>> good evening. tonight, president biden issues an executive order limiting american investments in the chinese tech sector and the latest escalation of trade detentions. new details about former president trump's plan to deploy fake electors in one of many attempts to overturn his 2020 laws. and, black lung disease rises sharply amid aggressive new coal extraction techniques and pushback against regulation by the industry. >> this is not our grandfathers black lung anymore. this is a different aggressive form of black lung we are seeing. this is severe severe lung disease.

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

supported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information on line. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome to the newshour. i am stephanie sy with newshour west. here are the headlines. fbi agent shot and killed a 74-year-old utah man accused of making threats against president biden. it happened earlier today in provo, utah hours before the president was due to arrive in the state and the fbi says agents were trying to serve a search warrant at the home of craig robertson.

reports say he was armed at the time. ahead of president biden's visit, he said he was dusting off his sniper rifle. hawaii is beset by wildfires, driven by a passing hurricane peered so far but six people have been killed. thousands of acres have burned across maui, including parts of the town dating to the 1700s. overnight, flames ripped the horizon as winds grab firefighting helicopters and plumes of smoke in homes and businesses were destroyed. some people ran into the sea to escape the flames and others work flown up for treatment. this evening president biden ordered federal assets to maui including evacuating tourists and mobilizing military helicopters. days of downpours in northern europe caused a partial dam burst in norway today. flooding had already put parts of the countryside underwater and prompted more than 1000 evacuations.

elsewhere in norway, overflowing rivers have swept away mobile homes and small buildings, and landslides have ravaged homes. >> it was like a massive machine , like a bulldozer sweeping everything away with it. when i looked out my window, i saw a pile of tree trunks laying next to my house and there was a rescue team at the door. they had to find a big rock and break the glass to get me out. >> meanwhile in southern europe, firefighters are battling fires in portugal field by triple digit temperatures. it is the region's third severe heat wave this summer. leaders of eight south american countries urged industrialized nations today to do more to preserve the amazon rain forest. they have been meeting in brazil at a regional climate summit. today brazil's president called for wealthy states to protect the amazon before it reaches a point of no return.

>> it is not brazil that needs money. it's not columbia that needs money. it is not venezuela. it is the nature of industrial development over 200 years has polluted it and they need to repay for what was damaged. it is nature that needs money and financing. >> in russia, authorities say a factory explosion killed one person and wounded 56 today amid conflicting reports of ukrainian drone attack at an industrial site north of moscow that makes optical and mechanical gear for the russian military. security camera footage showed the blast going off at what officials that was a warehouse storing fireworks. rescue team searched through the day for survivors. north korean leader kim jong-un dismissed his nation's top military general today according to state media reports. the move came as he called for increase were preparations and a boost in weapons production. i in this country, new court

documents show the january 6 special counsel fought for months to view, president trump's account records from twitter. a federal judge find the company now known as x $350,000 for failing to comply with the search warrant on time. voters in ohio have set the stage for a show down abortion rights this fall. on tuesday they rejected a proposal making it more difficult to amend the state constitution. turnout was higher than usual as the two sides look towards november when voters consider a ballot question that would enshrine a portion -- abortion rights in the constitution. >> [indiscernible] and vote yes. > if it passes in november, there will be another abortion amendment after that to repeal that. >> six states have had votes involving abortion since the u.s. supreme court struck him roe v. wade last year. supporters of abortion rights have won all six. an american nurse and her young

daughter are free in haiti after kidnappers released them after being held nearly two weeks. she was abducted along with her child as she worked at her husband's christian aid clinic. it is located in a gang-controlled section of port-au-prince. u.s. officials welcomed the return but gave no further details. the cost of this year severe weather across the u.s. is setting records. a leading company that ensures insurance companies reports thunderstorms alone racked up a record $34 billion in insured losses in the year's first six months. and robbie robertson lead guitarist and songwriter for the legendary group the band has died in los angeles. he and the band's four members went from backing up bob dylan to their own started up in the 1960's and into the 1970's and in the process reshape popular music. here they are in 1969 performing one of robertson's classic

compositions come up on cripple creek. ♪ >> ♪ going up on cripple creek she sends me if i spring a leak, she mends me i don't have to speak, but she defends me. a drunkard's dream if i ever did see one ♪ >> robbie robertson was 80 years old. still to come on the newshour, asian americans weigh in on the supreme court decision to end affirmative action in college omissions. relationship between presidential candidates and political action committees raises questions about campaign-finance. police issue arrest warrants after a massive brawl on a montgomery, alabama boat dock, and much more. ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

