amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is on assignment. on "the newshour" tonight, congressional negotiations over government funding grow increasingly urgent after the treasury says the u.s. could hit its debt limit in less than a month. multiple reports of justices' questionable financial dealings prompt a senate probe into supreme court ethics. and, the new head of the world food program, cindy mccain, discusses the worsening hunger crisis and widespread displacement in somalia. >> they're not only facing drought and the inability to be able to feed themselves, but they're also facing conflict as well. so those two combinations are almost a perfect storm for what could be famine.

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contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ amna: the white house is renewing its demand for congress to lift the debt ceiling without conditions as the nation could default on its debt in less than a month. since january, the government has been deploying extraordinary measures to pay its bills but the money could run out as early as june 1, according to an estimate by treasury secretary janet yellen. that puts washington on high alert to avoid a dangerous and unprecedented default. following all of this are our white house correspondent laura barron-lopez and congressional correspondent lisa desjardins. good to see you both. thank you for being here. laura, the president says he will not negotiate but yesterday the white house called the congressional leaders and invited them to a meeting at the white house may 9. are they changing strategy?

near term, no. the president's position is still the same. jean-pierre made this clear during her briefing today. >> he will make it clear in the meeting next week how is -- it is congress's constitutional responsibility to act. that will not change. amna: white house officials say the president in the meeting will say they need to avoid a default and there could not be conditions attached to that so the message of the same but they will also talk about initiating a separate process to address the budget and appropriations. they say they finally saw some of what house republicans saw. where are the republicans on this now? >> you will be a test for house

republicans. they are also not changing their strategy. speaker mccarthy and mitch mcconnell plan to be at that meeting may 9. house republicans insist they will not back a so-called clean debt ceiling bill, which the president says is the only thing he will accept. in addition, particular dynamics in the house. speaker mccarthy has only a four vote majority. as part of the deal to become speaker he agreed to the rule that allows any member to force a vote on his own removal. so a clean debt bill, politically would be suicide for him. so mccarthy needs something to appease his base. one piece of good news is i do not hear any republicans say

what is the big deal, we are not worried about the debt ceiling. they do not want to risk default but their base is fired up about what they see as a title wave of rhetoric and a do or die moment to try to get spending cut. amna: there have been debt limit standoffs before. how are the past experiences driving the white house approach today? >> it is the foundation of their approach because the president was a key player. since president biden took office he has had the same line. no negotiation over the debt limit increases tied to spending cuts. in 2011, president obama started off negotiating with speaker john boehner about spending cuts and tax increases and they could not agree and ultimately the people who hammered it out was

vice president biden and mcconnell in the senate and ultimately they came away with very different lessons. mcconnell said then his lesson was you could use the debt limit aha hgeostad take it as something the republicans could do again. biden and obama walked away saying we can never negotiate again over a increases to the debt limit and all the allies close to the white house in and out say this has been driving the president since he took office. amna: what about the democrats on capitol hill? >> what we have seen is the acknowledgment that this is not

in the senates will house. this is something we heard from mitch mcconnell today. >> it should be cleared to the administration that the senate is not a relevant player. they have got to have a measure that can pass the house. that has the support of the speaker. >> one thing happening is back plans. we will report on that in days to come. democrats talking about a discharge position. bills are being filed in worst case to scenarios but it is unclear if they have the votes in either chamber. amna: what is at stake? >> there are significant economic consequences that the credit rating could be impacted but if we go over the cliff and there is a debt default, at least one million jobs will be lost, a possible recession, the

country's credit rating would take an interest rates would go up, likely cuts to medicare and social security and military paychecks delayed. the longer the default, the more jobs lost. president biden feels as though we have some leverage here because even though mcconnell said this is ultimately solved by a deal between mccarthy and biden, the white house knows this is ultimately not solved until speaker mccarthy can get the votes on the floor of the house and convince republicans to go along with the deal. >> we have the may 9 meeting and we think we have a lot of time until june 1, but not really. may 9 we start talks. the u.s. senate is scheduled to recess may 19. so we really only have a couple weeks.

