geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz on the "newshour" tonight. the justice department issues a scathing rebuke of louisville police for repeated civil rights violations brought to light after the killing of breonna taylor. geoff: lawmakers question health and intelligence officials about the origins of covid-19, after government agencies issue differing assessments on whether the virus leaked from a chinese lab. amna: and we continue our series on the deepening divide in america with an examination of how politics became personal identity. >> we are angry at one ather. democrats and republicans don't trust one another. we are more likely to dehumanize people in the other party. we think that they're a threat to the country.

♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change, so people and nature can thrive together.

supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building more just, verdant, and peaceful world. or information at mac found.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. amna: good evening and welcome to the newshour. the u.s. justice department has issued a damning review of the louisville, kentucky police department, in the wake of breonna taylor's death. she was shot and killed during a no-knock raid on her apartment, nearly 3 years ago. geoff: findings released today found a pattern of police brutalizing black citizens and

routinely violating their rights. u.s. attorney general merrick garland spoke in louisville. >> this conduct is unacceptable. it is heartbreaking. it erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing and it is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve louisville with honor. and it is an affront to the people of louisville who deserve better. amna: garland announced the city will sign a negotiated consent decree to undertake major reforms. louisville mayor craig greenberg said he strongly supports the effort. >> and i know that there will people who will look at this report and will be eager to find some way to minimize it or dismiss it. they'll say it's all politics or that you can find examples like this in any city. no, this is not about politics or other places. this is about louisville.

geoff: the city has already banned so-called "no-knock" warrants and paid $12 million to breonna taylor's family to end a wrongful death lawsuit. kristen clarke is the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the justice department, and joins us now from louisville. thank you for being with us. this announcement is the result of a two year investigation following the shooting of breonna taylor. the attorney general said today that a louisville metro police department official told the investigation open that breonna taylor was a symptom of problems that we've had for years. based on your investigation, why were those problems so persistent? >> the problems have been persistent because they have gone unaddressed. today we issued a 90 page report that lays bare the severe and

significant problems with the louisville metro police department. we found evidence of use of excessive force, we found warrants that were issued without a legal basis. we found that warrants were executed without knocking and announcing. we found discriminatory policing and evidence of practices that disproportionately impact black people in louisville. we found unlawful stops, detentions, and arrests. we also found that people who engage in peaceful demonstrations and protests have their first amendment rights infringed upon, particularly when the subject matter of their protest concerned the police department. these problems are significant and severe, and our consent decree here will help put the city in the police department on

a long overdue path to reform. geoff: you mentioned the report. i want to read an excerpt from it. it reads this way. some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrian from their cars, insulting people disabilities, they've called like people monkey and animal and boy. this conduct erodes community trust, and the unlawful practices of lmpd in louisville metro undermine public safety. it again raises the question of how and why this kind of behavior was condoned. the report cites or oversight. tell me more about that. >> sometimes you find there are policies in place, but no training behind those policies. sometimes you find that there is training, but no accountability when policies are broken. part of our consent decree will be about putting in place new systems that will help ensure that these kinds of problems never happen again. i noted a number of issues that

we fou. we also found that the police department discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities. in particular, problems with the spec to dispatch responses. so now is a time where we are going to engage with the law enforcement agency here, we are going to engage with the community, and put the community and police department on a path to reform. geoff: on that point, there was a reason why you were in louisville, are in louisville right now. and earlier today appeared with the attorney general and associate attorney general. also there were local leaders, members of the police department. it was to show that there was broad agreement at the federal and local level that there is this need for change. there are people in louisville who are wondering if local leaders are really up to the job

of implementing that change, when many of these violations happened on their watch. >> i'm hopeful and encouraged. today marks a new day for the city of louisville. the mayor and the police chief joined us and committed to working with us to put in place a consent decree. we will have court oversight, we will have an independent monitor. at every stage we are going to engage with the community. today happen meeting with community leaders, have met with law enforcement leaders today. now it's a time where we roll up our sleeves and figure out what are the reforms that help ensure that the kinds of incidents that we've seen in the past and resulting tragedies never happen again. and i said that with full acknowledgment that being a police officer is not an easy job, and most officers carry out their jobs with duty and integrity. but what our 90 page report makes clear is that there is a

