Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20160704

Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supported by the rockefeller foundation. Promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. More at rockefellerfoundation. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Yang a spate of recent attacks around the world show the growing global reach of the Islamic State and its followers. In iraq alone this weekend, at least 157 people were killed in baghdads deadliest bombing since 2003. More than 24 hours after the attack, makeshift teams were still pulling bodies out of charred buildings. It was one of baghdads bloodiest days in over a decade. Officials say they expect the death toll to climb. It left residents visibly shaken. translated may god punish those who were responsible for such a bombing. So many people are still under the debris. translated this street is one of the most beautiful streets in baghdad. Its like the champselysees in france. We were smelling flowers from a distance out of this street, now we are smelling dead bodies. Yang the Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the suicide truck bombing in a largely shiite neighborhood. Many of the victims were young, gathering to break the days fast, part of the islamic holy month of ramadan. Sundays bombing capped a week of isislinked attacks spanning the globe. Last tuesday, three suicide bombers stormed turkeys ataturk airport in istanbul, killing at least 45 people. Turkish officials blamed isis, although there was no direct claim of responsibility. Most were foreigners, one was american. translated two people opened fire in the air. Then i shouted and ran to a safe area. They closed the gate chanting allahu akbar and opened fire. Yang isis claimed responsibility for that attack as well. All this comes as isis has lost significant territory in places that were once its strongholds, iraq and syria. Last week, iraqi forces fully liberated the city of fallujah, which isis had controlled since 2014. Iraqi officials attribute the uptick in suicide bombings to isis losses on the battlefield. Yang well have more on the threat of the Islamic State right after the news summary. In saudi arabia, suicide bombings rocked three different cities. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attacks struck just before the end of ramadan. They detonated near the prophet Muhammads Mosque in medina, one of islams holiest sites, as well as a shiite mosque in qatif, and outside the u. S. Consulate in jeddah. Besides the bombers, two four Security Officers in medina were the only reported deaths. The leader of the united kingdoms rightwing, Anti European Union party, said today hes resigning. Nigel farage, the head of the u. K. Independence party, is the latest politician to step aside, after the country voted to leave the e. U. Today in london, the 52yearold said he never wanted to be a career politician, and pledged support for the partys next leader. My aim for being in politics was to get britain out of the european union. That is what we voted for in that referendum two weeks ago. And that is why i now feel ive done my bit, that i couldnt possibly achieve more than we managed to get in that referendum, and so i feel its right that i should now stand aside. Yang farage now joins conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron who plans to step down by fall, and let a successor deal with the process of britains exit from the e. U. More than 180 people have died in flooding across central and southern china. Torrential rains from summer monsoons triggered a landslide, washed away railroad lines, and shut down roads. The downpour is expected to continue until wednesday. 33 million residents have been affected by the deluge. Back in this country, it was a fourth of july marked by festive parades, fireworks, and increased security. Under gloomy skies in the nations capital, police were on guard as visitors made their way through checkpoints near the national mall. And in philadelphia, people watched a starstudded reading of the declaration of independence, before that citys parade got underway. And, some big news out of the National Basketball association today. Superstar kevin durant announced hes joining the golden state warriors. The move will bring even more talent to a team that won a record 73 games last season. The former m. V. P. And seventime allstar is reportedly expected to sign a twoyear, 54. 