionary book, "diet for a small planet". which drew a connection between what we eat and climate change. now, anna has updated her increasingly urgent call to action. >> thank you for joining us. i have the book here, it has been revolutionary. what is different between this edition and the original? >> in a lot of ways it is the same. so much of it my mother was

saying 50 years ago is still true, which is that what we eat and what we put in our bodies is central to our health but also a key part of our planetary health. now we see how much of an impact our food systems is having on climate change. what is new in this book is a new chapter from my mother that sort of ties 52 -- five decades together and tells stories of movements around the world. and then the recipes section has been totally revamped for the 21st century and has a bunch of new recipes. and all of them have been tweaked in some way. >> do you have a rest for -- favorite recipe? >> i will say, what pops into my mind as great comfort food

is another one of our celebrity recipes from my friends and local incredible chefs, brian terry. he has a great recipe for greatest collard greens. that i like to serve with cornbread. >> sounds great. i do want to check in about your mom. because she is still a powerhouse. >> i was talking with her this morning and we realized we have done 50 events for the 50th anniversary already since it came out just a month ago. and she is sort of the poster child for this plan centered diet. he is so much energy and the joy that he brings to the work. >> 20th book, 20th honorary degree. >> i want to read a quote from the new edition, even if the world immediately cut all fossil fuel emissions from energy, food systems alone

would make it a possible to meet the targets for limiting global warming set in the 2015 agreement. your point is that the food system is responsible for 37% of our emissions, it is not enough to just focus on fuel. can you unpack this? >> i certainly wouldn't want anybody listening to hear me and think that i mean let's not worry about oil and gas or transportation, i am saying if we are going to solve this crisis, every sector has to step up. it is more than a third of all emissions, so that is one of the messages we hope people hear from us. >> when we look at the past 50 years, some things have changed. we generally are more accepting of this, and we see the problems with aggressive farming. but there is still this incredle environmental degradation and in many ways we

are in a worse place than we were 50 years ago. what is it that is keeping us from a society adopting the principles in this book? >> we are living in this time that we both know so much more about what a healthy diet looks like, and it looks like plants on our plate and trying to do what we can to get chemicals out of farming. to adopt practices that are better for soils, all those things. and there's a lot of popular acceptance for it. so why don't we see mo change? our political system is beholden to corporate interests that are ally powerful. there are more lobbyists on capitol hill, that is just one signal of how much influence corporate power has.

where are we putting our money and what does that show about our values? there is so much power that dates have, particularly like california. huge economy. and it has been really encouraging to see that the state has passed really good powerful policy and put money behind some of the policies we need to help farmers make this transition away from fossil fuel dependence to one that is better for the environment and communities. for instance, we are seeing for the first time $100 million dedicated to farmworker housing that will help them be protected better. we are seeing tens of millions of dollars to help farmers transition to organic farming in the state, seeing millions going to healthy soils, it is really encouraging. >> there is a lot of existential dread when it comes to climate change, yet there is a word that pops up over and over again, that is hope. you wrote a book called hopes

edge. can you tell us about that strength and how you yourself find you and keep moving forward? >> my mother and i have come to realize that it's really a sourceof energy that comes from taking action and being part of trying to make the change that you want to see. that it comes from our sense of possibility. that is grounded in the evidence we have seen as researchers, we have met such incredible social movement leaders, incredible city government leaders come incredible people in the media who have made a change possible up against the biggest odds you could possibly imagine. and ose people have taught us to be what we call ourselves now, we are not optimists, we are not pessimists, neither one of those. we are possiblists. it is from that sense of possibility that i get my hope,

and from being a small part, feeling like i am being part of the world that i want to see. >> thank you for joining us in studio, thank you for bringing this message of hope . >> thanks for having me. we have spoken before on this show about the session that occurred during the pandemic. the term refers to the large number of women who left the workplace. often due to the lack of support. as covid shut down schools and daycare centers. it's time for change. the founder of the nonprofit girls who code, and the offer of a new book titled "pay up". she argues that we need to redefine work and the value we place on the invisible labor women do for their families and communities. labor that she notes holds our economy and social fabric together. thank you for joining us.

>> it's great to be here. >> how did you become an activist for girls and women? was there a specific moment or experience? >> i totally blame my dad. my parents came here as refugees from uganda. and even though they were both engineers, my father worked as a machinist in the plant, my mother sold cosmetics. no matter how tired my dad was, he would read to me reader's digest about dr. king, gandhi, i knew from the time i was 13 that i wanted to make a difference. >> one of the things you did early on was he founded and ran an organization called girls who code. that is educated 300,000 girls, you recently stepped down from direct leadership but you are the chair of the board. tell us more about the impact. >> we have tons of chapters here in california. i started the organization in early 2011, at that ti we had

