JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Zimbabwe's post presidential-election violence. Police and
military open fire on opposition supporters, as the country waits for the final vote tally.
Then: An Internet conspiracy group surfaces during a Trump rally. Inside the online world
of QAnon and what their presence means for the Republican Party.
And with many residents still not connected to the power grid, the debate over the future
of energy in the Navajo Nation.
Plus: telling Monticello's history beyond Thomas Jefferson. New exhibitions reveal the
complex legacy of Sally Hemings and slavery in early America.
NIYA BATES, Monticello Public Historian of Slavery and African-American Life: We, as
Americans, don't address some of the more complex issues of slavery, of sex, of power,
of ownership. And that is what is really interesting about Sally Hemings and her story
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Trump is being criticized tonight over his latest demand to end the
special counsel's Russia investigation.
In a tweet this morning, he said: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this rigged
witch-hunt right now."
In fact, Sessions has recused himself from any role in the probe, and the tweet drew
disapproval from both political parties, especially Democrats, including Senator Richard Blumenthal
of Connecticut.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), Connecticut: This tweet strikes me as very close to obstruction
of justice. If it isn't a criminal act itself, it's certainly evidence of the intent to obstruct
justice. The president has no legitimate power to stop a lawful investigation by a federal
prosecutor, and especially when it's of himself.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and several other Republicans made the same point
about the president's powers and said the Mueller investigation needs to run its course.
Later, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders insisted the president didn't actually direct
Sessions to do anything.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, White House Press Secretary: It's not an order. It's the president's
opinion.
And it's ridiculous that all of the corruption and dishonesty that's gone on with the launching
of the witch-hunt, the president wants to -- has watched this process play out, but
he also wants to see it come to an end, as he has stated many times, and we look forward
to that happening.
Look, the president is not obstructing. He's fighting back.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating alleged obstruction by the
president and whether his presidential campaign cooperated with the Russians.
Meanwhile, it was day two in the criminal trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul
Manafort. He's accused of tax and bank fraud in the years before his campaign role. Earlier,
the president suggested that Manafort has been treated worse than Al Capone, the Chicago
mobster who went to prison in the 1930s for income tax evasion.
Mr. Trump is also unhappy with the Justice Department over 3-D-printed guns. Justice
had dropped efforts to block online instructions for making the plastic weapons. The White
House said today that the president never approved dropping the case, and that he's
glad a federal judge has now barred release of the blueprints.
Fire damages are still climbing in Northern California. Officials said today that the
Carr Fire has destroyed more than 1,000 homes and 440 other buildings. It's been burning
west of Redding for more than a week, and has killed at least six people. Thousands
of firefighters have only been able to contain 35 percent of the fire so far.
And Governor Jerry Brown said the state is being pushed to its financial limits.
GOV. JERRY BROWN (D), California: We have got the money now, but I would say that things
will get much tighter in the next five years. Over a decade or so, we're going to have more
fire, more destructive fire, more billions that will have to be spent on it, more adaptation,
more prevention. So all that is the new normal that we have to face.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yet another fire ignited overnight, in Mendocino County south of -- or, rather,
north of San Francisco. It threatens another 60 homes.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled today against President Trump's threat to
withhold funding for sanctuary cities. The court said only Congress may stop funding
for cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws. It also said a lower court must hold
more hearings before it tries to ban the president's order nationwide.
The presumed remains of dozens of dead American service members from the Korean War headed
home today. A ceremony was held at South Korea's Osan Air Base, where 55 boxes arrived from
North Korea last week. Then they were flown to Hawaii for DNA analysis. This follows the
June summit between North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, and President Trump. In all,
some 7,700 Americans are still listed as missing from the Korean war.
In Mexico, investigators began examining the wreckage of an Aeromexico passenger jetliner.
It crashed Tuesday in the northern state of Durango. All 103 people on board survived,
but dozens were injured. TV images showed the wreckage engulfed in fire.
A witness reported hail, and Durango's governor said high wind slammed the plane as it was
taking off.