3 million contract. Still to come on the newshour how isis is inspiring attacks around the world. More Campaign Controversies for both Hillary Clinton and donald trump. Could medical marijuana help n. F. L. Players ease their pain . And much more. Yang we take a closer look at the increase in attacks by isis around the globe with two reporters who have covered the insurgency very closely. Joby warrick covers National Security for the washington post. His book black flags the rise of isis won this years Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. And Rukmini Callimachi is a correspondent with the New York Times and joins us in paris. Welcome to you both. Rukmini id like to start with you. The spasm of violence weve seen over the last two weeks, three attacks, three countries. What do you make of this, are they sending a message, is this a coincident, were they planning it this way . Judge. Like all groups considered ramadan a sacred time for doing jihad. Before the month ever ramadan which began roughly three weeks ago, the spokesman issued a call for violence. The way i see this is these attacks and the heightening during this period, is a response to this call. Yang jobbie joby, how do y get these done . Are they inspired by i. S. I. S . Like rukmini said, it is the issue of call to do something during ram dan. Dont wait for orders, dont wait for instructions. If you have an opportunity to do something, do it. You see loan wolf attacks, not very coordinated but very effective. Yang and rukmini, are these attacks, you said they sent the word out that they wanted this to happen. But just that the opportunities came up in this cluster . If you are an adherent to this group you know the rhythm and you know that ramadan is a period when these attacks almost like a prayer are supposed to be viewed more holy than at other times of the year. And so i think its reasonable to expect that the attacks we have seen have been in the planning stages for some time and that they use ramadan as the time to hit. And adding to it joby said, we had omar mateen in florida and someone here in france who stabbed to death a policeman in the name of i. S. I. S. And attacks they carried out themselves, like baghdad, yesterday, and then bangladesh, which are being carried out basically by their territories abroad. Bangladesh has been one of their territories that they have spent a lot of time hiepg ahyping in their plirvetion and the attack in the cafe was the 19th attack in bangladesh claimed by i. S. I. S. In less than nine months. Is there a danger joby that there is going to be an attack, turkey has never taken a lot of against i. S. I. S. Now its obviously a full scale war so you have to see what theyll do different from what they will be doing. Shares resourced to using their attacks against the sal fate but since there is blowback there will be a price exacted for doing these attacks against i. S. I. S. The whole world is rallying in a way that is unprecedented against the organization. Yang and rukmini, a lot has been made by the fact that these attacks were carried out by groups rather than individuals, coordination amongst the people, is this new taking this to the next stage . Not really. You have to look back to the november 13th attack which was carried out by ten i. S. I. S. Attackers, nine from syria to carry out the killings. And then other locals they joined up there. Turkey were still in the far group, we dont exactly know how these people enter turkey, do they come from syria, do they come from somewhere else . But the indication they were most likely sent by i. S. I. S. Central. And then bangladesh you have a growing network that i think has gone unnoticed because until a couple of days ago they havent had a catastrophic attack like now. But if you are watching their propaganda, bangladesh was a place very much in their cross hairs, they have been amping up their rhetoric there. Yang and joby this comes as they have been losing ground in iraq, in syria. They just lost fallujah this past week. Is this in any sense i. S. I. S. Saying it doesnt matter, theyre going to project their source outside that territory in a way . It is interesting that the weaker they get in their caliphate, their home territory, the more they seem the lash out. Whether this is really them to still be relevant, or moving the a new phase, yet to be seen. Although they are losing personnel in the caliphate, they are growing if you see these inspired groups, cells, reorganized, i. S. I. S. Organizations in other places and some of those are getting big are instead of smaller so this campaign is not over by any strej. Yang joby warrick, Rukmini Callimachi, a very sobering note to end with. Yang and now, to politics monday Independence Day edition. For that, im joined now by stu rothenberg of the rothenberg and gonzalez political report and tamara keith, npr white house correspondent. Stu, tamara, welcome. This is a holiday but not from Donald Trumps tweets or controversy. He referred to Hillary Clinton as the most corrupt candidate ever, no surprise. But the words were on a sixpointed star over asea of cash. People quickly pointed it out on social media, said it was a and Hillary Clinton took it up immediately, said it was an antisemitism. Rather than a sheriffs star or a plain star. Stu. I carry sheriffs stars all the time and use them in my tweets. Good point. Look jorch, its another day of donald trump, another controversy, another instance. If we hadnt done this six, eight, ten, 20 times before, maybe you could say this was a mistake or this was misinterpreted, there are a whole series of these and this is who the man is. The campaign isnt Field