♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, president biden makes his re-election campaign official, betting his accomplishments and vision for the country will negate concerns about his age. amna: the humanitarian situation in sudan deteriorates further amid an uneasy cease-fire. geoff: and singer, actor, and activist billy porter on his return to music and on becoming unapologetically himself. >> you know, art creates critical thinkers. and critical thinkers are leaders, not followers. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs

newshour" has been provided by -- >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. yes, i'm legally blind, and yes, i'm responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that is the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people to do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new

york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. . 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: welcome to the newshour. president joe biden formally announced today that he is running for a second term. that message came in a three-minute video that contrasts his agenda on issues like reproductive rights and the economy with his potential republican opponents. amna: the video comes four years to the day from when he announced his 2020 presidential run. in today's announcement, president biden echoed familiar themes from that campaign. he said the country is still in a battle for the soul of the nation and that democracy is at

stake in 2024. pres. biden: freedom. personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as americans. there is nothing more important. nothing more sacred. that's been the work of my first term, two -- to fight for our democracy. but you know around the country, maga extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms. cutting social security that you have paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books. amna: at 80-years-old, he is already the oldest president in history and enters the race underwater with many voters. our pbs newshour npr marist poll out today shows his approval rating at 41%, with 50% disapproval. to dive into what comes next for the president and his campaign, or white house correspondent laura barron-lopez joins us from the white house. good to see you. president biden, is fair toay,

has a record to run on from the eay years of his presidency. the message today was focused on what is at stake, not what he has done so far. is that going to be a core campaign message moving forward? laura: campaign messages going to be two-pronged. the sources close to the white house say they wanted this announcement video to be forward-looking, to be presenting a choice rather than a referendum on the president. and a key element of this we know is about the threats to democracy. in 2020 when biden launched his campaign, he used images from the neo-nazi march in charlottesville, virginia. this time around, using imagery from the january 6 insurrection. and arguing that rather than moving more toward the center, republicans, along with leading candidate former president donald trump, are moving more toward extremes, particularly on lgbtq, transgender issues, on

abortion, on guns. but also on embracing political violence. that does not mean the president is not going to run on his record. the people i talked to today said he is very much going to be talking about the big infrastructure law, prescription drug reform, as well as climate change. amna: as you know, there has been speculation about when he would announce. he is officially in the race. what can we expect in the way of a campaign schedule? where will he be holding events and when? laura: in the short-term, not much is going to change. the president will be going out across the country in his presidential capacity, likely -- like we saw today when he spoke to the building trades unions in washington, d.c. pres. biden: our economic plan is working. we have to finish the job and there is more to do. and you are leading the way, shovels in the ground, cranes in the air, factories opening all those jobs being created. folks, we have created more than 12 million new jobs, more jobs

in two years than any president created in a four year term because of you. laura: you heard there that the president was making the economic case for his reelection. in addition to that, we are not going to be seeing much other than stops like that in his presidential capacity, as well as fundraising events. the big campaign events, the big campaign rallies, he and vice president kamala harris will not be holding until 2024. amna: you mentioned vice president harris. she was featured prominently in that announcement video. what do we know about the role she will be playing in that campaign? laura: she is going to be featured very prominently, particularly on the issue of abortion rights. we have seen harris has taken a leading role here for the white house on abortion rights, as well as gun safety. and those are two big issues that the campaign really believes are going to be key for voters. that is an important voting block for the president.

i've talked to a number of democrats, including posters, who say without young voters turning out in the same numbers as 2020, president biden can't win reelection. amna: that is our white house correspondent lorber on lopez, reporting for us -- laura barron-lopez, reporting for us tonight. thank you. laura: thank you. geoff: for more on biden's reelection effort, we're joined by two democratic party strategists. jim messina, who ran barack obama's winning reelection campaign in 2012 and is the ceo of the messina group. and celinda lake, the president of lake research partners and a pollster who worked with joe biden's campaign in 2020. it is great to have the both of you with us. president biden's announcement video suggests he will run less on his record in office, and more against what he perceives as republican mag extremism. is that enough to counter voters concerns about his age? there is this nbc news poll that asks the question, should joe biden run for office? 70% of all the respondents said

no. that number among democrats stands at 51%. celinda: let me say first of all, i think that is the most foolish polling question out there. a lot of people that say no want to protect him from what they think is a hard road ahead. if age is the worst thing they have to say about joe biden, against donald trump who is basically the same age, we are in great shape. i think what he did in the video today is layout a very powerful contrast. it was very related to his thing about soul of the nation. the idea that the maga republicans are taking away our freedoms is a very powerful contrast. i think in the campaign, every day he runs on his record as president, but in the campaign, setting up this contrast, as joe biden himself says, making a referendum, talking about the alternative, let's not talk about the almighty, is a very report and goal. that is how we won in 2022. geoff: what about that?

