amna: good evening and welcome. i mom no nawaz. -- i am amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. desperate rescue efforts continue in turkey and syria as the death toll from a major earthquake rises by thousands. >> to be honest, this is harder than war. at war, there's a strike and it passes. here, we don't know when it ends. we are terrified. amna: the president prepares to deliver the annual state of the union address, and potentially signal his reelection campaign. geoff: and federal authorities foil an effort by racially-motivated extremists to use assault weapons to bring down baltimore's electrical grid.

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and engaged communities. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. tonight president biden will deliver the state of the union address. we'll have more on that later. but first, we start with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and aftershocks that have rocked turkey and syria.

amna: the death toll from the quake disaster has reached more than 7700 people tonight, and it's feared many more victims have yet to be found. search teams are working with ever-growing urgency across a huge swath of southern turkey and eastern syria. jane ferguson is on the ground in turkey, and has our report. jane: a moment of light, surrounded by darkness. working overnight in malatya, turkey, rescuers pulled a man out from the rubble alive. voices shouting from under crumbled concrete are still waiting to be saved. an immense rescue operation is underway across turkey and syria. thousands of buildings were leveled. rescuers are now battling against time, hoping to reach those stuck below before it's too late. for many, that wait has already cost lives.

>> my sister has four children. she has one sister-in-law, in laws, and nephews and nieces. they're all gone. they're all gone. if the rescuers had arrived yesterday, they would have been saved, but they did not come. jane: others have tried in vain to search for family and friends themselves while they wait for rescue teams. >> [translated] my uncle, his wife and his three children are here. we haven't been able to find them for two days. we've heard nothing, no news. the building collapsed after the earthquake and then a fire started 15 to 20 minutes later. no firefighters came, no excavators. we tried to save them on our own, by scooping water out with plates. jane: thousands were already displaced before the quakes after a decade of war in neighboring syria. thousands more have now been displaced by the disaster. survivors in malatya are crammed into tents, sitting on cardboard boxes for beds. but e tents are filling up

quickly, and many families were left to wait in the cold for a spot. across the border in northern syria, rescue crews in idlib face a daunting challenge combing through mountains of rubble, some with only their barehands, desperately searching for signs of life. farther north in harem, shouts echoed across a crowded rescue site as a little girl was plucked from the rubble and carried to safety. hospitals and health clinics across northern syria are overwhelmed. many of those facilities were already under-staffed and ill-equipped after years of war. >> [translated] thank god, my home was not impacted but there were ten buildings beside us that fell all at once. an entire neighborhood all at once. jane: some of those who did manage to escape unharmed are now braving the cold, living on the streets of aleppo.

they're afraid to go home. >> [translated] you saw how a whole building just falls. it is terrifng. it is not as if mortars hit here or there. here you walk in the streets, ambulances are everywhere, buildings are falling, people are walking in the streets. there are bodies. jane: the syrian red crescent said more than 120 temporary shelters have now been set up for displaced families. this school in aleppo is one of them. >> [translated] to be honest, this is harder than war. at war, there's a strike and it passes. here, we don't know when it ends. we are terrified. jane: for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in turkey. amna: we will focus now on the syrian side of the border. idlib province, the final stronghold of rebels fighting syrian government forces, was particularly hard hit by the earthquake. nick schifrin has that story. mick: the earthquake devastated a region already scarred by a brutal war.