a huge timeline problem, less than 18% of those in the technology workforce were female. if you talk to any engineer, ceo, they will say my number one problem is i can't find enough technical talent. so i started it just to say, what if we taught 20 girls to code and you put them in a conference room? what could happen? could you would like their interest in computer science? we have taught over 450,000 girls to code. when you go to any single college campus today, you go into their couter science department or engineering, whether it is berkeley, half of them are women and you see far and more latina and black girls than you ever have before. >> you are running your

company, you had a super bowl ad which raised money for girls who code, you had success after success and then the pandemic hit. you shared a moment early in the book, early days of the pandemic you have been caring for your kids, handling all the responsibilities, running your own business, you are exhausted. you basically lay down, and you just don't know if you can get up. as you point out, you are one of the lucky ones. how did that do in terms of inspiring you? >> it made me realize that so much of what i have been saying is wrong. lean in, girl boss their way to the top . i found myself in the pandemic with the family, i barely made it. i learned the hard way that having it all is just a

euphemism for doing it all. and that we have to stop saying that all we have to do is colorcode our catheter -- calendar, we have to stop trying to fix the women and fix the structure. >> shortly after that, you wrote an op-ed that went viral. in it you called for a marshall plan for mothers. tell us about the basic problem you are calling out. >> it felt like world war ii, burned-out cities. we were 51% of the labor force. within nine months, back to where we were in 1989, it terrified me. where is the plan? why isn't the president talking about this? why isn't every single ceo talking about this?

we needed schools to open up safely, we needed cash payments for alof the unpaid labor we were doing. and women who have lost their jobs needed to be retrained. we have been the social safety net and now two years later, women are still in crisis. millions of us are still missing from the labor force, have downshifted our career, 51% say they are anxious and stressed, the cdc reported the largest group facing anxiety and depression is mom's. this isn't a problem that can be solved at the individual level by women leaning in are trying harder. talk about the broad range of solutions you are proposing. >> i laid out nine strategies, i will talk about three. the first one is, childcare is

an economic issue, it is not your problem you have to fix. you talk to any family and child care cost is a large cost. already there subsidizing and paying, but when you become a mother the support and. the cost of childcare is keeper disco cheaper. the middle of the great resignation and 4 million people are leaving every month is not that they don't want to work, they don't want to work for you. they want to work for a place that values their family. the second thing is, we have to have a fundamentally different conversation than are we returning to work or not. we have to stop finding flexibility in remote work and start thinking about design. why ist the school day 8 to 3 and the workday 9-to-5? workplaces were designed for a man who had a stay-at-home wife.

in america, 90%, two parents work. there is no one to stay at home. and so, we have to decide a workplace that allows for flexibility, that allows fo predictability so that we can do caretaking. we don't have to change between being a mom and having a job. and finally, we have to have a conversation around mental health. we are in extreme burnout. i am in extreme burnout. the reality is, we have to be valued for more than just our output. stop just having performance reviews, health wellness reviews. ask people how they are doing. what they need. >> there are political and regulatory implications of what you are suggesting. recently, congress allowed the extended tax credit to expire. senator joe manchin has insisted any government help needs to be linked to work income. what sort of messages that

sending? >> it is shameful congress is bailing out airlines but they won't spell out mom's. joe manchin doesn't know the definition of a working mother. the unpaid labor that women do, the domestic work, the schooling, buying the shoes and figuring out where the diaper bag is, all of that is work. so we have to stop talking about it the way we typically do, that you are only entitled to a tax credit if you are in the workforce. we have to start valuing unpaid labor that so many women do. >> there is a piece you are working on here that is not about the policies or the regulations, it is about the way that we see women and the work that women do. one of the most controversial pieces of your plan was that suggestion to pay $2400 a month to mothers. tell us about that.

>> people really get mad about that. the reality is, i wanted to have a conversation. why did it! so much anger? this idea we should be paying women, why is it so hard for us to see that as work? part of it is that so many feminists thought about the quality of the quality in the workplace. the point of getting participation is to get them to work. i think it means giving women the choice. we look at women who stay home with the stain, why? if you want to stay home, that is your choice. and we should live in a society where we see that as valuable. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> we have heard today about mothers who have influenced civil, environmental and social

movements . as well as those who influence our individual lives. i am fortunate my own mother has been a guide in my life. what about you? we would love to hear about your mom and what she has meant to you. or, get your thoughts on the role of mothers in our world. you can email us at kqed.org. we are also online on twitter and you can reach me at social media. that is the end of our show for tonight, thank you for joining us. see you right back here next friday night. have a great weekend.

♪ lisa: good evening, and hello. i'm lisa desjardins. geoff bennett is away. tonight on "pbs news weekend." news from the front in ukraine as russian forces make significant gains in the east and ramp up attacks on civilian targets. then, nearly a year after the taliban takeover put their lives in jeopardy, we look at the effort to help female judges escape afghanistan. and, what does it mean to be american? on this fourth of julyeekend, we take a look at how americans see their country and identity. >> all we have to bind us together is this creed, the set of ideas and ideals and promises that, from the beginning, we were breaking and, from the beginning, we've never fully lived up to. lisa: all that and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbss