Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170816 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170816

Eclipse is on the horizon. We preview what to expect, and how to prepare for the much anticipated celestial event. All that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. 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. Sreenivasan the fallout from the weekends clash in charlottesville has dominated the days news again. It came in new criticism of President Trump, and in words of praise for the woman who was run down by a car. John yang begins our coverage. Amazing grace yang in charlottesville today, hundreds of people gathered to remember Heather Heyer at a downtown theater, just blocks from where the 32yearold was killed as she protested saturdays White Nationalist rally. Did i ever tell you how much i loved you . Heather, when my children ask me who i admire most, i will them, you. Yang President Trump called her a truly special young woman. The firestorm over mr. Trumps ricocheting response to the violent confrontation spread more c. E. O. s quit Trump Administration advisory councils. With even additional resignations likely, mr. Trump moved preemptively. Rather than putting pressure on the Business People of the Manufacturing Council and strategy and policy forum, i am ending both. In chile, Vice President mike pence stood by his embattled boss. The strength of the United States of america is always strongest, as the president has said so eloquently, when we are united around our shared values. And so it will always be. Yang but lawmakers from both parties condemned equating the White Nationalists who organized saturdays rally, and counter protesters many republicans never mentioning the president s name. Former president s george bush, father and son, issued a joint statement america must always reject racial bigotry, anti semitism, and hatred in all forms. The backlash also extended abroad. I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them. And i think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn farright views, wherever we hear them. Yang mindful of saturdays confrontation, baltimore officials ordered the overnight removal of statues of confederate leaders in the interests of public safety. In charlottesville, all this was on the minds of those who spoke of Heather Heyer. I want to thank you, heather, for all your passion, for all of your talks, for all of your smiles, for believing that this world can change, and trying to make that happen. Yang a greiving mother sought meaning in her daughters death they tried to kill my child to shut her up well, guess what . You just magnified her. applause so remember in your heart, if youre not outraged, youre not paying attention. And i want you to Pay Attention. And thats how youre going to make my childs death worthwhile. Id rather have my child, but by golly, if i have to give her up, were going to make it count. applause yang for the pbs newshour, im john yang. Sreenivasan later, two members of the trump cabinet, attorney general Jeff Sessions and secretary of state rex tillerson, condemned racism and violence. Well have much more, later in the program. In the days other news, President Trump welcomed a gesture by north korea to ease tensions. He tweeted that kim jonguns decision not to fire missiles toward guam was very wise and wellreasoned. Separately, the u. S. Territorys Homeland Security adviser joined appeals for calm. We are hopeful that diplomacy will win the day. I am hearing that secretary tillerson, rex tillerson, is opening up dialogue with north korea. We are hopeful that that goes through. We are also moving about with the business of government, praying that things go well. Sreenivasan also today, china urged both sides to hit the brakes on verbal threats. Theres word an american soldier has died fighting Islamic State forces in eastern afghanistan. The u. S. Military says several other soldiers were wounded. Its unclear exactly where or when the fight occurred. The people of sierra leone kept digging today, desperately hoping to find survivors from mondays deadly mudslide. More than 300 are confirmed dead in the capital, freetown, with 600 still missing. John ray, of independent television news, is there. A lament for the dead. By the time all the bodies are counted, it will swell to a great chorus of grief. This woman cries for the sister shes lost. A few feet away, a husband mourns a young wife and their twin children. Born a few days ago, their young lives snuffed out. They were summoned in the hundreds to the citys morgue to try to identify the dead. Ish shell tells me hes looking for his sister and her family. Everybody died. We lost everybody. Reporter in two miles, nothing but destruction. The Falling Mountain tossed huge boulders down on to what were once busy streets. Silence now except for the diggers and the regular call for another body bag to be brought to the scene. Hard to imagine any survivors in the suffocating bud. Ten to 12 now. Reporter ten to 12 this morning . Correct, sir. Reporter have you found anybody alive . Not yet, sir. Everybodys dead. Reporter this nation only just recovered from ebl la, yet again they are brig out the bodies. Each corpse accompanied by tears. crying the government declared this week a week of national mourning. The grief is tangible. This is a disaster