for more than a decade, the redence of idlib have endured bombardment by the syrian military and its russian allies, as well as one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. the syrian civil defense, known as the white helmets, has spent years trying to say victims of bombings. now they are trying to save victims of the earthquake. ismail alabdullah is a volunteer. >> we need help from everyone to save our people. nick: ismail alabdullah joins me now from idlib province. welcome to the newshour. you and your teams have spent the last couple days combing througthe debris of people's homes, of buildings that have collapsed, trying to save people's lives. what are the conditions? pres. zelenskyy: the largest -- ismail: the largest scale of destruction is the great

difficulty we are facing now. the earthquake caused massive damage in every city and village. many places collapsed completely, entire families under the ground. nick: in the videos you are posting and that we are showing, it seems like you and your teams are going hand by hand trying to rescue people with whatever tools you have. >> they are working around the clock. each side has three or four buildings that collapsed. we are moving by our hands and equipment that we have. ni: what about you and your family personally? how did you experience this earthquake and what happened to the people who live next toou? ismail: i was asleep beside my

children when the earth started to shake violently and quickly. i responded immediately to tell my kids to go out of the house of the ceiling collapsing on us. i heard voices screaming next to us. our neighbors, their houses collapsed on them. 16 people died in that collapse. i couldn't hold my tears when i saw the people screaming. seeing and hearing the voices calling for help. nick: you said yourself this is different from the war. so many people have been through

many years of this war. how much more pain are they suffering now because of this earthquake? ismail: double the suffering of the people. it came at a time of winter. the winter itself is a disaster in northwest syria. it is not like other countries. people don't have anything to keep their children warm during the cold and harsh winter. besides all this, in the first place they were displaced. i was displaced four times. now they are suffering. those people who are not injured , they don't have a place to go. they don't have houses. their houses collaed. we are talking about thousands of people. they need shelter. nick: the syrian government and russian allies have targeted

hospitals for years. is there medical care for the people who need it? ismail: the whole world knows that russia made hospital targets, killed doctors, destroyed medical equipment. the health sector already is exhausted and now dealing with this catastrophe. they don't have enough doctors, enough medical supplies. that's why also we are calling to help, it may be open the gate for doctors, may be open the gate for those injured to go to turkey. nick: what do you most need right now? ismail: we need equipment to move the massive scale of rubble, and we need generators because we don't have the electricity. we need diesel.

we need help. we need international help. help us. to everyone watching and listening, help those people and consider them as human beings. amna: that was ismail alabdullah with the white helmets. we now turn to turkey's ambassador to the united states , hasan murat mercan. i spoke to him a short while ago and began by asking him what it's like to see the stunning death toll rise as the rescue operations continue to unfold. >> i cannot imagine that it could be worse. people are in tents right now. amna: the u.s. has already pledged any needed assistance. the european union has mobilized search-and-rescue teams. are your country's most urgent

needs being met? >> a few hours after the earthquake, evening in washington, state department and white house officials approached us and stated their sorrow and said they are ready to help in any way we need. they have dispatched two rescue teams and we still need more rescue teams, because clearing all this rubble in a careful manner, hoping there are some people under the rubble. we still neerescue teams. winter materials, winter clothing, which is being provided by american citizens,

turkish citizens living in the united states. amna: president erdogan did declare a three-month state of emergency. the last time turkey was under a state of emergency was 2016 after the failed coup attempt. that lasted two years. why is a state of emergency necessary now? >> a state of emergency is necessary because there are a lot of humanitarian aid needed, construction needed. roads need to be reconstructed. there are thousands of buildings right now. looting is possible under these circumstances. there will always be bad people, bad intentions, everything coordinated. state of emergency will help rescue teams to work more efficiently. amna: mr. ambassador, we are

keeping you and the people of turkey in our thoughts. thank you for joining us, turkey's ambassador to the united states hasan murat mercan. >> thank you very much. geoff: in the day's other headlines, china stepped up its complaints about the u.s. shooting down that suspected spy balloon. in beijing, the foreign ministry claimed again it was a civilian balloon gathering weather data but gave no other details. the chinese also insisted the balloon is their property, but stopped short of demanding its return. >> [translated] what i can say is this airship belongs to china and not the united states. this balloon is not american. the chinese government will continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests. geoff: the u.s. navy has been working to recover the balloon and its equipment off the coast

