the quality of life for bay area residents through support of higher education and the arts. tonight on kqed newsroom, even though she hasn't stepped down, the race is on to replace senator dianne feinstein. we get the latest on that story and a response to president biden's state of the union address. plus america continues its racial wreck winning and how programs are making a difference. our chief dei officer joins us. we visit a neighborhood where you can grab a snack and a stroll in tonight's edition of something beautiful. coming from kqed headquarters

in san francisco, this friday, february 10, 2023 . hello and welcome. we will look at politics across the nation and here in california. not surprisingly, democratic leaders applauded the state of the union speech while republican leaders panned the address and house speaker kevin mccarthy called it one of the most partisan state of the union address as he had ever hearwhile vice president harris tweeted he made our nation proud, potus. so if you are looking for some kind of unity this week, our nation still seems to be as divided as ever. joining me now are two members of our politics and government team, scott shafer and marissa. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having us. >> before we get into the state of the union and your analysis, let's listen for a minute to the back-and-forth that took

place because it was unusual. >> some republicans want medicare and social security to sunset. i am not saying it is the majority. let me give you anybody who doubts it, contact my office and i will give you a copy of the proposal. that meanscongress doesn't vote and i enjoy conversion. >> it was a raucous night. let's hear your takeaways. >> this is a key moment for joe biden. polls show he isn't overwhelmingly popular to say the least but a lot of people think he hasn't gotten much done so this is a chance to lay out hiagenda but remind people all the things that did get done in a bipartisan way. the bar has been set low for joe biden and could he read a teleprompter or show energy or be energetic and i think he cleared that bar in the exchange he had with republicans because it was energetic but the question is

will it allay the concerns that his own party has and he is the oldest president already and yet he wants to run for another four-year term which puts pressure on vice president harris but i think he did clearly say we have gotten a lot done and the job isn't done and let's finish it and he is making a real appeal to working- class white voters in particular who have been drifting away from the party but i was struck by what wasn't emphasized like abortion rights and the war in ukraine. >> i think the beginning of the speech was pretty bad and he was reading and he is not the best teleprompter reader but it is almost like the republican pushback gave him energy and joe biden is at his best off the cuff and sparring with people. i think we saw that. i think it was funny during obama's term of republican was censured by the entire congress for calling him a liar but here

we have marjorie taylor greene going on with him and the white house seem to enjoy it and i saw nancy pelosi say they were pretty well behaved for republicans so it strikes me how much the discourse has changed and how progressive his platform is. i know he talked about gun control and he didn't on climate change and it strikes you how much the discourse of the past decade has shifted the party left so maybe not pushing these proposals i believe a decade ago. >> and a lot about police reform as well so that was probably because the parents of tyre nichols up there as a special guest of the first lady so it really was something for the left. >> all of these social programs he talks about it's not definitely the joe biden we saw when he was vice president. >> let's flip to the other party and kevin mccarthy's

tenure has gotten off to a rocky start and how fractured his the republican party at this point? >> it is interesting. after that he raised over $12 million that included some of his toughest critics like gym jordan or those on the far right or the maga republicans as joe biden would call them. it remains to be seen and it will be months before we are at the debt limit cliff and that will be one of the first key test for mccarthy but it seems like he and biden have some sort of a relationship and he joked i don't want to get you in trouble with your caucus and i think mccarthy was nfused on whether he should clap or not or what he should do because you could see there was a split among the republicans on some of these issues. at the end of the day, mccarthy and we were in sacramento this week and people loved him there and he is seen as a nice person and i think the question is what mccarthy shows a publicly

and privately. >> anything in the statof the union we should be paying attention to, particularly in california? >> a lot of money past and the infrastructure bill is now just being spent here and we had pete buttigieg ahead of transportation, the secretary, touting money that would be spent on the golden gate bridge and it may not feel like we have not gotten anything done but public transit and housing and all kinds of money improving the internet and more rural parts of the state and country, those are things that hopefully for biden sake between now and november 2024 people will feel it because there will be a lot of people hired to work on these projects and a lot of that money will comment is coming to california. >> we had two consecutive house because from california now, nancy pelosi and house speaker kevin mccarthy. does this say something about the power of california?

