GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening. I'm Geoff Bennett. AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz. On the "NewsHour" tonight: the European Union's
top diplomat on global efforts to get more aid into Gaza and to support Ukraine. GEOFF BENNETT: A legal settlement allows Florida
teachers and students to talk about LGBTQ+ issues, but some restrictions remain. AMNA NAWAZ: And the pregnancy struggles of
both Israeli survivors of October 7 and cousins under siege. EMAN EL BASHLIKI, Displaced Mother From Jabalia
Refugee C
amp (through translator): I'm so exhausted. I can't even get up to play a mother's role
in my baby's life. I can't walk or get up to feed him or hold
him. (BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is taking
on Israel's far right government over the war in Gaza. AMNA NAWAZ: The highest-ranking Jewish elected
official in the United States delivered a scathing 40-minute speech today. He charged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has lost his way in t
he military drive to crush Hamas. Schumer said that Netanyahu and his government
are an obstacle to peace and that Israel needs new elections. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The Netanyahu coalition
no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. The world has changed radically since then,
and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in
the past. AMNA NAWAZ: Netanyahu's political party shot
back that Israel is -- quote -- "not a banana republic" and that
its war policy has wide
public support. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinian officials
said an aid warehouse was hit by an Israeli airstrike that killed eight people. The Israelis said one was a Hamas commander. The Palestinian Authority is getting a new
prime minister, but the choice may not satisfy U.S. calls for reforms leading to a Palestinian
state. President Mahmoud Abbas today named economist
Mohammad Mustafa to the post. He is a longtime ally to Abbas, and whether
he will undertake real chang
e is unclear. A federal judge in Florida has rejected former
President Trump's motion to dismiss the classified documents case against him. Mr. Trump is accused of illegally storing
sensitive records at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office. Today's ruling came after Trump lawyers argued
the law is vaguely worded and that he was allowed to keep anything he designated as
personal. Prosecutors disputed those claims and said
Mr. Trump urged others to lie and cover up. President Biden came out
today against the
planned sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese firm, saying it would harm American workers. That came as he made a campaign visit to Saginaw,
Michigan. It was aimed at building support from Black
and union voters. And, in Minnesota, Vice President Harris stopped
at a Planned Parenthood facility that offers abortion services. It was said to be the first time that a sitting
president or vice president has toured that kind of clinic. Former Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
has ann
ounced he's organizing a group of investors to buy TikTok. That comes after the House voted to ban the
video-sharing app in the U.S. unless it cuts ties with a Chinese-owned parent company. Mnuchin did not say who might be in that investor
group. In Japan, a high court ruled that denying
same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The court has no power to overturn existing
laws that restrict marriage. Instead, it urged the government to do so. Crowds in Tokyo cheered and hailed the decision
as a ste
p toward equality. But plaintiffs in the court case called the
ruling only a partial victory. MIYUKI FUJII, Plaintiff in Marriage Equality
Lawsuit (through translator): I still think that we are so far behind other countries. We can't really be compared to them. It feels like Japan is the only country that's
not changing. Even though our society is really changing,
Japan alone has not changed at all. I am boiling with anger. AMNA NAWAZ: Japan is the only member of the
G7 industrial democracies t
hat does not have legal protections for same-sex union. The Elon Musk company SpaceX reached a kind
of milestone today with the third test of its giant Starship rocket, but its luck didn't
last. The unmanned spacecraft blasted off from South
Texas and had a flawless flight for about an hour. But the rocket was apparently destroyed as
it headed for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Two previous test flights ended in explosions
just after liftoff. On Wall Street, mixed economic data led stocks
low
er. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 137
points to close at 38905. The Nasdaq fell 49 points. The S&P 500 slipped 14. And a passing of note. A leading civil rights activist of the 1960s,
Dorie Ann Ladner, died Monday in Washington. She began fighting for justice and equality
as a teenager in her home state of Mississippi. And she was involved in every major civil
rights protest of the '60s. Dorie Ann Ladner was 81 years old. Still to come on the "NewsHour": outrage and
concern over the trea
tment of Black women in higher education; how quantum computing
could help us understand more about the universe and beyond; the mother of slain journalist
James Foley discusses her new book about her son; plus much more. The Biden administration is struggling to
find solutions to two major foreign policy challenges, creating a cease-fire in the war
in Gaza and helping fund Ukraine's war against Russia. In each case, it's working with the European
Union, whose foreign policy chief is visiting Wa
shington. Nick Schifrin sat down with him today. NICK SCHIFRIN: And we're now joined by the
high representative for foreign affairs and security policy for the European Union, Josep
Borrell. Thank you very much. Welcome back to the "NewsHour." Let me start with Israel and Gaza. Today, as you saw, the Senate majority leader,
Chuck Schumer, made a speech at Congress, and he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is push
ing
support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Do you agree? JOSEP BORRELL, European Union Minister for
Foreign Affairs: Well, I perceive a change on the mood of the public opinion in the U.S.
with respect to what's happening in Gaza. More and more people are feeling concerned
with what I certainly can call a massacre. We have 30,000 civilians killed. It's a lot of people. President Biden and Vice President Kamala
has been saying that to many, certainly. And it is not just in the U.S. It's t
rue that
the whole world is concerned about what's happening there. NICK SCHIFRIN: I think the majority leader's
criticism was almost personal to the prime minister, to Benjamin Netanyahu. Do you agree with his criticism of Netanyahu
specifically? JOSEP BORRELL: We at the European Union, we
have priorities. One of the priorities would be to look for
a two-state solution and to give the Palestinians the right to have its own land, its own government. And, certainly, we would prefer to have a
lead
er who could be compatible with this approach. NICK SCHIFRIN: And it sounds like you don't
think Netanyahu is compatible with that approach? JOSEP BORRELL: Well, Netanyahu has been saying
and resaying that he is the most firm opposing to this solution. NICK SCHIFRIN: This week, you told the Security
Council that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. How so? JOSEP BORRELL: Do you think there is a starvation
in Gaza? Yes, it is a starvation in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people are sta
rving
literally, among them many children who have been dying by this nutrition. If there is starvation, why there is starvation? Because there is not enough humanitarian support
entering to support these people? And why is it? Because Israel is controlling the border,
and not letting humanitarian support to come in. So it is the logical consequences, no? You prevent humanitarian support from coming
and people are starving, isn't it logical cause and effect there? NICK SCHIFRIN: But accusing the
m of having
-- of using it as a weapon of war is suggesting they are doing so purposely. Israel specifically says that there is no
restriction on the number of aid trucks getting in or the amount of aid getting in, and they
blame the United Nations and a lack of capacity for the lack of it. JOSEP BORRELL: Well, I don't think so. NICK SCHIFRIN: Why not? What's your evidence that it is Israel's fault? JOSEP BORRELL: There's a lot of evidence that
the controls in the border prevent the support to c
ome in. I don't think Israel can say that it's doing
everything in order to support coming in to Gaza. NICK SCHIFRIN: In the same speech where you
accused Israel of using food as a weapon of war, you did not call on Hamas to release
the hostages or lay down their arms. JOSEP BORRELL: Oh, come on. I'm saying that every time. Every time I take the floor, I start saying
that the freedom of the hostages is a must and Hamas just to release it. I have been saying and resaying and repeating. And I don'
t care to say it again, that Hamas
is considered a terrorist organization that launched an attack that is completely unacceptable,
and the hostages has to be freed. NICK SCHIFRIN: Let's switch to Ukraine. Have you been able to speak to Speaker of
the House Mike Johnson to urge him to allow for a vote for the $60 billion military and
economic aid support package for Ukraine that has been stalled in the House? JOSEP BORRELL: No, not with the speaker of
the House, but I had the opportunity to talk
with some members of the -- a member of the
House from the Republican side. And I tried to explain him and ask him to
explain to their colleagues, just imagine which could be the consequences of a blockage
of the American support to Ukraine. Just imagine the Russian tanks breaking the
defense lines of Ukraine, heading to Kyiv, putting a puppet government in Kyiv, putting
Ukrainian people on an authoritarian regime. And we know how the Russian authoritarian
regime works. Putting the Russian army
on the borders of
Poland and the Baltics, being a serious threat to Moldova. The security cost for us, Europeans, and for
you, U.S. people, of a Russian victory in Ukraine is so great, so big, so unbearable
that I urge everybody to understand that the support to Ukraine has to continue, not only
for generosity with the people who are defending themselves from an invasion, but also in our
own interest. NICK SCHIFRIN: Can the European Union provide
military aid to Ukraine that is in enough quantit
y to replace American military assistance? JOSEP BORRELL: From the military point of
view, no. You have been a stronger supporter because
you have a stronger military capacity, you know? Nobody can compete with the U.S. Army and
the U.S. military capacities. And, certainly, if you could stop doing that,
no one else can take your place. NICK SCHIFRIN: There are already questions
in Europe, as you know, about us reliability. I have been told that there's military planning,
for example, in Germany
if the U.S. withdraws from NATO. There are even people considering whether
the United Kingdom and France should offer a nuclear security guarantee to Europe. Do you support some of those conversations? JOSEP BORRELL: Well, there is not alternative
for NATO to ensure Europe in front of the territorial threat that Russia can represent. But, at the same time, there is a growing
feeling among Europeans that we have to develop more our own capacities, just in case, just
in case that, in the future, w
e should take more responsibility from our side. And this is not a bad deal. By the contrary, I think that this war has
represented a wake-up for the European strategic thinking. It's a general feeling among the Europeans
that we live in a challenging world, that we make peace among us, but peace is not the
rule. And we have to be ready to face a challenge. NICK SCHIFRIN: And is it not only about the
war? It also about the Republican nominee for president
of the United States, Donald Trump, who
called the European Union an economic foe and who
has questioned whether the United States, if he were to be reelected, would defend NATO
allies under Article 5? JOSEP BORRELL: Well, if Trump is reelected,
we will think about Trump. At the time being, we think about Biden. NICK SCHIFRIN: Josep Borrell, thank you very