of south carina. images provided by the navy show large pieces of the debris being hauled out of the water. u.s. officials say they have no intention of returning the balloon and its paoad to china. on the war in ukraine, germany, denmark, and the netherlands say they will send at least 100 refurbished leopard battle tanks to ukraine's military. berlin had already promised to allow deliveries of newer model leopard tanks. today's announcement came as fierce fighting raged in eastern ukraine. kyiv claimed its forces killed more than 1000 russian troops in 24 hours. thousands of demonstrators in france staged new, nationwide strikes today against raising the official retirement age from 62 to 64. in paris, protesters flooded the streets, gathering in front of the opera house and marching around the city center. the walkouts disrupted public transportation, schools and energy systems. back in this country, a new turn in the tyre nichols case. the memphis police department now says one of five officers

charged his beating death took a picture of nichols as he sat bloodied and dazed. the picture was shared with at least five other people. it could be used in a bid to bar the now-fired officers from ever working as police, anywhere in nnessee. labor secretary marty walsh is expected to leave the biden administration in the coming days. various reports today said the former boston mayor plans to become head ofhe national hockey league's players association. walsh would be the first of president biden's cabinet secretaries to depart. federal reserve chair jerome powell says he's looking for a significant decline in inflation this year. but he also warned again today everything depends on whether the economy slows engh. he said last friday's robust jobs report could signal it will take more interest rate hikes than expected to get there. >> you know, we put, we throw these numbers around but reality is we're going to react to the data. so if we continue to get, for example, strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it may well be the case that we have to do more and

rate hikes more than its priced in. geoff: powell said a strong demand for labor and a shortage of workers are still driving the job market. wall street moved higher after the fed chair's remarks. investors took him to mean that the central bank is not adopting a more aggressive interest rate policy just yet. the dow jones industrial average gained 265 points to close at 34,156. the nasdaq rose 226 points, nearly 2%. the s&p 500 was up more than 1%. still to come, a leading republican senator and a white house official give different previews to the state of the union. federal authorities foil an effort to bring down baltimore's electrical grid. and we examine frederick douglass' formative years in new england. >> this is the pbs newshour, fromweta studios in washington

and at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: president joe biden delivers his assessment of where the country's been and where it'going later tonight. our lisa desjardins and laura barron lopez join me now with more on what to expect. laura, you have been talking to white house officials. what message does president biden hope to convince the congress and the american people? >> white house officials told me the untry is going to say the president needs to finish the job he started in the first two years of his presidency. he is going to be exuding optimism but there are going to be central themes on foreign policy, the continu defense of ukrainagainst russian aggression, countering china, and the competitiveness and the u.s. trying to counter china's economic rise as a rival. on the economy, job growth. the president is going to tout that a lot. the bipartisan infrastructure bill and investments being made across the country as well as a

number of health care actions taken. finally he is going to talk about bipartisanship and his attempt to work across the aie with republicans but also contrast himself with the gop, especially on issues of abortion, police brutality, and gun control. he is going to look forward, trying to say congress should act on areas they left on the cutting room floor during the first two years, like extending the child tax credit. geoff: president biden is trying to draw a contrast with republicans. how are republicans prepared to respond? lisa: there will be some contrast and something different from the new speaker, kevin mccarthy. this is his first time in that national spotlight. he told us he plans to be respectful, to honor the day. i think he is trying to be above partisan politics for now, although he has been partisan in the past.ll bpartisan on behalf ofub

the new governor of arkansas, sarah huckabee sanders. she has been governor for four weeks. she is going to contrast herself as america's youngest governor at the age of 40 with president biden, america's oldest president in history. she will lay out themes we will see from the republicans and things they say president biden is failing at, the border, the economy. i believe she may bring up the china balloon in some way. she will present republicans as being more for a strong america. that's something we are going to see both people talk about tonight. republicans will have a spanish-language response from a new freshman member of congress. interesting because sarah huckabee sanders used to be a spokesperson for trump and he was a trump opponent. geoff: there will be special guests invited by the first lady to attend.