Organization or tv ads. Its tweets and controversial tweets. Yang do you think he knows what the connotation is to these things or does he not notice them or i would certainly hope he is an adult, he ought to know. He is a 70yearold man who claims to be knowledgeable, knows history, of course he should know. I dont understand, the campaign doesnt explain does it . They dont tell you how this happens. Theres reporting out here from News Organization mike that this image was not generated from the campaign, but from a dark place in the internet where you have seen dark things like this. My colleagues at npr, we have discussed all weekend long, where did this image come from, how the this happen, why did you take it down . What do you have to say for this . There has been no response. If it werent a pattern, trump has been slow to disavow, to say oh gosh fire that intern and this tweet that he sent out was really justifying it rather than disavowing it. Yang and tamara, the candidate you have been following most closely secretary Hillary Clinton, meeting the tarmac and Loretta Lynch and her husband the former president bill clinton, this also blew up also. How did she handle it and do you think she handled it well . I just want to talk about one other thing, which is she had an intruch with the fbi. That should have been interview with the fbi. That should have been the news all weekend long. Because donald trump tweeted that out, some of the information was taken away from what was a very bad day. The partys presumptive nominee is iting down for a three and a half hour interview with the fbi about an issue that has been dogging her the entire campaign. This comes on the heels of the tarmac situation which both former president clinton and attorney general Loretta Lynch say they wouldnt do again. That cast a pal over the entire investigation. Donald trump could easily say its rigged, they had a chat on an airplane. And there is not going to be a good answer to that reasonable doubt that hes raising. Stu, these investigations, they earned usually they never they never will. If they end with an indictment we know about it. If they end without an indictment the fbi policy is to not say anything. This is a bad day for the form esh secretary of state, lot of news, a big news day, big news event but i think in the long term in terms of the election itself, the campaign and then the election, less of an event, for this creenl were either going to get an indictment or not going to get an indictment. If we get to the convention and we dont get an indictment, maybe well hear that the investigation has concluded and there are some reports or whatever. But in any case well go for another phase of the campaign. This is bad for her today. I agree totally. The idea of donald trump stepping on Hillary Clintons terrible news is ridiculous from a political point of view, she had a bad few days and i think this will pass. Big news event not the impact on the campaign. And Law Enforcement force he tell nprs Carrie Johnson they do not anticipate an indictment in this case. The fact that Hillary Clinton sat down for the interview, that mean it is typically at a end, when the focus sits down for an interview. President obama sitting down with the candidate who wants to replace him. Yes and he wants her to replace eplace him. They will compare in North Carolina, one that president obama won narrowly in 2008, lost narrowly in 2012. The Clinton Campaign sees it as a target state. Theyve been running ads there. Then donald trump has scheduled an event in the evening also in North Carolina. Yang counterprogramming. Does the president have coat tails that could help hillary . I think in enthusiasm, generating turnout for african american, sure. Poll numbers are up, well see if that continues. Certainly, North Carolina is absolutely an important state, it is bigger than wisconsin in terms of electoral votes. Wisconsin, North Carolina is a big deal. Stu rothenberg, tamara keith acknowledge, thank you very much. Speaking of politics, Hari Sreenivasan has a historical perfect. Campaign trail can sreenivasan candidates speeches on the campaign trail can at times get inflammatory with little regard for accuracy. Thats not new. But this election season has been marked by divisive language that some find hateful. So what is the line to be looking for . And what lessons of the past can help guide us . Joining me now to dissect the rhetoric on the campaign trail is president ial historian, Michael Beschloss and beverly gage, professor of American History at yale. Thank you both for joining us. I want to ask i fess the first question is, when free speech intersects with fear mongering, Michael Beschloss, how much is too much, how do you figure out where that line is . Well, i think one certain line when you have a president ial candidate criticizing groups within American Society, that has happened in history. You had for instance the candidate of the knownothings, 1856, millard fillmore, if you let people of irish origin and others run rampant in society, who