president biden defined much of his campaign in 2020, and the lead up to this reelection bid, he defined it by who he is not, donald trump. is that sufficient when you are asking voters for a second term in office? jim: to win, most important thing is you have a contrast. you can't run someone against no one. celinda has him right, don't compare him to the almighty. democrats to pretend we will have another barack obama walk out of the woodwork. joe biden will be our nominee, he should be our nominee, he has been a successful president, and we have to stay focused on donald trump. it looks like the republicans will be crazy enough to nominate donald trump. that is the piece of it. we need a clear contrast. to your question, the second piece, is we have to have a forward-looking message about the future. that is why i agree with celinda. i love the video today. we talked about freedom, words that the republicans have had to have as their own, and joe biden is on the offense on things like freedom, on women's rights, on

other things that put republicans squarely on the defense and to set us up for the contrast we have to have. amna: can i ask you more broadly about the democratic party, and what this is now? we have to remember in 2020, then candidate biden sold himself as a bridge to the next generation of leadership. you know there are a lot of other senior democrats out there who have presidential aspirations. what does this say about the bench? does this say the party does not believe anyone else could win in 20 24? celinda: i think there are a lot of people who could win in 2024. but we have a good president who beat donald trump. and he is a bridge president, but why would he jump off the bridge in the middle-of-the-road? ? he is going to finish the job. then we will have a ton of great democrats and we have them already in the cabinet, governorships, in the vice presidential office. we have a very strong bench. amna: jim, following up on that with you, i want to get your take.

i wonder if you think this undercuts those other up-and-coming leaders, the bench in waiting, as it were. there is a battle for the soul of the nation, as they say. any extremism expert says this is not a battle won in the next 5, 10, 15 years. does this say there is no other dem to lead? jim: no, it says democrats want to win. with the section of 1988, in the last 40 years, when a president has not run for reelection for whatever reason, the other party has won. democrats look at this and say, joe biden has beaten donald trump of fort, he can be 10 again. let's keep on keeping on and let's develop that bench. the cabinet is a great place to be on the bench. no one is going to go anywhere. in four years, everyone and their dog can run. celinda and i can run and we will have added. right now, the party will be unified behind joe biden. geoff: i want to draw on your

experience working on the obama reelection effort. there are biden advisors who say this effort for president biden will mirror what barack obama did in 2020 -- in 2012. there may not be any rallies until the new year, at least not until republicans have settled on a presumptive nominee, in the white house intends to use official events to get out the president's message. how can president biden best leverage the office of the presidency in the bully -- and the bully pulpit? jim: i doing what he is doing. doing his day job every day. i think the white house has been really smart, they are on a 31 city tour right now going to all of these places, talking about the things joe biden has done to build manufacturing, to catch up to china on the silicon issues. that is what he should do. he should do his day job. let the republicans have their crazy primary. and next year, go straight at it. right now, just be the president

of the united states and thales -- and stay laser focused on your job. geoff: why do you think president biden is most vulnerable? celinda: i think on the economy. i think the direction of the economy is the single thing we should focus on. that is like the economic tourism is great and that is why he will be working on the economy every day. he has been a record great president. it is not good enough. it is not good enough -- everybody has the freedom to thrive in their families as well as make their own personal decisions. amna: lots more to talk about. come back soon. we will talk soon. . that is celinda lake and jim messina, ceo of the missing a group. ♪ geoff: in the day's other headlines, washington state became the country's tenth state to ban a number of semi-automatic rifles, including ar-15's. the weapon used in many mass shootings. democratic governor jay inslee

