♪ judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" tonight... a major storm -- fiona grows into a category three hurricane and barrels into more caribbean islands after causing devastating flooding and damage in puerto rico and the dominican republic. and... crimes of war. ukraine's top prosecutor describes mass graves and other russian atrocities discovered in areas recaptured by ukrainian forces. and... rethinking college -- prisoners are set to become eligible for federal grants, opening up new educational opportunities. >> to sit inside a classroom with liberal arts professors and

students from around the world, and it's just... it does something for you. it builds confidence in yourself. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> 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.-based customer service team can find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of "the newshour," including the andersons and smiths. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged commities. more at kf.org.

♪ ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the northern caribbean is still under the onslaught of hurricane fiona tonight. sustained winds have grown to 115 miles an hour as the storm pushes north. and it's dumping more downpours in its wake.

so far, officials report at least 2 deaths. william brangham has our report. william: parts of the caribbean washed away as heavy rains and winds from hurricane fiona bombarded the islands early this week. the storm hit the smaller turks and caicos islands tuesday, bringing government-issued curfews and flood warnings. fiona made landfall in puerto rico before sweeping over the dominican republic and then making its way north on tuesday. officials say it may grow stronger still as it heads to bermuda, where its expected to hit on friday. in the dominican republic, some began cleaning up from the storm, after it wrecked homes and toppled trees and power poles. the massive amount of rainfall brought historic-levels of flooding. juan: it was very strong as it passed through here. very strong. it destroyed the majority of homes. william: puerto rico saw some of

the worst of the storm's wrath. homes, roads, and businesses were still underwater after days of rain. rivers flooded dangerously high and residents struggled with the devastation left behind. tito: it was too much. i didn't expect this. a lot of people lost everything. very, very rough. william: the national guard rescued hundreds of residents trapped by floods. by monday, around 2,300 people remained in shelters. carmen: everything was flooded, we had to run out in the rain, we had to leave in emergency, and thanks to a neighbor who helped us, we could get out. william: the storm triggered an island-wide blackout on sunday, and cut off clean water to about two-thirds of the population. by mid-day tuesday, most of the island was still without power. governor pedro pierluisi warned it could be days before the power grid was fully restored. he announced his request to president biden to declare puerto rico a federal disaster

area. fema's administrator is scheduled to visit the island sometime on tuesday. the island -- still reeling from hurricane maria five years ago -- received up to 25 inches of rain with more still coming. for some, fiona was a chilling reminder that puerto rico is still too vulnerable, even five years later. adi martinez roman is with the university of puerto rico resiliency law center. to her, it was clear the island was not prepared for another storm. adi: it has been five years since two category five hurricane hit the island. and the recovery process has not been effective and has not really created the conditions that communities can withstand other disasters. all of puerto rico lost electrical svice. and this is a category one hurricane.

and we lost all the island, lost electrical services. william: the failure of the island's power grid came despite billions of dollars spent to bolster the system in the years after maria. members of congress today gathered to remember the five-year anniversary of that hurricane, and to address the shock of facing yet another destructive storm. democrats called for more federal assistance to the island. sen. schumer: unfortunately today -- unfortunately -- we're confronted once again with another devastating natural disaster, hurricane fiona. enough is enough. the puerto rican energy bureau must push prepa and luma not only to restore power, but to once and for all create a distributed, more resilient grid and we will back them up. william: as leadership on the island grapples with fiona's aftermath, adi martinez argues that recovery from this orm has to be done smarter than the last. adi: if disaster recovery is not done in an efficient way, if

those billions and billions of dollars for recovery from disasters are not used to build back better, to build back more resilient infrastructure that actually is accessible and ensure essential services to the most vulnerable, climate change will definitely mean that oppressed people, black and brown people, are going to be left out, displaced from their communities. and that's exactly what we need to avoid. william: for now, the people of puerto rico are again left stunned in the wake of fiona's ruins. for "the pbs newshour," i'm william brangham. ♪ judy: in the day's other news... pro-russian separatist leaders in ukraine called for a vote starting friday on officially becoming part of russia.