JOSE ROSAS AISPURO, Governor of Durango, Mexico (through translator): The plane hit the ground
with the left wing, losing both engines on that wing. The aircraft overshot the runway
and stopped approximately 300 meters from the runway in a horizontal position, which
allowed the activation of the escape slides and a timely evacuation of the passengers
before the aircraft caught fire.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The governor said that, in addition to the weather, mechanical failure
or pilot error could also be factors in the crash.
Back in this country, former President Obama has made his first foray into this fall's
midterm elections. He formally endorsed 81 Democrats. They include candidates for Congress
and for governor, but also for state legislative races. He said he's focused on young, diverse
candidates in order to build the party's future.
The Trump administration says that it may impose even larger tariffs on $200 billion
worth of imported Chinese goods. Officials today said the levy may be 25 percent, instead
of 10 percent, as originally planned. Beijing called it blackmail and insisted it won't
work.
Wells Fargo will pay $2.1 billion in fines for its role in the subprime mortgage meltdown
a decade ago. The U.S. Justice Department announced it today. Wells Fargo is one of
the last big banks to settle charges that it understated the risk of subprime mortgages.
The Federal Reserve is keeping a key short-term interest rate unchanged for now. But it also
indicated again today that more rate hikes are likely in the near future.
And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 81 points to close at 25333.
The Nasdaq rose 35 points, and the S&P 500 slipped three.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": violent protests in Zimbabwe as election results come in; the
Trump agenda in inner cities in the U.S.; a conspiracy theory gains some traction; and
much more.
At least three people died today as demonstrators took to the streets of Zimbabwe's capital
to protest what they see as the rigging of Monday's presidential election.
The sitting president and leader of the ZANU-PF Party, Emmerson Mnangagwa, ran against a number
of other candidates, including the leading challenger, Nelson Chamisa.
In a moment, William Brangham will talk with a reporter from Zimbabwe, but first we get
the latest from the capital, Harare, from Jonathan Miller of Independent Television
News.
JONATHAN MILLER: "If you sell out," they chant, "you will see that we are very dangerous."
It's a threat directed at the head of Zimbabwe's electoral commission, who promised that the
will of the people will not be subverted. They think that's a lie.
Well, you can see what's happening here. There's a lot of anger on the streets, and the results
of the presidential election hasn't even been called. So far, with the parliamentary results
coming it, it looks like a ZANU-PF landslide. If these people are denied what they consider
to be their victory, it will be chaos.
Should you not wait until you have an actual result?
MAN: No, we are not going to wait for that.
JONATHAN MILLER: The movement for democratic change already smells a rat. Mugabe stole
elections. They are not going to let that happen this time and they are convinced the
results were rigged.
We moved with the surging crowd. Rocks were thrown into the compound of the ruling ZANU-PF
Party, and this was the response.
(GUNSHOTS)
JONATHAN MILLER: Get down, get down, get down, get down, get down. Behind the tree.
(GUNFIRE)
JONATHAN MILLER: This is potentially disastrous for the new Zimbabwe.
This way.
MAN: Hey, journalists, can we go?
MAN: Journalists.
MAN: Can we go?
MAN: Journalist. Journalist.
MAN: Ray, come with me.
JONATHAN MILLER: This country so desperate to shed pariah status.
This is now an extremely dangerous situation. There's a lot of live fire going on, but this
crowd will not be subdued. They are still outside the ZANU-PF headquarters here, and
they are so angry.
Elsewhere in Harare, protesters caught by the army were severely beaten, this scene
hauntingly reminiscent of the violence that characterized Mugabe's despotic rule.
As the afternoon wore on, the crackle of automatic fire could be heard sporadically across the
city. Riot police fired tear gas and soldiers were deployed as armored personnel carriers
and water cannon cruised the streets, and an army helicopter kept watch from above.
This evening, streets of this capital had been emptied. It's spookily quiet, and it's
tense. No word from either presidential contender, other than on Twitter. Nelson Chamisa, the
challenger, still claiming victory. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the incumbent, calling, ironically,
for everyone to act peacefully.
The results, we're told, will be announced tomorrow.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For more insight to what's going on with the election results, I'm joined
by Jonga Kandemiri. He's a reporter who files for Voice of America. He's based in Zimbabwe.
Jonga, thank you very much for being here.