systemic problem, that there has been a pattern and practice of conduct that runs afoul of the constitution, that violates federal law, and that disrespects people civil-rights. and we are putting in into that, and today marks a new day for the city. geoff: you are a lifelong civil-rights attorney. why does it take the police killing of a black person, whether it's george floyd or breonna taylor or freddie gray, to spur federal action? is there anything that can be done preemptively? >> these tragedies, the tragic death of breonna taylor. i met with her mother today. george floyd -- these people should be alive today. breonna taylor should be alive today. george floyd should be ave today. the justice department's work to

ensure law enforcement accountability and constitutional police safety is one of our highest priorities. we will not turn our back on this work. it is hard work, and we are in it for the long haul. and we look forward to working and engaging with the community and with the police department andity to ensure that tredies that unfolded in the past never happen again. geoff: lastly, what is the record on these consent decrees? how much do they effect change, and how well do they work in the long term? >> the consent decrees that we have secured in the past have proven successful. we have seen success in places like seattle and baltimore where there have been reductions in the use of force against ordinary citizens, where there have been efforts to de-escalate situations to prevent violent outcomes. so we are very confident that the consent decree that we will put in place here will help to put the city in the police

department on a path to reform, on a path to ensure that peoples civil-rights are respected, and on a path to ensuring that the police department can carry out their job of ensuring public safety, and do so in a way that garners trust from the community , and doing so in a way that complies with the constitution. geoff: kristen clark is the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the u.s. justice department. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you for having me. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, the justice department announced it's reviewing the memphis police department over use of force and other issues. that follows the fatal beating of tyre nichols in january. six officers have been fired in the case, including 5 charged with second-degree murder.

president biden will propose slowing the growth of federal deficits by $3 trillion, over the next decade. the white house announced that today, ahead of releasing the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. the plan is likely to rely on higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy, but it's unclear if congress will go along. on the war in ukraine, mercenaries from russia's "wagner group" claimed today they've won control of eastern bakhmut, after 6 months of fighting in the ravaged city. at the same time, the group's own video showed fighters using up their ammunition. it underscored divisions between the mercenaries and russia's military over strategy and supplies. ukraine's government is denying any role in last year's attack on the "nord stream" gas pipelines in the baltic sea. there's been a rash of reports that a pro-ukrainian group was involved. the pipelines, linking russia to germany, were hit by explosions. but the german defense minister also counseled caution today about who was responsible.

>> i know the reports about this investigation. and we have to distinguish clearly, yes, whether it was a ukrainian group, or a pro-ukrainian one without the knowledge of the government. there is also talk that it could have been a so-cald false flag operation. amna: russia also questioned the findings. the kremlin has accused e u.s. of staging the attack. strikes across france paralyzed parts of the country again today. train and metro drivers, oil refinery employees and others stayed off the job to otest raising the official retirement e. they used trucks to block access to ports and oil refineries. the strike also snarled train and commuter rail service, leaving travelers struggling. tens of thousands of road test the country's worst train disaster. students and labor unions organize the demonstrations to demand better rail safety

measures after last month's crash that killed 57 people. >> this crime should not be forgotten. those that thought should be held accountable and we are now demanding safety on all levels, on transport, and schools, in our very lives. amna: response transport minister along with several top real officials have resigned. the worldmark this international women's day with protests and celebrations. around the globe, hundreds of thousands of people joined rallies, carried signs, and chanting slogans demanding equal rights. they also hailed the many achievements of women. at the same time, the united nations named afghanistan's taliban regime as the most oppressive for women and girls. back in this country, employers posted 10.8 million job openings in january, down from december, but still more than expected. on wall street, worries about interest rate caps -- cap stocks

mostly in check. the nasdaq rose 40 five points, the s&p 500 added five. still to come on the newshour, the senate moves to override washington, d.c.'s controversial crime law with biden support. we examine deepening divisions in america as politics become intertwined with personal identity. nobel laureate malala yousafzai discusses her oscar-nominated film about overcoming hate, plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in washington, and in the west, on the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the country's top intelligence officials testified , discussing tiktok and the