some republicans might be interested in a temporary 30 day extension of the debt ceiling. who knows, we have seen this before. amna: laura you have been tracking on the u.s. southern border title 42 set to lift soon and the administration is preparing for what would surely be an increase in people coming and they have announced new measures today. >> homeland security requested an additional number of troops be sent to the southern border by the defendant -- defense department, 1500 military troops arriving may 10 for at least 90 days and tasked with warehouse work, administrative aid, data entry. that is in -- in addition to national guard troops already there and the white house stressed they will not be interacting with migrants and

that ultimately the reason they have to do this are because they expect more migrants to head to the border with the lifting of title 42. amna: laura, lisa, thank you so much. ♪ in the day's other headlines, law enforcement agencies across texas spent a fourth day hunting for a gunman who killed five neighbors near houston on friday. search teams have said they've yet to find a trace of the suspect, or clues to his whereabouts. more than 250 officers, including u.s. marshals, are part of the manhunt. the final criminal case in the death of george floyd ended in a conviction today. a minnesota judge found former minneapolis police officer tou thao guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter. in may of 2020, thao held back bystanders while fellow officers

restrained floyd, despite his pleas that he could not breathe. thao had already been convicted of violating floyd's federal civil rights. a section of interstate 55 in central illinois was closed again late today as a precaution a day after a dust storm touched off deadly pile-ups. six people died and at least 37 were injured. more than 70 vehicles were caught up in monday's fiery crashes 75 miles north of st. louis. police said today some of the burned, mangled bodies are still unidentified. >> we are working with our special agents to help identify them and use the techniques that we have when we are investigating criminal investigations, to be able to link the information we have to surviving family members. amna: officials say the wind blew up blinding dust clouds from newly plowed fields near the highway. crews worked through the night to clear away the wreckage and dirt. the israeli military has launched air strikes over gaza

tonight, answering a new barrage of palestinian rockets. the violence erupted after islamic jihad leader khader adnan died in israeli custody. he'd been on a hunger strike for nearly three months. news of his death triggered a volley of 26 rockets from militants in gaza. in the west bank, palestinians demonstrated and clashed with israeli soldiers in the streets. the exodus from sudan intensified today with long lines at ports and border crossings, as rival factions kept fighting. u.n. officials said more than 100,000 people have already fled the country, with more than 330,000 displaced within sudan. in the north, thousands were on buses and trucks bound for neighboring egypt. many said they've battled scorching heat and gone days without food. >> we left khartoum nearly a week ago. it was very difficult because there were 28 of us. and the young boys don't have visas, but we kept them.

we left under heavy fighting during clashes and artillery. it was a real suffering. amna: the two warring parties agreed today to a new, seven-day ceasefire, starting on thursday. previous truce attempts have failed to stop the fighting. back in this country, more than 11,000 movie and tv writers walked off the job. picket lines quickly went up in new york in the writers guild's first strike in 15 years. members are demanding higher pay from the rise of streaming services. several late night talk shows said they'll start airing re-runs immediately. this year's tony award nominations are out, highlighting the best of broadway. the musical "some like it hot," based on the 1959 movie, led all productions with 13 nods overall. three other shows received 9 nominations apiece. the tony awards ceremony will be held on june 11. on wall street today, smaller and mid-sized bank stocks slumped again amid worries about their health, and about the broader economy. leading indexes were down one%.

the dow jones industrial average lost 367 points to close at 33,684. the nasdaq fell 132 points. the s&p 500 dropped 48. and, a passing of note, canadian singer-songwriter gordon lightfoot died monday in toronto. he emerged from the city's folk scene in the mid-1960's and earned five grammy nominations with a string of hits in the 1970's. here he is performing "if you could read my mind" on the bbc in 1972. ♪ >> ♪ i never knew i could feel this way and i've got to say that i just don't get it i don't know where we went wrong but the feeling's gone and i just can't get it back >> ♪ ♪ amna: gordon lightfoot was 84

years old. still to come on the newshour, communities along the mississippi river struggle to handle the highest floodwaters in decades the u.s. surgeon general warns of the health risks associated with loneliness. a new initiative aims to boost graduation rates at historically black colleges, plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington. amna: lawmakers on capitol hill are spotlighting recent ethics concerns surrounding the highest court in the land. in a judiciary committee hearing today, senators debated how to address concerns involving supreme court justices, including whether they should apply ethical guidelines to the justices themselves.