>> the biden administration released a bone awaited executive order today aimed at curbing china's military development. these new rules marked a first step by the u.s. government to clampdown on overseas investments by american firms. we have the story. >> the new executive actions limit investments in china by private equity and venture capital firms in three high-tech sectors, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, and would require firms to disclose investments in other chinese industries not restricted under the president's order. here to discuss is chris johnson. he had a 20 year career in the u.s. intelligence community where he focused on china and now he runs his own consulting firm, china strategies group. thank you so much for joining us. what is the significance of this executive order limiting american developments in china,

and how will it be implemented? >> well, its main significance is it has finally managed to get out the door. this is something the administration has been working on for nearly two and a half years now, and of course if we count the time basically the entire trump administration when they were also thinking about such an executive order and working on it then, so were talking about a total of six and a half years in the making, so it is quite significant in that regard. it is important as well because it is the next step really in the process we have seen under the biden administration of trying to control chinese ability to develop some of these core technologies, most fix difficult things that might have military application, semiconductors in particular, where the executive order will be the strictest in terms of actual prohibitions of investments, and then also these new and emerging technologies, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. >> the administration has made it clear that these actions are meant to stop china from using u.s. technology, to modernize

the military and intelligence capabilities, so how much american money is actually going to develop those technologies in china? will these new restrictions actually impact china's ability to advance the technology? >> yeah. well, on the scale of total investment the chinese are making in these core technological areas, the actual u.s. dollar flow into those investments is small. the chinese government is pouring eight on that money into all three areas largely through its industrial policies which are of great concern to the u.s., so the actual amount of money by the comparison is small. it is not really the money necessarily that i think the administration and other folks who are looking at this closely especially on the hill have been focused on. it is really the knowledge, the special capabilities, the sort of things that a u.s. venture capital or other firm can bring to the table in terms of expertise that might actually help the chinese make advances

in the technology itself, so in other words, to facilitate making the investment the u.s. investor is making profitable, they are willing to share their ecosystem, if you will, of technological and other expertise and that is really the concern. so while the dollar amount is small, that is the concern. the ability to impact china's development, it will not ease their ability to do so. one of the things most challenging for them his they obviously want to have access to foreign direct investment coming into these technologies, especially expertise categories i mentioned a moment ago. they will continue of course to pursue these technologies because they are critical in their minds for not just their military advancement but also their economic development in the 21st century because obviously these are the three core technologies that are looking like they will define the knowledge based economy of the century. >> senior administration officials told us today that it took a thoughtful and the lucrative process to get to this

executive order. could you explain some of that process that they underwent to actually reach this point? >> yes. absolutely. i think the administration deserves a lot of credit for this. first, there was extensive consultation with venture capital firms and other investing firms about this, and they took into account a lot of their feedback in the process, and there will be a comment period as well that will be lengthy, so another opportunity for the administration to engage with affected parties, most specifically the industry and the semiconducter industryt in the united states because it will be the most affected, that sector comments that they have taken a judicious and deliberative approach. some critics argue it has been to judicious and delivered of in the sense that the executive -- deliberative in the sense that it only indicates that there is not prohibited under the executive order, so that is basically a entity which a u.s.

