PBS NewsHour full episode, March 24, 2022
JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff. On the "NewsHour" tonight: the urgency of war. Ukrainian forces claim to sink a Russian ship in the Black Sea, as President Biden and other world leaders hold emergency meetings, pledging more humanitarian aid. Then: desperate journey.
The mass exodus of Ukrainians strains the capacity of nearby nations. We report from on the ground in neighboring Moldova. ELENA BALATEL, Fidez Center Volunteer: You try to help as much as you can. And, at some point, you feel like, OK, I do as much as I can, and it's still, like, is not enough.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And deployed to classrooms. States resort to calling in the National Guard to mitigate the worsening shortage of teachers and other school staff. All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: President Biden and NATO allies met in Brussels today to reaffirm the alliance's solidarity in the face of the ongoing and brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Biden said the United States and NATO would respond if Russia uses weapons of mass destruction, a new and sobering warning of what is at stake as war engulfs Europe's largest nation. Meantime, Ukrainian forces pushed back against Russian forces throughout the country today. Jane Ferguson begins our reporting from the capital, Kyiv.
JANE FERGUSON: The Ukrainian military says the burning vessel in this video is a Russian ship struck by Ukrainian forces. It was docked in Berdyansk and can carry dozens of tanks, armored vehicles, and hundreds of troops, another major loss adding to Russia's already steep logistical challenges. But, last night, Moscow stepped up its assault further north on the suburbs of Kyiv. What looks like a shimmering firework in the night sky actually the brutal incendiary weapon white phosphorus. It's typically used as a smokescreen, but can burn hot enough to melt flesh. In the south, Ukraine is trying to retake the city of Kherson and pushing Russia away from Mykolaiv.
In the north, Ukrainian counteroffensives forestall an assault on the capital, a city many military analysts expected to fall within days of Russia's invasion. Now, one month into the conflict, the Ukrainian flag still flies in Kyiv and her residents are adapting to wartime life. Some, like Andriy, pine for the past. ANDRIY ZYUBA, Kyiv Resident (through translator): I feel hopelessness.
One doesn't know what to do next, how to behave. I try to keep calm and only hope that everything will be over and all will be fine, as it was before. JANE FERGUSON: But cafe owner Evhenii decided to not wait any longer to open his shop. EVHENII SOSNOVSKYI, Cafe Owner (through translator): It was last Thursday or Friday that I understood that it's not a matter of one week or two weeks, perhaps not even a month.
Relatives, family, the military needs this support. JANE FERGUSON: More support is also needed on the humanitarian front. The United Nations says more than half of all Ukrainian children, some 4.3 million, have been displaced by the month-long war.
To showcase unity against Russia, today in Brussels, a flurry of diplomacy, as President Biden and Western leaders attended a trio of emergency summits, including a meeting of NATO's North Atlantic Council. JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO Secretary-General: We are determined to continue to impose costs on Russia to bring about the end of this brutal war. JANE FERGUSON: NATO agreed to strengthen its Eastern European defenses. Four new battle groups will go to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia, doubling NATO's presence. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, whose term was extended today into late next year, also promised to help Ukraine prepare against potential attacks with weapons of mass destruction.
JENS STOLTENBERG: We see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext accusing Ukraine, United States, NATO allies for preparing to use chemical and biological weapons. JANE FERGUSON: But citing a long list of weapons he says are vital for his country, including tanks and planes, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies to do more. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): This morning, phosphorus bombs were used. Adults were killed again and children were killed again.
The alliance can still prevent the deaths of Ukrainians from Russian occupation by providing us with all the weapons we need. JANE FERGUSON: Members of the G7, a group of the world's richest democratic nations, also met separately today to discuss sanctions evasion and how to further impair the Russian Central Bank. But, at a meeting of European leaders, divisions remained over imposing an embargo on Russian gas and oil imports. ALEXANDER DE CROO, Belgian Prime Minister (through translator): It would have a devastating impact on the European economy. I think this is not necessary.
JANE FERGUSON: Meanwhile, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russian elites, including 40 defense companies and half of Russia's legislature. President Biden also announced plans to accept 100,000 refugees and additional funding to help other countries with their migrant surges.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: This is an international responsibility. And the United States, as the leader -- one of the leaders in the international community, has an obligation to be engaged -- to be engaged and do all we can to ease the suffering and pain of innocent women and children, and men, for that matter, throughout -- throughout Ukraine and those who have made it across the border. JANE FERGUSON: He also pledged to respond if Putin attacked with chemical weapons. JOE BIDEN: We would respond. We would respond if he uses it.
The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use. JANE FERGUSON: And Biden defended the sanctions against charges that they're insufficient. JOE BIDEN: Sanctions never deter. The maintenance of sanctions -- the maintenance of sanctions, the increasing the pain, and the demonstration. We will sustain what we're doing not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year.
That's what will stop him. JANE FERGUSON: As world leaders meet to discuss how to further punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the war here enters its second month. Ukrainian forces continue to hold on in the face of overwhelming firepower from the Russian army, and in some places advance against them.