tell us who they are and what message these invitations are meant to convey. laura: one of the ones that stood out to me, because there will be a number of guests, including the ambassador of ukraine to the united states. paul pelosi has been invited to sit alongside the first lady. the white house noted when they invited paul pelosi that he was the subject of a politically motivated attack and the intruderhanted, where's nancy when he entered their home, a similar chant writers used during the january 6 insurrection. also brandon tsay, who disarmed the shooter in monterey park during the lunar new year celebration. and ro von and rodney wells, the mother and stepmother to tyre nichols, the black man fatally beaten by police in memphis. a number of other lawmakers, congressional black lawmakers, are going to be in the chamber.

they invited families of victims of police brutality, notably the father of michael brown, the mother of eric garner, and the brother of george floyd. democrats are trying to showcase specifically a lot of the police brutality that has been occurring and the issue the country is reckoning with. geoff: and inject some new urgency into the police reform push. lisa, what are you watching for in your perch in the house gallery? lisa: very honored, a special place to be. we will not see color blocks like we have seen in the past, lots of people wearing white, for example. we will see buttons. members of the congressional black caucus will be wearing buttons saying 1870, the date of the first known killing of an unarmed black man in this country by a police officer. i am also going to be looking around for a new sense of normal in the house because this is

going to be the first time that everyone does not have to show a covid negative test to be there. there are no more magnetometers, which were put in by the democrats. there is a new normal outside the capitol, eight foot tall fencing. that was not in place for state of the union's before january 6. amna: thank you - geoff: thank you both. amna: for a top republican take ahead of president biden's speech, i'm joined by senator john thune, of south dakota. he is the second highest ranking republican in the senate. welcome back to the newshour. thank you for joining us. let's start with the state of the union. what do you hope to hear from president biden tonight? sen. thune: i think most republicans want to hear the president lay out a plan of how he would like to work with republicans. he ran as a moderate, as

somebody who wanted to unify the country, and the last two years have been a lot of very partisan legislating. there are a lot of members on our side who are interested to hear how the president is going to tackle inflation, which is devastating the pocketbooks of a lot of americans. food, over 18% increase since he took office. i think talking about that, talking about what we are going to do to become eney indepeent again. that is something republicans would be interested in working with him on. this is a farm bill year and an issue that has historically been bipartisan. there are things we can do to support those who feed not only our country, but our world. there are things we can do to hold big tech countable and those are all things we need to work on together.

first and foremost, national secuty, so i hope he does address what happened over the weekend. the first job of a president is to keep the country safe and secure. i look forward to hearing about that. i think there are some other things on the horizon economically, some trade things this administration has not been doing. there is a range of things we look forward to hearing about but he is going to talk about what he wants to talk about. amna: the economy is top on americans' minds. now unemployment is at a 50 year low, inflation seems to be cooling. the new jobs numbers topped 500,000, far exceeding expectations. the white house is arguing things are getting better and going to continue getting better. do you disagree? sen. thune: i think that will be his argument but i don't think people are feeling that. if you look at the evidence,

anecdotal or polling, people don't feel their lives are improving. a lot of that comes back to inflation. as long as inflation is at the rate it is, you could have modest growth in the economy and employment fairly low, but people are losing ground every year. that's why i top about the cost of food being up 18.6% since this president took office and that is acrosthe-board. energy is a lot higher too. people in their daily lives are not feeling the impact of what the president says or his successes. there is a disconnect and my assumption is he will try to address that tonight. there are a lot of people and a lot of republicans who perhaps are not convinced that the president's policies are having the desired effect. after the last two years, which was a lot of partisan legislating and spending, there is a strong argument to be made that it's time to wind down the

spending and do things that will provide incentives for businesses to invest, create better paying jobs. amna: on the issue of bipartisanship, over the last year the president did meet with republican leaders several times on pandemic relief and infrastructure. he appeared alongside senate minority leader mitch mcconnell at a major bridge repair project in kentucky. do you want to see more bipartisanship than that? that seems like a pretty strong message over the last year. sen. thune: i think those are all examples and there is a lot of room to build on that. you can start now by continuing to have these conversations with speaker kevin mccarthy, dealing with the debt limit and budget spending reforms. we have a $31 trillion debt. we can't continue to spend like this forever. a lot of these programs are going to go bankrupt if we don't take steps to make them viable for current and future retirees.