Could you give us a little bit more a sense of what is driving these protests?
JONGA KANDEMIRI, Voice of America: What's driving these protests, William, is the slowness
by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
The opposition members think that ZEC is manipulating the results -- ZEC is the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission -- by delaying to announce election results from within the metropolitan -- metropolitan
constituencies.
Instead, they started by announcing from far away in rural -- remote rural areas. And these
areas are dominated by the ruling party, ZANU-PF.
And I think this is what triggered the demonstrations that took place this afternoon.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, people's concern seem to be that, because it's taking so long, the
think that there is some foul play going on, that the election results are being rigged
somehow.
JONGA KANDEMIRI: That's true.
And, also, they are saying their candidate, the presidential candidate that they advocate,
Nelson Chamisa, they think that he won resoundingly. But the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is yet
to announce presidential results.
What it did starting yesterday was to announce National House of Assembly results from remote
areas, and only today did they announce the results from the cities.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I understand that there were also complaints about the lead-up to
the election, with accusations of voters being coerced and pressure being exerted.
What are election observers in Zimbabwe saying?
JONGA KANDEMIRI: They gave a presentment on what they found or discovered during this
electoral process.
In a way, they endorsed the election as peaceful, but they have recommendations which they sent
to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. And one of them is to allow enough time for the
inspection and verification of the voters roll.
That is one of the areas voters where the opposition was complaining that they only
got the voters roll in electronic mode two days before election -- the nomination.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We saw that three people have already died in these protests. What
is it like there now, and is it your sense that the protests will continue tomorrow?
JONGA KANDEMIRI: I think the protests will continue tomorrow.
But there's heavy presence of anti-riot police officers and the military on the streets.
I tried to stroll down the streets to check on the conditions and situation on the streets.
The army and the police, it was chasing out people. So I'm not sure that those who are
demonstrating will be able to gather in the city, unless they gather outside the city,
and then they come and demonstrate. But I think the police and the military are ready
to deal with that.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Jonga Kandemiri, thank you very much for your time.
JONGA KANDEMIRI: Welcome, William. Thank you so much.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It's fair to say President Trump's history with race is complicated.
Critics have long accused the president of racial insensitivity, from demanding President
Obama produce his U.S. birth certificate, to blaming both sides after last year's white
nationalist rally in Charlottesville turned violent.
Yet today, in a meeting with a group of mostly African-American pastors, the president was
praised by attendees as perhaps the most pro-black president in recent history.
Yamiche Alcindor begins our look at the president's commitment to communities of color.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: It's one of President Trump's favorite subjects.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The African-American unemployment rate has
achieved the lowest level in recorded history. African-American unemployment is the best
it's ever been in the history of our country.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, as a candidate, President Trump made this pitch to African-American
voters, a pitch that was seen as both controversial and blunt:
DONALD TRUMP: Look how much African-American communities have suffered under Democratic
control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new,
like Trump? I say it again. What do you have to lose? Look, what do you have to lose? You're
living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Today at the White House, several black pastors said he had helped improve
life in inner cities.
MAN: So I believe we can break the generational curse of poverty and people who are isolated,
and it's because of your boldness.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: As part of his plan for urban areas, President Trump put Ben Carson
in charge of the department of Housing and Urban Development. It's a role Carson has
used to look into tripling rents for poor tenants using federal assistance.
He has also slowed an anti-segregation initiative and said poverty is a state of mind. Carson
has also expressed mixed views on whether housing assistance program are worthwhile.
Those moves have angered some who see his policies as hurting people of color.
Critics of the administration have also pointed to the Department of Justice, led by Attorney
General Jeff Sessions. Sessions has pushed for longer sentences for those convicted of
federal crimes. And the department has discouraged the use of affirmative action by colleges
and universities.
Still, some say President Trump has been eager to embrace black leaders. He previously met
with a group of presidents from historically black colleges and universities in the Oval
Office. And today, he said he was eager to keep his door open.
Bishop Harry Jackson was one of the pastors who met with President Trump at the White
House today. He serves as the pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland.
Bishop Jackson, thanks for joining me today.