But there is still a sense here on the ground that, no matter how successful their defenses, the war will only really end when Putin decides -- Judy. JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you, Jane, for your important reporting. Jane's reporting and our ongoing coverage of the war in Ukraine is supported by the Pulitzer Center. Now we turn to Nick Schifrin, who has more on the day's developments. NICK SCHIFRIN: As we reported, NATO announced today that it was increasing the number of troops in four NATO member countries that either border Ukraine or are near it. With me now to discuss these new deployments and what's come from the snap summit at NATO, retired Lieutenant General Doug Lute.
He had a 35-year career in the army and served on the National Security Council staff during both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He also was U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration. Doug Lute, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
So, as Jane just said, NATO is deploying more battle groups to Southeastern Europe to four countries on the Black Sea or Ukraine. That is Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. That doubles the number of battle groups that have been deployed in the past to Northeastern Europe, which were approximate deployed in 2014.
So what difference does it make sending NATO troops to Southeastern Europe? LT. GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE (RET.), Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO: Well, I think these troops have a twofold purpose, Nick. First of all, to the NATO allies themselves, it is a visible, physical, tangible reminder that NATO has their backs. These are now front-line stakes states because they have land borders or Black Sea borders with Ukraine.
And so they are front-line states by way of conflict there. And the notion here is that NATO has your back. There is a second message, though, and that's to the other side, to President Putin, that, in fact, NATO is right there, alongside these four allied states.
And he should disabuse -- be disabused of any notion that he could take some sort of limited incursion in these NATO states without actually encountering NATO forces themselves. So, it is a twofold message. NICK SCHIFRIN: NATO announced also today that it would send materiel to Ukraine to try and prevent it and protect it from a chemical weapon attack. Of course, as we noted in Jane's piece, President Biden said today that the U.S. would respond to a chemical weapons attack.
But he was ambiguous as to how the U.S. and NATO would respond. Do you think it is wise to keep that ambiguity? LT. GEN.
DOUGLAS LUTE: I do. I think ambiguity is our friend here, for two reasons. First of all, any NATO or U.S. response to a chemical or biological attack would be -- would have to be proportionate to that attack itself. So, it is not -- you can't decide that proportionality in advance.
It will depend on the attack. And then, second of all, I think it is useful to impart a bit of ambiguity, a bit of uncertainty in the mind of President Putin and his military planners as to exactly what our response might be. It is not a bad thing to have him guessing a bit. NICK SCHIFRIN: And when you say proportionality, I assume you mean there could be a minimal response by NATO if there is a -- if you will, a minimal chemical attack.
I hate to even say that. But there's different levels of chemical attacks and there would be different responses based on that, right? LT. GEN.
DOUGLAS LUTE: Right. Exactly right. NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.
And of course, if the U.S. responds to some kind of nonconventional attack, does that not increase the chances of U.S. NATO forces being in direct confrontation with Russian troops? LT.
GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE: Without doubt. And that is why this is such an important step.
I think it was important today to hear from both NATO leaders, but the president himself, that there will be a response. But as we have already discussed, this question of ambiguity is also useful. NICK SCHIFRIN: Multiple senior officials tell me that Russian goals remain the same, at least according to what they see, that Moscow, Putin, the Kremlin still want some kind of regime change in Ukraine. But does the Russian military have the capacity to actually achieve that in Ukraine anymore? LT. GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE: I don't think so.
Based on the performance, their performance in this first month, I think their offensive capability is largely grinding to a halt. And the option they have now is to hunker down around the Ukrainian cities and essentially besiege those cities with artillery fires, rockets, missile fires and so forth. But the aim, I think, initially was to actually control those cities and place a Putin-friendly puppet regime, and those aims are simply now out of reach. NICK SCHIFRIN: And senior U.S. officials tell me that the Russians are one running out of
precision-guided missiles. Some of them have failed because of corruption in manufacturing. And they do fear exactly what you just said, that the Russians will dig in and be able to pummel cities. And, unfortunately, they say Ukraine will be unable to effectively evict the Russians if the Russians hunker down. What does that say about where we are going in this war? LT.
GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE: Well, I think it underlines the importance of logistics, which is too often a sort of a misinterpreted or discarded factor in warfare. But a siege campaign, the rockets, the missiles and the artillery rounds that the Russians will depend on, have to come from Belarus or Russia.
And they have to transit relatively vulnerable logistics lines. Basically, they are road-bound. And it's these road-bound resupply convoys that are exceedingly vulnerable to interdiction by the Ukrainian forces. And that is where the Ukrainians have an advantage.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And they have been taking that advantage, thanks to a lot of Western weapons as well. Doug Lute, thank you very much. President Biden also spoke today with the European Council, the heads of state and government of the European Union.
And to discuss that meeting, I spoke a short time ago to Stavros Lambrinidis, the E.U.'s ambassador to Washington. And I started by asking him about the G7 statement that warned Putin against using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, and what the response would and should be if he did. STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS, European Union Ambassador to the United States: Well, it goes without saying that, if it did, this would be an escalation unimaginable on the one hand, but certainly crossing a number of lines that people thought uncrossable.