much. JOSEP BORRELL: Thank you. GEOFF BENNETT: Students and teachers in Florida
can now discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in a classroom setting as long as
it's not par
t of formal instruction. That's an important change that's part of
a new settlement reached between state education officials and civil rights attorneys who challenged
a law labeled by critics as the don't say gay law. Here's Stephanie Sy. STEPHANIE SY: Geoff, this may be a state law,
but it has reached beyond Florida, with other conservative states inspired by the prohibitions. What the law has meant in Florida is teachers
afraid to even use the words gay or transgender when speaking to student
s outside the classroom
or even celebrating their own identity or support of the LGBTQ community with, say,
rainbow stickers. But with this settlement, at least some of
those concerns may be put to rest. Joe Saunders with Equality Florida, an LGBTQ
advocacy group, told us this: JOE SAUNDERS, Equality Florida: There is no
question that, following this settlement, students, teachers, parents of LGBTQ students
and LGBTQ parents can say gay, can say trans, can be gay, can be trans in Florida's publi
c
school system and not be afraid of the bullying and the weaponization of this law to lead
to sweeping censorship. STEPHANIE SY: However, the law was not repealed
and still forbids explicit class curriculum dealing with LGBTQ topics. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the
settlement a major win this week. For more on what this all means, I'm joined
by Danielle Prieur, education reporter with WMFE, the NPR affiliate in Orlando. Danielle, thank you for joining the "NewsHour." Help us unders
tand what this settlement actually
changed. I understand the text of the law was altered. DANIELLE PRIEUR, WMFE Reporter: So it actually
clarified the language of the law. The law was quite vague. And moving forward, as we heard in your clip,
parents and teachers and students will be able to speak freely and write freely about
gender identity and sexuality in classroom discussions, on essays, on projects. Kids can read books again with gay characters. Teachers can put safe space stickers up and
also have gay-straight alliances and other kind of LGBTQ clubs at schools. So it really gutted large parts of the law
and clarified it. STEPHANIE SY: But, Danielle, the law does
still remain in effect. What restrictions are still in place? DANIELLE PRIEUR: Yes, so the law still bans
outright instruction about gender identity and sexuality here in Florida. So that would include like a class or a book
or even a unit in a section of a textbook that would instruct people in any way about
gender iden
tity and sexuality. So the law is still in effect, as well as
a lot of the policies that were kind of inspired by the law, things like banning AP African
American history because there was a queer theory unit, or making it so that sociology
is no longer a core curriculum course for undergrads here because it talked about human
sexuality. So a lot of the law and the policies around
the law still are very much in effect here in Florida. STEPHANIE SY: It's interesting that it seems
both sides of th
is, both LGBTQ advocates, as well as Governor DeSantis, seem to view
this as a good thing. How do you figure that? DANIELLE PRIEUR: Yes, so, basically, the law,
it's not overturned and it's not repealed. It's still very much in effect. So that's a win for the governor and for his
party. This was a big win for his conservative base
in 2022, when it was passed. But it's also a big win for LGBTQ advocates,
folks who have lived under this law for two years and were afraid to be out publicly in
the s
chool system, fearing what might happen if you said the wrong thing or as a teacher
maybe have the wrong book in their classroom. So, this is a really kind of huge moment for
the state of Florida. STEPHANIE SY: You have been reporting on the
impacts, Danielle, of this law, the impacts it's had on kids and families who identify
as LGBTQ. What has it been like for them since this
law passed and how are they reacting to the settlement? DANIELLE PRIEUR: I have spoken to so many
people who, whether t
hey're a teacher who's gay or a student who's gay, who felt like
they really couldn't be gay, felt like they had to either stay in the closet or go back
in the closet, felt just very hurt and very sad by the fact that a big part of their identity
was something that was somehow not appropriate enough to have in Florida schools. So this is such a win and such a celebratory
time and celebration for them. I spoke with several plaintiffs who were on
the lawsuit that kind of resulted in this settlemen
t. And they said that their 10-year-old son just
said: "Wow, does this mean we can finally say gay? Can we finally say gay, mom? And look what we did." So this is a big moment, I think, for LGBTQ
people throughout the state of Florida. STEPHANIE SY: And yet other conservative states
used this Florida law as a template for their own prohibitions. When it comes to Florida, where does it go
from here as far as legislation that would impact its LGBTQ citizens? DANIELLE PRIEUR: Well, our legislative
session,
our last one, just ended on Friday. And most of our strongest anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans
bills actually died in session. So there's kind of a trend that we're seeing
that this kind of anti-LGBTQ push that was so strong before is weakening a bit here in
Florida. And I know a lot of the plaintiffs on the
lawsuit and people that were a part of the settlement really hope people in other states
are paying close attention, because they said, look. Look what we did.Look what we were able to
acc
omplish. There were protests at local high schools
when this bill became a law. And, obviously, this lawsuit itself shows,
sometimes, when you speak up, and you speak up and fight for a long time, that things
can change. So they're hoping to inspire other people
in states that still have kind of strong anti-LGBTQ laws in place. And, of course, Florida itself still has a
lot of those laws in place, things like a ban on gender-affirming care. So, we will have to see kind of the ripple