referenda are set for the occupied kherson, zaporizhzhia, donetsk and luhansk regions. they represent about 15 percent of ukraine's territory. in washington, u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan said it shows moscow's desperation. mr. sullivan: the bottom line is that russia is throwing together sham referendums on three days' notice as they continue to lose ground on the battlefield, and as more world leaders distance themselves from russia on the public stage. judy: sullivan also said the white house is aware of reports that russian leader vladimir putin might be considering a general mobilization, greatly increasing russia's military manpower. on the pandemic, new york city is lifting its vaccine mandate for private sector workers as of november 1. mayor eric adams announced the change today, nearly a year after the mandate was imposed.

city employees, including firefighters and teachers, still have to be vaccinated. federal authorities in minnesota have charged 47 people in the largest fraud scheme yet, linked to pandemic aid. they're accused of stealing $250 million from a program that offered meals to low-income children. federal officials say some of usual requirements for the program were waived during the pandemic. world leaders got a stark warning today, as they gathered in new york to open the united nations general assembly. secretary-general antonio guterres gave an alarming assessment, cluding the war in ukraine, climate change, and poverty. sec. guterres: we have a duty to act, and yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. excellencies, progress on these issues and more is being held hostage by geopolitical tensions. our world is in peril and

paralyzed. judy: guterres also warned that social media platforms are monetizing outrage and anger and compromising democracy. the fight over documents seized from former president trump went before a special master in new york today. the trump legal team objected in advance to federal judge raymond dearie's questions about the documents' classification status. mr. trump has claimed without evidence that all of the material was declassified. an elected official in las vegas, robert telles, has been arraigned for the murder of a journalist. he allegedly stabbed jeff german to death earlier this month, for writing critical articles about him. telles did not enter a plea today. he was ordered held without bond. on wall street, major stock indexes fell 1 percent today, ahead of tomorrow's federal reserve decision on interest rates. the dow jones industrial average lost 313 points to close at

30,706. the nasdaq was down 110 points. the s&p 500 slipped 44. and baseball has lost a legend. los angeles dodgers great maury wills died last night. he was an all-star shortstop 7 times, and his base-stealing helped l.a. win 3 world series. wills led the national league in stolen bases every year from 1960 through 1965. and in 1962, he became the first player to steal 100 bases in a single season. maury wills was 89-years-old. still to come on "the newshour"... iran cracks down on protests after the death of a young woman who was arrested for violating the nation's dress code for females... adnan syed's lawyer discusses what his release from prison after more than two decades says about the criminal justice system...

a twelve foot puppet walks the streets of new york to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis... 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 university. judy: today in washington, attorney general merrick garland signed an agreement with his ukrainian counterpart formalizing u.s. support for war crimes investigations. but finding justice in war is a long and difficult process. nick schifrin sits down with ukraine's prosecutor general, as the world is witnessing another horror -- a mass burial site in eastern ukraine. a warning, images in this segment are disturbing. nick: it is the ultimate dehumanization, human beings bared in unmarked graves, more than 400 of them left behind by

occupying russian forces in eastern ukraine, discovered when ukrainian forces liberated the city last week. executives are exhuming the graves and say 99% were killed by violence and somebody's show signs of torture. it's the latest sign of apparent war crimes in ukraine. the ukrainian official responsible for holding russia responsible is attorney general andriy kostin. welcome to the newshour. i spent time in kharkiv, and we met a woman who had to witness the big summation of her own son who had been tortured a murdered by russian forces. we visited a room that russian occupiers used for torture. now that mass burial site we see. what evidence of war crimes so far right now are you at this new site?

mr. kostin: we see people who were killed, civilians. we see people who were without hands. we sell the bodies of people with broken limbs. we also see bodies with clear traces of torture. nick: this is soldiers and many civilians? mr. kostin: as of now, many more civilians. our teams are exhuming about 50 to 60 graves per day. we saw the same examples practically in every town and liberated area of the kharkiv region. nick: it was said that this is the same situation as bucha, and

russia has said it is a lie. mr. kostin: it is the same scenario in bucha and the truth is wherever the russian army steps in, they turn everything into bucha. nick: how difficult is it to not only collect the evidence but reserve it in a way to hold russia accountable? mr. kostin: we have enough facilities to preserve evidence. the more complicated part of our job in the investigation is to find out the exact perpetrator, the exact war criminal who committed specific war crimes. if we have resources from, for instance, our intelligence, or they fled so quickly that they leave some documents. we also use a lot of open source

intelligence information. but what we also rely on is our counter offensive, when we have a chance to capture a lot of them. nick: ukraine has 34,000 documented war crimes since the february invasion began. as far as we found, 160 individuals have charged as suspects and only 21 indicted. why is it so hard? mr. kostin: it is difficult to exactly prove that specific person committed a specific crime, especially when you have no access to this person. nick: in terms of holding russia accountable, why does ukraine believe a special tribunal for the crime of aggression is the best way to find justice against russia? mr. kostin: we need this tribunal because otherwise legally we cannot punish anyone for the crime of aggression. due to legal constraints, it could not be prosecuted by the international criminal court.

