>> good evening i'm geoff bennett. >> i'm amna nawaz. government investigators arrest a member of the air national guard suspected of leaking highly classified documents online. >> a federal appeals court allows an abortion pill to stay on the market for now with some restrictions. w providers are navigating the swiftly changing legal landscape. >> the united nations agrees to outline which countries -- what countries are legally obligated to do about climate change. >> if we were to go down in the history books, the countries that float in the middle of nowhere, let us not go down

without a fight. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> these are people trying to change the world. start offices -- startups have this energy that energizes me. >> committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders. carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education and the advancement of peace and security. and with the ongoing support of

these individuals and 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. geoff: good evening and welcome to the newshour. the man suspected of leaking highly classified military documents has been found. amna: the 21-year-old was taken into custody earlier today. jack teixeira was arrested at his home in southern massachusetts by heavily armed fbi agent's. he is alleged to have posted

hundreds of thousands of classified documents to an online gaming platform the details secrets about the war in ukraine, even secrets about u.s. allies collected by american intelligence. attorney general merrick garland annound the arrest in washington. >> fbi agents took him into custody earlier this afternoon without incident. he will have an initial appearance at the u.s. district court for the district of massachusetts. amna: he was taken to boston where he will make an initial court appearance tomorrow. nick schifrin joins me here. 21-year-old jack teixeira. who is he? >> jack douglas teixeira serd in the massachusetts air national guard at the otis air national guard base. his rank was airman first class. his job title cyber transport systems journeyman. he was responsible for protecting the computer network. he was essentially an i.t.

specialist who was supposed to be safeguarding sensitive information from external attacks and very entry-level. that journeyman tag is one level above apprentice. at the same time he led this small group on discord, an online platform pular among gamers where he posted hundreds of documents. the investigative organizations discovered he posted that in order to impress his friends on this platform, many of whom were teenagers that he had access to classified information. >> he did have sort of a bossy attitude at some points. he did see himself as a leader of this group and he wanted us all to be sort of super soldiers to some degree. informed, f, with god. well armed.

>> he initially gave all this information to his buddies but then the documents were reposted to a public channel. millions of people around the world and real diplomatic blowback all over the world, especially among u.s. allies. he will be charged under the espionage act which makes it a crime to remove or transmit national -- classified national defense information. amna: why and how did he have access to this kind of information? >> it's extraordinary to think he had access because he was not an intelligence analyst who would need this access. multiple people i spoke to today compared him to edward snowden, the former nsa conactor who also leaked hundreds of documents of very damaging classified information who was also a computer administrator. teixeira had access to these documents not because he needed them for his day job but because they were on the computer network he was suppod to secure.

despite all of that, the defense department spokesman spoke earlier today right before the announcement and he claimed classified information was on e right hands. >> the important thing to understand about classified information, it's not just i want to have access because i have clearance. it's do you have a need to know that information and that will typically grant you access if you have the appropriate clearances. >> they are in the process of restricting the number of people who have access to those documents. amna: how did authorities identify and catch him? >> discord, the gaming platform has said it publicly cooperated with law enforcement and the reason that is vital is it likely meant investigators had the names of those people on that small group on discord so

they cld cross reference those names with the people who have access to this kind of information. the.ss w. ere h thesixtas classified information live. investigators are able to track who and when they access classified documents and every time someone prints out a classified document and if you recall, the original leaks were actually photographs of printouts of these documen. snowden as an i.t. specialist was able to manipulate some of the logs and try to hide what he did so it's possible jack teixeira did the same. officials tell meet the u.s. has taken steps to try and mitigate the risk and make sure people's digital footprints inside these networ are very visible. obviously it will spark a lot of questions about why he had this access. amna: if you have been reporting on the leak. what else do we know