person entity wishing to make an investment has to report to the treasury department about what they are doing, but it is not a proper screening mechanism like had been advanced at earlier, especially some possible congressional legislation, wherein they would have to decide whether it is allowed or prohibited. instead it is a notification process and some critics have said that is too loose. >> how do you expect china to view these new restrictions and is there wide expectation that they will retaliate? >> there definitely is. we should expect them to retaliate in part because they have told senior u.s. officials they will. when treasury secretary yellen was visiting china, that message was definitely conveyed. it has been conveyed to sec. state blinken and other officials of the chinese have made clear this is one of many of the red lines. in march of this year, president xi jinping at a legislative session in comments that the united states and the west was

acting actively to sort of suppress, contain and encircle china, and since then we have seen them take more deliberative retaliatory actions. one instance is the banning sales of the semiconductor firm macron's chips to many chinese customers. we have seen them react with restrictions on certain rare earth metals critical in the semiconductor space, that they have shifted gears and we seen a step change from this largely rhetorical responses to actual retaliation that does matter, and i would expect to see something similar like that in this instance. >> chris johnson of china strategies group, thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. thank you. ♪ >> new information is coming to light in a central charge against former president trump that he schemed to prop up fake sets of electors to overturn the 2020 election.

we have more on the latest developments. >> the accusation like much in the trump case is unique, federal prosecutors pointed the seven states which trump loss where they allege he plotted to subvert the results with false slates of electors. the indictment alleges that his goal was to cast out and disrupt the final vote certification on january 6. joining me now is amy gardner who covers voting in national politics for the washington post. amy, were talking about a fundamental part of our democracy, the last step in voting for a president. this indictment charges trump and six unnamed co-conspirators were working to overturn that. now these are the faces of some people who are believed to be those co-conspirators including one who the new york times has said is indicated in the others rudy giuliani, these are people clearly close in the trump orbit. what did you learn from the indictment about them in this plot? >> i think one of the most

interesting and really quite lackluster -- blockbuster elements is that jack smith and his team are alleging that the pretext for the electors to meet , which was simply to preserve their legal remedies in the pending court cases in each of the seven states, mostly -- was a lie, and the real reason the trump campaign was endeavoring to get all of these electors to meet and cast their ballots for trump and send these false electors flights to washington was as you put it in the introduction, to disrupt the proceedings on january 6. that is something the trump folks denied, but jack smith presents quite a bit of evidence to suggest the possibility that is indeed what was going on. >> we also learned today from the new york times something about a new, we have dancing in public before. this was written in december 2020 from trump's ally, pushing

these false slates of electors in those states even after most of those states had already certified their electoral process. what is significant about this memo? >> what is significant about it is that it shows indeed, as early as december 6, when he apparently authored that memo which the new york times divulged last night, they were plotting to use these electors slates on january 6, not merely to preserve their legal recourse, as they stated at the time. it is also worth noting that even earlier than that on december 3 another one of those unnamed co-conspirators who we have identified as john eastman was testifying for the georgia legislature about very similar possibilities about using the slates of electors on january 6, so there is a good deal of evidence that jack smith includes in his indictment to show that the intent all along was in fact to subvert the final accounting of the electoral

college vote on january 6. >> as i said, this is unique and also about an archaic piece of american law, the electoral college process. the trump team has said that there is nothing illegal with having the slates of electors ready to go. i know you are saying this in type and says otherwise, but what does the prosecutor in special counsel in this case have to prove to show that this was illegal? >> well so the way conspiracy charges work is all you have to prove is that at least two people plan to commit a crime. and uh and the crime, the individuals charged on have to have been the people directly executing the crime, and the crime does not even have to have taken place. >> that was my next point, which is they do have to show that trump knew. there is lots of evidence that people are telling the president at the time that there is not widespread fraud. [indiscernible] and in one of the text exchanges

with some of his senior campaign staff at the time they were trying to arrange these electoral meetings, one called yet a donkey show they were so certain it was you know, just legally not sustainable. but at the same time, he was also hearing from close advisers including rudy giuliani, john eastman and others that it was possible. let's try it. i think that is the really really big challenge that prosecutors face in this case. >> in our last minute or so here, how about the states? these were state slates of electors aired what is going on in the states regarding this? >> it is interesting that chuck smith is not going after the electors who in many instances appear to have been duped into believing it really was about preserving those legal remedies in those cases that were still me of the prosecutors looking into this are looking at the electors. we know that in michigan the attorney general has already charged all of the michigan electors with crimes because in

part michigan did not have any pending cases, so there was no pretext other than to disrupt january 6. we also know the fulton county prosecutor in the atlanta, georgia there is planning to make a charging decision any day now, and we expect some of the electors in georgia to actually be charged in the case as well. >> amy gardner, thank you so much for your clear reporting. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. ♪ >> the first republican presidential debate is just two weeks away and at least eight candidates have met the rnc criteria which includes collecting 40,000 donors across the country. some of those candidates have use creative fundraising tactics to reach that threshold. one campaign offered $20 gift cards to people who donated at least one dollar, and another established a sweepstakes giving away soccer tickets.