that has stunned even people who have grown used to tragedy and hardship. By the time they opened the more chiewmortuary gates to relativee rain is falling again. Does nothing to wash away the smell of decay nor the sorrow of a nation. Sreenivasan report from john ray of ind sreenivasan that report from john ray, of independent television news. In the philippines, police have killed 32 people in the deadliest single day of president Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs. Authorities sathe victims died in shootouts during raids in a northern province, from monday night into tuesday. Officers also arrested 109 people. In a speech today, duterte hailed the results and said, lets kill another 32 every day. Back in this country, the republican primary race for a u. S. Senate seat in alabama will head to a runoff in september. Interim senator Luther Strange finished second on tuesday, to former state chief justice roy moore, whos heavily backed by evangelical voters. After the results were tallied last night, both men positioned themselves as change candidates. The voters of alabama just sent a powerful message to washington, d. C. , a resounding message that cant be denied. They want to stop playing games with the people of alabama. President trump called me, said, luther, i want you to be elected to th senate, because you understand what im trying to do to make America Great again. You understand the problems that need to be addressed on the ground in alabama. Sreenivasan the president tweeted that his endorsement of strange helped close the gap with moore. The runoff winner will face Democrat Doug Jones in december for the seat that Jeff Sessions gave up to be u. S. Attorney general. The Trump Administration will make costsharing payments to Health Insurance firms under obamacare for the month of august. The white house announced the decision today, but gave no indication about future months. The payments subsidize copayments and deductibles. President trump took fresh aim at amazon again today. He tweeted that the ecommerce giant is doing great damage to retailers, and costing jobs. Many traditional retailers have blamed amazon for driving them out of business. The company has also hired thousands of warehouse workers nationwide. Amazon c. E. O. Jeff bezos is also the owner of the washington post, which has published many stories critical of the president. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained about 26 points to close near 22,025. The nasdaq rose 12 points, and the s p 500 added three. Still to come on the newshour continuing coverage of charlottesville we offer a reality check on the president s comments. Two activists with very different points of view band together to combat violence. Our new poll shows how the American Public is reacting to the weeks events. And, much more. Sreenivasan at President Trumps press conference yesterday in new york, he made a series of statements about the participants in the deadly weekend protests in charlottesville. Newshours p. J. Tobia was at the protests. He compares what he saw on the ground, to the president s comments. Reporter the unite the right rally was formally supposed to begin on saturday, but neo nazis and White Nationalists held a surprise, torchlight march on friday night. They filed through the university of virginias main campus, chanting, in a display reminiscent of 1930s germany. Jews will not replace us jews will not replace us blood and soil blood and soil reporter but, at his trump tower News Conference yesterday, President Trump defended the marchers. I looked the night before. If you look, there were people protesting, very quietly, the taking down of the statue of robert e. Lee. Im sure in that group, there were some bad ones. Reporter newshour producer mark scialla and i arrived in charlottesville the next morning. By that time, police were pushing White Nationalists and neo nazis from the grounds where they had originally been permitted to demonstrate. The city called for a state of emergency and cancelled the permit. On their way out of the park, they clashed with counter demonstrators. The White Nationalist neo nazis were far outnumbered but most looked ready for a fight, wearing helmets and carrying sticks and shields. From what we observed, the White Nationalists were far more aggressive than the counter protesters. Yesterday, though, the president suggested, again, both sides were equally violent. It looked like they had some rough, bad people neonazis, White Nationalists, whatever you want to call them. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest, because you know i dont know if you know, they had a permit. Reporter a few of those protesting the nazis and White Nationalists were armed with sticks and helmets too. The president accused them of also using violent tactics, as he defended the socalled altright, a loose affiliation of White Nationalist supremacist groups. Excuse me, what about the altleft that came charging at the, as you say, the altright . Do they have any semblance of guilt . Let me ask you this what about the fact they came charging, that they came charging, with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs . Reporter the vast majority of counterprotesters we saw were unarmed, like this group of local clergy. Fear and hate have been given license in our country. Violence, racialized