>> front-line information about ukraine, spying on allies like israel and south korea. we know a lot more about the infighting inside the russian military. russian intelligence accused the defense ministry of obfuscating the number of casualties in ukraine and the head of the wagner group who fought publicly with the defense ministry was called in to meet president putin and the defense minister. it turns out the head of the military and russian did cut off some ammunition to the wagner group but then changed its mind. amna: thank you for your reporting. >> here are the latest headlines. the biden administration announced its expanding health coverage hundreds of thousands of people brought to the u.s. illegally children. they will be eligible to apply for medicaid under the

affordable care act. the change will take effect by the end of the month. president biden played up the shared history and values of ireland and the united states today. it was the second day of a three-dasi the american and irish unity on key issues including aid for ukraine. >> ireland remembers what it means to have to flee home leaving everything behind and begin again on foreign shores. the irish people have generously opened their hearts, homes and welcome to nearly 80,000 ukrainian refugees. >> former president trump gave a second deposition today in a lawsuit over his business practices in new york state. he raised his fist in the air as he left his manhatt apartment headed for the appointment. the state attorney general alleges his family misrepresented the value of company assets. mr. trump refused to answer most questions at an earlier

deposition citing his right against self-incrimination. the u.s. senate will be asked to replace california democrat dianne feinstein on the judiciary committee amid calls for her resignation. she has been ill and has not voted since mid february. replacing her on the closely divided judiciary panel would let action resume on federal judge nominees. the long-range missile north korea fired yesterday to be somethg new. the u.s., japan and south korea say the weapon may have been solid fueled, making it more mobile and harder to detect. the launch drew sharp criticism from japan. >> this launch is an outrageous act that escalates the provocation against the entire international community. north korea's series of actions including repeated launches of ballistic missiles threatens

peace and security. it is absolutely unacceptable. >> the missile flew 600 miles and landed in the ocean between the korean pensula and japan. the women's tennis association will resume tournaments in china this fall. wta suspended events in 2021 after inese tennis star appeared to accuse a top government official of sexual assault. china rebuffed the wta's demands for a full and transparent investigation. when announcing today's reversal, the wta conceded it did not achieve its goals in china. the mother of a six-year-old who shot and wounded his teacher in january was formally arrested toy. she faced charges of child neglect and a failure to secure her handgun. her attorney says the gun was secured and had a trigger lock. inflation at the wholesale level eased sharply in march.

that's down from 4.7 percent in february and the lowest in more than two years. visionary fashion designer called the mother of the miniskirt has died at her home in england. her skirts, hot pants and other bold styles defined britain's swinging 60's era. she was 93 years old. still to come, supreme court justice clarence comments under renewed scrutiny for a real estate deal with a republican donor. false alarms of hool shootings put teachers, students and parents on edge. fox news goes on trial in the defamation case brought by dominion voting systems. a music organization takes on the challenge of diversifying classic music nationwide -- classical music nationwide.

>> this is the pbs newshour. geoff: if the biden administration is asking the u.s. supreme court to intervene and guarantee expanded access to the abortion medication mifepristone after a federal appeals court ruled overnight in favor of continuing access to mifepristone for now as long as a woman sees a doctor in person. the appellate courts also limited its distribution, saying it could no longer be delivered through the mail and can only be used through the seventh week of pregnancy. the battle over abortion is also playing out intensely at the state level. the florida legislature approved banning abortions after just six weeks, before some women realize they are pregnant. ron desantis has said he will sign it. there are exceptions for rape and incest, but it will make florida one of the most restrict states in the country.

we are joined by the president and ceo of physicians for reproductive health. setting aside the question of availability of mifepristone, what's the impact of these obstacles to access? >> the direct impact is the direct iact is elimination of access wholesale. what we are seeing now is justice by geography. folks who live in states and communities that have abortion providers and fewer restrictions get one type of medical care, and folks that live in other places like florida for example that just past their six week ban get another type of care. there is not equity built into the system and it's designed to be fragmented and make it very difficult for people to access abortion care. >> just this evening we learned the washington state district judge doubled down on his friday

ruling, saying the fda can't rollback access to abortion pill's -- in the states that suit. the conflicting nature of them is confusing. how are you and your colleagues advising women who may find themselves in need in a moment of crisis? >> the unfortunate outcome here is that it is requiring health care providers, physicians, nurses, midwives like me to instead of caring for our community, the work that we have been morally cold to do, we are spending an inordinate amount of time talking to lawyers and policy folks because we have an entire group of people who have no medical training, background or edutionn scientific resource or even understanding the literature attempting to legislate medicine. >> right now more than half of