So, it is a NATO decision, obviously. But I think the G7, the NATO secretary-general, everyone has made it clear that, if Putin does something that crazy, the consequences are probably going to be quite, quite dramatic for him. NICK SCHIFRIN: One of the main topics today in the discussion between President Biden and European leaders is, of course, energy security, and Europe's historic reliance on Russian energies, oil and gas.
Some European countries get 70 to 80 percent of their energy from Russia. This week, Germany said it opposed banning all Russian oil imports. Is there a short-term solution that you believe that would allow Europe to reduce its reliance on Russian energies? STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS: Yes, and it is already under way.
We are getting, diverting gas supplies and energy supplies from many, many countries around the world who are instead bringing them to Europe. We have increased our purchase directly from suppliers as well. January, February, March have seen the highest number of imports of LNG. And, in fact, diversifying our supply is going to be a major emphasis of ours.
And I do expect that, also, with the United States in particular, with President Biden now in Brussels, there will be additional announcements on E.U.-U.S. cooperation in particular. NICK SCHIFRIN: Let's talk about sanctions evasion. The European statement this evening said that the U.S. and the E.U.
were working jointly to blunt Russia's ability to deploy remaining international reserves, including gold. Have we seen Russia evade European and American sanctions so far? STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS: It has not been able to up to now. It's certainly trying. But when it comes to cryptocurrency, for example, which is actually quite transparent, once are you able to identify, which is the tough part initially, the transaction, to see where it came from, what happened, the markets are already aware that we are setting up a major task force to stop that, when it comes to gold reserves, same thing.
So Russia is going to try to wiggle out, but it won't be able to. And at the end of the day, its economy is crashing as we speak. And I think this is going to be the very sad, the very dark legacy of Mr. Putin on his own country and his own people. The ruble has crashed; 50 percent of its value has disappeared compared to the euro. The stock markets are still not open.
Inflation is skyrocketing in Russia, and people are losing money from their pockets, from their salaries. The oligarchs are running to hide. And I think it's quite interesting there. That very strange speech that Mr. Putin gave a few days ago, talking about these rich Russian people that have to be self-cleansed from Russia, you know, reminding quite a bit Stalin's language, well, I mean, I'm guessing that maybe some of these oligarchs are actually whispering to him in some ways that what he is doing is really detrimental to their interests, certainly, and probably to Russia's as well.
The sanctions are biting already. NICK SCHIFRIN: But we have seen no evidence yet that there is any kind of internal lack of cohesion between Putin and his lieutenants, right? STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS: Well, I think that speech is an indication of that, that we haven't seen the minister of defense and other people for awhile. You know, honestly, I don't particularly care to speculate what is happening in Russia. We are certainly very concerned by the fact that he is clamping down in a very open now way -- he always has -- against free media, against civil society, against anyone who disagrees with him.
I mean, he is trying to feed everyone his propaganda. And, certainly, that is succeeding to some extent. But what we are hearing is that, through social media, that still exists, there is a large number of influential people in Russia who understand that this is a bloody war, that it is killing millions -- well, it's sending out of the country millions of Ukrainians. It's killing thousands of a brother nation. And that is most certainly going to be taking its toll on Mr. Putin at some point. NICK SCHIFRIN: President Biden today talked about a mechanism to know whether China was going to be helping Russia.
Obviously, that mechanism will be coordinated with the Europeans. So, has China helped Russia avoid sanctions at all? And what would be the consequences, do you think, if China helped Russia avoid sanctions or in fact threw a lifeline to Putin overall? STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS: I think both President Biden and our presidents in -- on the 1st of April will be communicating the exact same message to China: Do not, do not help Russia circumvent these sanctions. And do not help Russia with military material. We in Europe have been hit ourselves by these sanctions. They have consequences on us too.
And we will not be sitting back and looking at anyone else trying to help Russia circumvent them. NICK SCHIFRIN: Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, thank you very much. STAVROS LAMBRINIDIS: Thank you. JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: The United States, Japan, and South Korea condemned North Korea for launching what appeared to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile yet. The North claimed that it was a new type aimed at deterring nuclear war. South Korea said the missile was fired from near Pyongyang, flew nearly 700 miles, and apparently fell into the sea off Northern Japan.
Tokyo called it unforgivably reckless. MAKOTO ONIKI, Japanese Vice Defense Minister (through translator): There was no warning beforehand. And the fact that North Korea made the missile land in our country's exclusive economic zone is a major issue and an extremely dangerous action for the safety of aircraft and ships. JUDY WOODRUFF: South Korea responded by test-firing missiles of its own.