You were two seats away from the president. What was the most important thing you heard
from the president about improving inner cities and urban areas?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON, Hope Christian Church: Well, I heard that he had commitments for
four million jobs.
And with the unemployment rate already going down, he's got commitments for four million
jobs, but also a commitment to returning citizens from prison. And the overcriminalization of
the black and Hispanic communities are a part of a problem that is generational.
So I heard good news. I believe that his legacy will be huge if he actually does something.
But most politicians just talk.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, Secretary -- Housing Secretary Ben Carson has said that poverty
is a state of mind. He's also moved to raise the rent on poor tenants who are using federal
assistance. He has also said that he wants to slow anti-segregation initiatives.
What do you think about these policies, especially, as we know, yes, the unemployment rate is
at historic lows, but wages are also very low? Does it help people to raise rent at
a time like this?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Well, I think what's needed, to your point, is cash infusion.
One of the things he talked about are opportunity zones or businesses coming to give higher
wages. I'm trusting Mr. Trump, as opposed to Carson's approaches, though part of the
administration, are going to take a long time to kind of work themselves out.
I think that what Mr. Trump is going to do is going to be much more decisive, much more
effective in the short term. And that's what I'm counting on.
I trust that Ben Carson has thought the long game out from his perspective. But your point
is, people are hurting right now.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, you say you trust in the president.
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Yes.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Of course, Ben Carson works for the president, so a lot of the policies
that you're -- it sounds like you're in some ways concerned about are things that President
Trump has supported.
But I want to turn to the Department of Justice. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said that
people should have longer federal sentences. He has also said that he doesn't want colleges
and universities to be using affirmative action.
When you look at this, how does this specifically help African-Americans, when he know African-Americans
are disproportionately serving prison times and are convicted, as are other people of
color?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Well, I can't defend Mr. Sessions at all. I don't agree with anything
that you just said from his perspective.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: These are all, of course, things that President Trump supports.
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: I think there's a little dissonance between Trump's vision for America
and maybe Sessions walking it out.
I can't speak in much more detail, except that part of the urban plan has reentry jobs
as a part of the thing. So, again, I'm thinking people who have philosophical direction in
the administration, but maybe not the compassion and the heart that the president himself has.
I'm hoping I can partner with bringing two returning citizens home every year. We're
starting a program called Bring Dad Home for the Holidays.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But I guess I want to get back to the idea of President Trump ran as
a law and order president.
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Yes.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: He is someone who has talked about the fact that he supports more policing.
That's something that people think will hurt African-American.
How do you -- you're -- it's like you're separating Attorney General Jeff Sessions from the president,
but the president is the one that is supporting these policies.
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Well, I think you can be for keeping the law, and still be pro-people.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And that's how you see the president?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: I see the president himself like that.
Talking to him today, he had a bunch of Democrat -- registered Democratic pastors in the room,
few conservatives. But I think he won our hearts with, A, his sincerity, but also by
his actions.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, I want to talk to you -- the last thing I want to ask you about...
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Sure.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: ... the NAACP has said that the president is a racist.
He also, after the -- Charlottesville, there was a young woman who died protesting Nazis.
He said that there was blame on both sides.
Has this president done anything you see as racially discriminatory, both in words or
in policy?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: Well, I would say this. I believe that there's a spin some media has
put on. Some of our African-American friends and others, we're hypersensitive. So, it's
a tough area.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But what do you think?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: I...
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: For you specifically, have you ever seen the president do something that
you thought was racially derogatory or racially discriminatory, both in policy or in practice?
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: No.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: You specifically, you have never seen anything that he's...
(CROSSTALK)
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: I haven't.
But I have talked to him eyeball to eyeball about race in America. I have talked to him
about the needs of America. And the guy whose eyes I have looked in is not a racist.
And I do believe, though, if we're going to fix America's 400-year-old black-white problem
starting with racism, you can't just blame 45 for the problem and think that makes you
OK as a citizen or a legislator, when you're not doing anything to change the situation
of African-Americans and others.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, thank you so much for joining me, Bishop Jackson. I really appreciate
it.