or did it happen? >> a little of both. you couldn't find two different human beings. kevin mccarthy got where he is in large measure by being a nice guy and somebody who is affable or likes to be liked and moderate. >> he was. he is obviously a different kevin mccarthy right now especially with the very narrow majority he has. so i do think that both of them methodically worked their way up the ladder. i think it is somewhat coincidental that they are both from california but then they are sitting behind the president and the vice president is from here and the speaker is from here and clearly, california is a big state. if you can do well here, you can do well elsewhere. >> let's turn to the california senate spot. dianne feinstein hasn't yet step down, but representative katie porter has thrown her hat

into the ring and so has adam schiff and nancy pelosi released a statement saying if senator feinstein decides not to run i will be supporting adam schiff who knows the nexus between a strong democracy and economy. this her endorsement come as a surprise since dianne feinstein has not signaled she is stepping down? >> maybe on that. but i think it is pretty well understood and i would be shocked if dianne feinstein ran again and i think it is more shocking that nancy pelosi chose this early the back shift and put her thumb on the scale considering we are still hearing about the oakland congresswoman served with nancy pelosi in the house for most of her time and also will run. adam schiff and nancy pelosi are close and she lobbied for him to be attorney general and it isn't surprising that she is allied with them but i think that katie porter would have preferred she stayed out and i am not a person who thinks any

endorsement will lock this race up and it will be a long take till next march. >> at this point i think he is the only male and to get an endorsement by nancy pelosi aybe matters more to him. i >> but didn't governor newsom say he would appoint a black woman to the seat if she stepped down? >> there doesn't seem to be any indications because she hasn't decided if she is going to run again. >> you mentioned that governor newson seems up for a fight on the fossil fuel industry. >> also the gun industry and tobacco and obviously as we were all concerned about high gas prices he called for a special session which has started and doesn't seem to be particularly special because not much is happening but he wants to put a penalty on excessive oil profits. a bill he signed last year,

sb 1137 limits were oil and gas drilling can take place and not too close to homes and schools and clinics is facing a referendum. the oil industry has enough signatures to put it on the ballot and knew some is campaigning against that in favor of allowing at law to become effective. and it will be a real battle royale because big 12 has a lot of money but the environmentalists will be lined up against this as well as governor newsom. it is kind of no loss for him and i don't know if people undetand the huge profits that the oil industry is getting and natural gas prices are high and it is an easy sell certainly for democrats. >> lawmakers are exploring a constitutional amendment that would allow incarcerated people to vote and how does that change the political landscape? >> i think to be determined. the question is will they

actually vote and i think in prison you may have a captive audience and it's easy to go out and say you should engage in this and i think we should position this is part of a broader conversation we are having in california and nationally and it has to do with reparations and our history of slavery and oppressing black people and a lot of these laws prohibiting felons and of course people in prison came out of the jim crow south because that was the desire to not allow black people to have power. we have seen a few years ago that voters agreed to let people on probation and parole vote and this is the next step. we will have to see it. it could go forward or it will take a few years. it will have to go to the electorate so i think that is where the real interesting debate will be. >> turning out a higher news, assembly member matt haney said many people want to consume

with social fee while listening to immune music. >> yes went voters approved recreational use of marijuana in 2016 there were a lot of restrictions on that and there are many hundred dispensaries throughout cifornia, but they are limited to what they can sell with no food that is fresh food or drink but only packaged things. úso they want to change the law that would allow local governments to go ahead and have music venues or sell tickets to things or sell food beverages. part of that is because they are facing pressure, these dispensaries because of the black market because of taxes and regulations and a lot of people are not going there because it is more expensive. so haney sees this as a way to help them financially take advantage of an opportunity to bring more visitors into san francisco to go to these kind of cafc also moving ahead with some