are these methods aboveboard? that is one campaign finance question being raised in this election. help break it down, i am joined by a person from the nonpartisan campaign legal center. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> so gift cards and soccer tickets, is all this aboveboard and legal? >> in theory having small donors contribute in large numbers to campaign is not just legal, it is a good thing for the system. it helps to balance out the disproportionate influence that wealthy donors usually have in campaigns. um, but what is happening with some of these debate qualification schemes that are going on is that the campaigns are really taking big money, seed money from major donors, and parceling it out to collect these token small contributions, which are not enough to actually run a campaign comes that these

are not small dollar funded campaigns. they are big money funded campaigns so unfortunately, it is another example of big money dominating even these the system intended to you know bring in contributions to smaller donors. >> it is not allowed to take those big money donations and parcel them out that way? >> it is allowed and incentives are set up so collecting those large non-asians of seed money at the beginning can be very helpful to candidates who are then very grateful to the donors who provided them. >> there are questions around former president trump's finances in particular that i want to ask you about, in particular his post-2020 fundraising efforts. we know that they are being looked at by the special counsel and the question is about whether he was of raising -- raising those funds after the election on the back of the claims of voter fraud.

what does the law say about this? >> it looks like under the legal definition of fraud that applies in campaigns and all sort of solicitations for money that the solicitations the trump campaign was making in the postelection period were very deceptive and intended to mislead donors into giving to what they thought were election protection efforts, but in reality, the money was not being spent on anything of the kind. most of it was being banked. so there is a fairly serious claim potentially you know by the department of justice that that fundraising was fraudulent. >> this question about the relationship and coordination between mr. trump's pac and super pac, one organization requesting a so-called refund of $60 million from the other. how do you make sense of that? >> super pac's are supposed to be completely independent of any candidate, so when you have a super pac that is exchanging money back and forth with

another entity that is controlled by a candidate, it it um sure looks like coordination, financial coordination between those entities, and coordination between a super pac and candidate is illegal, so it looks like there is illegal coordination going on between those entities. >> so if something is found to be illegal, what is the enforceability here? >> the problem with many things in the current campaign-finance system is the federal agency that is supposed to be enforcing the law, which is the federal election commission, essentially does not enforce campaign-finance law. it has not for quite some time, so there are few consequences for even very serious misconduct, and so at peace with situations where each election cycle you have more and more activity that appears to be illegal under long-standing federal law, but is conducted anyway because there don't appear to be consequences. >> there is another recent

report i was asking about related to the campaign of tim scott and the use of llcs, paying money to these organizations and we do not know who they are. how vika and how unusual is that? >> this is another situation where if the federal election commission were enforcing the law, none of this would be happening, so all voters have a legal right to know every dollar that a presidential campaign is taking in and every dollar that it spends, but the trend we have been seeing, including this cycle from the scott campaign and others going back to 2020 and the trump campaign is campaigns using shell companies to hide their spending, so the campaign runs off its money through a shell company and it just reports the payments to the shell company, but the shell company is the one that makes the disbursements of the people doing the campaigns work, so it hides from the public where that money is actually going. >> one last thing i need to ask you about, the influence of big donors. we see that growing over time and we such as yesterday in the special election in ohio.

how do you see that now? >> every cycle, big money dominating elections gets worse. that is a combination of the government not enforcing the laws on the books, the laws not being updated for the modern era, and you know, in the absence of real enforcement, we will continue getting more domination of elections by wealthy special interest. >> all right. the campaign legal center, helping us to make sense of it all, thank you. >> thank you. ♪ >> well, coal mining has long been known as an arduous and dangerous job. in addition to working in very tough conditions, often miles below the earth's surface, coal miners are susceptible to the respiratory disease known as black lung. it currently inflicts one in five veteran miner and the

most severes form is the highest in decades, as we report after years of an action, new federal rules are aiming to protect those workers. >> catch her breath. >> these men all worked for years mining coal deep underground, and now they are struggling to extend their lives a few more years. they all have what is called complicated black lung disease, the most severe incurable version. it brutally scars the lungs making it hard to breathe. exercises like this aim to strengthen the remaining lung capacity. >> a lot of people take breathing for granted, but when you can't breathe, it is something else. and you want to do things, and your mind said you could come up with in your body says you can't. >> this 67-year-old billy hall was diagnosed with the disease after starting work in the mines just out of high school. last february, he was lucky.