the only possibility is to have a tribunal. the crime of aggression is the mother of all other war crimes. without the crime of aggression committed, there could be no other war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. nick: explain more why you need a new institution, new tribunal that would have to be approved by the general assembly, there's very little precedent, when the international crimal court can go after pressure for war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide? mrkostin: it's about t unity of higher political leadership on the international level. this unity also exists in the international crimal court. nick: some legal scholars are skeptical about a tribunal being able to go after a state leader, for example, vladimir putin, let alone get anyone from moscow, from theenior leadership of russia, in front of a tribunal.

how do you respond? mr. kostin: this is a difficult question. i usually hear this concern. first of all, let me say, our counter offensive could lead to a result that we capture people from a higher command. nick: you think ukrainian troops can capture a senior russian official? mr. kostin: generals. i think it is enough of a starting point. we need everything to be prepared. because when lower euros -- when lawyers deal with details, it will take time. nick: the u.s. so far has not publicly endorsed your idea of a tribunal. what are you saying to the u.s. government as it kind of waits to see how much international support you get? mr. kostin: if we all understand that the crime of aggression was committed, then we need all

together to punish the persons in charge of committing these crimes. we have no other way. the ukrainian nation will not understand why countries which believe that the crime of aggression was committed don't want to be the part of such a tribunal. nick: andriy kostin, thank you so much. mr. kostin: thank you. ♪ judy: anti-government protests have swept across iran in reaction to the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the regime's morality police. it happened after she was arrested for not wearing the required hijab, or head covering. amna nawaz is here with more. amna: in videos being shared on social media, women are seen leading the protests in iran, taking off their headscarves,

chanting slogans and calling for an end to compulsory hijab. is this a turning point for the women's movement there? to discuss this, i am being joined by iranian-born actor nazanin boniadi -- an amnesty international ambassador and a long-time human rights activist for her homeland, iran. welcome and thank you for joining us. after the death of that 22-year-old woman, we have seen these protests spread from her homeland, her home province all the way across the country. dozens of cities now. is what we are seeing unfolding now different from previous protests? for example, 2019? nazanin: what i see is history repeating itself. we have seen deaths of several women, the list goes on and on.

i think people have reached a boiling point. a brave iranian actress recently gave an interview where she did not wear the hit job -- hijab in solidarity with the movement and she said it best, she said people are no longer fearful of risen because iran is a prison it self. amna: you were born in tehran just after the revolution. your family fled. but you have been a persistent and vocal critic of the regime from outside the nation. you stay in touch with many people on the ground. what are they telling you about this moment? nazanin: i get hundreds of messages from inside iran every day and they are asking for solidarity. they are asking for their voices to be amplified. as a longtime human rights activist, that is the only responsibility i have. as an actress, i feel obligated, i feel responsible to the people. they are the ones that put us in

these positions where we have a microphone in our hand and can communicate to the masses. the least we can do is stand with them. in this moment in history, we need to remember that when george floyd was killed by police in america, there was global solidarity. you saw images from inside iran and syria, places where they themselves were in dire straits, showing solidarity. the least we can do in the west is to show solidarity for the people inside iran. amna: let me ask you about the enforcement of compulsory hijab in iran. officials defend it, they say it is part of iranian culture. you and ny others in the diaspora have taken to social media to dispel that, showing pictures of your own families before the revolution, 41979, your grandmother, your mom. what is important to understand about the role of hijab in iran

and iranian culture? nazanin: before 1979, you saw a coexistence of women who chose to wear the hijab into those who didn't coexisting peacefully together. there was freedom of choice and that's what we are fighting for. the call it a cultural dress code of kinds, which the officials have tried to sort of tell the wide world, the global public, that is a lie. what kind of cultural norm has to be controlled through threat of death and imprisonment? you don't need to subjugate people for a cultural norm to exist if the majority of women actually chose the hijab. what you are seeing is people risking their lives, people taking to the streets and risking imprisonment. in this case, her head was bludgeoned against a wall and she went into a coma and died. amna: the iranian president is