cities down south to allow it if the state law changes and we could see it. >> let's turn to some big news from the district attorney in san francisco. she said she wants to dismissed charges in a police shooting case unless california attorney general takes it up. could you tell me a little bit about where this stands right now? >> this happened in 2017 when her predecessor was the da and he came into office promising to hold police accountable. so now she decided after looking more carefully at it that she will dismiss it and will hand off this hot potato to the attorney general, which he may and they are looking at over. but the family of the man who is killed by a rookie officer on his fourth day on the job and after the suspect allegedly carjacked the van from the california lottery, this

officer misfired through his own windshield and violating training and the family is mad and we will see if the attorney general picks it up. >> thank you both for being here. in the wa of the racial justice protests in 2020, there has been a wave of diversity experts across higher education is to to shins in corporate america and many of these fall under the banner of diversity, equity, and inclusion. what does that mean and why does it matter x i am joined by the new dei officer derek abrams coming to us after serving in similar positions at stanford and berkeley. welcome to the show and welcome to kqed. you are a month and a into the job and we are putting you into the hot seat. >> i think that is what i signed up for. >> dei is a hot topic but it think it is often misunderstood. what exactly is it and what are these efforts about? >> i think they are terribly

misunderstood and the start with the basic definition, diversity is a fact and it is all around us and we are surrounded by people with different cultures and different ways of expressing sexuality or physical abilities and that is just a fact. there is nothing we can do about it or change it or make it worse or better or legislate against it. i believe that equity and inclusion, equity is not the same as a quality and not giving everybody the same thing and making the playing field level. it is giving people who need more a little bit more and giving people who need less a little less to use an analogy. if you and i were together at a concert, it could be equal for us to stand next to each other. but it is probably more equitable for me to stand in front of me so you have a better view. >> when we go to a concert we

don't file and by height so it comes difficult and how do you know who deserves what? >> that is a great question. the idea of thinking about who serves what i think is at the crux of the controversy. when we talk about diversity in college admissions, get freaked out and they think we will take this less qualified black or latinx or native american kid versus is more qualified white or asian-american kid. and the question i ask myself is who defines that? is a student who went to a high school that offered 20 ap classes let's say and they took one third of them and did really well in of classes, are they moremeritorious than a student went to high school who had two ap classes and they took both of those but because that students wanted to learn more they supplemented their education with online learning? who was more meritorious?

>> hard questions. what is the goal of dei efforts ? are we trying to make an eual playing field for everyone? is that the goal of it? is it acknowledging that there are differences and trying to find places for people to fit? >> certainly. the last thing i would want to do is squash the differences between people and that is the fun part. i enjoy learning about the differences or about people from different cultures or backgrounds or different faiths. >> we can see it lights you up. >> right. it is really fun. but some people are threatened by that and some people don't want there to be any difference and we are all a monolith. that is no fun. i don't want to eat the same thing every day or hang out with the same people every day and i want to learn from different. i think dei efforts are about creating space for all of us to learn from difference. one of the things or sayings i

use is my job is not to tell anybody how to think or what to think. i think my job is to tell people to think however. >> that pushback is you are talking about, we have seen that play out across the nation and just recently in texas from governor abbott's office there was a memo that went out. it said that using dei policies in hiring violates federal and state employment laws by illegally discriminating against certain demographic groups those are, but generally the thought is white people feel they are being pushed out and no longer treated fairly and equally. what you say to that? >> i think that is an unfortunate misunderstanding. i am certainly not about making anybody feel worse or bad or push anyone out. i want to do

the opposite and pull everybody in and i want to approach people. how do i learn from you? what is your background? governor abbott, as a disabled man, you benefited from the americans with disabilities act and tell me why do you want to take these away from other people? not in a way that will make him necessarily defensive, but i nerally want to know his opinions and i think if we can do that and seek to understand where other people are coming from, even if we don't agree with them, we will be better off. >> you have spoken about this concept and a term i like a lot, positive curiosity. i think often this work, this effort, is so laden with historical systemic harms or institutional problems that it is hard to see it is anything but very serious and very hard work. you are trying to bring a different perspective to it. >> absolutely. i think it is hard work. i think we are talking about really really serious subjects