he got a double lung transplant. how did you reconcile doing a job you loved when you knew it was also starting to harm your health? >> you have to feed your family. that is one way of putting it you know? >> in the last decade, hundreds of coal miners suffering with black lung have come to the new beginnings pulmonary rehab clinic in southwest virginia. many of these men are no longer alive. scientists have long known that breathing coal dust can cause black lung, a disease that got its name as miners lungs turned the color of coal, but an even more dangerous culprit has been identified in the silica dust that comes out of the rocks to get the most during mining. that dust is 20 times more toxic for the lungs. this stretch of southwestern virginia is where federal investigators found the largest cluster of complicated black

lung cases ever officially recorded. it is affecting younger minors and it is sickening them much more quickly. >> my great-grandfather, my grandfather, and me also, we all, we all was coal miners. i mean, once you become one, it is hard to get away from. >> at 17, this kentucky native had a tryout for the cincinnati reds and plan to go to college but when his dad got sick with black lung, he stayed home and like everyone else in his family, went to work in the coal mines. at 43, he was diagnosed with the worst kind of black lung, at the stone mountain black lung clinic across the border in virginia. he now can't work and sometimes requires oxygen to breathe. can you put that into words what that is like to live with what you're living with in your chest?

>> whenever you are having trouble, i guess the best ghost ration is put your hand over your mouth, put a bag over your head, seal it off and see if you can breathe. in or out, i can get enough air in. >> the reasons that they are getting silica into their lungs is modern coal mining is using high-powered machine, cut through increasing amounts of rock to get at this limited amount of coal that is left. that cutting releases silica dust into the air and they breathe it into their lungs. >> when you tell the younger minors they have complicated black lung, you don't get much of a reaction at all. they are kind of just done. -- just stunned. >> every day, this coalminer turned radiologist reads long as raise with the tail tail cloudy masses that signal black lung disease. since 2015 i'm clinic in the town in kentucky has diagnosed

nearly 700 minors with complicated black lung. >> if they never go to work again and they continue to get worse because once that does is in the lungs, it is there for the rest of their life. it is a chronic inflammatory process in their lungs with some of them that leads to this significant progression and shortness of breath. >> still, he says, the initial cause of this severe disease is preventable. >> we don't have to have this disease. we don't have to have men in their 30's and 40's going through transplants and wives that are widowed. this is not our grandfathers black lung anymore. this is a different aggressive form of black lung we are seeing. this is severe severe lung disease. >> some u.s. industries where silica exposure occurs, like construction and fracking, are regulated by osha. that agency recognizes the threat and mandates exposure limits and precautions come

about coal mining is covered by a different agency and has been an exception. that is now changing. in june, the federal my nhan safety health association proposed a rule to cut the exposure limit of silica dust in half for a work shift. >> this is my great-grandfather's hard hat that he wore when he was a coalminer. >> chris williamson heads the association. >> i have seen more miners packing around oxygen tanks and i would like to see. if these things are put in place, all this is preventable, so it goes back you know, we have known for decades that silica causes workers to be sick. >> decades ago, the cdc recommended reducing silica dust and coal mines by half, but no action was taken. in the 1990's, they warned the industry about silica exposure but no rules were adopted. separately the national mining association which is the industries because lobbying group successfully blocked broader regulatory measures. in 2014, the obama