was also anticatholic, was damaging to american. Through most modern history realize that this is a country that depends on all sorts of People Living together under one umbrella and they also realize that if you want to win, usually that happens by not alienate being groups by trying to bring them together. Sreenivasan beverly gage is it easy to find that line . I dont think its always that easy to find it but people tend to know it when they see it and the basic measure when someone is telling the factual truth, we would like to think that is sort of a baseline. People dont of coursalities adhere to that. But i agree with michael that one of the other lines that we are really talking about is vil fieg whole swaths of people creating a kind of conspiratorial language, a discourse that is about guilt by association, those could be verve Dangerous Things though theyve been around for some time. Sreenivasan here is a line that republican president ial candidate donald trump has said. This judge is of mechanism casino heritage. A total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States, until our countrys representative can figure out what the hell is going on sreenivasan michael you gave some good examples of how this kind of speech has happened in the past. Is there Something Different about this campaign . Is it just the times we live in, the times that change things so quickly . Youve got twitter, the internet, there are charges that can be heard very quickly. But earlier in the history, you have had things like this, strom thurmond, what was the danger, his word, to American Society of integration of the races. George wallace slightly more muted than that in 1968. They were never able to get nominated by a major party. Thats what makes Donald Trumps situation so interesting and novel. Sreenivasan beverly gage, one of the things that came up at least historical, doing searches for this, the daisy ad, lbj campaign, one of the most striking one minute ads we have ever seen, a little girl picking petals, and we zoom into her eyeball and see this atomic explosion with the narrator coming up. That was a Lyndon Johnson ad targeting barry goldwater. Came one of the most shock political ads, which suggested if you vote for barry goldwaiter you would get a nuclear holocaust. The establishment didnt like goldwater at all, they thought he was an extremist, using violent rhetoric, taking groups like the john bimp society, really birch society, divided the party, one thing that we are going to see playing out now is just how much control does a party have over its own nominee. Sreenivasan Michael Beschloss does selling fear work . It sometimes does. Wendell wilkie never said anything remotely like we are talking about, about disarming groups but he did say if you elect Franklin Roosevelt even though he is promising you he will not involve the United States in a foreign war, you can be assured we are going to be at war probably in a few months. He didnt believe that was true. It went way beyond the facts but it caused wilkie to soar, and almost to the point of striking distance of winning the presidency. Sreenivasan this is not one party or another, kind of as old as politics. In the last cycle a lot of people took Hillary Clinton to task, the 3 00 a. M. Man, against barack obama, 3 00 a. M. , the red phone is ringing in the white house, do you know who you are going to vote for now is going to flake that decision . I guess in politics and almost in sales, it is almost a natural thing. I have to convince thraw there is a problem and that i am the solution. Right . How do we figure out when we cross over that and its probably pretty natural in politics to be able to tear the other candidate down, but rather than going into the space that we seem to be in today . Fear is a good motivator and it is something that you want to mobilize in people sometimes. There are really concrete things to be afraid of. I think the difference is, when it crosses the line into conspiracy thinking and into this sort of well we have this one fact and therefore we are going to infer a whole set of other terrible things that might hab happen from that one fact. It is a hard line to draw. I think other thing that is interesting to think about is there way to use this fear based politics which often comes up in campaign. Even if the candidate using that fear based politics loses, i. T. Can have dramatic long term consequences. Sreenivasan ing beverly gage, Michael Beschloss, thank you for your perspective. Yang stay with us, coming up on the newshour. How a slave helped jack daniel make his whiskey. A story of life, death and redemption, the last in our series of summer reads. And reflecting on true american heroes on this Independence Day. But first, a pair of n. F. L. Players are challenging the league to reconsider its policy on pot when it comes to medical use and particularly to treat pain. Katie couric of yahoo news sat down with the players. Heres an extended excerpt of her story. Cannabis is a substance that has been stigmatized for