origins of covid, which inick schifrin reports, was also the result of its own hearing in the house. >> in the senate intellence committee today, the woman and men who lead the country's intelligence community, detailed a world full of threats. starting with russia's war in ukraine. wagner private military contractors are besieging the eastern city of bakhmut, the longest and deadliest battle of the war. ukraine is trying to inflict heavy russian losses. those losses are adding up, director of national intelligence avril haines said today. >> it will be increasingly challenging for them to sustain even the current level of offensive operations in the coming months, and consequently, they may fully shift to holding and defending the territories they now occupy. nick: haines said putin is focused on quote more modest military objectives, but warned he could fight a long war. >> putin most likely calculates that time works in his favor, and that prolonging the war, including with potential pauses

in the fighting, maybe his best remaining pathway to eventually securing russia's strategic interests in ukraine, even if it takes years. >> could they use tiktok to control data on millions of users? nick: the hearing also focused on technology companies that answer to the chinese communist party, or ccp, especially the hugely popular video app, tiktok. a new bipartisan bill could lead to a complete ban, and is supported by the white house. today intelligence committee vice chairman marco rubio asked fbi director chris wray, about the app's potential threat. >> could they use it to control the software on millions of devices given the opportunity to do so? >> yes. >> could they use it to drive narratives, like to divide americans against each other? >> yes. >> this is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the chinese government and it to me, it screams out with national security risks. >> the fact that the intelligence community still disagrees on the origins of

covid is concerning. nick: senators also asked about the origins of covid-19, which began spreading at the end of 2019, in the central chinese city of wuhan. >> the fbi has long assessed going all the way back to the summer of 2021 that the origin of the pandemic was likely a lab incident in wuhan. nick: but the intelligence community remains divided. the fbi concluded with moderate confidence that covid leaked from a wuhan lab, an assessment now shared by the department of energy with low confidence. but other agencies have assessed , also with low confidence that , covid lily occurred naturally. >> china has not fully cooperated and we think that is a key critical gap that would help us to understand what exactly happened. >> where did covid 19 come from? nick: it was the subject of another, more politicized hearing by the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic. republicans and their witnesses went beyond the intelligence community conclusions and argued the wuhan institute of virology, with us funding, aificially combined viruses in a process known as gain of function.

and those experiments created viruses that mirrored covid 19's unique attribute robert redfield is a virologist, and was the director of the centers for disease control when covid began. >> while many believe that gain of function research is critical to get ahead of viruses by developing vaccines, in this case, i believe it was thexact opposite unleashing a new virus of the world without any means of stopping it, and resulng in the deaths of millions of people. >> do you believe there was a cover up? nick: republicans repeatedly accused dr anthony fauci, the former head of national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, of promoting the naturally occuring theory, and silencing the lab leak theory. >> i don't think i used the word coverup. okay? i think there was an attempt to misguide. redirect the debate. nick: last night in the new york times dr fauci called republican allegations false and misleading, and said he's always kept an open mind on covid's

origins. china has largely stonewalled efforts to investigate independently. jamie metzl is an atlantic council senior fellow. >> if you make it primarily about dr fauci, we will be inappropriately serving the chinese government. a propaganda coup. nick: most leading scientists still argue covid spread naturally from humans to animals. but regardless of the cause, finding the origin is still critical. paul auwaerter was the president of the infectious diseases society of america. >> we can learn valuable lessons from these investigations to prevent outbreaks and pandemics of any origin. nick: but it's not clear if the world will ever know the origin, of a disease that killed nearly 7 million people, and counting. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. ♪ amna: a u.s. senate vote today

means, for the first time in 30 years, congress and the president will block a washington d.c. local law, a bill that would overhaul the city's criminal code. lisa desjardins explains the policy and politics at play. lisa the u.s. senate, today : legislating for a single city. but on a national issue. senators from both parties were poised to reject washington d.c.'s criminal code overhaul. >> now is not the time to get soft on crime. >> this body now in a rush of politics is going to prevent a city from protecting itself. lisa: the rare congressional block comes amid national headlines and political pressure over crime. but this issue affects only washington d.c., and raises another justice issue, is it just that congress overrule the ci's wishes? >> my name is troy burner. i'm a fourth generation washingtonian. lisa: wh's that mean to you? troy: the nation's capital.