there are great examples right now directly in front of us where this president, if he wanted to, could demonstrate a willingness to do things that are bipartisan. it's going to be hard in the next couple of years because you have a divided government. a divided government can prove a lot of conflict and i expect we will see plenty of that, but it also can create the conditions that are favorable for getting consequential things done. history has proven that. i hope that is the case in the next couple of years but it takes presidential leadership. he has to reach out and i think he will find republicans like kevin mccarthy who will be happy to meet him. amna: sarah huckabee sanders is delivering the republican response. you mentioned wanting to hear from the president a desire for bipartisanship where the parties can look together. do you hope to see the same

message from her? sen. thune: i do. she is a very principled young leader. great contrast, the youngest governor in the country responding to the oldest president in american history. i think the contrast won't be lost on anyone. she is going to be talking about a conservative agenda about that is really grounded in principles , hope -- that hopefully not just conservatives but the majority of americans hold dear. limited government and personal freedom coupled with responsibility. that you hav to keep the country strong to keep it safe, believe in economic freedom, creating incentives for businesses to invest and creat better paying jobs. i think those are themes that will resonate with the american people. amna: you mentioned areas of cooperation ahead. when you look at american priorities, the economy is top

but there are concerns like reducing crime, climate change, guviolence, immigration. are any of those areas you think the two sides can work together? sen. thune: those are hot issues. immigration, the border, is a -- you have to argue by any objective metric over the past two years in this administration, deteriorated rapidly and a disaster on a humanitarian and national security level. amna: can the two parties come together on immigration? sen. thune: i think that's possiblef the administration would be willing to reach out and say, what are the things you need in a porterville? securing the border is a priority for republicans on capitol hill. there is potential for a deal and it is an issue crying for a solution. there are a lot of things the president can do on his own. he does not need congress. a lot of the policies he

reversed when he took power on the border have proven to be a huge failure. if he wants to turn it around and is looking for help from congress, there is a path that would allow that to happen. any big, consequential issue requires a high level of presidential leadership and he has to be willing to meet republicans partway. amna: senate minority whip, senator john thune joining us tonight. goodo see you. sen. thune: good to be with you. geoff: we are going to shift our focus now to the white house. kate bedingfield is the white house communications director. welcome back to the newshour. president biden hopes to use his address to present an optimistic portrait of his first two years in office. this will likely be the largest tv audience he is going to have this year. how is he aiming to use this opportunity? kate: you are right he is looking to put forth an optimistic message.

he is going to talk about everything he has accomplished, we have accomplished, including 12 million jobs created, record low unemployment, 800,000 manufacturing jobs. he is going to talk about the progress we have made on climate and guns and infrastructure. but he is also going to talk about how we can build on that. this is also a forward-looking speech. he is going to talk about what we can do to finish the job and build on the progress we have made over these two years. geoff: this will be the president's first speech to a divided congress. th president's the house. the biggest battle has been raising the debt ceiling. the president has insisted he will not negotiate on meeting debt obligations. the republicans are adamant they will not raise the debt ceiling without spending concessions. what is the white house strategy to arrive at some common ground

that president biden says he wants to see? kate: there is no question it is congress's constitutional obligation to address the debt ceiling. they have historically -- many members, most members of the republican caucus currently in office voted for a clean debt ceiling increase under president trump with no preconditions. president biden does not believe it is acceptable to hold the full faith and credit of the united states hostage to negotiation. congress needs to handle its responsibility to deal with the debt ceiling. the president is open to a conversation about fiscal responsibility. he had said on march 9 he is going to put forward his budget and is asking speaker mccarthy and the republicans to put their plan on the table. let's talk about where they are proposing to make cuts. the president will not tolerate cuts to social security and medicare. he is asking, if you want to talk about balancing a budget, let's see where those cuts will come from.