effects of t
his settlement here in Florida and throughout the country. STEPHANIE SY: Absolutely. Danielle Prieur with WMFE in Orlando, thanks
so much for your reporting. DANIELLE PRIEUR: Thank you. AMNA NAWAZ: Of the many horrors endured by
Palestinians and Israelis since the Hamas attacks of October 7, perhaps none is more
acute than those of expectant mothers. For the last several months, special correspondent
Leila Molana-Allen has been charting the progress of their pain, their pregnancies, their sorrow
s
and their joys. She brings us their stories now. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Each day in Gaza, mothers
search desperately for food for their children. By night, as Israeli airstrikes pound the
strip, they pray those children will live to see morning. Expectant mothers live in fear their babies
will never be born at all. An estimated 50,000 women in Gaza are currently
pregnant, with about 180 babies being born each day. Medical staff report newborns being birthed
on blood-soaked floors and in dirty bat
hrooms of overwhelmed hospitals, and Caesarean sections
carried out without anesthetic. Three months ago, Eman El Bashliki had an
emergency C-section after she went into labor while fleeing heavy bombing in North Gaza. EMAN EL BASHLIKI, Displaced Mother From Jabalia
Refugee Camp (through translator): They bombed all the hospitals in the north in the Jabalia
camp, and the bombing was happening over our heads. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Her displaced family is
now living in filthy conditions, so the woun
ds from her Caesarean surgery have become badly
infected. With medical stocks almost wiped out, she's
hoping the doctors will still have enough antibiotics left to help her. EMAN EL BASHLIKI (through translator): I'm
so exhausted. I can't even get up to play a mother's role
in my baby's life. I can't walk or get up to feed him or hold
him. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Trapped by bombing for
weeks, three months pregnant, Eman Mashaeer finally made it here for a checkup. The doctors had devastating news. T
here was no heartbeat. Worse still, they haven't been able to operate
to remove the fetus because there are just too many critically injured patients they
have to treat first. If Eman has to wait much longer, sepsis could
kill her. EMAN MASHAEER, Displaced Mother From Central
Gaza (through translator): I have known for a month now that my baby is dead, and they
still haven't removed it because of the huge numbers of people here. I'm scared because I have to have an operation
without any anesthes
ia. The doctor says I might become poisoned by
the failed pregnancy. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Severe malnutrition, scarce
clean water and dire living conditions are leading to a massive rise in premature and
underweight births, miscarriages and death of mothers and newborns. Most of Gaza's hospitals have collapsed, thanks
to Israel's aerial bombardment and the siege, cutting off medical supplies and electricity. Rafah's Emirati Hospital is still hanging
on. Doctors and midwives here do what they can
to cope. Dr. Sanaa El Jazar is a resident pediatrician. DR. SANAA EL JAZAR, Resident Pediatrician, Emirati
Hospital (through translator): There is a high percentage of critical cases coming in
and a high percentage of death. A lot of women are giving birth prematurely
as a result of fear and the war and chaotic living circumstances. After the women go home with their babies,
they come back a few days later because their babies have dehydration or they have diarrhea
or they're vomiting. LEILA MOL
ANA-ALLEN: UNICEF's Tess Ingram was
horrified by the condition she found mothers and babies enduring on a recent visit. TESS INGRAM, UNICEF: It is unbelievable what
is happening here at the Emirati Hospital. The situation is very desperate. Some of the mothers haven't made it through
giving birth. We're calling for an immediate cease-fire,
so that the fighting can stop and so that UNICEF and other aid agencies can bring them
the help that they need. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As Hamas rockets continue
to fall across the border in Israel, expectant mothers live in the shadow of this war. Ilana Polat is a midwife at Sderot Hospital,
one of the largest in Southern Israel. The maternity clinic here has been moved into
a reinforced concrete shelter after multiple rockets hit the hospital. ILANA POLAT, Midwife: Very scary for women,
very scary for the families and for the babies, because any time we can hear a siren, and
we are not in a protected area, we need to run, and women after birth with epi
dural cannot
run. Yes, it's here. We can -- now maybe we will hear the siren
here. So, it's very emotional time and very stressful
time. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Noa Tzarfati thought she
wouldn't survive to see her second child born or be able to save her first. On October 7, she, her husband and their toddler
Michael hid for a full day and night as Hamas terrorists rampaged through their hometown
of Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the Gaza border, killing everyone they could find. NOA TZARFATI, October 7 Attack
Survivor (through
translator): I find it extremely hard to talk about those hours. I sat there waiting for them to kill him. I could barely look at my son because I understood
in my head that his life was about to end. And imagine thinking that for 25 hours. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In her second trimester,
as the hours ticked by and she grew weaker, Noa felt sure she would lose the baby. Finally, they were rescued by IDF soldiers
the next morning. High school teacher Noa used to be liberal
to her c
ore. She taught her students to value all life
on both sides of the border. Now she doesn't know if she will ever feel
safe again. NOA TZARFATI (through translator): Everything
has changed. I don't care about anyone in Gaza anymore. I won't forgive them. When something like that happens, something
very, very deep breaks inside you. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Noa says she will never