Search teams in Southern China have found the first large pieces of debris from Monday's plane crash that killed 132 people. They are still hunting for the second black box recorder. The crews scoured muddy hills again today. They recovered a part of the plane's wing and pieces of an engine, plus more belongings of passengers. Back in this country, former President Trump today is suing Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, alleging that they falsely claimed that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
The federal lawsuit says resulting investigations cost Mr. Trump $24 million, and it seeks triple damages. A 2020 U.S. Senate report found that Moscow did try to boost the Trump effort. The U.S. Senate's top Republican came out today in opposition to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court. Mitch McConnell accused her of disguising far left views after confirmation hearings ended today.
The Democrat who chaired the hearings, Senator Dick Durbin, urged other Republicans to help make Jackson the first Black woman justice. They spoke on the Senate floor. SEN.
MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): After studying the nominee's record, and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Nothing we saw this week convinced me that either President Biden or Judge Jackson's deeply invested far left fan club have misjudged her. SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL): If this turns out to be a strictly partisan vote with this historic opportunity, it will be sad, sad for our country, and sad as a commentary on where the parties are today. I'm hoping, I'm still hoping that several Republicans, I hope many more, will step forward and support her nomination. I'm disappointed with Senator McConnell's decision, but I'm not surprised.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said today he is aiming for a confirmation vote in the full Senate before a spring recess begins in two weeks. On the pandemic, professional athletes and performers in New York City will now be exempt from a vaccine mandate for private workers. Mayor Eric Adams announced it today. He said that it will aid economic recovery. The pandemic is also fueling population shifts.
New census data shows 73 percent of U.S. counties had more deaths than births from mid-2020 to mid-2021, due in part to COVID. and the cities of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago had the biggest population losses, intensifying previous migration trends. The Biden administration unveiled new procedures today to speed legal asylum claims at the U.S. Southern border. The goal is to deal with a backlog of nearly 1.7 million cases.
Proposed rules would let asylum officers decide claims. Currently, only immigration judges have that authority. In economic news, first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to 187,000. That's the lowest since 1969. And on Wall Street today, the stock market seesaw tipped back up, with major indexes gaining 1 to 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 349 points to close at 34708.
The Nasdaq rose 269 points. The S&P 500 added 64. Still to come on the "NewsHour": states call in the National Guard to mitigate school staffing shortages; Black Lives Matter advocates become the latest in a long line of activists-turned-politicians; deaf actress Marlee Matlin gives her take on casting people with disabilities; plus much more. Millions of Ukrainians have fled the war and sought refuge in nations to the West.
One of those countries is tiny Moldova, the most impoverished nation in Europe. More than 300,000 refugees have arrived in this former Soviet republic, which has a population of just 2.9 million people. Many refugees have by now moved on, but the strain remains. Special correspondent Willem Marx reports on a nation without many means, whose people are rising to the moment. WILLEM MARX: For Ukrainian refugee Yelena Mostrz, making beds may be a first step to rebuilding her life. She's just started volunteering at Fidez, a refugee placement center in Moldova, Ukraine's smallest neighbor.
YELENA MOSTRZ, Ukrainian Refugee: Everybody do something possible to help in this situation. So I try to help here people from Ukraine, try to help people from Fidez, because they do a very good job. WILLEM MARX: Just days ago, this center in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, welcomed her, alongside other Ukrainian women suddenly forced from their former lives.
YELENA MOSTRZ: A lot of people, I see cry. It's very, very hard to see. WILLEM MARX: Many tears here are shed for Ukraine's southern coastal region, close to Moldova and, for 40 years, Yelena's home. Now, it's this small room, shared with Tania, the mother of her ex-husband, who stayed in Ukraine, and her 5-year-old daughter, Sonia. Helping Yelena settle in is Elena Balatel, a Moldovan tourism-professor-turned-mother hen for many here at this Catholic charity. She too is a volunteer.
ELENA BALATEL, Fidez Center Volunteer: You feel everything they feel, everything. It goes through you. You try to help as much as you can, and at some point you feel like, OK, I do as much as I can, and it still, like, is not enough, you know? WILLEM MARX: One Ukrainian woman asked us to talk with her husband in the heavily bombarded city of Mykolaiv. Are you happy your wife is here in Moldova? MAN: Yes, I'm very happy. So, I made this move for myself. I can protect my family, my wife, my children.
WILLEM MARX: Are you grateful to countries like Moldova taking so many people in and looking after them? MAN: Yes, I'm very thankful to Moldova. I'm very thankful to other countries who is taking our people. WILLEM MARX: This complex houses around 100 refugees, honored guests, as some Moldovans call them. It's one of dozens across this tiny country of just under three million people now filled with those fleeing war, transforming table tennis halls into temporary dormitories, classrooms into canteen kitchens, with more Ukrainians arriving each day by the busload. What started as a flood of families is today just a steady trickle of traffic, but authorities here in Moldova have concerns, if the city of Odessa, just half-an-hour down this road, comes under sustained attack, it could lead to a fresh torrent of people. More than 330,000 have already entered Moldova.
Most move on elsewhere, lining up for visas outside the capital Chisinau's embassies. But around 100,000, enough to create the country's second largest city, have chosen to stay, and the crisis is now close to overwhelming Europe's most impoverished nation's limited resources. But into that breach, an army of volunteers carpenters, credit managers, urban planners, actresses, finding ways to help. Marianna Turcan is the Moldovan prime minister's education adviser, turned principal problem-solver at this pop-up call center.