all abortions in the u.s. are medication abortions. tell me about how providers across the country, your colleagues are preparing for the possibility of providing care without access to mifepristone, which is one of the two pills commonly used for medication abortions? >> we have mor than 500 doctors in our network who are on the ground providing care in their communities day in and day out and this has caused a huge amount of confusion and it is a terrible burden for patients and providers. certainly we are attempting to be flexible and take good care of people. we are still coming out of the ashes from the covid-19 pandemic and you have health care providers that are scrambling to be able to care for themselves

and other people and this is making it much more difficult. it will continue to be harmful for our communities for generations to come. >> how are providers in states that have abortion bands caring for patients who might have high risk pregnancies, suffered miscarriages? how are they doing that while also worrying about their own potential legal exposure? >> i'm so glad you asked that. what this has done this. patients against providers. when you go to see your doctor, you want someone who is going to prioritize your health and well-being and what we are being asked to do now because of these rulings is to center ourselves and think about what's best for me as a doctor in this moment and not what's best for the patient in front of me and that is no way to practice medicine or provide care to folks that we are charged with caring for and for whom we deeply care about in our communities.

it's tough because i think a lot of people believe that as long yout was just about abo irtssin rightly point out that it impacts all areas of reproductive health including pregnancy care, induction of labor. this is going to have far-reaching consequences way beyond what folks think about when they hear the word abortion. >> president and ceo of physicians for report of health, thanks for being with us. -- reproductive health, thanks for being with us. supreme court justice clarence thomas is facing questions about his failure to disclose transactions a republican make a donor. a details of 2014 real estate deal in which harlan crow's

company paid thomas and his family to buy the home where the justices mother lived. like the luxury vacations, the sale went unreported on justice thomas's financial disclosure forms. the executive director of fix the court joins us now. this $133,000 transaction between justice thomas and harlan crow, which justice thomas didn't disclose as the law requires. this marks the first known instance of payments between the men. what are the implications? >> it appears from what we know so far and i think more information is going to be coming out in terms of how exactly the money was divided between the thomas family and among the properties. the federal law is very clear. it says to follow the financial

disclosure law that was passed after watergate, justices have to provide a brief description, a date and the value of any purchase sale or exchange of real estate that exceeds a thousand dollars. this is obviously more than $1000. so this is a violation of that statute and there should be repercussions for that. >> if justice thomas had reported it, would that have put him in the clear ethically speaking? or do you see other deeper ethical transgressions here given that mr. crow has been a republican mega donor for years? >> love the leading question. that's pretty clear that i think there is more than just the statutory violation on the real estate. the $500,000 valued trip to indonesia and new zealand and east texas and upstate new york,

there is nothing like this on the supreme court since scalia passed away where you have a single individual reaping such largess from another individual, the latter being the one giving the gifts, having a clear political bent and wanting the court to do things. i think we should be expecting more from our justices. our justices are jt thumbing their nose to whatever ethical les exist and we are not in the good place when that's happening. >> the supreme court did not immediately respond to our requests for comments, but mr. crow said he bought the property is because his intention is to one day create a public museum at the home. to his intentions take away from justice thomas's obligations to

report the sale? >> i don't think so. i don't care how generous harlan crow thinks he is in being this philanthropist. he also put up some money for a library wing in savannah named dr. thomas. he turned the cannery where thomas's family worked into a museum. it doesn't interest me that he is using his wealth to be philanthropic with regards to thomas's story. the fact that a single individual is spending hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars helping out a guy on the supreme court, forget all the other details. someone is spending millions of dollars to assist someone on the supreme court with something. that in itself is raising a ton of ethical questions. i would expect more details to be coming out about not only

thomas but some of the other justices. i think now there is a cottage industry of individuals looking into the justices. there are 2500 lower court justices, too. to see if our top legal officials at a time when the courts have outsize power, to see if these officials are being fully honest and ethical and following the letter of the disclosure and ethics laws. >> at the start of our conversation you said there should be repercussions, but there is no way to enforce supreme court justices to comply with disclosure laws and short of impeachment, there is no applicable penalty. what is the remedy? >> the attorney general should appoint a special counsel. there is the ability for the head of the judicial conference which is either a judge out in oklahoma or chief justice roberts himself, or the head of the department of justice to