going to speak before the united nations general assembly in new york this week. what do you hope of the world leaders's message to him will be? nazanin: a lot of iranians will be there to protest his presence, prominent iranians and iranians in general. what we are hoping is that western officials, especially women and journalists, when they meet with him in new york, they don't follow these protocols and parameters that are being set for them. simply an solidarity with the people of iran. you don't need to wear a headscarf out of respect for a man who doesn't respect the rights of his people or women in general. amna: you are currently starring in the "lord of the rings" tv series and when it launched, you said you were dedicating your work, you were inspired by brave

women in iran who you say risk everything for a better tomorrow. how worried are you that they will face another brutal crackdown as they have in the past? nazanin: i am extremely worried. when people have nothing left to lose, they will risk everything, they have nothing else to risk. that's what we are seeing. when authoritative states crackdown to this degree where people feel hopeless and they have nothing left to lose, they -- people will stand up. amna: nazanin boniadi joining us tonight. thank you for your time. nazanin: thank you. ♪ judy: a judge in baltimore has overturned the murder conviction of adnan syed, who was convicted in the 1999 murder of his high school classmate, hae min lee. it's a case that has received national attention in recent years, after syed's story was chronicled by the popular true-crime podcast "serial."

lisa desjardins has more. lisa: judy, after 23 years in prison, adnan syed was released yesterday with a cheering crowd of supporters to greet him. a judge vacated his sentence after prosecutors said last week that his conviction should not stand. the state's attorney for baltimore says the original prosecutors did not turn over evidence to that could have helped syed. that includes problems with past evidence about syed's location and information on other possible suspects. ms. mosby: through our review, our reinvestigation revealed that the original prosecutors and the subsequent prosecutors in the attorney general's office failed to disclose relevant information about alternative suspects, one of whom threatened to kill the victim and had motive to kill the victim, and both of whom had a pattern of violence against women. lisa: she and other prosecutors now have a month to decide if they will retry syed. i'm joined now by his attorney, erica suiter.

she also serves as the director of the innocence project clinic at the university of baltimore school of law. this is quite a sudde turn in this nationally known case. questions about the case have been raised for years. why do you think it took so long to get here? erica: first, thank you for having me. anyone who works in the evidence -- innocence base, reversing a conviction can sometimes take years or decades. for the public, it seems unusual a case would take that long but it is consistent with our experience. lisa: one of the issues here are so-called brady violations, and prosecutors don't tell the defense about evidence they have about other suspects. how critical is that here and in general? erica: absolutely critical. the prosecution has an

obligation to turn over radio evidence. it is evidence that could be exculpatory, meaning evidence you didn't do it or could be mitigated meaning evidence that , could challenge another witness's testimony. and it's important because we should have a fair, just system. when the state is hiding evidence that you should be able to use to defend yourself, the result is what we have in this case where somebody could spend , years or decades in prison for a crime they did not commit. lisa: this was evidence none of his previous lawyers about, is that right? when did you first learn about this? erica: well, the state and i in this case, we were working collaboratively in this investigation and the assistant attorney ben feldman reviewed the state file, there were numerous boxes and she turned , over this information to the defense as she should and it was during that time that we came across these documents. lisa: for the family of the

victim, this has been a nightmare as well. here is their attorney speaking yesterday saying prosecutors did not give them any warning this was coming. >> they absoluly did not want to afford this victim inning -- any meaningful opportunity to address this. my clients want the truth to come out. if the truth is that someone killed their sister and daughter, they want that more than anybody. lisa: also the maryland attorney general who previously worked on the case said no one called him or other prosecutors who worked on it before. my question is what you think of the criticism, both from the victim's family and other former prosecutors, that the state attorney's office did not reach out or talk to them about why they did what they did? erica: first, i can say on behalf of my client, and of course, there is enormous