signed the bill today and said inaction in the face of gun violence is unacceptable. >> these weapons of war of assault weapons have no reason other than mass murder. their only purpose is to kill humans as rapidly as possible in large numbers. and i will say this, ar-15's should not be idolized. they should be prohibited. and that's what we're doing today. geoff: two gun rights groups immediately filed legal challenges to the new law in federal court. a state investigator in alabama testified today that a barrage of 89 bullets killed four young people at a birthday party this month. the gunfire erupted at a dance studio in dadeville as a sweet 16 celebration was under way. the investigator said at least seven guns were fired. the testimony came at a hearing for three of the 6 suspects charged with murder. a new danger has emerged in the fighting and chaos in sudan. the world health organization reports

one of the factions has seized a national lab holding everything from polio to measles to cholera. it warned of a huge biological risk, if the germs get loose. meantime, a cease-fire largely failed, and people in khartoum waited to board buses to flee the city. others said they have no hope of leaving. >> there's no water, no power, nothing essential for people to use. we've been sitting here in the street, like this, for four days. there have been unbelievable amounts of people rushing to board buses. but how are we supposed to pay thousands for the bus tickets? geoff: the fighting has also spread beyond khartoum into the western darfur region. there is word that afghanistan's taliban rulers have killed the organizer of the kabul airport bombing in august 2021. 13 u.s. troops and some 170 afghans died in the attack, during the chaotic u.s.

withdrawal. the associated press reports the islamic state figure behind the bombing was killed in a taliban raid this month. in northwestern pakistan, the death toll has reached 17 in monday night's explosions at a police complex. more than 50 people were injured. the blasts heavily damaged a munitions warehouse. investigators said today there's no evidence of a militant attack. they blamed an electrical short-circuit. a japanese spacecraft's attempt to land on the moon apparently failed today. ground controllers in tokyo watched a live animation of the unmanned lander descending. but they lost contact when it was just 33 feet from the lunar surface. it would have been the first moon landing by a private company. and on wall street, stocks had their worst day in a month, fueled by disappointing corporate profits and falling consumer confidence. the dow jones industrial average lost 344 points, 1%, to close at 33,530. the nasdaq fell 2%. the s&p 500 was down 1.5%. still to come on the newshour, former president trump faces

trial in a rape and defamation case brought by author e. jean carroll. a comprehensive review of how the u.s. handled the pandemic lays out the lessons learned . and we remember the life and career of legendary performer harry belafonte. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: hundreds of thousands of sudanese are fleeing to neighboring countries to escape violence that has killed more than 400 in the last week and a half. and as nick schifrin tells us, aid agencies are warning the humanitarian situation is increasingly dire, because of a political fight that has been brewing for years. nick: the u.n. agency that coordinates humanitarian affairs warned it had to pull back from parts of sudan as a country of 45 million copes with its

shortages -- copes with shortages. the u.s. and others are trying to end the fighting between the head of the armed forces and the leader of the paramilitary rapid support forces, for our sf, comprised of former militias, they committed the genocide in western sudan's region. a kill -- it killed more than 2 million people. the two men were supposed to help return the country to civilian rule, demanded by the pro-democracy popular uprising in 2019. . one of those who participated in the uprising is this person who joins me now. thank you. welcome back to the newshour. there is a humanitarian crisis. what are the conditions you, your neighbors, the millions of sudanese face today? >> situation now is we have been under heavy fighting. there are around 10 million people living in the city, most of them under the poverty line, without stable access to electricity or water. the electricity water -- which

many depend to get food. it has also fell apart. the telecommunication has fell apart. people are trying to survive this peer we see people trying to restore aid, which is the only thing they have. the street is being used by the people to know where the water is, to be able to run some of the health centers instead of hospitals that are impossible to reach. nick: those popular efforts are led by the resistance committees. the same committees that help the revolution -- helped the revolution in 2019, sustained the coup through 2020. >> the fact that we learned from communities that we are using the network to have mutual aid to be able to evacuate ourselves and our families and our loved ones, and help evacuate and help provide food and medicine to

people. the concept of mutual aid is what is sustaining the people. not the international diplomats who called for a realistic approach. my partner -- nick: let me ask about the politics. the last time we spoke a few years ago, our segment was followed by an interview i did with that then u.s. special envoy to the region, who argued that the generals who are fighting in the streets now had to be at the table, part of the negotiation process. do you think u.s., the international community, accommodated them helping lead to the violence we see today? >> that was definitely legitimizing them, giving them a platform they needed to have their international deals and they are somber tile -- ties within the region. we were asked to be realistic after war, because i am hearing news of negotiations that they want to bring them back into