under president biden, we have lowered the deficit one point $7 trillion in our first two years, all the while building a growing economy, creating those 12 million jobs, creating small businesses, increasing wages. pres. biden: is going to build on that progress. he wants to have a meaningful conversation about how to do that. geoff: let's talk about china. china was included well before that balloon found its way into american airspace last week. this incursion lends new urgency to this issue of competition with beijing. how is the president going to frame that tonight, what he views as china's aggression, trying to contain it? kate: you are right it was in the speech prior to the incident with the balloon. our relationship with china is a key pillar to our foreign policy. the president has spent time with president xi, most recently in november, and has talked a

lot about managing our relationship with china from a place of conflict to a place of competition. you will hear about that tonight. in terms of the balloon, the president made a strategic and strong decision to shoot the balloon down in a way that allowed maximum opportunity to capture intelligence from the balloon. we know more about china's tradecraft and capabilities as a result of what we were able to gather from the balloon, and then we shot it down over the water so we can recover the payload and learn more about their capabilities. we did that without any threat to american life. the president handled that in a strong and effective way that allowed us to learn more about their capabilities and ultimately send the message to china that it was unacceptable. geoff: why aren't more americans feeling the accomplishments that president biden is trying to sell? there was a recent abc

news-washington post survey that found 62% of americans do not believe biden has achieved much during his first two years. that's with unemployment at a 50 year low. what accounts for that? kate: a number of those of compliments go into effect this year, so in a way that makes sense. the $30 cap on insulin went into effect on january 1 this year and a number of other cost-saving provisions from the inflation reduction act in terms of health care subsidies, prescription drugs, energy costs. a lot of those impacts take effect this year so this is a year where people will feel more of the results of what the president has been able to get past. the president would be the first to say we ha made tremendous progress but we still have a ways to go. he under said -- understands people are feeling the squeeze of high prices.

that's why he is working to bring them down. you are going to hear a message of optimism, that we are on the right path, that we are continuing to see indicators the economy is moving the right direction. you are going to hear him talk about how he understands what people are going to -- going through and how he is going to continue to build on making things better for people across the country. geoff: thanks for your time. amna: now let's focus on increasing attac by extremists and others to disrupt and knock out the power grid. direct attacks on electrical substations, including vandalism and other suspicious activity, were up by nearly 80% in 2022. yesterday authorities said they had foiled an alleged neo-nazi plot to attack multiple substations and transformers

around baltimore. william: the fbi said it had arrested two suspects last week, sarabeth glenn daniel and russell. federal officials say russell, o was just released after a five-year sentence on bomb charges, is the founder of a neo-nazi group. this alleged plot follows recent physical attacks on electrical stations in north carolina, oregon, and washington state, attacks that left tens of thousands without power. motives have not been determined. brian levin watches all of this at the center for hate and extremism at california state university and he joins us now. thank you for being her last year the department of homeland security indicated that racist extremist groups would be targeting infrastructure, very

much like this alleged plot in baltimore. can you help us understand, why would neo-nazis want to attack a power station? how does that further their goals? brian: first, historically and culturally, infrastructure plots and attacks and the glorification of it within various books throughout the movement and prior plots, goes back decades. decades ago i testified before congress about something called leaderless resistance. as the far right frequently throughout history and especially today has become very fragmented and cellular, these kinds of targeted attacks that can be done by loan actors or small cells is very appealing, because it gives them leverage with respect to their small

numbers. we have both a historic socio-cultural identification of those locations as legitimate targets in a racial holy war or civil war, or as the acceleration us want to do, burn down society. these folks are looking for some kind of chaos. what they are hoping is there will be some kind of violent conflict around these attacks , or attacks that take place around already emergency situations like snowstorms or natural disasters. what they hope to do as part of the accelerationist wing of neo-nazi is him that goes across the spectrum is to promote chaos, lack of confidence in institutions, and infighting among citizens. they figure targeted attacks, assassinations, and violence at