years and thats why im so adamant about educating people on the Health Benefits of it. Reporter Eugene Monroe made headlines when he became the first active player in the n. F. L. To publicly call for the league to change its policy on potwhich is on the banned substance list. Id like to know why the n. F. L. Is maintaining such a stern position of the medical value of cannabis when countrywide doctors are prescribing it to their patients. Reporter monroe, who was recently cut from the Baltimore Ravens believes using marijuana for pain relief can be a much safer alternative to prescription drugs like oxycodone. What i noticed was that former players would openly speak about their experiences being addicted to opioids that they were prescribed by their team doctors. I was eating 100 percocet a month during my career and even up until five years after i retired. It just made me feel bad. It made my head fuzzy it screws up your insides. The rage episodes, all of these things, vertigo were mounting so much greater under the pill prescriptions. Reporter but when former n. F. L. Lineman kyle turley turned to marijuana for relief, he says everything changed. I wouldnt be here today if it wasnt for cannabis. Period. Cannabis saved my life. I dont think about suicide anymore. Thats a big thing. You would think the n. F. L. Would want to address that a little bit more. Reporter the n. F. L. Told us its policy that covers marijuana is collectively bargained and is a joint n. F. L. N. F. L. Players association program. Adding, we are guided by medical advisors. They have not indicated a need to change. We believe its the correct policy for now in the best interest of our players and the Long Term Health of our players. I dont see a change in that in the short term but we will reporter what do you want from the n. F. L. . I want the n. F. L. To take a serious look at the medical value of cannabis, which they currently deny. I want them to stop testing players, and stop punishing players for consuming cannabis, reporter dr. Staci gruber studies marijuanas effect on the brain. Professional athletes who are in pain much of the timethe question is, how can we best treat them . Twentyfive states plus d. C. Now have full medical marijuana laws, another 18 have partial medical marijuana laws. The question is what does it do . Is it all good . All bad . Or somewhere in between . Reporter derrick, this is the first time youre speaking out about this . I think for the n. F. L. To say that cannabis does not benefit the longterm health of its players without actually having gone and done the research. I dont think thats an accurate statement. Reporter derrick morgan, a linebacker with the Tennessee Titans has joined forces with Eugene Monroe. Both believe marijuana may not only be a safer alternative for pain relief but could also be effective for dealing with the symptoms of c. T. E. C. T. E. , the neurodegenerative disorderthat has been discovered in the brains of many deceased n. F. L. Players, was the focus of the movie concussion. While the league acknowledges the findings, it believes Additional Research is needed to determine potential causes of the disease. Monroe believes a compound found in marijuana may even help prevent c. T. E. the u. S. Government has a patent on cannabinoids that say they protect the brain in the event of a traumatic injury, which is concussions. And ive been an unfortunate recipient of concussions throughout my career, and quite fearful of the potential impact later in life. Theres been some extraordinary compellingpre clinical work thats demonstrated that c. B. D. , cannibidiol, is incredibly effective at helping to limit the extent of brain injury, which is really very intriguing and promising. I feel like the n. F. L. Has a responsibility to look into it, to delegate time and money to research this for its players. Given how much influence that the n. F. L. Has on society, i think it would help the greater good. Theres a lot of people suffering and a lot of people that can benefit from cannabis as a medical treatment. Reporter at the realm of Caring Foundation in colorado, Heather Jackson and her team are passionate advocates for medical marijuana. Families need information, they need dosing help, they need to know what the science is, what the research would suggest, and thats where we fill in the gap. Reporter jackson helped found the nonprofit after turning to cannabis to save her son. Zaki has a rare catastrophic form of Early Childhood epilepsy called dosa syndrome. His seizures started when he was four months old, and by the time he was five, he had over 500,000 seizures. I gave him his first dose on july 19th, 2012 and he went 48 hours with no seizures. Reporter she says her son is now seizure free after incorporating a cannabis cocktail known as charlottes webthat contains a high concentration of c. B. D. Thats why im a proponent of researching this to find out exactly which pathways this is affecting people, and this is getting people their lives back. Reporter monroe has donated 80,000 through