ruling. or bring back whatever kind of political process they called, to bring back the same agreement that wrought us all that we are going through now. nick: it has been your response as you have seen u.s. special operation forces fly into the capital to evacuate u.s. diplomats? have seen that u.n. have to pull back other countries, spend time at the airport with their militaries, try and pull out civilians as millions in sudan face these dire humanitarian conditions. >> my priority are the people most in need and those are the poorer of the sudanese people. they are getting help from themselves and mutual aid from resistance communities, and from networks that are forming themselves. that is what i focus on. when i think about whatever evacuation efforts that are happening, good for them. flee out of a war zone. . it is not good to be in a war zone. . it is not good if you are a country is turned into a war zone. the fact that they did not

consider to bring any medical support with them, any sort of medical equipment or medicines, we are in dire need, they were sending airport -- airplanes and not medicines. it is absurd to follow what they are doing. there is not one place that will tell you that these are the needs and here is where you can send your donation. no, it is decentralized and everyone is trying to figure out what is happening in their neighborhood. that is what is working for us now. there is no u.n. agency that is here to support or international organization here to support. we are supporting ourselves. please, use all of the mediums you have to get them to stop the war. nick: thank you very much. >> thank you. ♪ amna: a civil trial is underway over a magazine columnist's allegation that former president donald trump raped her more than

two decades ago. political correspondent lisa desjardins takes a look at the lawsuit and the assault allegations against the former president. and a warning, this story contains details of those sexual violence allegations. lisa: it is the latest legal battle involving former president trump. e. jean carroll, a magazine advice columnist, has accused trump of raping her in the mid 1990's. in a civil lawsuit filed in new york, carroll is seeking unspecified damages for the alleged assault. she also accuses trump of defaming her character. the trial is expected to last for one or two weeks. carroll says the assault took place in a dressing room inside bergdorf goodman, a new york department store. here is how she described it to cnn in 2019. >> he pulled down my tights. and it was a fight. i want women to know that i did not stand there. i did not freeze. i was not paralyzed, which

is a reaction that i could have had because it was so shocking. no, i fought it. and it was over very quickly. it was against my will 100%. lisa: carroll revealed the story 20 years after she says it happened in her 2019 memoir. she can go to court now because new york lawmakers passed a new state law allowing victims of abuse to file civil lawsuits against attackers, even if the statute of limitations has run out. the former president has repeatedly denied that he raped carroll, and accused her of lying. in an interview with the hill, he said carroll was, "not my type." he also previously claimed that he had never met carroll, but her attorneys have provided the court of a picture of them talking at an event in the 80's. trump is not expected to testify in the trial, but two other women who have accused trump of assault have been cleared to do so. jessica leeds alleged trump groped her on the flight in 1979. and people magazine writer

natasha stoynoff has accused him of groping her in 2005 at mar-a-lago while she was there to interview him. more than two dozen women have accused trump of sexual misconduct. he has charged that the stories are fabricated and politically-motivated. carroll's defamation accusation is in a has also accused the former president of defaming her character in a separate suit filed in d.c. that suit has been indefinitely delayed. amna: today in manhattan, a jury was selected and both sides presented opening arguments in the case. washington post reporter shayna jacobs covers two of new york's southern and eastern district courts and was in the courtroom today. take us into the courtroom. what did each side seem to indicate about their approach to the case? shayna: each side presented a vastly different version of events. on caroll's side, her attorney said she was assaulted in the dressing room in the mid-1990's.

and that she fled from the store, immediately told two close friends and kept it a secret for decades because she was terrified that trump could ruin her life and ruin her career. at the time, he was a very prominent real estate professional. and obviously, his profile only rose since then. trump's attorney says this entire thing was made up and that carroll and her two friends actually colluded to come up with this story because of a political vendetta against him once he was elected. amna: the judge in this case is known for being no-nonsense, trying to move things along. help us understand the judge and the jury here, including how the judge is keeping the jury safe and how in the world do you pick a jury that is neutral about donald trump?