today's hearing focused on the supreme court and ethics, unfolded largely along partisan lines with democrats arguing the , court has failed to uphold its own code of conduct. >> the court has repeatedly proven it cannot police itself. amna: and republicans accusing democrats of attacking the court. >> if you want to talk about destroying the court, call -- count me out. amna: unlike the guidelines federal judges must adhere to, the supreme court has no formal ethics code, justices are meant to police themselves. but a series of recent reports, documenting justices' failures to disclose gifts and real estate deals, has sparked questions about possible reforms. propublica reported in april that justice clarence thomas failed disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts, including luxury trips, from a billionaire donor. they later reported the same

donor purchased properties from thomas, including his mother's home, which she still lives in today. and neil gorsuch sold a colorado property to the ceo of a law firm and did not disclose that he was a buyer. in today's hearing, democrats argued lawmakers must now act. >> the supreme court needs to's -- to step up and fix this themselves. they have refused to for years and because they will not act, congress must. amna: but republicans dismissed the hearing as a liberal effort to undermine the conservative-leaning court. >> the danger is not that robed justices are operating without ethics, it's that democrats are not winning every fight and they find it intolerable.

amna: not in the hearing room, john roberts. his letter included a statement on the courts ethics signed by all the justices. trust in the court is at record low. in a recent poll, more than six in 10 americans say they have little to no confidence in the court. to help us explore these issues of accountability, i am joined by amanda frost, uva law professor. she testified before congress today. we have learned about the gifts to justice thomas, justice gorsuch property sales. from what you have seen, should it have been information they disclosed? >> yes.

they should clearly have been disclosed. they were ethics laws. a problem is a lack of transparency and the court is not taking ethics obligations seriously enough so whether congress takes action through legislation is not clear. amna: is there context for the conduct? in history are there previous concerns we could compare this to? >> in the 1960's one justice took payments from a former client, leading to his resignation. he returned the money. he could not withstand the scrutiny because he had been paid while being a justice. amna: in 2016 when ruth bader ginsburg made comments criticizing donald trump and then had to come out and

apologize. >> she violated ethics laws by making the statements and she apologized and retracted the statements. justice thomas is not alon and that's the problem. we need the court to be more accountable and all of the justices to follow the laws. amna: what about justice roberts not appearing. should he have? >> absolutely. i am disappointed he did not take the opportunity to have dialogue on this question and justices testify, it's not unusual. they testify about matters affecting the judiciary and i think it would've been helpful if he showed up. amna: both thomas and gorsuch are conservative. calls for accountability are largely coming from democrats and the conversation seems to be folding in a partisan arena. >> unfortunately. i've been talking about this for decades.

it should not be partisan. part of the problem is because the court lacks transparency and does not make clear what it does to follow laws, the only way we hear about stories is through occasional investigative reporting. if the court itself was more transparent it would prevent these partisan issues from arising. amna: what would transparency look like? what should happen? >> i wish the court on its own would adopt a court of conduct. it's the only court in the federal judiciary that does not have one binding. i wish they would do it. if not, congress could compel them to do so through legislation and they would hopefully quickly respond. i hope that happens in the future. right now it is unlikely but the conversation is progressing and i think that recent revelations of unethical conduct have led

more people to think reform is needed. amna: what does the code of conduct calls for? specifically what do you want to see when it comes to supreme court justices? >> it finds the lower court but not the supreme court. they could tweet that model as needed. it requires things like the courts making sure they don't do something that appears in proper or is actually improper. be careful about who they speak in front of, and get gifts from, just be more conscious of the fact that they are public figures and deciding cases about the legitimacy of the court. amna: when it comes to americans on the trust in the supreme court, we know the trust has been declining. there is a recent poll that asks people how they feel about the court and 53% of republicans say