administration passed a rule limiting coal dust but stopped short of regulating silica. >> regulations on coal mining have always had pushback from the industry. the industry is interested in running as much coal as possible, and regulations slope at him. >> she is the director of policy at the appalachian citizens law center. she says that when silica levels are high, the best way to protect workers is to increase the spraying of water to tamp down the dust and boosting ventilation inside the minds, but the industry has argued that giving minors additional rest potato masks would be enough. in a statement to the newshour with the national mining association said the new proposed rules specifically indicates that the use of respiratory protection equipment cannot be used as a method of compliance. we believe this is a mistake. >> we have represented many

minors that have been punished for wanting to enforce mine safety regulations. the enforcement is going to be really challenging if you do not have more sampling. >> she says that effective enforcement will be difficult if congress does not increase funding and resources. she says the agency has seen a 50% reduction in enforcement staff over the last decade. >> the ultimate goal here is to prevent minors from getting sick. i can predict you know one year or two years from now what resources congress is going to make available to us. it will be a priority and we would do the best we can with what we have, and that is outside of my control. > in the proposed rule, mine operators will self report silica dust exposure, i detailed there were safety advocates, but williamson says those records would be double checked by the agency. >> it is in the best interest of a mine operator to do sampling

in that way too because they want to know what is the health hazards, right? what is potentially in that environment that may make one of their employees sick? >> these new rules have come too late to protect denver and countless others. men like him work for decades to mine the coal that help to power and built this country, but they have suffered terribly for it. on average, a diagnosis like his cuts 12 years off a person's life. >> i hope and pray the good man above gives me another 20 or 30 years. i want to see my children grown would be a granddad, and get to see them, if it is his will. if it ain't, it ain't. he has blessed me so far. he truly has. > a final rule on silica dust exposure is expected next year, but would be subject to reversal under a different administration.

for the pbs newshour, i am william in central appalachia. ♪ >> since the supreme court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, questions remain over how this will affect students moving forward and who will be most impacted. the court sided with plaintiffs who argued race-conscious admissions discriminate against asian americans but how do asian american students feel about the loss? let's hear first from some who support the decision and then those that oppose it. >> i was overjoyed with the decision. i believe the supreme court got this right and affirmative action needed to go. this does not guarantee us entrance into any college we want, but it does guarantee me because i know that everything that happens is not because of

something i can't control, and if i don't get in, it is because i should have studied more, not because of something i can't change which is in my race. >> they take away opportunities from certain ethnic groups in order to benefit others, which is completely racist, and asian-american such as me and my peers, we have worked extremely hard and we fear that our college admissions will be denied because of our race. i was considering like opting out that my race in the college admissions process, but i think now that affirmative action is gone, it is just more fair and if i don't get into the college i want to get into, it is not something i can control, it is more of like i could have worked harder. >> i come from a pretty privileged family. relatively affluent. i understand that i perhaps do have some advantages over many

others. however, i think the disadvantage is not from the color of my skin, right i don't want to be judged on that. >> i definitely believe affirmative action is beneficial to asian americans. the asian-american community is a very diverse community. we have vietnamese people, cambodian people, chinese people, all sorts of different cultures, and so affirmative action is one of those things that ensures that our culture is represented in that we all have a voice. >> race is something that is something historically important in shaping the lives of people currently and that is not something i think can be ignored, especially on the level was people are applying to colleges. >> i actually wrote a paper in high school against affirmative action because a lot of the

conversation in my household growing up was always on the idea of meritocracy, which a lot of people against affirmative action are talking about now, and this idea of survival, again, if you work hard, you should deserve it, but as i am now going through the reality of this country and navigating all the systems and spaces, i am starting to realize that meritocracy is only an illusion and there are only so many factors that make meritocracy incredibly hard. >> and so, we progress in a society where i think, i don't know,, where america can be truly raised blunt or we can acknowledge each other as people, the more holistic in our interpretations and understanding of others and our identities. i think that affirmative action still has a place. >> to dig more deeply into those views, i'm joined by a political scientist on the director of

asian-american studies at the university of maryland. and, the executive director director of the education nonprofit the 1990 institute. welcome to you both. i will begin with you. based on your work in the research you have done and what you just heard from the students, how do you believe that asian-american students will be impacted by the supreme court's decision? >> so, i am a senior researcher, and we have been asking asian-american registered voters's question about whether they favor or oppose affirmative action programs designed to help black people, women, and other minorities get access to education and for more than 10 years, we have found consistent support for affirmative action among asian americans interviewed,, and young people just like those you heard from on the whole are even more supportive, so i recognize the value of hearing from diverse voices but on the whole asian-american students are going to really miss the diversity that happens when you