shayna: so, not even the judge knows their identities. they are known only by their assigned juror number. there was not much biographical information made public during the process. they will also be picked up off-site by courthouse staff and driven to the courthouse so that they don't even have any chance of interacting with anyone outside the building, or in the hallway. they are really very, very protected from any possible interaction with someone they are not supposed to see or speak to. again, not even the judge has their identities in front of him. so, it is basically as private a process as it could possibly be. amna: on the question of neutrality, i saw that jurors were asked if they have been to

rallies, those kind of things. is that how they did that? shayna: it was posted to the entire room of potential jurors, and instead of going one by one and asking that, anybody who had been to a rally, anybody with an affiliation, really with sort of a more extreme group on the spectrum, both left and right, some of the names that were thrown out where proud boys, oath keepers, qanon, antifa. they were asked, are you a member of or are you affiliated with any of these groups? i believe nobody raised their hand to that question. if they had raised their hand, i imagine they would have been dismissed. amna: autos ms carroll need to show in this civil trial to be successful in her lawsuit? what does she need to prove? shayna: she has to prove a buy

per fondren's of the evidence, which is really more likely than not that she was -- that she suffered harm as a result of this, emotional harm. and that her career and her likelihood was damaged. that she suffered reputational damage as a result of what donald trump said. really specifically, what he said last year in a social media post, which mirrored comments he made to reporters in 2019 when this first came out. it is sort of like a duplicate set of defamation charges. there is a separate lawsuit still pending in an appellate court for the older defamation claims from 2019. but this trial does contain

defamation and battery allegations related to the alleged assault. amna: the former president has given testimony and deposition. he is not expected to be a live witness, but do we know if he will be in the courtroom? what does that look like? shayna: his attorney has not, last i saw, i did leave a little bit before the proceeding ended, but last i saw and heard, his attorney has not fully committed either way. he did tell the jury that he expected they would hear his videotaped deposition. from last year. all indications are that he will not testify. that still leaves open the possibility that he might appear in the courtroom, just to physically be there at one point or another. we have not heard any definitive thing that would lead us to believe he will be there in the next few days or week.

amna: shayna jacobs of the washington post, thank you for joining us, especially when you are on deadline. shayna: thank you. ♪ geoff: why the u.s. fared so badly during the pandemic, especially when compared to similar nations, was supposed to be one of the many questions am launched. william brangham talks with the co-author of a new report out today that hopes to start that reoning. william: there are still so many questions about america's response to covid. could the u.s. have better contained the virus in the very early days? did so many schools and businesses have to close for so long? why was america's death toll so high? this new investigative report, from a consortium of public health and scientific experts, does credit the fast development

of life-saving vaccines, it also points to many tragic failures. one example, it notes that if the u.s.'s death rate was similar to other european nations in the first two years of the outbreak, an estimated 391,000 americans wouldn't have died during that period. the report is titled "lessons from the covid war, an investigative report." phillip zelikow was one of the leaves on them. he is currently a professor of history at the university of virginia, and was executive director of the 9/11 commission. welcome back to the newshour. phillip: thanks. william: near the top of your report, you write this was a war that the u.s. fought without an army and without a battle plan. how is that possible that we did that? phillip: we pass programs. we appropriate money. you have science and money but you don't have preparedness? suppose someone comes into the emergency room and they're gasping for air you don't know what to do. and then someone hands you an

emergency medicine textbook. someone says, well here, here's $10,000 to save this person's life. but you really want is telling me what to do. and train me to do it. it give me the tools i need to do it. william: and hopefully you spend that money to buy those supplies earlier. phillip: yes. if you're not really ready at that moment, bad things are gonna happen in that emergency. well, we had a national emergency. and we weren't prepared. a lot of countries were prepared more than we were. a lot of countries are organized for emergencies differently than we are. and what was striking to us is we're the country that prided ourselves on, we are the practical problem solvers, we know how to get things done. berlin airlift, marshall plans, d-day. and then here we are, once again, finding kind of a collective national incompetence at practical problem solving. and so that's why we wrote this report.

because we think if people understand what really happened from origins to warp speed from morning to medical countermeasures, they'll actually see that this is fixable. it doesn't have to be like this. there's all kinds of low hanging fruit about ways we could be better prepared and rebuild trust in government instead of losing it. william: could you tick through the particulars? are there things he would point to about testing or data gathering that you think were real problems for us? phillip: well, we we were flying blind all through the pandemic. even though we have magnificent electronic health records and hospitals and health care systems, which don't share these records, even with each other in a given city. for proprietary reasons and regulatory reasons that are highly fixable, actually. we flew blind unnecessarily. china has more gene sequences at the local level than we take the