there's so much pride in history here. lisa: troy is proud of the city, but not its justice system, which sent him to prison for 24 yes in connection with a murder he was nowhere near. did you have this with you when you were in prison? troy was convicted based on false testimony and his sentence , was long, due to this: a paragraph in d.c. code that is very broad, saying essentially that people associated even indirectly with a crime, like murder, should be charged asf they pulled the trigger. now, fully exonerated and a criminal justice advocate he's a , strong backer of d.c.'s reform. >> it was a thorough, comprehensive, progressive effort to, to reform the criminal code consistent with the natural, the national standard. lisa: d.c. spent 16 years on a herculean rewrite of its outdated code that is over a century old. the resulting plan more clearly defines crimes, erases most mandatory minimum sentences and

lowers some maximum penalties in exchange for a tiered, more tailored system. city council passed it overwhelmingly. violent crime is down in the district compared to last year. but homicides have spiked, prompting mayor muriel bowser to veto the measure. >> anytime there's a policy that reduces penalties i think it sends the wrong message. lisa city council doubled down, : overriding her veto. >> so, all the fear-mongering is totally unnecessary, hyperbolic, lisa then, d.c. hit a bigger : hurdle. >> it is irresponsible, it's dangerous. lisa: congress got involved. the constitution gives it direct power over d.c. laws, and the republican-led house pounced >> we see stories of carjackings every day and what did the dc council do? they passed a resolution to get rid of mandatory minimums on many violent crimes.

lisa: last month, 31 house democrats joined republicans to override the d.c. crime bill, including congresswoman angie craig who was attacked in her dc apartment building the morning of the vote. after that, came the pivotal defeat. >> the president does not support the d.c. council, the changes that they, that they put forward over the mayor's objections. lisa: president joe biden announced he'd sign the congressional override. he said it was about keeping communities safe. that move blindsided many democrats, including those on the d.c. city council. >> democrats who have been our friends have not supported us on this legislation because it has become a political issue for them. lisa: d.c. council chairman phil mendelson said this was about fear of ads like these that ran in 2022 attacking democrats as , weak on crime. he says their bill was deeply misconstrued, that it would not lower most sentences.

for example, armed carjacking, a concern in d.c., has long had a maximum penalty of 40 years there. but the average, actual sentences have been around 15 years. thus, advocates say the dc plan, to lower the max from 40 years to 24 is still well above most actual sentences. and, mendelson points out, that's tougher than some red states, like tennessee. >> their maximum for carjacking is, i believe, 12 years. well, which is it? 12 years. our average sentence is 15. our maximum is going to be 24. yet the message that we're soft on crime while inaccurate sticks. lisa: back atroy's house, i ask if he thinks lowering max sentences could lead to more crime. >> can we talk? lisa: let's. troy: that's the most asinine stuff that i've heard in my life. so what we're saying is, that upon committing the crime, somebody is going to take it in their head to say, oh, well, you

know, they they reduced it. they reduce the time on this. that's not going to happen. that's not realistic. lisa: troy still works in d.c. but now lives in maryland and has some peace. but he's disheartened that reforms he sees as critical, have hit a wall. and that others are controlling d.c.'s fate. >> to have congress or anyone else outside of who the people of the district of columbia chose and represent them, have the authority to usurp is a total smack in the face to democracy. lisa: can i ask you what you think about president biden? he himself could have prevented this. troy is still looking ahead, but no one knows how, if or when d.c. will again try to fix its criminal code. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. ♪

geoff: the country's divisions often go beyond disputes over policy, regularly spilling into clashes over identity and culture, and pitting friends and family against one another. judy woodruff explores how that came to be, and what it means for our shared future, in her latest installment of america at a crossroads. >> every president has encountered division of some type, much of it rooted in those very things washington was concerned about. judy: inside the exhibit on the presidency at the national museum of american history in washington, the curator hears echoes of the divisions today in our country's past, starting with our very first president, george washington. >> in his farewell address, he said it was really worried about three things for the country. especially the partisanship

issue, he was not a believer in parties that would take the lead over ideas, and one of the things he says in the address is that the unity of government, we should be justifiably proud and committed to that. >> the country is more divided along partisan lines and we have seen. judy: we ard about how divided the country has become and how hostile embers of both parties now are to the other side. >> i think one way to think about this is that people have internalized partisan identity may be in a way that we didn't really see, say, three decades ago. >> i do think that things have broken down. i have neighbors that used to wave to each other, and that's extent of our relationship now. judy: that's what we've heard from our viewers, too.