sympathy and compassion for what the family is going through. as far as what the state did or shouldn't do, you know, our system is set up as an adversarial system and there are obligations of the state and there are obligations of the defense. there are rules and regulations about sort of what our different roles are. and so we, in terms of being able to have contact with the victims, in terms of giving notice to other prosecutors offices, those all fall within sort of what the state's duties and obligations are. so that i would just sort of defer to the state. lisa: this is your client but also your field of expertise. you mentioned brady violations. how rare is this kind of change and how rare are those violations? erica: they're actually not rare at all. in 44% of exonerations throughout the nation, 44% are the result of the state withholding evidence of innocence. so nearly half of all exonerations throughout the country in our registry of

exonerations involved in state keeping evidence of innocence from the defendant. in baltimore in particular, 80% of exonerations on record involve withheld evidence. so it is extraordinarily common and it shows how sort of important it is that the that the state follow their obligations. because when they don't you have cases like this. lisa: how is your client doing today? he has not been declared innocent yet, i should say. how are you both doing and what happens now? erica: adnan has been incarcerated since he was 17 years old. when you think about 23 years of life and how much of a different position we're all in then from 23 years ago. just imagine that he is processing that, you know, sort of minute by minute. he is extraordinarily grateful to all of his supporters, all the people who believed in him. he's very happy but this is a

lot to process and so he's doing well but he's really just kind of taking it step by step. lisa: are you concerned he could be retried? erica: i think in the moment, this was a long fought battle, a long time coming. so we're really focused on the joy of this of this occasion. and you know, what the state decides in the future to do is a decision for another day, but whatever they decide to do, will be prepared. lisa: erica, a momentous day for you and your client, thank you for joining us. erica: thank you very much. ♪ judy: many american colleges are gearing up for a spike of interest in prison education programs. that's because incarcerated people will be eligible for pell grants starting next summer. it will be the first time in 28 years prisoners can access that federal funding for higher education.

stephanie sy has the report for our series, rethinking college. stephanie: pedro rivera is a senior at pitzer, a private college in claremont, california, with a picturesque campus that rivera has never stepped foot on. pedro: it's not easy. like, i put in the work. i put in the work, and i obsess over the details and i prepare. stephanie: he's earning his degree while in a medium-security prison, the california rehabilitation center, more than 20 miles away. pedro: i was convicted of multiple counts of bank robbery from incidents that happened in 2005. stephanie: rivera has been incarcerated for 16 years. a few years ago, he was watching pbs when his ears perked up. it was a pbs series called college behind bars, featuring bard college's prison initiative in new york state. pedro: more than anything after watching this program, that's

what i wanted. so like i signed up for everything i could. and finally someone saw something in me that i didn't see in myself, and they was like, we're going to give you this opportunity. stephanie: 43-year-old rivera is now just a few classes away from his bachelor's degree. he is part of a pioneering program that brings students inside prison together with students from the outside. professor nigel boyle runs the program. nigel: outside students, traditional students will learn more from a class taught in , inside prison than they would in the same class taught conventionally. and similarly, the inside students will learn an awful lot. and it's this learning across often generational differences, as well as obviously the difference in legal status, that is very powerful. stephanie: the inmates pursuing higher education here get to live in a dedicated section of the facility, the prison equivalent of a college dorm, where there's an exchange of ideas and a common scholastic pursuit. section 308 is a special place.

textbooks and school supplies litter the bunks. about 48 incarcerated men here are enrolled in college courses. >> we have students in this classroom... stephanie: that number may be about to balloon. for decades, pell grants, federal financial aid to help low income students pay for college were off limits for incarcerated men and women. it was a vestige of the controversial crime bill sponsored by then-senator joe biden and signed by president clinton in 1994. but that ban is being lifted next year. margaret: the reintroduction of federal student aid through pell grants is going to be tranormative. stephanie: margaret dizerega is a researcher at the vera institute of justice. margaret: with the new law, all people in prison are going to be eligible for pell, regardless of the conviction type or sentence length, which is huge in the criminal jtice reform field.