bring an investigation to refer this issue for an investigation and that could lead to up to a $50,000 fine, probably not going to happen, or even up to a year in prison for falsifying records willfully. i don't know if this is willful or not. i assume justice thos is probably willfully doing it, but we need to have some kind of investigation. i know we probably have special counsel fatigue in this country, but i don't see anybody else, not merrick garland, i think you are going to have to have some neutral third-party investigate because we really don't know the extent of this ethical issue. at the very least, everyone who is talking about it realizes that it's a major problem and it's really impugning the integrity of our top court at a time when the court especially after all the opinions reducing

president, can afford to fall even lower in the public system. -- public's esteem. geoff: executive director of fix the court. amna: for the first time in history, the world's top court, the icc has bn tasked with determining what countries are obligated to do to fight climate change. the young people who are instrumental in bringing this issue to the hague. >> 27-year-old cynthia lives in sydney australia. more than a thousand miles from her home in the solomon islands. she says just ae beach reminds her of the ocean's importance in her early life. >> i was in the sea after school. i had to cross the sea to go to school. we usually fish for our own lunch.

maybe one, sometimes if we are very lucky we get four. >> because of warming waters, ocean which once gave so much to her and other pacific islanders is now threatening to take it all away. >> the feeling in the sand is slipping between your fingers, that's what it feels like for us. when we are trying to hold on to our languages, cultural practices, our land. and it's slipping between her fingers like that. becausvers effects of climate change. >> the island nations in the south pacific are responsible for less than a third of 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. but these low-lying islands are among the world's most vulnerable to the impacts of that pollution. as the planet warms, extreme weather events like cyclones are becoming more intense here.

entire villages like this one on the island nation of fiji have been abandoned, made unlivable because of rising seas. in 2019, frustrated by the chasm between global promises of action and any meaningful change , pacific islander law students decided to try and take the industrialized world to court. >> if we were to go down in the history books, the countries that float in the middle of nowhere, let us not float without a fight. >> their idea was to get the issue of climate change in front of the world's highest court. the united nations international court of justice. >> we said why don't we take on this initiative. let's choose the most ambitious one. we have our governments in the

pacific open to climate solutions. >> their pitch convinced the tiny island nation of vanuatu to take this issue to the u.n. vanuatu has felt the impacts of climate change head-on. just last month, two category four cyclones swept through the island, forcing 10% of its population to flee to evacuation shelters. vanuatu's diplomatic efforts led to this moment on the floor of the u.n. general assembly two weeks ago. passage of a resolution formally asking the icj to specify what states legal obligations are to address climate change and what the consequences should be for those who fail to act. michael gerrard is a law professor at columbia university. >> a decision from the international court of justice

would be the most finitive authority of statement to date about what law and human rights law have to say about climate change. >> it's the first time the international court of justice will consider climate change. vanuatu's prime minister hill historic resolution. >> this is not a silver bullet, but it can make an important contribution to climate change, climate action. including by catalyzing much higher ambition than the paris agreement. >> an opinion from the international court would not be binding or enforceable. experts say it will set an important precedent. >> they have a strong influence on the decisions of domestic courts which do issue enforceable opinions. we have seen these cords issue decisions telling their governments that they have to act, and those governments he acted. >> the measure passed by

consensus, meaning none of the u.n. member states including the biggest emitters like china and the u.s. objected to the resolution. >> there's much greater public consciousness of the problem and the politics of the u.s. have shifted. climate change was a winning issue for the democrats in 2020 and i think the biden administration saw they didn't want to stand in the way. that made a huge issue in getting the necessary votes. >> solomon was in the general assembly hall to watch the resolution passed. >> my phone is buzzing, it's 1:00 in the morning and the pacific and people are still sending messages saying how grateful they are. >> countries will be able to file submissions to the icj about how they have been impacted by climate change. it's likely to take at least a year for the court to issue its opinion.

while there is still a long way to go, the effort is well worth it to protect future generations. >> i can imagine in the future having a conversation with my child and looking them in the eyes and if they ask, did you do your part? i want to be able to look into -- if i'm lucky -- my child's eye and say, we did try. >> i'm william brangham. amna: as america continues to grapple with mass shootings, another trend has authorities on high alert. school districts and universities are experiencing an increase in false reports of school shootings and campus threats. stephanie sy has a report on the growing problem.