rallies good combined to create the critical mass of revolution for right supremacy -- white supremacy. geoff: this baltimore plot along with others in washington state and oregon seem to indicate these powers substations are themselves particularly vulnerable. is that your understanding as well? brian: i prefer not to go into vulnerabilities of specific locations. we know that the protection of various substations and related facilities is very uneven across the country and we really have to raise the national standards, not only with respect to physal attacks but also cyber attacks, which don't only come from white supremacists and accelerationists, but others who are connected to a foreign entity or are transnational in

their white supremacy, not exclusively domestic. some of these groups have international footprints, so we have to look at not only the physical infrastructure, but also cyber as an increasingly available set of malefactors is available to want to hit our critical infrastructure. william: given those vulnerabilities you are describing, what would you be recommending that governments and utilities be doing to help harden these pieces of infrastructure? brian: i think they have to look from within. they have to go to the experts who are working there and say, what are our vulnerabilities? even do somerills where folks might try to show where these vulnerabilities are. that's one thing. the other thing is increasingly

surveillance systems are becoming much more inexpensive. they have to look at that as well. don't forget the cyber infrastructure. we know from the past that there have been attempts to breach critical infrastructure in the united states from water systems to hospitals and other places where we rely on them for our safety, but also our routine daily activities. anything frankly that would be a vulnerability for some kind of mass chaos, i think communities have to look at, and communications systems, electrical infrastructure, health care systems, and others are places i would start, as well as cyber infrastructure. william: brian levin, the center for the study of hate and extremism, thank you so much.

amna: frederick douglass was once a fugitive from slavery who was aided by friends in a dangerous escape. he went from being on the run to becoming one of the most influential americans of the 19th century. pamela watts of rhode island pbs weekly has douglass'story as he took his first steps to freedom. pamela: throughout his life, from the time heains freedom, he works constantly for freedom and for freedomor his brothers and sisters, the african-american community. he spoke out for women. at one point he is in england and how important it is for the english to taktheir foot off the neck of the irish. he was somebody who worked all the time for equality.

that early civil rights activist was born a southern slave. frederick augustus washington bailey later changed his name to frederick douglasss to elude capture. he escaped bondage, arriving in newport in 1838. historian lee blake explains why he could not stay there. >> because newport, rhode island is a slave state. one thing people forget is how involved rhode island was in the slave trade. many slave ships that came into the united states came into rhode island. pamela: but douglass and his new wife do fd safe harbor briefly in newport with the free black family of isaac rice. the rice homestead still stands on the corner of thomas and williams streets and was a station on the underground railroad. the douglasses were whisked by stagecoach to new bedford.

blake, who is president of the new bedford historic society, says it is to this whaling city neighborhood,ow the historic district abolition rope, that douglass is sent. he has his first taste of life as a free man in the home of nathan and polly johnson. what road did -- what role did this house have in shaping frederick douglas's life? >> nathan and polly johnson, african-american entrepreneurs, were part of the underground railroad. when anna and frederick come here, they have just been married 3, 4 days, but frederick is 20 years old. we are so used to seeing frederick ■douglassas an elde statesman, we forget he has a foundation story. this house is part of the foundation story. pamela: the johnson house sits side-by-side with those of quaker families.