they feel mostly confident. 24% of democrats. 39% of independents. when justice alito was asked he answered, what do you expect when you are dayn and day out, they are illegitimate and engaging in all sorts of unethical conduct. they are doing this, they are doing that. does criticism of the court contribute to the credibility problem? >> there are many reasons why they are losing the public support. but these ethical problems are a self-inflicted wound. if they were more transparent and had an employee responsible for advising on ethics, the stories would go away or be diminished so i feel like they are injuring their own reputation by not taking action. amna: amanda frost joining us today. thank you for being here.

>> thank you for having me. amna: the world is facing a food crisis. today food the systems remain fragile. the u.n. world food program is at the center of confronting those challenges. the new executive director is a familiar face to many americans. >> cindy mccain. u.s. ambassador to the un's and agriculture organization became the 14th executive director last month. her first trip to the fields in the role is to somalia, facing their worst drought in 40 years

that killed 43,000 people last year. she joins us from the somali capital. welcome to the newshour. what are the conditions somali is facing? >> an uphill battle. drought and the ability -- inability to feed themselves and also conflict. the combinations are almost a perfect storm for what could be famine. we kept famine away from somalia last year and we will try to do our best to do the same thing this year. we have to remind people not to forget about somalia and that things are really tough in somalia and why we need their donations and support. reporter: more than 7.5 million somalis need assistant and nearly 3 million have been displaced by drought and instability. many live in camps.

you visited the camp as part of your trip on the border with ethiopia and met with families. what challenges do they face? >> a lot of people are not eligible or have been unable to get assistance so they are living there on the hopes of getting assistance. because of funding dropping this year we will not be able to feed as many people as we did last year so we are faced with six months of telling people we cannot give them more assistance. reporter: the u.n. request for funding for somalia is $2.6 billion. how short are you? >> probably most of that. we are faced with less money than was available last year and that was unprecedented last year so this year we are going to have to learn to do more with less and be more creative in how we distribute things and operate. reporter: somalia has the crisis

of the drought and also conflicts. 900,000 somalis live in areas controlled by militant groups. how does the security situation complicate your work? >> it complicates a lot of it and most of them are workers. there is the element of instability we are faced with every day. reporter: a lot of this is about climate change. somalia has faced five rainy seasons in a row. in the middle of the sixth. hotter temperatures. how important is climate adaptation like finding new water sources and readability infrastructure? >> for us it means we have to be creative. talk about resilience. wells, water, water management

and more because the ultimate goal in this is to make the somalis self-sufficient so they can form their own land and grow their own food. reporter: sudan is facing a humanitarian crisis and the threat of collapse because of violence. in april three wf p workers were killed and two others seriously injured. you had to suspend operations to bring -- you had to suspend operations. how do you balance the need of the people you are trying to help with safety of your staff? >> we never left sudan but we got most of our people out safely. it is a tragedy what happened to our three folks. we will resume operations in areas in the eastern part of the country. security is a top concern. what we are faced with now is

reconfiguring our present. food and water are very short in many parts of the country and the bottom line is we need help to be able to help them and give them food and water. reporter: when your predecessor took his job six years ago, 80 million people across the world faced starvation. today that number is 345 million with another 30 million knocking on the door of hunger. what is the reason? >> conflict. climate change. and the cost because of ukraine. the cost of grain. it has affected everything.

reporter: the u.s. is the top donor. you have said you could never forgive trump for what he said about your late husband. are you concerned at all about bipartisan supportw for -- support for wfp if trump becomes the candidate or president? >> now. i have to believe in the good hearts of people around the world. the u.s. is the largest donor but we have many other donors. my job is to not only tell the story, especially about countries like somalia, but help them understand the importance and necessity to be sizable donors and respect the people so seriously vulnerable on the ground. reporter: ambassador cindy mccain, thank you very much. >> thank you.