violence, has been given permission in this country and we are here to stand for love. Reporter there were also many local people who came to defend what they see as charlottesvilles values. Its not what we love, and it feel you know like abuse. It feels like our wonderful city is getting abused. Reporter by midday, the White Nationalists were routed from the park, and regrouped at a separate location. It appeared the counter protesters had won the day, as i explained on saturdays newshour. The protest had turned kind of festive. There were people with funny signs, there was laughing and singing and chanting. But moments later, a car driven by 20yearold james alex fields jr. Plowed into the group of antiWhite Nationalist nazi protesters, killing one and sending 19 more to the hospital. Those who know the driver fields say he had long idolized adolf hitler, and believed in white supremacy. I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this country, and that is. You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. Reporter even those who were physically unscathed were shaken and terrified. After the attack, protesters and counterprotesters dispersed. We followed a pennsylvania militia carrying long guns and confederate battle flags from pennsylvania, who wandered into a largely African American neighborhood. They were soon met by angry locals, who pelted them with rocks. Soon after, they packed up their guns and left the area. For the pbs newshour, im p. J. Tobia in washington. Sreenivasan in response to the recent events in charlottesville, Something Interesting happened in charleston, South Carolina yesterday, that could be a road map forward. A secessionist and a black nationalist came together to make sure the racial tensions in their town do not lead to what happened in charlottesville. They agreed to what theyre calling the charleston accord, which says though they may continue to be on opposite sides of an issue, they would have an open dialogue; promote legal avenues for change; work to prevent violence; and collaborate for the public good when they could. As part of our race matters solutions, tonight we have with us James Bessenger of the South Carolina Secessionist Party and johnathan thrower, who goes by shakem, a selfdescribed black nationalist. Gentlemen, welcome. Johnathan, i want to start with you. Ill call you shakem from now on. Yes, sir. Reporter to say the two of you have different world views is an understatement. As of a few nights ago, you and james were exchanging critiques on facebook. Give me an idea. How tense are Race Relations in charleston and what changed after charlottesville . Yes, well, Race Relations have lakes been on a sharp decline ever since the walter scott and dylann roof incident. The flag over the South Carolina state house has been a boiling point in the media and the minds of the people here. Race relations have basically gone down. So essentially what we are looking at now is a situation rough two ideologies basically amongst white people and black people and there are people who dont actually see it as a race issue, its also looked as a class issue because classism is an issue also more so as race. Right now, its almost like a boiling point and there has been a lot of words exchanged lately, tensions are very high. Now with the a lot of leaders, black and white, calling for the jon c. Calhoun statue and a lot of the confederate monuments to come down in the city, that has sparked the ire and attention and put the focus back on Race Relations in the city and they were already very tense to begin with. Sreenivasan James Bessenger, for your group, the confederate monuments and statutes are a source of pride, for members of shakems group theyre a source of pain. How do you have a conversation like this which is deeply personal for people without it coming to blows . I think we have to do that by exactly what weve started here in charleston. We dont see a lot of dialogue hardly any at all between organizations like ours and his that represent two very polar opposite groups in this debate. Its been difficult to try to find someone, at least on our side that we could talk to like that, but i think sitting down and having a firsttime dialogue is a good way to start that process. Sreenivasan james, when shakem first reached out to you, tell me a little bit about that. I heard from him the first time. We got to know who each other was a little bit, and it was the first time i heard from someone on that side of the debate who didnt describe me as a racist, fascist or neonazi. So it was refreshing to find people on the other side of the debate to Pay Attention to where we were coming from without jumping to conclusions. Sreenivasan when you first met him, what was going through your mind . Its hard. When i look at a white person with a Confederate Flag it brings up a lot of emotion because that brings images of an enemy and, you know, in spite of the fact that all of them arent klansmen or k. K. K. Members, its something you have to get over psychologically in your head especially as being a black person. So that was something that really kind of, you know, took me a moment to get over, and also we you know, we have a lot of issues with the klan here in South Carolina. It was just something that really took something in me to sit down and say, okay, lets see

© 2025 Vimarsana