we rarely see this type of victory that is inclusive of everybody who's incarcerated. stephanie: some half a million incarcerated people will be able to apply for a pell grant next year, aid that will allow them to earn a college degree before being released from a prison like thi research by the rand corporation has shown that providing prison education reduces recidivism by 43%. and dizerega says, it also addresses deeper inequities. margaret: there's so many reasons that these college programs are important. there's a very strong argument to be made for the racial disparities in terms of who is impacted by the justice system, who was left behind from our education system. stephanie: one of the left behind was kenny butler. he describes middle school in watts when he was a kid. kenny: it was a gang factory pretty much. they had the lapd on campus in the middle school, which was

unheard of before, but they actually had the lapd at this campus. stephanie: jumped by a gang when he was only 10 years old, the script was written for him. kenny: a lot of people are forced to be part of the gangs. they may not want to, but you get jumped on enough times you're going to be looking for protection from somewhere. stephanie: he was 12 when he first went to jail. in june of last year, at 48, he was released early from the california rehabilitation center, having spent 15 years in prison for the charge of aiding and abetting homicide. kenny: reading was a way to break up that time, break up the monotony of prison. and so i fell in love with it. started studying etymology, and realizing the origins of words, and things like that. stephanie: butler became a standout scholar, earning his associate's degree from norco college and graduating from pitzer with his bachelor's degree. he was one of the first inside out students. nny: a lot of us doubt

ourselves in that space, if we're really educated or not. and so, to sit inside a classroom with liberal arts professors, and students from around the world, and it's just, it does something for you. it builds confidence in yourself. that's the difference, i believe. stephanie: hrecently won a prestigious fulbright scholarship for research on a ugandan prison. he's never been out of the country. prison administrators say stories like kenny's prove what incarcerated people are capable of if given the chance. shannon: all of a sudden, you learn that skill and you can catapult forward! stephanie: shannon swain runs the education department in the california department of corrections and rehabilitation office. shannon: correctional education is transformative, and higher correctional education is, it's mind boggling what you see in the classroom. so, i believe correctional education is a big key component to public safety. stephanie: with pell grant money becoming available, colleges aroundhe country are expected

to pounce. nigel boyle says that can create a quality control problem. nigel: there's more to a college education than just accumulating x amount of credit. i think we have a concern that academic standards are upheld. that this is a high-quality bachelors education students are receiving. >> how did this make sense to you? stephanie: if done right, a higher education is the best chance at rehabilitation, says warden glen pratt. some people might say this is a prison, it's supposed to be about punishment, why should they get access to educational opportunities? glen: the reality is these men here at crc are going to be our neighbors, and we have to provide them with successful tools to be productive citizens when they are released. jack: for most of my life, i've mostly just been around people with really similar experiences as me. stephanie: pitzer sophomore jack

-- who, for safety, is allowed to use only his first name -- was impressed. it was his first time setting foot in a prison. jack: it puts me outside of my comfort zone. nobody likes to thinks about systems of inherent injustice. but being here and hearing different points of view is really impactful to me. pedro: it's about bringing the community inside these closed institutions, right? equally. and equality is a big thing. so no one's response to a question is more important than the next person's. we all respect each other in that space. stephanie: shared respect, and for pedro rivera, an opportunity to earn more than just a degree. pedro: prior to coming to prison and winding up in this situation in my life, i've dishonored myself and i've dishonored my family. and this is how i see i can bring honor back to my name. stephanie: a name, like those of many other inmates nationwide, that will soon be written on a college diploma.

for "the pbs newshour," i'm stephanie sy, reporting from the california rehabilitation center in norco, california. ♪ judy: in florida, some local school boards have implemented policies that critics say are ostracizing lgbtq students as the new school year gets underway. other states are taking similar steps, including most recently in virginia. william brangham is back with our look at its impact for some students in florida. william: students and teachers are back in school in florida for the first time since that state's parental rights in education law took effect. known by critics as the don't say gay bill, it bans discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade, or any instruction that is not deemed age-appropriate. it also allows parents to sue school districts over any material they feel violates the

law. in some school districts, teachers have removed certain books and rainbow flags from classrooms, and others are obligated to report openly lgbtq students to their parents. so what has this meant for lgbtq teenagers in florida? i'm joined by will larkins, a senior at winter park high school in orange county, florida , and javier gomez, who graduated from a miami high school earlier this year, and is now at theashion institute of technology. welcome to you both. will, can you give us a sense of how things have changed in florida from your perspective since this law passed? will: i've noticed an uptick in anti-lgbtq hate crimes and general attitude toward people. i've always dealt with homophobia at highchool, i've always been called slurs and stuff but it has gotten worse since the school year started.