things have become far more divisive and personal. >> immigration, politics, abortion, and the list goes on. i'm not free to speak about any of those things, because i fear the consequences of conversation i don't feel like i can have. >> it's really hard, because these are people i care about, people i've been close to him that've grown up with, i've lived in the same house with. the underlying currents between all of us is very tense. >> i would like to discuss politics with my friends. i would like to share ideas, exchange nes with them, but there is a wall. >> decades ago, we disagreed over things like the role of government or the size of

government or what we wanted the government to be doing, and with those types of divisions, we can find a compromise. >> a political scientist at johns hopkins university draws on social psychology to -- to try to draw on our political divisions. >> we are angry at one another. democrats and republicans don't trust one another. we are more likely to dehumanize people of the other party. these types of feelings are not the kindf things we can compromise with. >> mason open her first book with the story of robber's cave, a famous social science experiment from the 1950's when researchers brought fifth-grade boys to a summer camp outside oklahoma city. the boys, all white, were separated into two teams. one callinitself the rattlers, the other the eagles. they were allowed to bond, and then after a week, the groups

were introduced to each other. >> they immediately wanted to start competing. one cap baseball games, all kinds of different competitions to prove that they were the best. so this already calling each other names, they accused each other of cheating, they tried to sabotage each other. the competition got so intense that ultimately they had to stop the experiment because they were throwing rocks and becoming violent. that experiment was used to talk about the sort of innate nature of humans to form groups, to become proud of the groups that we are in, to want our groups to be better than the people who are not in our group, and ultimately, to compete against another group if we feel like they are threatening the status of our team. judy: jumping ahead from george washington's warning at our founding about the danger of political teams -- and on our >> it is with pride that i place

for president of the united states, the night of dwight david eisenhower. judy: to the 1950's where our parties were more ideological mix than tay i'm a with conservative and liberal wings in both camps. and when someone like general dwight eisenhower was courted by both parties to run as their standardbearer. >> eventually he chose a party, but yet was still elected with overwhelming support by the american people and that would've been true i think regard as of which direction he would've gone. >> a report was put out saying we needed the parties to be more different, because people don't know which party to vote for, because i can't tell the difference between them and so they can't make a responsible decision. what they suggested was two parties that stand for very different policy ideas. >> let us close the springs of racial poison. judy: in the 1960's, the passage

of the civil rights act and the voting rights act by democrats helped usher in a major realignment of the parties, many black americans becoming democrats, as many white americans opposed to integration left that party. layered on top of that broad reorganization along racial lines, the 1980's witnessed the mobilization of the socially conservative christian right, as well as business interests aligned with republicans. and eventually came the rise of partisan talk radio, cable tv news, the internet, and social media, exacerbating the divide along partisan lines. >> ultimately what ends up happening is that our society change in such a way that our party started becoming different on their own. not only based on policy references, but based on what democrats and republicans looked like, what kind of religious services they attended, what

kind of cultural television shows they watched, where they live. and so they started becoming different from each other in a social way, not just in a sort of policy sort of way. judy: ludhiana mason argues that the stacking of political identities on top of each other into what she calls a meg identity has reinforced our basic human instinct for inclusion and exclusion, and then helps explain the tribal politics we see today. >> i was a practicing catholic for most of the years that i lived here, and i just needed to bow out completely, because i don't understand where this militancy is coming from, and in fact seems to have been created out of whole cloth in order to get people to show up at the polls, show up at events, whatever the cause may be. >> i have been doing -- the

first thing on dating sites, no-trump are, no trump or, i get it. you and i could probably agree upon 70% of how society works. >> wearers before we are americans, we're going to make us win. and now it's like, no, it's about this little faction of political idealism. and my side is right and your side is wrong, and there ain't no middle. >> not that we've never had partisan animosity. the difference is that now, because of our sort of progress in terms of civil-rights, not just for black americans, but for all americans who have previously been marginalized, including women, is that we have associated the two parties with different sides of that story. essentially, the left is now taking the position of, we want a fully egalitarian, multiethnic society. we've never had it, but we want to make it happen.