go back to Kfar Aza. She's now had a baby boy, Yair, and hopes
they will find a new home with what's left of their communi
ty. Back in Gaza, displaced multiple times and
under daily bombardment, new mothers have nowhere safe to go, but barely functioning
hospitals have no space to keep them. If they're lucky enough to survive a safe
birth in these conditions, they go home to filthy freezing cold shelters living on a
single meal a day. Baby formula has run out. To breast-feed, mothers need to drink 16 cups
of water a day. Gazans are currently lucky to find two cups. DR. SANAA EL JAZAR (through translator): If people
don't have sympathy for newborn babies, for the elderly, for children living on the streets,
then I don't know what to say after everything they have seen. Jawaher Asaad gave birth an hour ago, but
she hasn't been able to hold her baby, Yaman, yet. He's in intensive care. They're both facing life-threatening breathing
issues because of the toxic smoke Jawaher has been breathing in from the improvised
stove they use to keep warm. JAWAHER ASAAD, Displaced Mother (through translator):
This pregnanc
y was really hard on me. There is no food. I haven't eaten in a week. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Jawaher doesn't know how
she will feed baby Yaman or the 12 other bereaved kids from her extended family waiting back
in their tent. JAWAHER ASAAD (through translator): Our kids
don't deserve to live any of this, to be thrown into the streets without food, without shelter,
even without clothes. The rain and cold pour down on us, and we
don't have anywhere to take shelter. And now I have given birth. God sav
e us from what we're living. LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: The U.N. has called Gaza
a graveyard for children. Nearly 12,500 Gaza children have been killed
since Israel's attack began. That's more than the total number of children
killed in all other global conflicts in the previous four years combined. Mothers desperate to keep their children safe
can do little but pray for an end to their nightmare. As this brutal war lurches on, hopes of a
peaceful future for Palestinian and Israeli children look starke
r than ever. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen
on the Israel-Gaza border. GEOFF BENNETT: The death of an administrator
at Lincoln University in Missouri earlier this year has sparked outrage and broader
concern about the treatment of black women in higher education. Antoinette Candia-Bailey died by suicide in
January and left scathing letters where she alleged a pattern of bullying and harassment
at the hands of the university's president, John B. Moseley. He is now on paid administ
rative leave pending
an investigation. That came just weeks after Harvard's former
president, Claudine Gay, resigned under pressure, all of it leading to a dialogue in academia
about the particular challenges and pressures that black women face. We spoke to a few women about this as part
of our ongoing coverage of Race Matters, and here's part of what they told us. KECIA THOMAS, University of Alabama at Birmingham:
I'm Kecia Thomas. I'm at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. CANDACE PARRISH
, University of North Carolina,
Wilmington: My name is Dr. Candace Parrish, and I am currently a visiting assistant professor
at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. CHAYA CROWDER, Loyola Marymount University:
My name is Chaya Crowder and I am an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science
and International Relations at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. KECIA THOMAS: I certainly had not been exposed
to a case as tragic as Dr. Bailey's, although, for those of us
in higher ed, especially those
of us who are in senior positions or leadership positions, it is often a conversation around
the chronic stress that we experience, the burnout that is experienced, but also the
isolation that has followed us for our entire careers. CANDACE PARRISH: I was very sad that it had
gone so far and that she felt like she did not have the resources or what she needed
to overcome this sort of situation. And it just got me thinking about how many
more people like myself actu
ally experience the sort of travesties in academia. CHAYA CROWDER: I have absolutely experienced
microaggressions with regard to the intersection of both my race and gender. In my entire time in my Ph.D. program, there
was never another black person above me or below me in American Politics. And so it was a very isolating experience. KECIA THOMAS: I have had those experiences,
as have my colleagues, and it's not simply within our career. It starts in college and graduate school,
and some of us e
ven earlier. And so many of us see our education as an
investment in our future and the futures of our families. CANDACE PARRISH: In my Ph.D. Program, it was
a very, very tough experience in which there were several periods where I almost quit. There was a lack of support and there were
people who are in charge of my academic destiny as a Ph.D. student who were manipulating things
to go against my favor. CHAYA CROWDER: With everything happening in
the world right now, when there are coordinated
efforts on the part of individuals and institutions
to attack the credibility of your academic work, and that's already something that brings
anxieties, it can be particularly distressing. KECIA THOMAS: Some of what we have talked
about today, I have heard similar complaints from colleagues in law, in medicine, industries
across the board. I think higher ed is different because oftentimes
we are so severely underrepresented. CANDACE PARRISH: I have actually stopped recommending
academia as a val
id job and community position to young people who want to pursue Ph.D.s
in teaching. I cannot vouch for their experiences, knowing
the horrible things that I have gone through and how much emotional time and space it has
taken. GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk more about the particular
stresses that black women in academia face. Dr. Bridget Goosby is professor of sociology