a lot of things have happened. most recently, my sister and i were followed home after a football game who -- by 15 gs who called us slurs and told us to kill ourselves. it was really scary, they chased us, we got lost in the trs. the other thing i've noticed that i know for a fact came from this is more of the rhetoric coming from the state legislature and our governor, such as the grooming rhetoric, calling clear people pedophiles, has trickled down to the high school level and high school bullies are using the same language as the politicians pushing for this bill and other anti-lgbtq laws. william: those are horrible expenses, i am sorry. have you seen similar things? javier: i have. in my school, i've noticed a divide among the students with the anti-gay rhetoric skewed by so many people. i noticed the language being used, the grooming, pedophiles, etc.

i definitely think this president has been set by this particular. it has trickled down to the high school level where a lot of students are using the language thinking it is appropriate, and going after clear kids and it is really inappropriate and it hurts me. i can imagine the pain others are feeling, i'm not even on high school anymore. william: as you both are pointing out, people have expressed hatred toward clear people, trans people, gay people, from time immemorial. why do you think specifically this law has created this atmosphere you are describing? will: i think it is interesting because most recently for the first time ever, clear people have become mainstream. this is a new thing, this is from the 2010's onward, we are being generally accepted by

society. so now homophobic and anti queer legislators and lawmakers are pushing back against it. and when they're pushing back against it, it is gnifying and it is it is backing up these bullies. it is telling them that you are right in being homophobic. when before we were at a point where these people knew that they were wrong, but now they're being backed up by ron desantis. william: it's basically sort of given some official sanction, you believe? will: absolutely. you know, the law itself is terrible because it sends a message to the queer community that there is something wrong with us, that there is something inherently perverse with being queer or being trans. and that is not true. but it also sends that same message to the bullies who want to hurt us and want to kill us. william: javier, i'm not trying to condone bigotry or hatred by any stretch here, but there are some people who look at that law and support it and think they genuinely believe that those

laws are protecting their children in some way from something that they think is inappropriate. to those people, what would you say? javier: i think parents don't understand their kids. and i think it has gotten to a point where they think it's this parental right to education, this right to knowing what their kids are doing. but i think that parents are not understanding that some kids, that it may not affect their kids, but it has a drastic effect on other kids and other queer youth that are that are in statewide in florida. there is a lack of communication among both parties of what is really best for queer youth. and that's really it's going to it's going to cause this immense and drastic change of how clear kids see themselves. william: which we know is already a problem. javier: absolutely yes. will: queer teens are four times more likely to die by suicide than their straight counterparts. and 52% of trans youth last year said they seriously considered

suicide. so where is that coming from? that is coming from these laws, that is coming from this rhetoric and that is coming from the bullies who see it on tv, see it on fox news, and pick it up and use it to harm people like us. javier: yes, of course. william: can i ask you bot how have you been dealing with this? do you have family, friends or other allies that are there for you? will: i will say it has been hard. seeing the way that people talk about me in my community getting , honestly, hundreds, thousands of messages telling me horrible things and dealing with it on a day to day basis is not easy. but you just have to remember, and this is what i do, i just remember these are people who are misguided. and i've been in places where i've felt hate toward othe people and i know how horrible it is to live like that. and so i'm living a life where i'm free because i will see everyone as a person and i will not see a queer person on the street and be upset about it. i was at a rally. i spoke at a rally in early june in orlando, and a woman came up

to me, looked at me wearing a dress and started crying and started praying and got down on her knees. she caused herself so much mental distress because i existed. and i honestly, it may sound cliche, but i feel bad for these people. i don't live like that. and they do. william: javier, how are you dealing with this? javier: it's overwhelming. it's sometimes i sit to myself and contemplate and reflect on why i do this. but there's always an answer, a direct answer to me. and that answer is just to help other little javiers that to not go through what i did when i was younger and my trauma, my queer trauma as a child and how that reflected onto the person i am today. i want to be that role model that i never had when i was younger. and i'm dealing with that. i'm dealing with it, but i'm doing it with pride, because the more you are proud of yourself, the more happy you are with

yourself, the angrier they get, the angrier they perceive. but that doesn't matter to me because i'm living my life authentically. william: javier gomez, will larkins, thank you both so much for being here. >> thank you for having us. ♪ judy: to bring awareness to the global migrant crisis, a theater project is using a different kind of stage and a puppet of a young syrian girl to stand in for millions of refugees. now she has come to the u.s. amid an annual gathering of the world's leaders at the united nations general assembly. jeffrey brown has the story for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: a ten year old girl, alone in the world, arrives in a new country. she falters, unsure where to turn. she's called 'little amal',