realm of caring to fund two Research Studies that will explore the impact of cannabinoid therapies on the longterm health of n. F. L. Players. Remember cannabis is not cannabis is not cannabis. Its made up of 130 different chemical compounds. Some of which may have benefits for these folks and some may not so its really important to understand what could help. Reporter the n. F. L. Is not involved with the studies, but representatives from the league did hold a Conference Call with the lead researchers indicating they are interested in learning more. Yang later this week well have a report from miles obrien about research into medical marijuana, and why patients are pushing for its use. Thats our leading edge science story on wednesday. Yang grilling outdoors and drinking cold refreshments arent mentioned anywhere in the declaration of independence, but theyre both a big part of how we celebrate the fourth of july. This next segment was inspired by some recent revelations about the bestselling brand of american whiskey. Last week the New York Times reported that jack daniels founder actually learned a lot about making whiskey from a slave who worked for the same distiller. While thats been known before, it hasnt been widely advertised. Now the company is starting to acknowledge that complicated history on its distillery tours in tennessee. That has some people asking questions about the heritage of american whiskey, and other culinary matters in the south. Michael twitty is a culinary historian who writes about such things. I sat down with him to get his perspective. Hi. Yang how common was this . Jack daniels knew for a long time about the role of this slave named nearis green, the development of the company but never talked about it. How common was that for the development of food and drink across the south . Enslaved people were involved in every aspect of southern life. Even whether a person didnt own enslaved persons, we prefer the say enslaved people or persons, they did the work. You read these journals of southern plan terse, it is if theyre hands are in the dirt, their fingers are on the bricks, their hands are in the kitchens, but they are not. Enslaved people are often hired out to work for other peoples. Distillers were skilled workers. That is a form of income. If you are only making so much of the cash crop, a lot of your money is coming in the hills in the piedmont, and that enslaved person would have been very scrafl and very necessary for a person of that part. Yang they werent just providing the labor. No. Yang they were helping develop the craft. Fortunately they were the brains. Enslaved people often time were considered 3 5 of a person. If that enslaved person did something to improve something, that credit is given to the slave owner not the enslaved person. That sets up for bad paradigm, we think, this hes people are a machine, set to do a task. The reality is these were innovative, entrepreneurial, intelligent people. You dont bring a bunch of idiots to your country to build it. You bring geniuses. A lot of times, this is what was going on. They were expert horticulturists, bleak smith, we know there were more people like mr. Green, but would we have ever known their stories had they been free men and women . But a lot of this is more than fermenting alcohol. It is like southern cooking right . Absolutely. I was part of an on going debate, which will never end about southern cooking. The best way to put this this is a cocreate cocreated world, between manners and others, who are make up southernness as we go. I like to quote thompson, until you know how african you are, you dont know how american you are. About deep frying or barbecue or other forms of cooking techniques and spicing and ways of looking at food that are partly of the african diaspora. What do you think of jack daniels distillery now acknowledging the role this man played in the development of the company and of the product . Well, i think its pretty critical. I think that we are at a point where the pushback and ive read some of that pushback, giving credit where credit is due, sometimes i recoil because i feel oh, i dont know if im doing the right thing but when i hear news like this i know i am and other people like me are rewriting the history of American Food and drink. Not just because we want to talk about the past but we have brilliant black mixologists and brilliant black bartenders in the now, who we can celebrate, so people can know that mr. Green did not die in vain. Yang michael twitty, thank you for being with yang there are 2. 