and co-director of the LifeHD Health Disparities Research Lab at the University of Texas at
Austin. Thanks so much for being with u
s. DR. BRIDGET GOOSBY, The University of Texas at
Austin: Thank you so much for having me, Geoff. GEOFF BENNETT: Two consistent themes we heard
from the professors who spoke with us, the sense of isolation and a lack of support. How does that square with what you found in
your own research? DR. BRIDGET GOOSBY: That is definitely commiserate
with what we're finding in the work that we're doing right now, collecting data on Black
women faculty on the tenure track, that they do experience forms of
isolation, feeling
like they are left out. Networks are not available to them. They're available to their colleagues. And the experiences of this lack of support
that they have is definitely something that we're seeing in the work that we're doing. GEOFF BENNETT: And we should say that academia
can be a high-pressure, high-stress, intense, some might say toxic environment no matter
one's background. What are some of the particular pressures
that Black women face in higher education? DR. BRIDGET
GOOSBY: This speaks to what the women
in the interviews were already saying, which is that we tend to be underrepresented. We make up 3.7 percent of overall of tenure
track faculty in the United States. And so, when we think about the high pressure
of the positions of being faculty members, this means that, on top of the stress and
demand of being researchers, productive researchers, successful teachers, we also are in a space
where people may not even recognize that we are the onlys, and that o
ur experience is
unique, and that we are more likely to experience racism and sexism, the intersections of those
things in those spaces. We're also more likely to be cut out of networks
because we don't fit necessarily because we are so underrepresented. So, there are a litany of different situations
that make our experience as Black women unique in the stressful conditions that we face as
tenure track faculty or faculty in higher education. GEOFF BENNETT: What do viable solutions look
like at t
his point? DR. BRIDGET GOOSBY: Well, viable solutions would
be, one, identifying the stressors that Black women are facing and trying to mitigate the
situations that they're in, protections for women who are experiencing racism, harassment,
discrimination in these spaces, recognizing the fact that we come from a historically
disadvantaged group and are underrepresented, which means that, in these spaces, we are
experiencing a lot of these kinds of stressors without the kinds now -- increasingly,
possibly
without the kinds of protections that we would like to see more of moving forward. GEOFF BENNETT: How has the conservative crackdown
on DEI initiatives, diversity, equity, and inclusion, how has that affected the effort
to attract and retain Black women in higher education? DR. BRIDGET GOOSBY: So, this is -- we're still
in the nascent stages of this, but I will say that it is definitely something that's
going to continue to have a chilling effect on the ability to recruit and retain Bl
ack
women in academia. As was mentioned, can you really advise women
to go into -- Black women to go into these spaces, when we're being publicly kind of
singled out and discredited, and now without the kind of protections of DEI, which was
-- as a system, was there to kind of help with increasing diversity and inclusion overall
being gone? This means that this could be complicated
situation for Black women to be in, without having the kinds of protections that might
have been put forward by DEI
previously. GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Bridget Goosby, we appreciate
your insights and your time this evening. Thank you. DR. BRIDGET GOOSBY: Thank you. GEOFF BENNETT: Scientists, researchers, and
some big companies are eager to jump-start the next generation of computing, one that
will be far more sophisticated and dependent on understanding the subatomic nature of the
universe. But it's a huge challenge to take this new
quantum leap forward. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien has more. MILES O'BRIEN
: It's a chandelier that may
soon shed light on the true nature of nature, a quantum computer designed to understand
the rules of the physical world to find new ways to cure diseases, stop pandemics, develop
renewable energy, and tackle the climate emergency. DARIO GIL, Senior Vice President and Director
of IBM Research: If we want to understand nature, since nature obeys quantum mechanics,
let's build a machine. Let's build technology that works like nature. MILES O'BRIEN: Dario Gil is senior v
ice president
and the director of IBM research in Yorktown Heights, New York. Computers today operate in the binary language
of ones and zeros. Fast and capable, sure, but they are, after
all, digital totems of reality. DARIO GIL: So, no matter how hard we try,
the best we can do is to approximate the complexity of our world. And quantum machines are the first technology
that we have created that allows us to, by mimicking that behavior of the natural world
of quantum physics, to be able to simu
late it, to understand it better. MILES O'BRIEN: These intricate machines are
designed to do just that. At the bottom are simulated atomic particles
called qubits which act in mysterious, nonintuitive ways. The manner in which they spin and interact
can greatly increase the capability and efficiency of computers. Besides being a potential game changer for
solving problems in the natural world, quantum computers may lead to greater optimization
in manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and fin
ance. And they have the potential to challenge and
revolutionize encryption. DAVID AWSCHALOM, University of Chicago: I
believe we are at the birth of a revolution in technology, a different way of thinking
about information. MILES O'BRIEN: Quantum physicist David Awschalom
is a professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University
of Chicago. DAVID AWSCHALOM: Well, I think our classical
view of the world and classical modeling of the world has worked very well.