BISHOP HARRY JACKSON: You're very kind. Thank you for having me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": residents of the Navajo Nation living off the electricity
grid; expanding health care plans with limited coverage; and giving new voice to Sally Hemings,
an enslaved woman owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Last night, President Trump spoke at a rally in Tampa. The crowd was visibly angry at reporters
who were there to cover the event, and wasn't afraid to show it.
(SHOUTING)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, the president retweeted some of this video.
Also in the crowd last night, people who believe in the QAnon conspiracy theory. QAnon claims
that a shadowy cabal within the U.S. government is at war with President Trump, and that the
president will soon purge the nation of these enemies.
For more on this conspiracy and how it's spread, I'm joined by "NewsHour"'s P.J. Tobia, he's
been following this.
P.J., first of all, what is QAnon?
P.J. TOBIA: So, this all started last fall on 4chan, which is an anonymous online message
board.
And last fall, a user calling himself QAnon began posting little nuggets of information.
Q is actually a reference to the Q clearance. It's one of the highest security clearances
in the U.S. government.
Q claims to be highly placed in the government and has built visibility into a kind of conspiracy
of globalists, a permanent criminal government that's been running the U.S. government for
decades. This, of course, includes the Clintons, the Obamas, the financier George Soros, and
many, many others.
The conspiracy goes on to posit that President Trump will team up with the U.S. military
and crush this -- and crush this cabal by throwing them all in jail, starting with Hillary
Clinton.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do they have any evidence that this is going on, that the Obamas, the Clintons
are trying to overthrow President Trump?
P.J. TOBIA: So what they're claiming as evidence are Q's posts on 4chan. And then it migrated
to another board called 8chan.
And these are these cryptic little -- he calls them bread crumbs, because that's really what
they are. And they're -- they're little clues, watch for this, look for that. And people
take them and unpack these bread crumbs and read into it kind of what they will.
And things like President Trump's tweets, where it's well known that he misspells things
occasionally or maybe uses improper grammar. He says those are actually clues, part of
the -- of the president -- actions that the president is about to take to crush this cabal.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So who's on board with this? Who are the people who have -- who are following
this?
We know there were people at this rally last night in Tampa that were wearing T-shirts
or holding signs saying QAnon. Who are these folks? Do we have any idea, or how many of
them?
P.J. TOBIA: When it comes to conspiracy theories or a lot of fringe groups on the right or
the left, it's really hard to quantify and get numbers.
But YouTube pages where QAnon's bread crumbs are unpacked and discussed have hundreds of
thousands of hits. Twitter accounts dedicated to this have tens of thousands of hits. So
there's a lot of folks who are engaging in this content online.
Now, some folks who -- some people who are experts who watch conspiracy theories and
conspiracy groups say it's probably not nearly the number of people who, say, believe that
the moon landing was faked or that they're -- a conspiracy about the JFK assassination.
But, still, some prominent celebrity Trump supporters, like former Boston Red Sox pitcher
Curt Schilling and Roseanne Barr, have tweeted and said things positively about the QAnon
conspiracy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And there was one of the people who believe in this, you said, who showed
up at the Hoover Dam in June?
P.J. TOBIA: Exactly right. In June, a young man showed up at the Hoover Dam. Resulted
in an armed standoff with law enforcement.
He had a sign that said "Release the OIG report." That was -- that was referring to a Department
of Justice Office of Inspector General report into Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail
server.
Now, interestingly, when this young man did that, that report had already been released,
but QAnon said in a posting that the real report hadn't been released yet and that there
were actually other reports, OIG reports, that were much more critical of Hillary Clinton
and the Democrats and could result in them getting arrested.
And that's what he wanted released.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, P.J., where does this go from here? Do authorities watch this kind
of thing? There's nothing illegal about it, is there?
P.J. TOBIA: No, there's nothing illegal about it at all.
I mean, they're just talking on social media. But as these people start appearing in the
real world, I think we're all going to be watching them much closer.
Look, the bottom line about this conspiracy theory is that it's a conspiracy to protect
Trump. So things that to the rest of us might seem like bad news for Trump, like the Mueller
investigation, they look at as actually part of Trump's grand strategy. You see, he was
colluding with -- he wanted to make it look like he was colluding with Russia on purpose,
so that Robert Mueller would be hired, and he could team up with Trump, Mueller and Trump
teaming up together to investigate the Clintons and the rest of the deep state and their global
pedophile sex ring.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, that is -- that takes a lot of thinking to get that far.