2 million prisoners in the United States. Almost half of them are black. In this final addition to our Summer Reading list we hear from one former inmate who is trying to stem the tide. At the recent los angeles book festival, Jeffrey Brown talked with shaka senghor, the author of writing my wrongs life, death and redemption in an american prison. Brown why did you write this book . I thought it was really important to help people understand whats happening in the inner city where young men and women were ending up in a prison system. But also i wanted to bring people as close to the prison experience as possible without them having to get arrested. You know in order to solve a problem you have to be in carlos proximity to it and the book brings you front and center. Our system is a mystery to most taxpayers and it shouldnt be, i think we should know as much about the prison system as possible, considering that the society has been so deeply impacted by whats happening in the system. Brown tell me a little bit about your childhood. I grew up in the city of detroit on the east side, and outside looking in and the model for middle class black america. Unfortunately whats happening in my household, which is all too often the case for young black men and women, is my mother was being abusive, i decided to run away and thats how i got seduced into the drug trade. At the age of 14. Brown which led you at the age of 13 to world of drugs and guns. It was a relatively short time i experienced the horror that comes from the druk culture, murder, both my older brothers being shot, and myself being shot multiple times at the age of 17. Thats the world of street culture, whats happening in this space and why its happenings and how we can stop it. Brown which led to you shooting and killing someone. Yes. Brown understanding, did you understand at the time,. Not at all. Brown right or wrong . It was the understanding of what was legal and what wasnt legal. You know obviously i grew up with a moral compass, to differentiate between right and wrong. However when you are most in the psychological trauma of high levels of gun violence, those decisions are not always easy to make. Brown not in your mind at that goes from right to wrong. When you are operating in the survival mode, things change. Brown what did you expect prison life to be quj. I expected it to be a horrible place of human misery. At the age of 19, one of the most violent times, dehumanizing, degrading environments in modern society then. Brown you wrote a letter to your then tenyearold son, helped transform him. Tell us about that. As ofather my responsibility is to provide and protect. And i was failing to do that by being incarcerated for very serious crime, in which my child was growing up to look at me as a monster. I knew i had a responsible to turn i had a responsibility to turn my life around to redefine myself as ohuman being. Brown already people who are going to watch this to say, you killed somebody right . Right. Brown prison is not supposed to be a good experience, right . Right. Brown youre being punished. So whats the response to that . 90 of who are incarcerated get out. The idea that you can punish and degrade and dehumanize somebody and expect positive outcomes is ridiculously absurd. You get out of people what you put into them. My horrible experience i aam okay today bought i left my mental facts intact and reply psychological facts intact. That is not the case. Brown fafort how part of how you did it was by reading and writing. Had you been a reader and writer before this . I learned how to read when i was four years old, i had always had appreciation of the written word. I didnt start becomin becominga writer, i decided to join into the world of literature. Fiction is not as antagonistic, not as personal, sometimes it gives you as much distance to really think about things different. Literature, how do i go from wanting to be a doctor to serving most of my promising years in prison . The discoveries and epiphanies i had along the way hept me coursecorrect and let me rethink what i wanted to do with my life. Brown you published this memoir and you talked to me about getting involved with literature, literacy programs in detroit. I grew up in detroit, ido a lot when im home to work with young men and women who grew up in a similar circumstance that i have. What i found is, when you introduce them to literature that connects with reality, they are more receptive. Getting this book to High School Children in detroit, would be phenomenal about ending gun violence and disrupting the playground to prison pipeline that is so pref lend in inner cities. We have a persistal moment when it comes to criminal Justice Reform and inner city gun violence and people want change. And i think the book allows you to examine what goes wrong. Brown the book is writing my wrongs, shaka senghor, thank you very much. Yang you can watch many more of jeffs author interviews from book expo america at pbs. Org bookviewnow. And you can see all of our recommendations for summer reads on our website. Pbs. Org newshour. Yang finally tonight a news hour essay from author sebastian junger, on this Independence Day, he reflects on american heroes. Several years ago i spent much of a deployment with a platoon of combat infantry at a remote outpost called restrepo. It was named after the medic, p. F. C. Juan sebastian restrepo, who was born in colombia, emigrated to america as a child, and died fighting at the bottom of a hill in afghanistan. There was no Running Water at