have a program in place that systematically accounts for lack of access for some groups to the college campus. >> as one of the students mentioned, asian-american comprises a very broad range of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and to her point, they broadly support affirmative action, but does that support change based on which group you are talking about? >> it does change. as we delve deeper and disaggregate data, the myth of the asian-american monolith in mono minority myth correlate in this way and we see this playing out with a survey which showed that asian americans have mixed views on affirmative action, and the interviews that you saw. so, first of all, just uplifting the pew research survey that was done a few years ago that

showcased 30 plus different ethnicities that are under one asian-american monolith, that we all, 30 plus ethnicities, are the same and experiences same things and desired the same things and was we disaggregate this data we find that not every asian american has the same lived experience, in the study even delves deeper into ethnicity and where they fall within poverty and education, including access to higher education. >> there are a couple of good ideas i want to pull apart, but i want to put to use some of those numbers that she just reference. when you look at those pew numbers on asian-american views of affirmative action, overall, 53% surveyed say it is a good thing and important affirmative action, but 76% said race should not be a factor in admissions, and 53% said that considering race and ethnicity in

admissions would make the process less fair. the seem to be contradictory ideas so what should we understand about that? >> with the pew question on race and ethnicity as a factor, it provides very little context to respondents. it asks if ray should be a major, minor, or no factor. that is not how admissions works in the real world. race has been considered holistically, so in race-conscious admissions rates is never the only factor considered nor is it the primary factor, but many thank it is and this may impact how they respond to that question. some with this question make not even know they are being asked about affirmative action. i think what is critical here is other studies have showed that a majority of asian americans do support affirmative action, but she is right, there is one group that does not support affirmative action consistently, and that is my own group, chinese-americans. >> what should we understand about why that view is held among chinese-americans? >> well, you know, she mentioned

the mono minority myth, the idea that asian americans have a special value for education and art uber competent. she and her colleagues showed that internalization and endorsement of this mono minority myth is associated with anti-black attitudes among asian americans and associated with skepticism about affirmative action. let me be really clear, asian americans face racial discrimination and they are victims of white supremacy, but that is really what gave the supreme case court -- supreme court case power. because they are victims of white supremacy and they shielded the organization from charges of racism, so the fact is that black, latino and native american students are showing up. the fact they are showing up on these campuses in smaller proportions compared to white and asian students tells us that something is wrong with the system and that some groups face higher barriers to accessing education than others, and that

is not fair, and it does not lead to opportunity for all. >> so clearly, the views held among a very diverse population the falls into the category of asian-american, it is very complicated and worth unpacking, disaggregating, but when it comes to impact,, what you believe that the supreme court's decision what the impact of that would be on asian-american students? >> first of all diversity remains incredibly important in any learning environment, and as we can see from the interviews and also the surveys that we have read, this issue was and reveals a complex one, that the cases and the ruling tied [indiscernible] eggs together. on the one hand, we acknowledge there needs to be some mechanism in place to support students that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented to ensure equity and access to higher education, but on the other hand, if the processes in admissions are based on one certain criteria like race, than

that does become discriminatory. now affirmative action not need to be struck down, but it did need to be fixed. the law like many other of our laws is not perfect. but it was and could have been reworked or implemented differently to reflect today's needs and address the inequities and the frustration that some of the people in the community felt, and also in the case of the students you interviewed here. the nation did a disservice to so many minority students by taking a sledgehammer basically two decades of progress. we should have worked together to find a solution that allowed all historically underrepresented minority students to thrive, which includes asian-american students , and also now is the time when we are looking to do and see what is next. now is the time to seize on that opportunity to move forward and work together, not just within the community, but also all

affected communities. >> thank you both for joining us in bringing your experience to this very complicated issue. thank you. ♪ montgomery, alabama is on edge after april broke out there over the weekend that seem to divide along racial lines. the altercation has the attention of americans nationwide. >> the incident occurred saturday evening at montgomery's riverpark front. the riverboat was returning from a cruise and a private pontoon boat was blocking the dock. they said the riverboat group repeatedly use the loudspeaker to ask the men to remove the pontoon boat. eventually a cocaptain tried to