-- then we do. take the example of testing. testing is a really interesting case. everybody's heard the story that maybe the cdc botched the test. we didn't have enough tests. they weren't produced at scale. but suppose we'd had enough tests. suppose we'd had 10 million tests in warehouses. we had no strategy for how to use the tests to use the tests for biomedical surveillance. do you use them to open up 10,000 drive thru centers so anxious citizens can find out if they're sick? do you use them for point of care testing in nursing homes? do you use them to help you reopen schools and make workers feel safe? well, then for every one of those things, you actually then ok, how many tests is that need? used in what way? coordinated with the fda to get the clearances. coordinated with the financing. then you see, even if 10 million tes are in the warehouse, if you don't have a strategy for what to do with those tests, you're gonna fail again. william: help me put former

president trump's role in all of those. one of your co-authors referred to him as a "comorbidity" in this crisis. how do you see the former president's will? -- role? phillip: well, a comorbidity is a condition that increases the risk of death or illness. and trump's executive leadership made things worse. there is no denying that. but a key point of our report is this is not another book, all about the back and forth and shouting of the trump administration. because the core problems went much deeper. we went into a 21st century pandemic with a health system fundamentally designed in the 19th century. there is no national public health agency in america, not really. we have hundreds of different state and local entities that are designed for a different era for different kinds of problems. in all sorts of ways we were just not really ready no matter who is the president. william: your report really

documents this terrible culture clash that we went through as a nation, which was this -- to use bow gross terms -- trust the science, follow the science, versus that libertarian open everything up, get schools, prioritize the economics of it all. you argue that culture clash did not have to occur, that it was largely the result of poor leadership that led us to that schism. explain. phillip: that is a great point. a lot of people think that ge, -- that gee, everything was so partisan and polarized that that's why we failed. in fact, we show mainly stories, just the opposite, is because folks didn't know what to do, because there was kind of -- i mean, even the public health authorities thought they were just going to be closing things for a few weeks. and they had no plan for what to do after that. because folks didn't know what to do because there was this void. then all the toxic politics flows in.

that's what invited and then aggravated the polarization because then you have people on each side with their statements of faith. follow the science wasn't really a guide to what what you need are practical toolkits to reopen schools, and make people say we closed schools much longer than most other countries in the world. because we never developed the practical toolkits to reopen them, which should have been available probably by the fall of 2020. william: this book is full of so many lessons that we could implement, low hanging fruit, as you describe them. do you think that there is any real appetite to do those things, to fix those things? because it does seem, as a document, neither political party seems interested in doing that. phillip: you know, one of our members was telling me that -- she really found rereading the book empowering. because you go into this, you feel kind of hope that this is

dismal and hopeless, there's nothing we can do. you begin to get into a fatalistic mindset, or just put this behind us as if this was a bad storm. when you read the book, it's kind of empowering because you see that there are all of these things we can do. i think the reason we're not doing those things, is because no one has really done this analysis. no one has really shown the way. it's doable, here's what we can do, and develop an agenda. there is no movement, to do anything to make our health system stronger, coming out of the pandemic. that's not because people don't care about it. i think it's because they don't really know what the public agenda should be and what to do. and it's into that void that we wrote this report with this tremendous group of people who join me in doing this work. william: the report is called "lessons from the covid war: an investigative report." great to have you. thank you. phillip: thank you. ♪

geoff: billy porter has become -- is an unforgettable presence on stage and on screen. it was just announced that he's playing james baldwin in an upcoming biopic. he is also returning to his musical roots releasing a new album nearly 30 years after his first and embarking on his first nationwide, headlining tour. we look at his journey to this moment for of our arts and culture series, canvas. sot billy porter ♪ >> billy porter is a multi-hyphenate artist who won an emmy for his portrayal of ballroom mc "pray tell" on the groundbreaking series "pose," a tony and a grammy for best actor in a musical for his role as lola in "kinky boots." he is in rare company of those who have earned three of the egot awards, emmy, grammy, oscar and tony, and he has emerged as

an lgbtq activist known for never holding back. >> art is political inherently. historically, as artists, we get to speak truth to power always. geoff: porter and i met recently in new york city where he is rehearsing for his tour and sat down for a conversation at that republic record studio. >> art is very trojan rsey. right. you can do things and you can say things as an artist that you can't as a politician. and it cracks open people's minds. you know, art creates critical thinkers. and critical thinkers are leaders, not followers. ♪ geoff: when he first hit the scene in 1997 as an r&b singer, porter says he had to hide the authenticity he has since become known for. 26 years later, you are now embarking on your first national music tour. is it fair to ask what took so long? billy: well, you know what took

soong. you know. in 1997, the world and the music business was very homophobic, very often violently so. and i was and even in that moment, i was participating in the don't ask, don't tell policy of my life. you know, and i was showing up being as straight as i could so that i could eat. and i was made to feel like i failed at that. all these years later, i go back and look at my music videos. i was actually good at it. i was good at being straight. and the universe made it so that it didn't work so that i could come back all this time later in the fullness of myself. ♪ so what took so long was that?