restrepo, no cooked food, no communication with the outside world and absolutely no privacy. Mostly, there was just a lot of combat. The platoon was in several hundred firefights that year, and everyone out there was almost killed. And yet over and over again i watched perfectly ordinary people risk their lives to keep others safe. No one was more important than anyone else and race, religion, and politics had absolutely no importance at restrepo. Every fourth of july i think about men like private restrepo and what this country must mean to them. Four percent of our military arent even u. S. Citizens. And yet they emigrate to our shores, put on a uniform and fight and die for us. What is it they are fighting for . What is it they are risking death for . For many, of course, it is Economic Opportunity. But that very Economic Opportunity is rooted in the idea of a just society where people are judged on their own merits rather than for the sound of their last name or the color of their skin. The america we are all hoping for now may exist in its purest form on the frontlines of our nations wars. How sad. How ironic. Soldiers now return to society that is tearing itself apart along every possible ethnic and demographic boundary. The gap between rich and poor continues to widen, many people live in racially segregated communities and rampage shootings seem to happen every week or two. To make matters worse, powerful people in this country talk with incredible contempt about, depending on their views, the president , the government, the foreignborn and entire segments of the population. Im sorry to say that some of my fellow americans would judge p. F. C. Juan restrepo for race before they got around to honoring him for his heroism. I dont believe this would be lapping if people in this country had a minimum unsing of true public service. I wonder if any of them thought to give up their salary for a year in solidarity for the millions of americans who lost their jobs during a recession. I wonder if any of them are prepared to make a pure sacrifice for this nation, yet in abandons among the citizens they serve, marty last year a lifelong new yorker named marty bauman died at age 86. Mr. Bauman contracted polio while in the army, attended college on the g. I. Bill and went on to start a successful executive search firm in manhattan. When his company ran into financial trouble in the 1990s, he secretly gave up his salary so he wouldnt have to fire anyone that year. His employees only found out what hed done because the Company Bookkeeper told them. People like mr. Bauman are the true heroes of this country. This fourth of july, think about the people young and old, rich and poor, citizen and non citizen who have made sacrifices for us all. Some are in uniform but many are not. They all deserve our respect but more than that, they deserve a country that respects itself. I dont hear that sentiment in the halls of power. I only hear it at the outposts of afghanistan and on the streets and in the workplaces of this great land. Just a few days ago i was walking by some housing projects in new york city and i saw someone carelessly throw a Candy Wrapper on the ground. Another person saw him as well. Hey man, he said, thats our country. Thats right. Thats our country. If the powerful do not learn this one lesson from the rest of us, they will not remain the powerful for long. Yang this week president obama travels to poland for the nato summit. Tomorrow special correspondent Nick Schifrin begins our series the new cold war, and tonight we preview his reporting with an excerpt from the frontlines in ukraine. Reporter on this front line, annya who also declined to give her last name, leads what she calls an infantry brigade, who u. S. Officials number in the thousands are invisible. As we walk down this road what are the risk here . Translator the risk, everything is within their snipers reach. Reporter this is incoming . We have been here just a few minutes when we heard the incoming bullets above our head so weve taken cover, staying low right now and beginning to hear rebel soldiers beginning to fire back. Nicks reporting takes him across ukraine and on to estonia, for an exercise with the former russian states, you can find us on newshour. Antitrump republicans to change the are rules of the Republican National convention. Get an inside look at this Rebel Movement and how some rnc rule makers are trying to block them. Alt on and thats the newshour for tonight. Im john yang. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening, for a making the grade report on preschool education. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. 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 sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org this is bbc world news america. funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and e trade. E trade is all about seizing opportunity. And i would like to cut so im going to take this opportunity to direct. Thank you. Well call you. Evening, film noir, smoke, atmosphere. Bob