And it's helped us quite a bit and it continues
to help us. But some of us think about this moving a little
bit from a world of black and white into color. MILES O'BRIEN: He gave me a tour of his quantum
measurement laboratory. What is the goal of this lab anyway? What are you up to here? DAVID AWSCHALOM: Yes, so, here, we're developing
new experimental techniques to be able to look at individual electrons and atoms and
see how they convey quantum information. MILES O'BRIEN: They combine fast pu
lses of
light and microwaves to experiment with individual atoms and electrons. DAVID AWSCHALOM: And measure their properties. This is a way to investigate them, atom and
electron by atom. MILES O'BRIEN: So you're able to manipulate
at the atomic level. DAVID AWSCHALOM: Correct. MILES O'BRIEN: You're controlling atoms. DAVID AWSCHALOM: With microwaves, and we probe
them with pulses of light. MILES O'BRIEN: But controlling atoms is no
small feat. It turns out qubits are very delicate, creating
a
big engineering challenge in designing quantum computers. ERIK LUCERO, Director, Google Quantum A.I. Lab: So we are in the Google Quantum A.I. lab and we are surrounded by a fleet of quantum
computers. MILES O'BRIEN: Physicist Erik Lucero is a
lead engineer for Google's quantum computing enterprise based in Santa Barbara, California. ERIK LUCERO: Each one of these are testing
something slightly different. MILES O'BRIEN: Quantum computers look like
a Rube Goldberg espresso maker in order to keep
their finicky qubits happy. For them to remain able to compute problems,
they cannot be disturbed by the slightest bit of noise, electromagnetic or thermal. ERIK LUCERO: We want to make sure that the
thermal noise is well below our quantum signal, OK, so we make our systems out of superconducting
electronics. MILES O'BRIEN: Which means they have to be
kept cold, extremely cold. Everywhere we went, the computers had to be
chilled to almost absolute zero, or about 460-degrees-below-zero Fahrenheit
. Simply sending commands to and receiving responses
from qubits without disturbing them is a Herculean task. ERIK LUCERO: We're learning about information
that it's so much more delicate in the ways that we have to interact with it. When we go and actually interact with these
systems, we can alter it. MILES O'BRIEN: As a result, the quantum computers
that exist today are riddled with errors. Researchers deal with this through statistical
analysis and sophisticated error correction techniques. B
ut achieving a fully error-corrected quantum
computer is their goal. ERIK LUCERO: The summit for us is to build
a fault-tolerant, error-corrected quantum computer. MILES O'BRIEN: The race is on to be first. And China appears to be the leader. Its announced investment in quantum computing
is more than $15 billion. IBM and Google don't share the amount they
are spending internally on quantum computing research and development, but, in May of 2023,
the companies announced a $150 million gift to the
universities of Chicago and Tokyo to
try and keep pace with the Chinese. JAY GAMBETTA, IBM Vice President of Quantum:
You're probably standing between two of the biggest quantum computers in the world. MILES O'BRIEN: So if I stay here long enough,
I will get smarter? JAY GAMBETTA: Possibly. (LAUGHTER) MILES O'BRIEN: Back in Yorktown Heights, I
met IBM's V.P. of quantum, Jay Gambetta. The company is already rolling out quantum
computers that are not perfect, but are built with some error correct
ion. JAY GAMBETTA: If we can increase the rate
at which we can scale, whilst continuing to make improvements on the performance, we will
be in a point where these will be able to do something we could never do with classical
computing. MILES O'BRIEN: The company has already deployed
more than 75 quantum computers. Mostly, users are trying to find ways to program
these machines. It's entirely different than classical computer
coding. DARIO GIL: It is definitely going to be a
huge competition. I t
hink this needs to be the decade where
quantum computing emerges as a technology that will be a permanent part of the landscape
of the world of computing. But a race also has a connotation that, like,
you run something and it ends. I don't see this as ending. MILES O'BRIEN: Researchers say a practical,
error-free quantum computer may be a decade away, but the goal of solving huge problems
with the smallest particles in the universe is alluring enough to quicken their work. For the "PBS NewsHour,
" I'm Miles O'Brien
in Yorktown Heights, New York. AMNA NAWAZ: Tomorrow marks 13 years since
the beginning of the Syrian civil war. What began as a civil uprising against President
Bashar al-Assad is a conflict that's now killed an estimated half-a-million people. One group fighting the Assad regime is the
Islamic State, or ISIS, who also targeted journalists. Jim Foley was an American journalist covering
the war when he was kidnapped by ISIS terrorists in 2012 and publicly beheaded two years la
ter. His murder shocked the world. A decade later, his mother, Diane Foley, tells
Jim's story and how she came to be a leading advocate for Americans held hostage abroad. That's all in her new book, "American Mother." And Diane Foley joins me now. Welcome back to the "NewsHour." DIANE FOLEY, Co-Author, "American Mother":
Thank you. AMNA NAWAZ: So you have joined us here on
the "NewsHour" many times to talk about Jim, to talk about the extraordinary work that
you do. What was it that told you had
to pull all
of this together in a book right now? DIANE FOLEY: I really think the way we remember
where we have been and our challenges going forward is by telling stories. Jim was a storyteller. All that you do, you help us remember what