MARIANNA TURCAN, Adviser to Moldovan Prime Minister: The government has learned in a very quick way, because there was no manual hidden somewhere in the drawers to pull out and say, this is what you do if. You know, there was no such thing. WILLEM MARX: While Moldova awaits more international support, Turcan's team connects Ukrainians with pharmacies, schools and citizens willing to house them. One of these calls helped Natalia Shvareva, her son Daniel and daughter Mira.
They fled Odessa, and after walking freezing miles to cross the border, ended up here, in the warm home of a Moldovan marketing executive, Olesea Buzu. NATALIA SHVAREVA, Ukrainian Refugee (through translator): They created such an atmosphere for us in the apartment, in the home, that we simply trusted them and that's it. Everything is simply wonderful. WILLEM MARX: Why did you decide, you and your fiance, to host people in your home? OLESEA BUZU, Moldovan Host: We decided to have somebody at our place because we thought that it is -- it is just a normal. We can. We can.
WILLEM MARX: Just... (CROSSTALK) (LAUGHTER) OLESEA BUZU: And we want -- hey. We can and we want. WILLEM MARX: It's that simple? You can and you want? OLESEA BUZU: Yes. WILLEM MARX: What does it say? OLESEA BUZU: Yes.
It's written there: "I want back home in Ukraine." And there is their flag, and then, nearby, it's Odessa. WILLEM MARX: Odessa. Can I hear your poem? "Ukraine native land," she says, "field, river, forest. You and I belong here." The Moldovan generosity to guests extends from the capital, Chisinau, to country villages like this one, where a family of toymakers is focused on Ukrainian children.
Igor Hincu is an overgrown kid who loves nothing more than creating and playing games. He may be small of stature, but he's big of heart. IGOR HINCU, Toymaker: Exactly. WILLEM MARX: Inside his workshop, lasers and fingers craft free toys with encouraging messages in this difficult time. IGOR HINCU: Ukraine cannot be broken, cannot be destroyed... WILLEM MARX: Destroyed.
IGOR HINCU: ... cannot be separated. So, you will see how we assemble them back. WILLEM MARX: While Moldova waits for more international aid, some foreign support has been here all along. DAVID SMITH, Founder, Moldova Small Enterprise Alliance: These are about to head out to a warehouse we share with another organization.
WILLEM MARX: David Smith first came to Moldova with the Peace Corps. He stayed to open a bar. And, more recently, he reopened a barbecue restaurant closed by COVID as a refugee supply center, staffed by several fellow Americans.
DAVID SMITH: This is a country, a very small country. It's doing absolutely its best, but it's really hard-hit. The population here is not enough to support this massive inflow. And Moldova needs help, so we're all doing what we can.
But, like, we're looking forward to the big help coming in too. (LAUGHTER) WILLEM MARX: This week, the World Food Program will begin supplying Moldova's placement centers and offering cash to Moldovan hosts. Women and children in strangers' houses, welcomed, for sure, but with no idea when or if they can return to their own. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Willem Marx in Chisinau, Moldova. JUDY WOODRUFF: Over the last two years, the pandemic has hammered American schools and accentuated the staffing shortages they are facing. It has led to enormous problems with teacher morale, burnout, school closures, and learning losses.
And teaching shortages have been particularly acute this year during surges of the virus. Amna Nawaz looks at that problem and the larger state of teachers' emotional health. AMNA NAWAZ: Districts around the country have struggled with staffing shortages of all kinds, including a lack of substitute teachers and support for special education. This winter, New Mexico became the first state to activate the National Guard to help fill in and teach at schools. Even though the pandemic has eased considerably, there were more than 50 National Guard troops working as substitutes across 27 school districts in the state this week. We spoke with school staff about this unusual arrangement.
DR. CINDY SIMS, Superintendent, Estancia Municipal Schools: I am Dr. Cindy Sims. I am the superintendent of Estancia Municipal Schools. We are a small school district, 542 kids.
We're located about an hour southeast of Albuquerque. SPC. SIMON HAMMOND, New Mexico National Guard: I'm Simon Hammond. And I'm with the 615th Transportation Battalion in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And for four weeks in January, I was stationed at Aztec Middle School, Aztec, New Mexico, teaching math, some Navajo language and biology. ADRIANA FLAVIAN, Teacher: My name is Adriana Flavian.
And I teach English and college success at Santa Teresa High School in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which borders El Paso, Texas. I have been teaching in education for 17 years. DR.
CINDY SIMS: Across the nation, not just in New Mexico, education systems are realizing a shortage of staffing. And it's been happening pre-COVID. And when we got our National Guardsmen in January, it was some just-in-time help that we needed. SPC. SIMON HAMMOND: We all received text messages from our unit readiness officers. And we're just like, oh, man, just loads of messaging backwards and forwards, everyone in the unit like, oh, man, they're really going to do this? Really going to send us to a school? These guys are crazy.