blessedly, i had all othese other creative outlets that i could exist in, and i leaned into all of that. and 25 years later i'm one award away from an egot. i have a star on the hollywood walk of fame. i have a production company. i work all the time. so when my first album imploded, i realized, oh, i had failed as someone else. i will never do that again. i said to myself. so that's when i chose my authenticity. geoff: do you feel vindicated now? >> i don't like vindicated because vindicated, yes. and. vindicated has a negative connotation. redeemed. geoff: wow. the culture had to catch up to you. billy: the culture had to catch up to me. the world had to catch up to me. everybody told me that my queerness would be my liability, allies and haters alike.

and it was for decades it was. ♪ geoff: now he is not holding back with his new album, black mona lisa. amna: now i get to come back to the mainstream music industry in my own terms. and as i started working with writers and producers who now actually listen to me and want to help me and my vision as opposed to the first time around when i did it. ♪ geoff: the lead single "baby was a dancer,", was a celebratory anthem meant for the dance floor. there are a couple of lines in here that i want to read to you. every preacher told her she's a sinner. every teacher told her she won't make it because she moved ahead of her time. is that autobiographical? billy: of course it is. the whole album is autobiographical. i grew up in the church. i'm queer, you know. they curse me from their pulpits and said i'd never be blessed. aids is an abomination. you know, all of that stuff that comes in that space.

right. you know, i'm calling myself she, i'm referring to myself in the third person. queer people. we mix up the pronouns all the time. you know, it's a pronoun world now. so, you know, i'm referring to myself in the third person. and even the teachers, you know. i went to drama school at carnegie mellon, and i was almost kicked out of the program . geoff: really? billy: the first semester of my sophomore year. because the voice and speech teacher said that my speaking voice was too high for the american stage and i would never work. that was based on what they had seen. this was 1987. we had three archetypes, the james earl jones patriarch, the denzel washington sex symbol and the eddie murphy genius clown. and they were only trying to do their job. in retrospect, i have compassion

because they were only trying to do their job. there aren't many spaces, particularly arts, education spaces, that know how to train firsts. of anything. they know how to train people to enter the market that already exists. geoff: ok. billy: but they don't know how to train a first. i was a first. geoff: also a pioneer of gender-defying fashion portera™s -- porter's red carpet looks are custom, couture works of art. it all started with the 2019 oscars. billy: the oscar dress was just me being me. and it changed the face of fashion forever. it's a touchstone that will go down in history. i went to the oscars in an antebellum tuxedo gown. as a cisgendered man. it had never happened before. and since then it's changed

fashion. geoff: i remember the 2020 grammys where you wore that hat with the motorized crystal curtain. where do these ideas originate? and do you feel pressure to have to top what you've already done? billy: no, i don't feel pressure. i'm just being myself. and what i love about the process is i have an amazing team. it's like we come together, we talk about things, we talk about ideas. best idea in the room always wins with me. you know, i come from the theater, so i'm very collaborative. i'm not a micromanager. and the things show up. billy: -- geoff: billy porter has left his mark on broadway, fashion, television, and music building loyal, sometimes separate fanbases along the way, -- along the way. so how do you then navigate having all of those different audiences, meeting all of those different sets of expectations? billy: i'm trying to figure that out.