P.J. TOBIA: And a lot of talking. They spill a lot of digital ink online about this stuff.
JUDY WOODRUFF: P.J. Tobia, who has been following this and I know will continue to follow it,
thank you, P.J.
P.J. TOBIA: Thank you, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In the Navajo Nation, many residents still live off the grid, making
it challenging to live their day-to-day lives.
Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro recently traveled to the sprawling reservation, which
is spread across parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
It's part of our weekly segment on the Leading Edge of science and technology.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Neighbors and visitors are few and far between in much of the Navajo
Nation in Northeastern Arizona.
So, Grace White was especially happy to get a recent visit from Melissa Parrish (ph),
who works for the Navajo electric utility; 75-year-old White survives and even speaks,
much like her ancestors did, living in a mud hogan, with neither electricity nor running
water.
GRACE WHITE, Navajo Nation (through translator): I use kerosene for lighting and wood to heat
my home. Fresh food doesn't last more than a day or two. So, for meat, I dry it in the
sun to make jerky.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For more than 60 years, she and her family have tried to get connected
to the electrical grid. They have even built a more modern building on their homestead
with light fixtures and electrical outlets just waiting to be hooked up. But it would
cost more than $40,000 to do so. That's money she doesn't have.
One-third of the homes in Navajo Nation, about 18,000 of them, have no access to grid electricity.
Back in the 1930s and '40s, the federal government provided loans to utilities to connect rural
and remote areas to the grid under the Rural Electrification Act.
However, the Navajo Nation, like many reservations, was bypassed. Utilities didn't typically serve
Native lands and opted not to expand into them. The irony is that the Navajo Nation
is a huge exporter of electricity. The biggest coal-fired plant west of the Mississippi is
located here, churning out power that is sold to millions of customers in Arizona, Nevada
and California.
What the Navajo Nation did get from the plant and a coal mine that fed it is employment,
more than 1,000 jobs. But now even that could soon be lost. The plant's Phoenix-based owners
plan to shut it down next year.
LORENZO BATES, Navajo Council Speaker: It's challenging and it's frustrating.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Navajo Council speaker LoRenzo Bates says the unemployment rate as
it is, is 50 percent on the reservation, which stands to lose not only the jobs, but many
people who held them.
LORENZO BATES: It's either take a transfer or you're out of a job. The breadwinners of
the family are literally forced to go someplace else to work.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He says the mine and power plant pay some $30 million to $40 million
in annual taxes and royalties, which are needed by the tribe.
LORENZO BATES: Youth programs, any social services.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Tribal leaders are trying to find a buyer for the plant to avoid the
shut down. It won't be easy. Many energy experts, including the plant's current owners, say
cleaner burning natural gas is cheaper than coal. Others see a new opportunity.
With its wide-open, windblown spaces and abundant sunshine, many here in Navajo country see
the solution to its energy needs in renewables. And the first major installment in the direction
is called the Kayenta Solar Project, a massive array of
collectors that's big enough to power at least 13,000 homes.
Plans are already under way to double the size of this array, and within five years,
it is expected to generate nearly the same amount of power as the Navajo generating station.
Twenty-three-year-old Tasi Malala says solar is the only way forward. He helped build the
this solar field, which also launched his career.
TASI MALALA, Solar Employee: I learned everything from the bottom up, from the piles in the
ground to installing the hardware, managing my own crew, to actually setting up communications
here that go back to the control center.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Nearly 300 people were employed during the construction of the solar
array. Most of them, like Tasi Malala, were Navajo.
TASI MALALA: Having these jobs open up, it's really opening a lot more doors for the younger
generation, kids or even people in high school.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: However, once construction was done, few jobs remained. Tasi Malala was
hired by the company that built this array. But much of his work is off the reservation,
from South Carolina to Georgia and now California, working on new installations.
And that's the problem that Tasi's father, George Malala, has with renewables. He says
coal has been a reliable source of energy and stability.