ADRIANA FLAVIAN: When we first heard that the National Guard were going to be asked to be substitutes, obviously, some teachers were very apprehensive. It was something out of a dystopian novel. DR. CINDY SIMS: This is just a substitute with a different -- a different attire on.
Lieutenant Colonel Corona takes lesson plans home, reviews them the night before. She's very well-prepared. She is fully licensed, qualified, background check. So, she just -- she does a phenomenal job. And it allows us to provide that continuity and consistency for our kids in person. SPC.
SIMON HAMMOND: The students were interesting at the beginning. I mean, you walked in, in your uniform, and it was -- there was a lot of, like, oh, God kind of faces, where they were just like, oh, man, they're sending the Army in? But they had lots of questions, and we were able to get through discussions with the students pretty quickly in the first couple of days. And I think that calmed everybody down. They realized we were just like most other substitute teachers they had coming in, and everyone was able to relax a little bit. ADRIANA FLAVIAN: It was a great idea, and a great solution to a very challenging problem.
Teachers were a little reluctant that the Guardsmen come on campus with uniforms. But that almost helped, because it commanded respect. Kids were kind of in awe of them, and they were very disciplined and helpful. DR. CINDY SIMS: The difference that one person can make on your campus when you're struggling is profound, the ability to have another set of hands and a person who's committed to our kids when we're out of hands, we're out of support made all the difference in our in our community and in our school. SPC.
SIMON HAMMOND: The students were great. I think the parents were really supportive. Like, teachers at the schools were just fantastic in helping us.
I think, when we left, we got this huge thank you card from the students. Everyone in the school had signed it. It just felt like we had a bit of relationship with the students. AMNA NAWAZ: Now, while some states used National Guard to backfill in other ways, like school bus drivers, New Mexico appears to be the only state to use them in the classroom. But teachers shortages are an issue around the country.
Becky Pringle is the president of the National Education Association, which represents three million educators and is the largest labor union in the country. Becky Pringle, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thanks for making the time.
I just want to get your reaction to what we saw and heard there, teaching staff and Guard troops clearly making the best of the situation, but, if we see another surge, if shortages worsen, do you see more states doing that? BECKY PRINGLE, President, National Education Association: It's good to be with you, Amna. As I listen to the educators and the superintendent talk about the fact that this is not a new problem, this is chronic, and we have been seeing the rise in educator shortages, our teachers, nurses, counselors, bus drivers, food service workers, all of them, for almost a decade-and-a-half. And so we have been sounding that alarm.
But, as with everything else, COVID-19 exacerbated that with the increased number of educators who were leaving the profession, as well as the overwhelmed, the lack of educators in the classrooms. So we're not surprised that there are people like the Governor Lujan Grisham who were looking at short-term solutions, which we know are absolutely essential to fill those gaps. But we have to be looking long-term, because this issue is not going away. And it will worsen if we don't do something about it. AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let's talk about what teachers are going through, because you asked your members how they're doing.
And here are some highlights from the result of your winter survey. Of the teachers surveyed, about 74 percent, they had had to fill in for colleagues or take other duties due to staff shortages; 90 percent said they were feeling burned out, and that it was a serious problem; 55 percent say they plan to leave their jobs sooner than plan the because of the pandemic. Becky Pringle, that was in the winter, right? We were in the middle of this massive Omicron surge. Do those numbers get better as the pandemic numbers get better? BECKY PRINGLE: Amna, I just was in Kentucky.
And I was hearing the same stories from those educators as I heard from the educators in New Mexico when I joined them for their rally. And what they're saying to us is that, while they need immediate -- we need to address the immediate concerns and fill those gaps right now, what they are looking for is long-term solutions, from respect of them as professionals, professional rights and autonomy, and what Governor Lujan Grisham did March, March 1, as a matter of fact, after the legislature voted, with every member of the legislature, whichever part they were in, voting in favor of raising teacher salaries. And not only did they raise teacher salaries, but other educator salaries as well, because they know that, for them to solve this problem long-term, they have got to invest in their educators. They have got to listen to the concerns that they have had for years. And they have got to make those changes long-term. AMNA NAWAZ: So, let me ask you about what's happening in Minneapolis right now, where the teachers are on strike, asking for better pay and better benefits.
And the district basically says, look, enrollment is down, and so are budgets. Schools have been closed there for three weeks. How much longer do you think they will stay closed? BECKY PRINGLE: We know that our local affiliate, MFT, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, is working very, very hard. And, by the way, it is not only our teachers, it's the support staff too, who are fighting to make sure that they have safe and secure schools. And we know that they are working with the reality that the school district has and the state has had a surplus, as well as the American Rescue Plan money that has come to the school district. What they are asking is that they use that money to ensure they have smaller class sizes, and that they can attract and retain educators, so our students get the quality education they deserve.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, funding seems to be at the heart of a lot of this. And the question a lot of people have is, Congress in those three COVID relief bills basically gave out $190 billion for public and private schools, most of which, it appears, have made their way to school districts. So, did any of that go towards any of these concerns? BECKY PRINGLE: Absolutely.