swatting, false threats called into police and 911 thatn an age of mass shootings triggers a cascade of responses. just today, mtiple colleges in texas were targeted with these calls. yesterday illinois state police said 21 schools had fake threats reported. the spike in these incidents is taking a toll on studts and school communities. we spoke to three people who have experienced this firsthand. >> i'm gabby, i go to the university of pittsburg and my majors are environmental studies and urban studies. i got the text that the school was under lockdn. i immediately ran right to my dorm and all my friends were in my room already and i just sat on the floor and basically started crying. >> i'm from fresno california and i am a senior at clovis noh high school. we were in our english class and there was an announcement on the

loudspeaker that said we are going on lockdown and no one knew what was going on, not even the teachers. >> my name is matilda larson and i am the mom of a 14-year-old boy in the eighth grade and a 16-year-old boy in 11th grade. from my cubicle i heard another mom with children in the same grade as my youngest son say my daughter just texted me and said the school is in lockdown. >> the fire alarms on campus started saying that we were under lock down and we should stay inside. i remember just feeling so scared in that moment. we started hearing that they couldn't find any shooter in the school or anything, so all our minds go to they are out in the open and we could be next.

>> i received a text from my youngest son that said we are in lockdown. so i wrote back and said, make sure you stay hidden, make sure the phone you are using is on silent. i then texted my other student -- my other son and said, are you in lockdown and he said yes. and i said the same. -- the same thing. this overwhelming sense of despaiand alarm just washed over me. >> once it was declared a hoax, the text went out that everything was ok. it went on like any normal day and barely anybody talked about it. it was like ok, whatever. i think that's what made me the most angry out of everything that happened is just going back like, everything is normal. but in reality it's really not.

>> you think it won't happen to you, but then you get a five minute lockdown. it may be just a false alarm. but the false alarm shows you that it could really happen. >> this is the second time this school year that they h gone into a lockdown. earlier in the year during the winter months, being that it happened in a second lockdown situation, he would think, how could it be that another event could come out so well where no one is hurt and it's a situation that gets resolved very fast. so the second time you just think, is this the one? >> now i want to bring in amy klinger, cofounder of the educator school safety network for a closer look at these swatting calls and their impacts. some of us will remember bomb hoaxes and such being called in when we were in school, these calls are on a different scale.

what is going on? >> we still have bomb hoaxes going on as well. now you have added another dimension. our worst fears of an active being weaponized against us and causing an incredible level of trauma and disruption and incredible consumption of resources. the people you just spoke with really encapsulated it all. the fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty. not knowing what's actually happening and all of that comes together along with this incredibly rapid law enforcement response and the need for something to be done very rapidly while you are still unsure what'sappening. >> these are not necessarily individuals affiliated with the school. i have read reports that this is computer generated calls in some cases, that technology is being leveraged to leverage the fear

of mass shootings. >> absolutely. it's really not about some individual or a disgruntled kid, these are coordinated attacks that tend to occur in clusters. they tend to happen regionally by an actor or entity that is outside of the school that's being targeted. they really are attacks designed to undermine, create chaos, fear, anxiety. all of the things that we see are happening, and that's why they continue, because they are working. >> i want to talk about the response that schools have to have given that mass shootings do happen in this country. schools regularly send out text messages to students and parents when there are threats of an active shooter, almost all of us have gotten a text like that. it sounds like that alone can be very stressful for some of the people we just heard from.

are there clear best practices for how schools should respond to these threats? >> we have to guard against a couple of things. we have to be proactive. we have to start talking about what is our protocol, what's helpful, what's not helpful. how are we going to communicate as much information as we can. we also have to guard against the complacency of the boy that cried wolf. we have to really brush up on and really coordinate the training on the front end of things so that people are aware of what to do, what could be like. because you've also got to build back up the trust and help people put it in the proper perspective that while these are front of mind, these horrific events and they are totally unacceptable, they also are