and what trump has been saying, make america great again, is the definition of going back in time. so there's this conflict of, do we want to move forward, or do we want to move backward? that means every time we have an election, rather than just it being our party that wins or loses, now feels like arbery -- our racial group and our religious and or cultural group is also winning or losing. that makes the stakes feel higher to us on a psychological level. we don't have a place to go to together. that's much more of a tug-of-war rather than a negotiation. judy: i can a storage room inside the museum, among collections of presidential fine china, history that is not yet fully written or understood. >> we are always looking for what sort of says the moment. the slogan certainly say the moment of january 6. judy: signs collected after the insurrection of january 6, when

supportersf president trump tried to stop the transfer of power. her most recent book shows it is ultimately up to our leaders. >> people listen to leaders. we've run some experiments where we've had people read messages from joe biden or donald trump, messages that we should never engage in violence. when people read those messages, they become less approving of violence. whether or not they encourage their supporters to engage in violence is up to them. and our future is going to depend on that outcome. >> the divions in the country are definitely causing anxiety and loss of sleep. i'm also hopeful person and a solution oriented person and a person who tries to take action where i can.

>> organizing at the grassroots level. >> i do think there is probably a solution, or better days ahead. i just can't visualize it yet, and i'm not sure i have the roadmap or know anybody who has the roadmap for how to get there. >> can we get better in time? god, i hope so. we'd better. judy: for the pbs newshour, i'm judy woodruff in washington. ♪ amna: among the slate of films that could win an oscar on sunday, one new documentary looks at how a potentially deadly encounter led to a surprising and inspiring ending.

i talked to the duo behind the film, stranger at the gate, as part of ouarts and culture series, canvas. >> what if people responded to hatred with kindness and acceptance? could that approach change lives, or even save them? the film, stranger at the gate, explores what happens when a man ready to commit ss murder is welcomed by the very same people he was targeting. stranger at the gate was just nominated for an academy award, it is produced by nobel peace prize winner malala yousafzai and directed by joshua seftel, who both join me now, thank you so much for joining us. and first and foremost, congratulations. malala, i'll start with you. how did you learn the news of the oscar nomination and what did you think? >> so i have entered the world of production now, and i receive request most everyday. i got the chance to watch the documentary, stranger at the gate, i remember i was at my living room watching it on my

laptop together with my husband, and i was just completely moved and inspired by this story. and i knew that it has to be shared with everybody. so i jumped in and i said, i want to support this movie and i'm so proud to be part of it. amna: joshua, this is a true story. we have to stress this to people. it's about a former u.s. marine named mac mckinney. he suffers from ptsd. he carries some incredibly hateful, islamophobic beliefs back to his hometown of muncie, indiana, and decides he is going to bomb the local mosque. tell us what happens from there and how did you first hear about this story? joshua so i heard about the : story. we found it in a newspaper article. and the first thing we thought was, how can this be true? because the story is just incredible and inspiring. and what happens is, he goes to the mosque to do reconnaissance because he's planning to bomb it. he's already built the bomb. and when he arrives at the mosque, he is welcomed by the congregants there.

and they they meet him with compassion and kindness. mack: he hugged my leg. this guy doesn't know me. hugged my leg. that was pretty heavy. they don't even know the truth. >> and in fact, he starts coming back to the mosque on a regular basis because these people are so nice to him. in fact, ultimately becomes prident of the mosque. and we just found that the story is just so timely. you know, in a moment when division is is at a fever pitch and hate crimes are happening, to find a story that has a beautiful message and a beautiful outcome is just something that i personally needed this story and wanted to share it with others because i found it to be a very hopeful message. amna: in fact, a lot of your work focuses on this issue about