that it doesn't mean we can't be joyful in doing the work and that concept, positive curiosity, i think we all have it. i think we know how to apply it and we just don't do it. i give you an example. imagine i have invited you to my home for dinner and love to cook. i am not good, but i love to cook. i am in the kitchen cooking and i tell you about this recipe that my grandmother brought in from mississippi when my family moved to oakland during the migration. and i served the meal and whatever food you like, this ain't it. it is disgusting. at this moment do you say this is unfamiliar and why do i have this in front of me or do you steer the conversation to so your grandmother brought this recipe and what spices are these and where did you find these and did you go to this by shop? i love that place. it doesn't mean that you agree

with everything the other person is saying but you can be positively curious about their thoughts and feelings so both people learn. >> sometimes people who are minorities feel i am tired of having to answer or having to tell you about my lived experience and go find it in another forum. what you say to that? >> i do understand that exhaustion. first of all, i really personally deeply feel that exhaustion. but i would encourage people to try to extend a little bit of grace and kindness to people who come to them with questions. i think that if we immediately tell people to talk to the hand, nobowill grow and i can think of and experience from my own college years. i have and still have a good friend and we became friends because we are both interested in theater. one day, i asked, can you tell

me about what you are wearing and he looked at me and said what? and i said you mean onmy head ú yarmulke and i had seen that word but had never heard it. and it could've been because he extended me the grace of teach me how to pronounce the word and telling me why it was important tohim and his family, i learned immensely and we are still good friends. that is the spirit i want to imbue to kqed and everywhere i go. i want people to be able to be curious and be able to ask questions and i think we all have questions about different ways of living than the ones we know but this currently doesn't allow us to ask those questions. >> cancel culture. tell me about were these efforts start right now. really it is a nascent field bringing these sorts of programs and organizations

where th are organizations or businesses. where are we in word we have to go? >> the field is under attack and i understand it but it is unfortunate. i think there is so much we have to learn again about údiff rounds and so on and so forth and create space for people to learn those things in a relatively safe environment and who would be afraid of that? why does that make you uncomfortable? i can tell you. unfortunately, i think there are a lot of people in my field -- i will backup. i think there are diversity practitioners who set themselves up as having never made a mistake and to also make people feel bad or don't let people define themselves. there is a local university that i am familiar with that is being sued because of a dei training for the asked people

to divide themselves into different ethnic groups and the facilitator told certain people you should be in this group or that group but people can define themselves however they want to and that's not the role of the practitioner. >> let's talk about equity in a different form and we have talked about educational and corporate, but what about sports? you are a sports fan and the super bowl is coming up and the nfl is nearly 70% black and yet we have very few head coaches were black and this will bethe first time ever we had two quarterbacks who are both black. tell us your thoughts about equity in sports. >> i am a giant sports fan and i think personally the nfl doesn't want me to be a fan. i have lived in oakland for decades and the raiders are in vegas and the way the nfl has treated healthcare and concussions for retired players is shameful and the entire colin kaepernick brouhaha is embarrassing. having said that,

i think the league is trying to make at least perfmative efforts. you turn on a football game and spray-painted behind every end zone is and racism and players have different tags in the back of their helmets that say stop eight or black lives matter. these are tiny steps and performative but i thk it is better than not doing anything at all. >> thank you for your insight and being here today. we appreciate it. >> this is the new chief diversity and equity and inclusion officer and welcome to the organization and we hope to have you back on the show. >> thank you. walking down the street in san francisco you will find mouthwatering cuisine from around the world and local businessessuch as the green apple bookstore. that is this week's look at something beautiful.

>> i love the grab and go dim sum. that is our show for tonight. we are off next week but we will see you back here in two weeks only sit down with the choreographer and founder of lines ballet, alonzo king. you can email questions for us and you can reach me on social media. thank you for joining us. have a great weekend.

♪ john: tonight on pbs news weekend. as rescue and recovery efforts continue, we got the latest from on the ground in syria and turkey. >> my mother and sister are still under the rubble and i can't reach them in any way. my soul is gone. they are dying under the rubble. i'm dying here. john: then with a push to put more electric vehicles on the road, we look at the potential hurdles to reaching that green go. and an artist's brief but spectacular take on privilege and forgiveness. ♪