statistically rare. but it doesn't mean that we should not prepare for them. the swatting just adds another complicating layer for schools to have to deal with. >> i read that a lot of these hoax calls are considered misdemeanors. what can be done to stop them from a law enforcement perspective? senator chuck schumer of new york where they have had hundreds of these threats at schools has called on the fbi to form a task force, an investigation into where the calls are coming from. is that what is needed? >> we have to really shift our thinking. i know we use the word hoax because it was not really true, but we have to shift our thinking from it's just a bad joke or a threat to these are truly attacks. and we need to treat them as such in terms of our investigation and consequences. because they have really significant impact on kids and

schools and we have to treat them as the serious problem that they truly are. >> what is your biggest concern if this trend continues? >> i think it is eclipsing the significant work that needs to be done in school safety, that needs to be about training and mental health and violence prevention and relationship building and this really complex array of things that needs to happen to keep kids safe in schools has been boile down to a singular discussion of swatting or guns or anti-gun or whatever that is and we have really missed the larger picture of whate should be doing to keep kids safe and kind of the school safety movement has been hijacked by this incredible increase in these false events.

amna: amy klinger, thanks so much for joining us. geoff: jury selection started today in dominion voting systems 1.6 billion dollar defamation suit against fox news. voting technology company is suing the network for repeatedly airing debunked conspiracy theories that its voting machines were rigged against donald trump in the 2020 election. david full conflict joins us now. as this case goes to trial, the judge has already rejected several of the first amendment defenses that fox hoped to invoke. he also took the extraordinary step of admonishing and sanctioning the fox defense team. help us understand why and what it might mean for this case. >> we have heard the judges

increasing frustration with the accretion of incidents in which he has concluded that fox has been less than forthcoming with the court. take an instance where for example there had been numerous representations per the judges account that rupert murdoch, the founder of fox news, at the very top of the pyramid, did not have a formal official role at fox news itself. he may have been weighing in. early this week, fox acknowledged that rupert murdoch held the title of executive chairman of fox news. in the judges assessment, it suggests that rupert murdoch has agency, influence over how this network operates particularly in this moment of crisis following the election in 2020. >> this case has been noted for its unpcedented window into

the inner workings of fox news. emails and text messages show fox personalities like tucker karlsson privately insulting president trump, there was all sorts of skepticism amongst the fox anchors about the election fraud claims that were on air. given the embarrassing exposure, whhasn't fox tried to settle this case? >> neither side will talk publicly about this. dominion indicated it did not intend to settle this case. why? the pain threshold increases at every point along the way, because it's not just embarrassing what we have learned about fox, it is damming. odomiky le methe actual litigati itself on the jury gets to decide on.

but there is also the almost rensic archaeological book we are getting at fox almost real-time in a complete 360 nature from the most junior producers to the stars to the executives, to the corporate chieftains and bosses above. all of them weighing in on this moment of crisis triggered by fox not only presenting its viewership and audiences with the unwanted news that it was projecting that joe biden would win arizona and not donald trump on election night itself, but being the first tv station in the country to do so. it wasn't news that its audience wanted. he saw this desperate chase of anything that might appease the viewers and it turned out that lying about dominion was one of those things. geoff: what are the potential long-term consequences for fox news? in the short term, the ratings are up, the stock price has remained stable, advertisers

have stuck around. donald trump was on tucker karlsson's program despite tucker karlsson in private calling him a demonic force and a destroyer. >> a purely transactional relationship and one that is consistent with these strong currents of cynicism coursing through so much communications that we have been able to examine from inside fox news itself. fox could win its case on legal merit, on an appeal to first amendment principles. saying basically, the first amendment and free speech needs running room. even if we dn't do this exactly the way you would want, even if there was something inexact about what we said, they can appeal to the jury and try to get them on this and if you have one or two jurors that are fairly pro-trump, you can create scenarios in which they win. the legal ramifications could be huge to the bottom line if they use. media scholars tell me this is

among the most seemingly overwhelming amassing of evidence to suggest that a plaintiff has missed -- has met this tough bar of actual malice. inside the fox bubble, it may not hurt fox. inside the hardest elements of the republican party and its viewership, they may stand by fox for now. outside fox, and extraordinary reputational h. it's very difficult to sit by and listen to people talk about fox as a news organization that happens to have some conservative opinion hosts when we have seen the way in which journalists and news imperatives and the idea of presenting people with the facts as an imperative be belittled, diminished and attacked by people inside fox from the very bottom to the very top of the pyramid. geoff: thanks for your time.