overcoming hatred. tell me a little bit about that. joshua: yes. so when i was a little boy in upstate new york, i faced anti-semitism. you know, kids called me names and someone threw a rock through the front window of our home. and those memories, they stuck with me. and after i became a filmmaker and then 9/11 happened, i saw my muslim friends facing a similar kind of hate. and i thought, as a filmmaker, maybe i can do something in some small way to help. and so since then, for the last eight years, really, i've been making films with my team about american muslim stories in order to shatter the negative stereotypes that we see of muslims. amna: malala, of course, so many people know your story so well, surviving against all odds when you were targeted by hatred, right? the taliban tried to kill you by shooting you for your education activism. you not only survived, you thrived. you have become one of the most

recognized faces on the global stage in this advocacy for women and girls. what is it about this story that you think is particularly important at this moment in time? malala: we all know that extremism and violence are prominent, and it's really difficult to address those issues because often time the reason behd the violence and the extremism is the dehumanization of a certain individual or a group of people or a religious group or an ethnic group. but at the same time, when we connect with people, we see them in person or through our tv screens and we realize that they are just the same as us. they have the same moments of joy and sadness. they have the same family life. they have kids. they share meals together. we connect with them and we realize that we are all human. >> he didn't know anything better, that's exactly wh he said, sister bibi what if, if i

had met you, meeting someone like you, if i had that much understanding, i would have never thought about this. mack: you showed me the right way, you showed me what true humanity is about. malala: what mack was planning to do that could have caused such a huge damage, it could have costed so many lives, but it was the act of kindness that changed the whole story. and it was really, you know, the willingness of bibi bahrami and her family to welcome mac and to show him that kindness and to give him a chance to get to know them. and it was also the willingness of mac to actually know the people. amna: joshua, we are speaking at a time of rising anti-semitism, rising anti lgbtq action. we know 20 years after 9/11, muslims still face discrimination and attacks and the kind of quite frankly, the

domestic terrorism that mack was planning is on the rise here in america. and a lot of folks will say, you know, this is asking a lot of people who are feeling unsafe and who need protection that they should open their hearts and their homes to people who might wish them harm. what would you say to that? joshua: the message of this film for for me is to ask everybody to look at themselveand say, what can i do? what can i do to to help build bridges in our society, to help connect with people that maybe seem different from us, or look different or believe in something different than we do, or vote for a different political candate than we do? because i think that right now we live in a time where we have separated ourselves. and i think to me, this film is saying, let's reconsider that, because there's a power in connecting with people. and in this film we see that it actually saved lives. amna: the documentary film is

"stranger at the gate," directed by joshua seftel and executive produced by malala yousafzai. thank you to both of you for joining us and good luck at the oscars. >> thank you. ♪ geoff: and we'll be back shortly, but first take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. amna: it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. geoff: for those staying with us, we take another look at the ongoing debate over how and when to repatriate art that was looted from other countries. jeffrey brown went to a museum confronting the controversial origins of some of its collection. here is an encore of his report. jeffrey a 17th century brass : head of a ruler from the empire of benin, in modern day

nigeria, a treasure exhibited in a famed american archeology museum. but note the placard underneath telling us how this came to be here. after looting by british troops it was later sold to the museum. >> we need to come to terms with both the history and potential of the museum. jeffrey: what stories do museums tell us? and what should they tell us? one answer comes at the redesigned africa galleries at the university of pennsylvania museum of archeology and anthropology, known as the penn museum. lead curator tukufu zuberi. >> how do we take that activated conversation and transform the narrative in here? seize this moment to transform the museum, the narratives in the museum and the service we can provide to the community about the national narrative, about the international narrative, about the narrative

of humanity. jeffrey: zuberi is a professor of sociology and africana studies at the university. also, one of the hosts of the long-running pbs series, history detectives. >> if we are going to tell the story of human civilization, we must reconfigure these spaces to speak to various audiences in ways that remove the race bias and prejudice, which are the foundation of museums everywhere. these museums were to justify empire. they were to justify the colonization. they were to justify the marginalization of certain groups of people. we have to challenge that. we wanted a story that said, this past is in conversation with our now. that we here are standing here, looking at these objects, and they have a meaning now.