and i think and i hope that it's this return to the mainstream music space that will do that because music is the universal language. you know, existing in all of these spaces, they don't necessarily are these creative artistic spaces. they don't always speak to each other. so my hope is that now i can wrangle them all together through the music. billy: -- geoff: well, what should people expect at a billy porter show? billy: a celebration of life, love, joy, hope. it's like church. it's like gay church. geoff: and you were raised pentecostal. when you say church -- billy: yeah. yeah. i just want to give the world a big bear hug. you know, we've been through so much recently, you know, this collective trauma that we've been inside of and nobody is ok. and that's ok. and my hope is that my message

will be healing. we need a healing. and i've been singing my whole life, and i know that music is healing. it's really, really healing. ♪ geoff: billy porter's concert tour kicks off april 29. ♪ amna: finally tonight, a giant in the world of performance and activism has died. we look at the breadth and impact of harry belafonte whom the president today called a groundbreaking american who used his talent, his fame, and his voice to help redeem the soul of our nation. ♪

amna: it was harry belafonte's signature hit in a long career and life defined by much more than music. belafonte rose to fame with the 1956 banana boat song, earning him the nickname, king of calypso. born in harlem to caribbean parents, he grew up in poverty during the depression, but went on to win and, grammy, oscar, and tony awards. >> ♪ ever since the world began woman was always fooling man ♪ amna: singing everything from calypso, to spirituals, to protest songs. his third album was the officially certified album by a solo performer to sell more than one million copies. belafonte broke barriers on the stage and screen as well. one of the few black leading men in the 50's and unafraid of tackling taboo themes like race. even in a racially segregated

america, the handsome husky voice belafonte became a sex symbol with fans nationwide. but he grew tired of acting, eventually turning down jobs he described as racially neutered. by the 1960's, he was publicly more politically active. in 2011, he spoke about that journey with gwen ifill. >> my activism really started the day of my birth. born from caribbean parents in new york city. my mother was overwhelmed by america. she came here with hopes and ambitions that were never fulfilled. amna: belafonte recalled the spirit of 1930's america. >> at that time, there was a lot of talk about white supremacy and hitler, and democracy, in america was mobilizing for this great campaign. the whole world was caught up in it. what attracted me to the arts was the fact that i saw theater as a social force, a political force. i felt art was a powerful tool, and that is what i should be doing with mine.

amna: belafonte lent his vote -- his voice to the civil rights movement, marching alongside his friend, martin luther king jr. he reflected on the first moment he met dr. king in this 2018 interview with newshour's charlene hunter gault. >> i listened to him and i was absolutely struck with the way in which he presented his case to the black religious community. condemning them for being not more engaged in the social destiny of black people. amna: as civil rights protests unfolded in 1968, belafonte guest hosted the tonight show for a week. the first black man ever to host a late-night show. his guests included dr. king and bobby kennedy. his activism over decades no bounds. >> fight for freedom -- amna: campaigning to end apartheid in africa, mobilizing

support to end hiv-aids, and serving as a goodwill ambassador for unicef. ♪ amna: in 1985, he helped gather global superstars to help record "we are the world." ." the song raised to $64 million for famine relief in a field via. he faced criticism for meeting with fidel castro of cuba and hugo chavez of venezuela. but he never stopped speaking out against racism in america. >> the struggle is still going on. the cruelty of the enemy is as great as ever. amna: and he criticized democrats and republicans along the way. in 2000 six, calling then president george w. bush the greatest terrorist in the world for a fading iraq. belafonte carried his mission to promote peace well into his later years, reflecting on his work and life in 2011. >> eleanor roosevelt walked into my life, and she turned around. dr. king called me on the phone one day.

now come x knocked at the door one day. nelson mandela, he and i had an exchange of letters while he was in prison. just these things can't emerging and each time i saw opportunity to become involved, and what the struggle was about, i felt i would make as good difference as i could. amna: his publicist said he died of congestive heart failure today at his home in new york. he was 96 years old. it is like he lived many lives and the one he was given. geoff: he was as tireless as he was brilliant, and he was successful and impactful. an exceptional life. remember, there is a lot more online, including gwen and charlayne's full archival interviews with harry belafonte. that is at pbs.org/newshour. amna: that is the newshour for tonight. i am amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. thanks for joining us and have a good evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by --

the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with koo nard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of entertainment. and a british style. all with the white star service. >> the john as in james l knight foundation, fostering an and engaged communities. more at kaf.org -- kf.org. >> 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

♪ >> hello everyone. here is what is coming up. >> the safest thing for many americans to do who do not get out when they wore -- were warned to get out is to stay in place. >> foreign powers scramble to get citizens out of sudan while trapped for and for themselves. i speak to dr. peter pham about this. and joe biden set to launch a reelection build even though -- bid even though more than half his party things he shouldn't run. then, what will it take to bring imprisoned american journalists home from russia? walter isaacson puts t