amna: like a number of institutions, classical music has been under recent pressure to diversify its ranks. but one group in detroit has been at it f a long time and it's reach now strches across the nation. jeffrey brown reports on the sphinx organization for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> and afterschool violin class at the cesar chavez academy in detroit. among the songs, the traditional folk tune, de colores. among the students, 9-year-old tonya hernandez who loves to play at home for his mother while she is cooking. >> i also played for her since

that's my favorite. >> why is that? >> because it's a little bit challenging but i still can do . >> he can do it playing with other children on the violin as well as the piano he has at home is vital for his mother, who struggled to find and pay for music lessons for her son. >> if he didn't do that, he wouldn't be able to play the violin now. he wouldn't be able to know what he knows now. and he has only been in here for two years and it's only twice a week. we need that. the kids need it. >> the class as part of the overture program run by the sphinx organization. founded 25 years ago by erin dworkin to diversify the world of classical music. >> when we were looking at the idea of beginning this work in

this field which didn't really exist, it was how can we bring about systemic impact. how can we change the way that our orchestras are comprised. and of course most importantly, how can we make sure that high-quality music instruction is happening at all of our schools and not just those with the most resources. >> dworkin had been adopted as an infant and raised in new york city with access to music lessons beginning at age five. he routinely found himself the only black person on stage or in the audience and never even knew they were black composers until he was in college and conservatory. it was at the university of michigan that he started sphinx. it's also where he met his wife, also a violinist who had come to the u.s. from arbaijan as a teenager. the biggest earlier -- early

barrier, overcoming biases surrounding the idea of excellence. >> if we are talking about inclusivity, it was presumed there should be this compromise relative to artistic integrity. >> the quality would go down. >> it's a myth that is so unfortunate and has stalled progress for our industry. >> i would have meetings for major orchestras and leadership would sit and say to me, it's nice, but we don't need to do this. we are excellent and this would invade that excellence. thankfully we don't hear that much anymore. >> that had to be a painful thing to hear. >> my approach to things is not worrying about how painful things are and how unjust things are, but focus on the work.

>> years later, sphinx now runs high intensive training programs. it has itswn touring company, partners with more than 100 orchestras to promote diverse rosters for tory and now has a network of more than a thousand alumni. many holding positions throughout the industry. its annual competition held in detroit continues to expand, giving young string players of color the chance to perform with the sphinx symphony orchestra. seasoned musicians from around the country who gather for this event. and to compete for prize money and touring opportunities with leading orchestras. >> it was life changing.

it showed me that even through all this -- the struggles, that keeping unbelieving was able to make this all possible for all of us on stage. just the feeling of having that support, people who have shared in this experience, the journey was very successful. >> she credits a boston-based organization with helping her. she's a graduate of the prestigious juilliard school. at that level, she said she meant only a few other black musicians. >> specifically in terms of violinists, i was the only one for quite some time while i was in my undergrad here. it definitely has been a

challenging journey in many ways. i have had a lot of support on the way. it is sort of hard to ignore the lack of us on the classical music stage. >> that's the continuing issue sphinx. the dworkin's ducey enormous progress, but also a long way to go. >> the pitch to the orchestras is that it is existentially important if orchestras wish to envision themselves as thriving today and five and 10 years from now, they ought to think about their audiences and who comprises the artistic collective that performs on stage and why it's important for that artistic collective to reflect the community and be relevant to the community. >> all of this work, the reality is that it requires resources. and so the resource allocation

in the nonprofit world in general and especially in the arts world has inherent disparities thatre not just limiting, they literally can be destructive. >> this is still a problem. >> it is a massive problem. it absolutely still continues and until that dynamic shifts, we will see an ongoing continuing struggle as it relates to diversity in the arts. >> at cesar chavez academy, the focus is on access as much as excellence. decided he wants a life as a professional musician. >> music is my life and i love it as much as i do with my mom. >> music is your life and you love it as much as you love your mom? >> yes.

geoff: can't wait to watch him perform on the big stage one day. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i am amna nawaz. thanks for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> consumer cellular offers no contract wireless plans. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find the plan that fits you. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newsur including leonard and norma clark find. and with the ongoing support of

these institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪ >>

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