the idea then is an introduction. come on in, check us out. jeffrey here, as elsewhere, a : major question surrounds the benin bronzes, the name used for a wide variety of artifacts that date to at least the 16th century. their story is well-documented: an 1897 british invasion, the looting of as many as 10,000 objects, and ultimate dispersal to many of the world's leading museums. in recent years, some institutions have begun to return the treasures, including the smithsonian in washington dc, which held a ceremony in october to hand over 29 objects to nigerian officials and a member of the royal family of benin. smithsonian secretary lonnie bunche. wax what this really is is a reckoning for museums, for museums to say, we no longer say to, collect things just because we think it's right. but now we marry the relationships with the

communities. and then as we collect, we're ultimately doing a better job because it's about, not so much what we collect, but what we preserve. jeffrey: the penn museum, founded in 1887, holds some one million objects spanni 10,000 years of history, and is also a leading research center. it's been undergoing a major renovation in recent years, updating its exhibition spaces, reevaluating its collection, and the information it offers the public, while also addressing several controversies surrounding its holdings. one involved the morton collection, more than 1300 human skulls gathered in the 19th century and used to adnce racist eugenics theories. it came to the penn museum in the 1960s. more recent research suggested it includes the remains of 13 black philadelphians. plans for a reburial are ongoing.

another recent revelation -- that the museum held the partial remains of victims killed in the 1985 bombing by the philadelphia police of a residential rowhouse, home of members of the black liberation move organization. the remains were returned last year, but the university and museum face continuing lawsuits. museum director christopher woods, who arrived a year ago, has a simple policy mantra for all repatriation questions -- let's do the right thing. >> i think repatriation work is increasingly going to be a big part of what this museum does and what museums like ours do. jeffrey: his museum has agreed to return all of its benin bronzes. the best scenarios, he thinks, can be a win-win. >> when we talk about repatriation, it can be a kind of all or nothing. in an ideal situation, we would be able to keep some of the

materials and the ability to have a training program or archaeological fieldwork in nigeria, to have an exchange of personnel and ideas with our counterparts in nigeria. this is exciting and really enhances the portfolio of projects that are research museum engages in. jeffrey: but it's complicated. bronzes are a clear-cut case of looting. >> restitution can become whitewashing the issue if we forget that these objects came with people, that the enslavement of africans, the enslavement of africa and the colonization in africa are part and parcel of what we're looking at when we see these objects. so you can't just sever that relationship, jeffrey send them back, then : forget about it, that would be bad? >> that would be bad. it is bad where people are doing it, because they're not creating

a conversation. it's too late to just say you're going to put things back the way they were, because they are not like they were. jeffrey: in the meantime, negotiations continue for the return of the benin bronzes. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the penn museum in philadelphia. ♪ amna: thanks to some unusual sun spot activity, the aurora borealis, or northern lights, have been putting on a show much farther south than usual. giving more people more chances to catch a glimpse. john yang first reported on this phenomenon for pbs news weekend. in case you missed it, here's a second look at the dazzling display. >> look they're everywhere! ,john recently, they've put on a : dazzling display. these timelapses taken by amateur photographers of the aurora borealis are stunning:

from the deck of a cruise ship in norway, to the isle of skye in scotland, to the skies over anchorage, alaska. the dancing shimmer across the night sky originates on the sun, in a solar storm. the colors and patterns come from ions and atoms being energized as they collide with the earth's atmosphere and magnetic force. different altitudes result in different colors. below 60 miles, violet and reds; between 60 and 150 miles, bright green; higher than that, ruby reds. in space, the colors were on display for astronaut josh cassada, who had one of the best seats in the house onboard the international space station. for the pbs newshour. i'm john yang. geoff: seeing that in real life is on my bucket list. amna: mine, too. on behalf of the entire newshour

team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular skull has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life . it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. funding for america at a

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hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. >> the world sees our system. we see our system as completely broken. >> america's immigration system needs fixing, says the u.s. homeland security secretary. our conversation about the national security challenges facing this country. also ahead, my interview with the lithuanian foreign minister. how it's challenging china's mind. and then -- >> we need unified membership in this country against political violence for every party to say, this is not