♪ amna: while flooding along the mississippi were happens every year, water levels have been rising. william reports. reporter: last fall, droughts shrank the mississippi to historic lows. now it's the opposite problem. communities are inundated, stretching from minnesota to missouri. in iowa some streams appear as if they are part of the river. devonport's ballpark is surrounded. his mayor says his constituents are resilient. >> they are impacted and the

american cross and us and the salvation army work for providing shelters and assistance and asked for an emergency declaration and the governor declared that. reporter: is this a challenge for you trying to plan a city you want to stick around for generations when you are not quite sure when the river will be low or come into your living room? >> we are a little concerned because it seems some of the storms and precipitation amount is continuing to increase in intensity. it is something we have to keep an eye on and we are always talking with people at the federal level about that. reporter: this recent flooding comes after the upper midwest received record to stowe's -- record of snow and then turned warm fast in april, sending a gush of water into the river.

>> water touches every part of our lives. when weeelosupp sg od f chaidns. we saw that last year with droughts and this year we see these severe floods across the upper mississippi watershed. the challenge we face is that this is what we are expecting with climate change, greater variability with weather patterns. we often think this is the new normal. unfortunately, it's not. next year will be different and the year after that will be different. in the year after that. it makes it very hard to plan. reporter: in minnesota, the water crept to the edge in -- of houses and now the cleanup begins. the mayor. >> it is a badge of honor in

stillwater to sandbag. there is a delta somewhere where it does not make sense to keep doing these temporary preparations or do we as a state have to bite the bullet and say we have to do something permanent along the shoreline. reporter: rivers seem to be receding and the hope is the rest of the northern snow melts at a more manageable pace going forward. ♪ amna: the u.s. surgeon general warns of the health risks associated with loneliness. a new report from his office finds that loneliness attracts a

decline in social connection and leads to billions of dollars in health care connections. the u.s. surgeon general joins me now. your -- your declaration clearly link loneliness to matters of life or death. one number found social isolation increases the risk of premature mortality by nearly 30%. how and why do you focus on this? >> i have had first-hand experience with loneliness and my own life and with my patients were i feel so many come into the hospital for one condition or another but loneliness lurks in the background. when i became surgeon general i realized loneliness was common. one in two adults report

measurable levels of loneliness and most -- and young people are more affected. that is because we have realized loneliness is not just a bad feeling, it has real consequences for mental and physical health and increases our risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide but social disconnection also raises the risk of heart disease and dementia and premature death on levels on par with daily smoking . so however you look at it, lonely and isolation are public health concerns and we have to prioritize. amna: things were already trending this way. it was accelerating during the pandemic. you said before -- between 2003 and 2020, social engagements with friends decreased from an hour a day to 20 minutes a day. before covid, what was driving the trend? >> a number of factors.

covid st poured fuel on a fire that was already burning and exacerbated things but this has been building for decades. we have seen a decrease in participation in community organizations and faith organizations and recreationally in the last several decades and technology has changed how we interact with each other and communicate and has often replaced what used to be great in person connections with online connections that are often lower quality. we see people are experiencing tremendous change in their lives. they are moving more and changing jobs more often and that can disrupt social relationships. it's not that these trends are necessarily bad but what we have to do in modern life is intentionally built in the interest of -- infrastructure we need. amna: coming out of the pandemic

i think a lot of people made choices that they thought were good, whittling down the number of friends, working from home, having flexibility. it seems like you are saying there could be a long-term negative side. >> the choices you make with friends are critical. it's not just about having healthy relationships. some people found themselves paring back on all social interactions and that can be harmful so quality matters and one worry i have is i think there are too many young people who the experience of social media has highlighted quantity over quality and that is not the

recipe. as big as the probleman seem and as much as there is to do, we just laid out a national strategy, the key to remember is there are individual steps we can take in our lives that can make a difference. spend 15 minutes a day with people you care about. be fully present when interacting with others. look for ways to help with neighbors and coworkers. small steps can make a big difference in how connected we feel. amna: you've talked about your concern of young people using social media. when you look at these state bands like utah being the first to say anyone under 18 is banned from social media unless they have parental permission.