move it himself. video of what happened next of gone viral on social media. the group from the pontoon confronts a cocaptain and words are pontoon throws a punch in the brawl begins. several men are seen beating and kicking the cocaptain. more and more bystanders join in and the police head to be called to break it up. so far three men have been charged with assault and police say they are still investigating. the montgomery mayor stephen is the first black person to hold the office and was elected in 2019. mr. mayor, what was your reaction what did you think and feel when you saw that video? >> like many people i was surprised and shocked to see something like that happen for someone who is just doing their job. it was disturbing. >> are you satisfied with how the police have handled it in the charges so far? >> yes, i think our police department handled it in a professional manner. i think they have gone about

this with leaving no stone unturned mentality. i think they have approached it with a very deliberate sense of urgency and i think the fact that we have one person in custody in a couple of others that will be in custody shortly is proof positive that the work that has been done by the men and women of our police department. >> were you surprised how quickly the spread on social media, that it went viral and social media so quickly? >> yes. i was definitely surprised by that. i think i probably have a better understanding of it now than i did sunday evening when i first started getting some texts about it. um, i am amazed at how many people have viewed it and what conversations have come out of it, but it is one of those things where you never can to and this day and age of camera phones what people are going to be interested in and what they are not. >> i mean, this becomes what people think of montgomery right

now. how do you feel about that? especially for a city that has violent racial history. >> yeah, i would be cautious about you know, casting dispersions on the city. the perpetrators who have been identified and warrants have been signed on are not from montgomery, number one. number two, we are the second most visited tourist city in the state, and we want that to a continue. it is support to our community and nation. that is what most of the tourists are coming in for, so when we consider the community itself amid the community itself has responded positively. i think there have been no issues around this d i would say the city has come together around many of those, not just the cocaptain, but even some of those on the crew to say, we are glad somebody stop something wrong from happening until the police could get there.

that is not to say people are condoning violence. it is just that i think that there is a sincere that we have seen a lot of progress in the city. we certainly are not perfect. we certainly have more work to do, but this is not indicative of who we are. >> on the videos that looks like the fight breaks down along racial lines. cnn is reporting that a witness says a racial slurs was used against the captain before the fight began. do you think that this is race-related? >> look, i saw what you saw and what millions of other people saw. i think for us, we are looking at it from the standpoint of you know, legal case and does it meet the fbi standard for you know, hate crimes. so far we have been told no, but the case is ongoing and we are talking to witnesses and gathering information and if something changes to point us in that direction, that is where we will go.

>> do you expect more charges as the investigation continues? >> yeah, i think that is possible. again, for us, it is premature to say there will or will not be additional charges. as witnesses come forward and more information comes out, there certainly could be, and we will continue to follow the evidence on but that take us to whatever decisions are made by not only the police department, but also a district attorney in anyone at a higher level in terms of prosecution. >> you talked about the progress made in montgomery. what is the state of race relations in your city right now? >> i think progress is measured by the fact i am here and i was elected in 2019 with two thirds of the vote in a multicultural, multiracial, multigenerational coalition we put together. that said, there are still strains but there is still tension, and like in a lot of places, where there is old versus new.

certain mindset that has been prevailing and there is a new one that has come in, and when you add to that national discourse whether it is black history being taught in schools or whether it is our legislature not adhering to a supreme court order to draw a second congressional seat that is majority black, there are certainly challenges here, but that is not to say that you know, when we think back 10 years or 20 years ago, that we have not come a long way. it is just that we still have a long way to go, and i think that is not just montgomery. i think that is many cities throughout this nation. >> steven reed, mayor of montgomery, alabama, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and remembered there is a lot more online including an in-depth explainer on the south american summit focused on deforestation in the amazon. that is pbs.org/news. and that is the newshour for tonight.

on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including the following. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to help people communicate and connect with no contract plans and our service team that can help find one that fits you. to find out more, visit consumer cider.tv. -- consumer cellular.tv. >> the ford foundation working with visionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.

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