GEORGE MALALA, Coal Miner: For me, coal is long-term years of employment. It employs
a lot of people, compared to natural gas and solar.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He is a mechanic in the coal mine which will likely close down with
the power plant, tearing apart community and lifestyle, in his case, the popular hobby
of rodeo.
GEORGE MALALA: It's family that is going to break up. Won't be nothing but ghost towns,
you know? We have seen it through history.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: There's a classic generational divide here. Coal has brought a good living
to the father. Solar promises a good one to his son.
But few people argue with protesting employees and their supporters that nothing could soon
replace the economic impact of the Navajo generating station. But large solar fields
won't bring electricity to people living far from the grid. So the tribal utility has begun
installing off-grid home units.
About 3,000 panels have been installed so far, but the utility's resources are limited
and many more families are on the waiting list; 78-year-old Glenda Ashley recalls what
it was like to live without a refrigerator.
GLENDA ASHLEY, Navajo Nation: We bought meat. We had the old refrigerator out there, freezer,
and we would leave it out there for overnight, because it was colder out there.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: But you couldn't store meat for more than a night?
GLENDA ASHLEY: Oh, no, no.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Six years ago, she got an off-grid solar system that now powers a
refrigerator. It has brought convenience and huge savings from fewer trips to the grocery
store. The nearest one is a 45-minute drive
GLENDA ASHLEY: It really is a help.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She still needs to conserve to keep the appliance going. Too many lights
on or too much TV could drain the limited power stored in the unit's batteries.
Limited as it is, an off-grid system would be a huge improvement for Grace White. But
the utility's Parrish could only promise she'd be back soon, no fixed dates, with a solar
installation. It could be months or even years away.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in the Navajo Nation.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Fred's reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at University
of St. Thomas in Minnesota.
Today, the Trump administration took another step toward eliminating Obamacare by changing
rules that will allow consumers to buy cheaper, shorter-term health insurance.
But, as Lisa Desjardins explains, there are concerns that this move, set to take place
this fall, may be harmful for people with health problems and possibly left without
enough health care coverage.
LISA DESJARDINS: The president says there needs to be more affordable insurance options
than what's available through the Obamacare marketplaces now.
The short-term plans will likely offer much lower premiums, but insurers wouldn't have
to cover preexisting conditions or offer the same benefits as required by the Affordable
Care Act. Currently, people can only use short-term coverage for three months. But the new rules
would allow people to keep those plans for a year and potentially renew them for a total
of three years.
Julie Appleby covers this for Kaiser Health News and joins me now.
Julie Appleby, let me just start off right away. While the Trump administration says
these are good options for people, cheaper, opponents say they're skimpy and risky. Just
explain what these plans are. What do they do?
JULIE APPLEBY, Kaiser Health News: Well, these are short-term plans that are meant to be
sort of a stopgap between -- maybe you have lost your job or you're between jobs. You
need some coverage for a little while. So they're meant to be a stopgap.
They have been around for a long time. They are, currently, as you mentioned, available
only up to 90 days. So you have to renew them every few months.
The Trump administration is changing the rules on that to make them available for up to a
year. But what they are, basically, they have some similarities to what we're used to as
job-based insurance, for example, but there are some major differences.
They're less expensive. And the reason they're less expensive is because they cover a lot
less. They can be choosy about who they pick. So if you are sick or have some kind of preexisting
condition, you might not even be able to buy one of these plans.
LISA DESJARDINS: I was looking up, for example, what, again, one of these plans might look
like for me or someone like me.
And the deductibles are huge. You would pay everything up to, say, $10,000, but your premium
is much less. Who would benefit from this? Who would be the winners of this change?
JULIE APPLEBY: So, the folks that might find these appealing are generally younger and
healthier people, those folks who don't have a preexisting condition, because, remember,
those folks aren't going to be able to buy these.
So that might appeal to them. And it's also folks who are struggling right now to pay
for an Affordable Care Act plan because they don't get a subsidy. Remember, the Affordable
Care Act provides subsidies to people who earn up to about 400 percent of the poverty
level, which is about $48,000 for an individual.
But if you don't get a subsidy, some of the premiums can be very expensive. So the Trump
administration says, we want to offer these plans. They are going to be lower-cost. But
they do come with this caveat that they cover a lot fewer things, and they may have very
high deductibles.