is that a good idea? >> i think it's important to have these conversations and explore solutions about how to make social media safer for kids. more than one decade has passed where kids have been using social media and we have not had adequate safety standards to ensure our children are not d use is not so excessive that it robs them of sleep and time in person with others and that is happening right now. it is eroding their self esteem because they are constantly comparing themselves to others. so we need to have these conversations about how to make social media safer and while there are different strategies being explored i think the conversation is important and welcomed by so many parents. we are looking at what is

happening in saying this is too hard for a parent to manage on their own and we need to do something as a society to make these platforms safer. amna: there are recommendations for individuals and schools but there are no calls for federal action. is there a government program or action to address this? >> yes. we lay out steps policymakers could take to address the crisis including funding more research so we understand who is most at risk and what solutions work and extending support to community organizations that can often create connections in towns and cities. they also include taking an approach where we recognize sometimes policies like

transportation and housing impact our interactions with others. the ability to meet up and see people. understanding the consequences in the policymaking process is important. we have to look at financial costs but also social cost. social connection is vital for individual health and community health. connected communities have lower levels of violence and higher economic prosperity and are more resilient in the face of adversity and more protected against polarization. and these are challenges we struggle with today. amna: dr., thank you. good to talk with you. amna: as we enter another

graduation season, historically black colleges and universities are working hard . reporter: the crown forum at morehouse college in atlanta is part lecture series, part pep rally. the weekly assembly is a celebration of an all-male institution renowned for producing black leaders known as “morehouse men” from spike lee too to martin luther king jr. we visited as the school recognized its soon-to-be graduating seniors.

a week before we arrived, morehouse honored one senior with a brand new award. >> the dean darden academic resilience award is being presented to mr roland bland. reporter: resilience to overcome all the things that life threw at him. >> i got on academic probation after my first semester. during that semester, my grandfather passed away. when that happened, i decided to take time off from school and be there for my family. i came back smooth sailing and then covid 19 hits.goin nline, ischool don't know if that was for me. so that was very unmotivating and i decided to take some more time off to school. reporter: so when you came back, what were the challenges of kind of getting yourself focused, getting yourself in class, doing the work, doing it on time, not being distracted? >> i started to visit the academic center and took the time to learn how to study. when i got here, i had not been taught the skills on how to

study and how to retain that knowledge. reporter: bland learned those skills through a new initiative at morehouse, the student success program. in partnership with the united negro college fund and the education firm “insidetrack”, the initiative identifies students whose gpa falls under a 2.0 and intervenes with one-on-one academic coaching, tutoring, and workshops. >> the fact that they have a writing center that anybody can go to, the fact that they have tutoring sessions that anybody can attend and the tutoring sessions are tailored to your major and your class that you're taking. those are very important. reporter: versions of this pilot program that started at nine hbcus have expanded to more than 30 schools, with funding through 2026. aimed at helping students like roland graduate. it comes at a time when enrollment at historically black colleges and universities is growing, and more students are applying. but the sad reality is that only 38% of students at those schools end up graduating. even at an elite institution like morehouse, the rate is only a little more than half.

so what happens between the time they come in and six years later that half or sometimes less than , half are wking out with a degree? >> life happens. reporter: dr. mel foster is the associate provost for student success at morehouse, where he has been teaching for 27 years. >> there are those guys when they come to morehouse, they're now in a community of excellent students. there is competition here. we don't have to make it happen, it is going to happen naturally and sometimes students will , become more interested in the social aspect of being at the college. reporter: another massive challenge, finances. >> our cost of attendance is roughly $51,000. the median household income for african american families is less than our cost of

attendance. reporter: curtis clark, jr. is an academic success coach who hears those and other challenges from students adapting to college life, especially first-generation college students. >> they may never have had someone who looks like them tell them i believe in you, you can do this, you are capable. i expect that you achieve this. i'm not hoping that you are going to be successful i will be , disappointed if you are not successful. reporter: clark graduated from morehouse in 2015. >> i think about a number of students who i started with who i did not finish with, which is why i am glad we have this program now. because i could i can think of people, you know, that i would have liked to have seen be impacted by this program in my matriculation at morehouse. >> this semester especially, was really hard. reporter: in tuscaloosa, alabama, stillman college freshman adebola aderibigbe is away from her home in nigeria and finds her coach to be a huge help.