We have seen in those school districts where educators and the unions and parents and students, administrators are working together, they have developed a collaborative plan that is making use of those funds. And we have seen them use them to help -- to hire nurse, counselors, which we know we need, and mental health experts. We have seen them use them to partner with organizations within the community.
We have also seen them use those funds to begin the steps to build community schools, so that we can support our students, we can support that whole student with all of the needs that they have. We have had to continue to fight to make sure that those funds are used in the manner that they are intended, so that we can provide more educators, more resources, more supports for our students. AMNA NAWAZ: That is Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, joining us tonight. Thank you for your time. BECKY PRINGLE: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: This month marks the 57th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The peaceful demonstration for voting rights, met with police violence, galvanized young civil rights leaders to run for office, including the late Congressman John Lewis. Geoff Bennett reports on the legacy of that generation and a new era of lawmakers driven from protest to the halls of power. REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): I will not take off my activist hat to be in Congress.
GEOFF BENNETT: Congresswoman Cori Bush calls herself a politivist, part politician, part activist. REP. CORI BUSH: You need that outside game, which is the activist, and you need the inside game, being that person seated right here in Congress. GEOFF BENNETT: She arrived at the Capitol in 2021, an insurgent progressive, having ended the political dynasty that had represented her St. Louis district for over half-a-century. The history-making win was long in the making for Bush, whose political ascent began in 2014, when her community became the epicenter of the fight against police violence.
Walk me through your journey from organizer to lawmaker, from protester to elected politician. REP. CORI BUSH: Yes.
GEOFF BENNETT: What was that like? REP. CORI BUSH: I had no idea about what even an activist was, but Michael Brown was killed. GEOFF BENNETT: The police killing of Michael Brown ignited nights of protests in Ferguson that Bush helped lead, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement and inspiring her and others to run for elected office.
EDDIE GLAUDE JR., Princeton University: They're moving not only from direct action in the streets to actually trying to grab hold of the reins of power. GEOFF BENNETT: Eddie Glaude Jr. is the chair of the African American Studies Department at Princeton University.
He says Bush follows a tradition dating back to the civil rights movement. Historically, this hyphenate, this activist-politician role, how has it shown up over time and how has it evolved? EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: You had activists from across the wide spectrum of Black politics getting together to articulate a Black agenda. And the result was this extraordinary increase in the election of what we call BEOs, Black elected officials. GEOFF BENNETT: Activists worked to register African Americans to vote in the Jim Crow South and took that cause to Washington, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. personally appealing
to President Lyndon Johnson for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. MARTIN LUTHER KING III, Civil Rights Leader: I also requested of the president that, as soon as the bill is signed, that, immediately, federal examiners would be placed in certain key counties where we have faced a great deal of resistance. GEOFF BENNETT: Young African Americans who had organized with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, and who campaigned alongside Dr. King for the Voting Rights Act, now turned from casting a ballot to getting their names on one, like Shirley Chisholm in 1968, the first Black woman elected to Congress and to run in a major presidential primary. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, Former Presidential Candidate: What's wrong with my running for president of this country? GEOFF BENNETT: And the late Congressman John Lewis, known for giving a speech at the March on Washington and who was famously beaten and bloodied by police in 1965 as he crossed Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge to peacefully demonstrate for voting rights, an incident Lewis marked every year until his death in 2020.
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): History reminds us that, on March 7, 1965, we loved America so dearly, we were ready to die for her. GEOFF BENNETT: Lewis took his fight to Congress. REP. JOHN LEWIS: This bill is mean. It is base.
It is downright low-down. GEOFF BENNETT: In 2016, he rallied dozens of Democrats to action after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, leading a sit-in on the House floor lasting some 25 hours. REP. JOHN LEWIS: We're calling on the leadership of the House to bring commonsense gun control legislation to the House floor.
GEOFF BENNETT: Bush, currently serving her first term, says she shares Lewis' approach. REP. CORI BUSH: I pull from my toolbox as an organizer. What do you do? You put yourself on the line first. GEOFF BENNETT: This past August, some 11 million Americans were behind on rent and at risk of losing their homes, with the pandemic-related pause on evictions set to expire. Bush says she knew the feeling firsthand, as a single mom who had three times been evicted.
REP. CORI BUSH: It was just like, OK, well, we didn't get it done, so it's time to go. I couldn't understand how human beings could allow that to happen. GEOFF BENNETT: She says she pulled from the toolbox a tactic of her role model, Shirley Chisholm, who was known for saying -- quote -- "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
REP. CORI BUSH: And we need the moratorium on evictions to happen today. GEOFF BENNETT: Bush slept on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for four nights, until the White house stepped in with a temporary extension of the evictions pause. Returning to the steps now, she reflected on what it meant. So, once the president decided to extend the eviction moratorium, did you feel vindicated? REP.
CORI BUSH: Absolutely. Well, I don't know necessarily if vindicated is the word. I felt happy.