anti-slavery quakers were active in the whaling trade and employed many african-americans. >> new bedford is a unique place at that time. new bedford is a bustling whaling port but also a place with a large free black population. massachusetts ends slavery in 1783, so people here are free and are able to go about their business as citizens. >> douglass finds work on the docks in new bedford and marvels at the opportunity in the seaport town. >> he is able to vote here. voting was not segregated. he paid his poll tax, $1.50, and in the 1840's he is voting. in new bedford, african-americans were running for elections. new bedford teaches him the

possibility and hope of what freedom might really look like if people were equal. pamela: douglass is also able to attend church and act as a minister, where he learns he needs to speak up. >> he talks about getting the sacrament in one of the churches where he is sitting in the back of the po, he gets the sacrament last, and he writes about that. he writes about how christians were hypocritical. pamela: as good as it was here, it wasn't perfect. >> right. he is also able to write and put editorials in the paper. he develops a voice here which he would not have developed anywhere else. pamela: that voice brings an invitation to speak in nantucket, a transformational moment when the audience meets the elegant, literate douglass. >> he is very hesitant but he speaks and talks about his life as an enslaved person. at that time many abolitionists

had never met a slave. so douglass becomes really important because he can communicate a message of what it was like to be enslaved. he would talk about his relationship with his mother who he only saw a couple times his whole life and the beatings that he had. pamela: blake said douglass not only gave a powerful first-person voice to the evils of slavery, he gave a face, an imposing intellectually gifted leader. >> douglass had a rationale about that. douglass wrote essays about photography. he thought photography was so important, that photography was going to show white americans that the humanity of black people was the same as their humanity. he also was looking at the idea that at the time white people were making sure there were stereotypes of black people.

they would do pictures that were demeaning that depicted them as less intelligent. he was pushing the idea that that wasn't true. pamela: blake said douglass and his family lived in new bedford for five years. he would return many times to visit. across the street from the johnson home, construction is underway on abolition row park and at its heart will be a statue of frederick douglass. the statue depicts douglass and his waterfront working clothes and will bear his quote, truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will ultimately prevail, the same words inscribed on the senate chamber walls of the massachusetts state house. i am pamela watts in new bedford, massachusetts.

geoff: kimiko hahn, a professor at queens college, city university of new york, is the author of 10 books of poetry and the winner of numerous awards. tonight, she shares her "brief but spectacular" take on the power of poetry. >> no dust ups from little girls. as a consequence, one scribbled on the dust bins of history, and the other dusted for fingerprints. and the mother? the mother lived in a cuum. inside the senseless corridors, the daughter cannot respire. inside the vulgar cosmic, the mother cannot be revived in streaming wet traffic. nowadays, i lie down in the sunlight to see my mama moting around as sympathetic ash. yes. one morning, whether misty or yellow, i'll be soot with her. ellagiac and original.

i'm what used to be called the product of a mixed marriage. i was very conscious of my mother's side, the japanese american side. and my father was an artist, was very interested in the asian arts. as a consequence, my sister and i grew up with a great deal of japase culture and that very much influenced my art, my poetics. the poem "a dusting" is from my collection, foreign bodies. i wrote the poem after thinking about what happens to us after we die. i don't believe in an afterlife, but i do believe that someday i'll be reunited with my mother in an odd sort of way. i believe my mother is dust and i will be dust with her. and so for the poem, i wanted to

think about the different ways we look at dust, whether it's seeding a cloud to make it rain or just seeing dust moats circling above us in the sun. my name is kimiko hahn and this is my brief but spectacular take on poetry and dust. geoff: you can watch more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. amna: that is the newshour for tonight. we hope you will join us shortly for our live coverage of president biden's state of the union address beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern on our local pbs station. and if you're online right now, stay where you are. nicole ellis and our digital team will have a preview special, starting at 8 pm eastern. tomorrow night here on the newshour, we will be welcoming judy woodruff back on the program with an exclusive interview with president biden, his first after delivering

tonight's state of the union. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper. mentor. a raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education and democratic engagement and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. 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.

. hello, everyone and welcome to "amanpour and company." here is what is coming up. a desperate search for survivors after a massive earthquake. ukraine braces for major russian offensive as the first anniversary of the war nears. i'm joined by gener phillip who commanded u.s. and nato troops in europe. and former pentagon official. many write and say look a my fabulous life. i have no regrets. >> talking to michelle martin about her extraordinary memoir where she pulls back the glamour of her career in acting and spor casting