>> i had a lot to deal with mentally, and she was always checking up on me, even on days where i would just forget about her. if she wasn't assigned to me, it would have been a rough semester. reporter: but even a program like this can only go so far. >> it's also dependent on the students to accept those offers of assistance, because there's a limit to what a coach can do. it's still up to me as a student to invest in myself and just be the best that i can be. reporter: another aspect of the program showing results so far, re-enrollment. >> getting a student back onto campus is a huge win. reporter: aja johnson is the program manager for leadership initiatives at the united negro college fund. >> we have been able to have up to 700 students re-enroll in their institution and get back on their education journey. and

if you think about it, 700, it may not be a robust number, but for some of our institutions, that's more than their student body overall. each step of the way we are helping students continue to stay on their educational journey and truly help them get to that graduation stage and walk across it. [00:11:04][6.4] -- walk across it. reporter: roland moses bland will do just that this spring. he says he plans to work fulltime on the online clothing company he and a partner started. and hopes more of his peers gain the necessary supports. >> i felt like i was chosen and it would be great if more students could feel like they're chosen. ♪ reporter: chosen to be morehouse men. i'm hari sreenivasan in atlanta. ♪ amna: simran jeet singh is

executive director for the aspen institute's religion and society program and author of “the light we give: how sikh wisdom can transform your life.” tonight, singh shares his brief but spectcular take on how focusing on the positive aspects of our multi-religious, racial and ethnic world, can disrupt bias and build empathy. >> i was a senior in high school. i heard rumors there was a terrorist attack in new york city. we all stood and watched the news. they mentioned the name osama bin laden. i had not heard it before. they showed an image of him with his turban, beard, and brown skin. when i saw it, my heart sank. i knew my life would change forever. the death threats started that day. i was born and raised in san

antonio, texas. in a lot of ways, it was wonderful. our lives were typical. riding bikes, playing video games with neighbors. in other ways, atypical. people on the streets or in grocery stores would remind us they did not feel like we belonged. i was 10 the first time someone called me a terrorist. i was at a soccer game. the referee was doing equipment checks. when he got to me herban he called me a terrorist and said people like me likes to hide bombs and weapons in turbans. after that moment i promised myself that the next time i was in a situation like that, i would stand up for myself.

i started to think about what it looks like for us to engage with the challenges in our lives in ways that make us feel proud where we did not run away but also did not amplify anger? in the moments of violent racism or even small moments, i stop and ask myself how in a situation can i practice my values of service? how do we really love our neighbor as ourselves? we in this country do a very poor job of learning about one another and live alongside difference. growing up in public schools in texas, i did not learn about other cultures. i belong to the world's fifth largest religion. yet 70% of americans do not know who they are and when they see me they make all sorts of assumptions that have nothing to do about my faith.

we fear what we do not know and the antidote to that is to create literacy so if we know one another we can appreciate and respect one another. a step that we can all take that can make a really big difference. this is my brief but spectacular take on finding hope in a difficult world. amna: and you can find more takes online. that is the newshour for tonight. there is a lot more online, including the full list of tony award nominees in our interviews of many broadway actors being wrecked lysed this year. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> you do not need vision to do

most things in life. yes, i am legally blind and yes i am responsible for the user interface. if i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. it is exciting to be part of the team driving technology forward. i think that is the most rewarding thing. people who know no bdo. >> for 25 years consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans and 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. carnegie.org.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

>> hello everyone and welcome to ammon poor and company, here's what's coming up -- amanpour and company, here's what's coming up. thousands flee sudanand humanit. i former you envoy to the region with the international community can do to end this. and. president biden: our messages this, journalism is not a crime. christiane: the fate of u.s. citizens wrongfully detained abroad as president biden meets the parents of jailed american journalist evan gershkovich. the u.s. special envoy joins me. then, america's culture wars. >>