is happening in the world. And Jim, it was time. I was feeling that it's been 10 years. Some people were children when this happened
to Jim. And we have accomplished a lot as U.S. government. I'm so grateful for all the good people who
stepped up and made it h
appen, donated, been so generous. But the challenges are great. And I just felt it was time to tell the story
and learn from it, if you would, and to inspire others, take up the torch. AMNA NAWAZ: I noticed, even as we're sitting
here, your eyes occasionally flick over to the photo and Jim's face. What's it like for you to see that photo? DIANE FOLEY: Oh, Jim was such a -- he was
the oldest of our five children, a beloved son. But he's challenged me. He's challenged me, because I failed him,
Amn
a. I did. Our government failed him. We failed these young Americans, not just
Jim, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla, as well as Luke Somers and Warren Weinstein
were killed in that same time frame. So we failed. And we are learning. President Obama fed up the Hostage Fusion
Cell that still exists. We have a brilliant current hostage special
envoy at the State Department. More than 100 people have come home since
2014, a lot of good things to celebrate. But the challenge remains. More and
more countries are targeting our
citizens. And we're very challenged, as the Foley Foundation,
as is our government, to handle it all. AMNA NAWAZ: You open this book, Diane, with
an absolutely astonishing moment, which is when you sit down in the same room across
the table from one of the men who kidnapped your son and brutally tortured your son and
had pled guilty to the role he played in your son's death. And one of the first things you say to him
as you sit down is: "Good morning. You can ca
ll me Diane." DIANE FOLEY: Yes. Well... AMNA NAWAZ: What made you want to go sit down
and talk to him? DIANE FOLEY: A lot of things. Jim would have talked to him. Jim would have wanted to hear him out. Jim had worked with a lot of disenfranchised
young people like Alexanda, who was so vulnerable to all the radicalization. But I also, as a mom, wanted to tell him who
Jim was. And I really wanted to be able to see him
as a human being who had made some horrific choices. And it was good. It was goo
d. I was grateful that God gave me the strength
to do it. AMNA NAWAZ: You also write about yourself
and your husband, John, at one point, and you say: "It is incredible, though, what you
don't know about your own child. Maybe it's the same for every parent, but
it struck John and me years later that we didn't really know Jim all that well, not
in his entirety, until after he was gone." DIANE FOLEY: I know. AMNA NAWAZ: What did you learn about your
son? DIANE FOLEY: So much. Jim was our oldest. A
nd because we had four others, I was quite
busy... (LAUGHTER) DIANE FOLEY: ... and with the younger ones
and working part-time, and I loved my work as a nurse practitioner. So, Jim, when he came home, wanted to interview
us, wanted to know how we were. What's up? What's going on? And really didn't share a lot about what he
was up to. He really didn't share a lot, I realized. And it was really only after his death that
I realized how many people he touched, how many lives he mentored. I had no cl
ue about anything, because Jim
never talked about it, you know? AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned the foundation that
now carries his name, the James Foley Foundation. You have already changed how this U.S. government
handles hostage affairs. You advocate for the dozens of Americans who
are still held hostage abroad right now. But I should note, I see how hard you work. Others who know this work see that your own
family has asked you to slow down. What is it that keeps you so devoted and so
dedicated an
d moving forward every single day? DIANE FOLEY: Well, I'm challenged by the needs
that continue. We have definitely improved as a government,
but we have a long ways to go. We have nation-states that are targeting our
citizens now and wrongfully arresting them. We have got to figure out how to deter this
practice. We must, because a lot of people are still
suffering. And it's still hard to get the attention for
some of these families, even with the wrongful detention process. It's rather opaque.
We're struggling, working with our government
to try to figure out ways to help people understand where they are in the process and what is
possible for the government, what is not, what we need third-party experts to help with. Our government can't do everything. So that's partly our role, trying to help
families figure out how to get the attention they need to bring their loved one home. AMNA NAWAZ: What do you think Jim would think
of the work you're doing today? DIANE FOLEY: I think he'd be
doing some of
that, to be honest, although I don't think he would have left his beloved journalism. He believed in the power of journalism, and
he really believed that we had to be in conflict zones,we had to bear witness. He really believed in that. So I think he'd be doing what he was doing,
and I think he would want someone to be advocating for those who are targeted and held hostage. AMNA NAWAZ: The book is "American Mother,"
co-written by Colum McCann and Diane Foley. Diane, always a pleas
ure to have you here. Thank you. DIANE FOLEY: Thank you so much, Amna. GEOFF BENNETT: And join us again here tomorrow
night for Amna's exclusive interview with Department of Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas. And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Geoff Bennett. AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz. On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank
you for joining us.
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