though at 12 feet tall, she is hardly small in stature. and at jfk airport in new york last week, she was greeted by the musicians and children's chorus of the metropolitan opera. now again, she has her own role to play walking through a city, , attracting attention, stopping to greet other children as a symbol of the world's refugee crisis. amir nizar zuabi is artistic director of the walk productions. amir: i can tell you that on a personal level, the first time i walked with her down a street, i felt something very deep. jeffrey: which was what? amir: which was hope is not a cliche. and empathy, albeit not such a fashionable word, is very important in today's world. jeffrey: hello, amal. is she shy? amir: she can be when she meets someone for the first time.

jeffrey: welcome to new york. we got a behind-the-scenes look at amal and the international team working with her at st. anne's warehouse, a performing arts institution in brooklyn. new york is just the latest stop of an astounding journey. an artistic idea that grew out of the real-life experiences of migrants from the middle east and africa living in a camp in calais, france with an uncertain future. it turned into a theater project called the jungle. and finally the character of little amal, a syrian girl who fled her war-torn home and made a 5000 mile journey from the syrian-turkish borderthrough europe to britain, in search of her mother. she was usually greeted warmly, including by the pope. but as in real life, she was at times caught up in the anti-immigrant politics of our era. for zuabi, a veteran palestinian theater director, amal is also an embodiment of the power of art.

amir: for me, this is the act of theater, the first ingredient in it is you need to have something important to say, or else why should i come and spend an hour of my life? i think she has something important to say. she doesn't say it in words. but maybe that's the idea. that she doesn't need to speak because we can listen to somebody who isn't speaking as well and then our words matter. jeffrey: amal is the creation of handspring puppet company, a south african performance and design group. craig leo, senior puppeteer for the project, explained the mechanics -- a three-person team that operates amal's movements, -- movements. craig: the puppeteers are part of the expression. jeffrey: including one puppeteer inside on stilts, controlling her breathing and facial expressions a shy smile, even , eye rolling. craig: really we spend a lot of trying time trying to access

those emotional states and find out what we need to do to get that to read to an audience. jeffrey: leo and many other members of the team have been with amal the entire journey, now in new york. craig: it's an insane city for a little nine year old. jeffrey: how much does she know about new york? craig: not very much. she's going to find out. jeffrey: she'll have a busy 17 day schedule, more than 50 events in diverse neighborhoods of every borough, including jamaica, queens, coney island and times square often coordinated with local community groups. yazmy: when i think about my own story of growing up in colombia and being displaced by violence, it's an incredibly personal story for me. jeffrey: you connected right away. colombian-born yazmany arboleda, who serves as the first people's artist of new york city's civic engagement commission, helped coordinate amal's schedule and imagine her potential impact. yazmany: immediately when they asked the question, what would a little syrian girl do when she comes to new york? i immediately thought, gosh, i

know that most people who i know aren't coming from syria, but they're coming from columbia, venezuela, mexico, honduras. so it was really important to make the bridge into migration and immigrants in general. right, like all of the different things that displace us as humans in the world. jeffrey: of course, just as with her earlier walk in europe, little amal steps into an extremely contentious issue here. even as she arrived in new york, news stories showed busloads of migrants from the mexican border also arrivg, sent north by texas and arizona officials, part of our own divided politics. for artistic director amir nizar zuabi, this again is what makes the project so powerful. amir: i set it from the beginning, they said do you think it will change anything? i said i don't know, but if it changes two people aoss 8000 kilometers, it's worth doing, it's worth walking. i hope, i think, i know we affected more than two people. but, you know, one of the most beautiful sayings in the old bible is -- [speaking hebrew].

this is in hebrew -- if you save one soul, you have saved the world entire. and i don't think we're saving anyone, but we are opening eyes and we're tugging the strings of the hearfor people. jeffrey: little amal will be in new york through october 2nd and her creators hope to return to other parts of the country next year. for "the pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown in brooklyn. judy: what a beautiful story. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join 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 -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. ♪

>> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to advancing racial equity and creating the change required to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. and with the ongoing support of these institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captionininstitute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

. hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour and company." here's what is coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> a final sound played by the queen's own piper as britain remembers queen elizabeth. i speak with the queen's former ambassador to the united states and her former head of communications. to the irish foreign minister, a witness to her