I feel like my muscle grew a little, because it showed that, even though people say that you can't do anything, you can't move anything, you have no power, you have no say -- it was unorthodox, I guess, what we did. It was -- the people have to win. GEOFF BENNETT: Six years after the death of Michael Brown pushed Bush into the political arena, Generation Z is making its way into the halls of power, fueled by the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. CHI OSSE, New York City Council Member: I was one of the individuals chanting Black Lives Matter on the streets of New York City, and that is one of the main reasons why I ran for office.
GEOFF BENNETT: Twenty-three-year-old Chi Osse, now a New York City council member, said deciding to fight for change from the inside wasn't an easy choice. Do you consider yourself to be an activist, or a politician, or some combination of both? CHI OSSE: There are some interviews that I had within the second month of running for office, and I completely rejected this idea that I was a politician or wanting to be a politician, but I think that was a bit of denial. I am a politician. But I'm also an activist. GEOFF BENNETT: Osse too made history as the first openly queer person to represent his Brooklyn district, and the first from Gen Z. And while he draws from the contributions of icons like John Lewis and Shirley Chisholm, he says he's equally inspired by his queer predecessors and by the people around him.
CHI OSSE: Who in particular inspires me? My main answer to that is my generation. And that's something that really sparked and got me here. It was the people that I was on the ground protesting with who were leading those protests, which were a lot of young people of color, young Black folks. And, of course, work was done before us to pave the way for us to do the work that we're doing now.
But there's still so much that people were trying to do to hold us back, and we still broke through. GEOFF BENNETT: But for lawmakers like Osse and Bush, the question of translating the Black Lives Matter movement's success into law remains a challenge, which Glaude says is not new to this generation. EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: We often think of the country as kind of engaging in this kind of linear
progression towards a more perfect union. And that's not quite true. It's always one step forward, two, three steps backwards. REP.
CORI BUSH: If not enough people want to focus on it, you get to hear my mouth focus on it, because I am those people. GEOFF BENNETT: Responding to some criticism that protest tactics only distract from legislation, Bush says she knows her voters best. REP. CORI BUSH: The people of St. Louis elected me with a T-shirt on and with boots.
GEOFF BENNETT: And says the failures of traditional politics are what brought her to Congress in the first place. REP. CORI BUSH: There is a situation happening in St. Louis that needs to be addressed that didn't happen overnight. But you have been here for a while, and you didn't use your power, your pin, or the purse to be able to affect that. So, now I'm here.
You built me. If you don't like how I'm doing it, you should have fixed it before Cori got here. (LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: A new generation of activists in politics, taking lessons from leaders past and carving their own way towards change. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Geoff Bennett.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At the Academy Awards this coming Sunday, the film "CODA" is nominated for three awards, including best picture. One of the main actors in "CODA," Marlee Matlin, has brought strong characters to the screen for 35 years. Tonight, she shares her Brief But Spectacular take on uplifting deaf actors and others in the disability community in Hollywood. MARLEE MATLIN, Actress (through translator): I remember when I was about or 9. I was watching TV, and I remember seeing a deaf actor on TV signing, speaking my language. And I remember thinking, boy, I love -- I'd love to act.
If I can see her acting on television, why can't I do that when I grow up? When I won my Academy Award back in 1987, people in my community, my deaf community, were saying to me, Marlee, you need to speak up, because you have to be an advocate for us. You have to do this and this, this and that on our behalf. And I was just 21.
I didn't understand what all that meant. "CODA" is about a family of four, three who are deaf, and the youngest daughter, who's hearing, and they're called the child of deaf adults, that's why it's called "CODA." And it's about the journey that this family goes through.
And it's a very positive view of deaf people, and it's a reflection of what happens in real life. It's just a feel-good movie. My experience on this set was really completely different than something I have been accustomed to. And the reason is, is because most of the people signed.
The crew learned to sign. There were deaf actors other than myself that I could involve myself in conversations with, whether it was at lunch or just talking between setups. There were interpreters everywhere. It was like one big family.
I had a conversation with a few people who let me know about the studio's thoughts of casting Troy Kotsur's character, Frank, with someone famous, hearing man, playing deaf. And I thought, hmm, it's not happening on my watch. And I said, I'm out.
I'm out of the film if you should have a hearing actor to play deaf. I have been saying recently that being deaf is not a costume. And, by that, I mean for hearing actors to play deaf, because hearing actors don't have the experience of what it's like to live with disability. They haven't lived it.
I know that people say, well, what is acting, then? And I get it. And I could play a cop or I could play a mother. I could play a teacher. I could play whatever it is, but you can't play someone deaf or disabled. It doesn't come off as real. I think people in the entertainment business don't give the disability and deaf community the time to be able to communicate and talk about how important it is to collaborate, to be able to give them a chance to learn where we all come from.
I'm Marlee Matlin, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on deaf actors in Hollywood. JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you, Marlee Matlin. And we are going to let that message sink in. And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief. And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff.
Join us online and again here tomorrow evening with analysis of the week's news from David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart. For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.
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