And the other thing, that these short-term plans don't have to follow a lot of the Affordable
Care Act rules. So they could have annual or lifetime limits, which are also barred
in the Affordable Care Act plans.
(CROSSTALK)
LISA DESJARDINS: If you get a catastrophic disease, for example.
JULIE APPLEBY: Some of -- some of the patient advocacy groups, many of the patient advocacy
groups are very concerned about these plans, that people who are sick are going to perhaps
buy them or become sick while they have one and realize that they don't cover a lot of
things or that there are these high deductibles.
LISA DESJARDINS: If you hit $500,000 of cancer treatment, you may be on the hook for what's
left, for example.
JULIE APPLEBY: Right. Some of them may have a limit of $250,000 a year in coverage or
$2 million a year in coverage or that type of thing.
So that's where folks are really going to have to read the fine print on these plans.
The Trump administration in their new rule that came out today said that they are going
to require insurers to put sort of a little box on their plan and say, these plans may
not cover everything, read everything.
It might not cover hospitalization. It might not cover emergency room care, and to read
the plans carefully before you purchase it.
(CROSSTALK)
LISA DESJARDINS: Risk warning for the -- for your insurance.
JULIE APPLEBY: Right.
LISA DESJARDINS: I want to talk about the scope of this.
This -- let's look at the numbers about short-term plans. Right now, there are some, it looks
like, 122,500 people who use these plans on the individual market. The White House has
said in the last day that they think this change will change that substantially to 600,000,
almost five times as many, and then, in three years, that will be almost more than 1.5 million
people who use these short-term plans.
That's a huge change for these plans. But what does that mean in terms of individual
markets? And how is this going to affect the health of Obamacare? Because, obviously, this
is the president trying to go after the Affordable Care Act.
JULIE APPLEBY: There's been a number of estimates on how many people would buy these plans.
And I think until they come out and insurers start offering and we see how many people
sign up for them, it's hard to say.
The government does expect about 600,000 people in the first year, in 2019. And they think,
of those, about 200,000 of them will come from the Affordable Care Act plan. These are
folks who probably don't get a subsidy. So they might jump to one of these.
The concern is -- and the government and other estimates have shown that this will raise
premiums for those folks who stay in the Affordable Care Act, because it siphons out probably
the younger and healthier folks.
So, then the premiums may go up in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. If you're getting a
subsidy, your subsidy is also going to increase. So folks who get a subsidy may not see that
much of a difference.
But the very people that are struggling to buy coverage right now, those folks who are
buying it on their own, and they don't get a subsidy, they may see a premium increase
as a result. And some of them may not be able to buy one of these short-term plans because
they have a preexisting condition.
LISA DESJARDINS: So, while this isn't a huge market itself, it will grow, and it could
have a lot of ripple effects.
JULIE APPLEBY: It could have some ripple effects.
As you mentioned, there's about 14 million people in the plan -- in the Affordable Care
Act now; 200,000 of those leave, but, over time, that could grow up quite a bit.
LISA DESJARDINS: Julie Appleby with Kaiser Health News, thank you very much.
JULIE APPLEBY: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A new chapter has recently been added to the story of one of America's
most historic leaders.
Jeffrey Brown visits Thomas Jefferson's home and explains how a visit through the past
now brings with it an updated understanding.
It's the latest in our Race Matters series.
JEFFREY BROWN: Sally Hemings, no portrait exists, so we don't know what she looked like.
But now this silhouette and a new exhibition here at Monticello bring a largely hidden
story into the open and make a definitive public statement about her decades-long relationship
with Thomas Jefferson, the man who owned her and this plantation.
Niya Bates is Monticello's public historian of slavery and African-American life.
NIYA BATES, Monticello Public Historian of Slavery and African-American Life: We, as
Americans, don't address some of the more complex issues of slavery, of sex, of power,
of ownership. And that is what is really interesting about Sally Hemings and her story
We want people to see now that Sally Hemings is a real person and that she had a real legacy.
JEFFREY BROWN: Monticello, built between 1768 and 1808 in Charlottesville, Virginia, was
home to Jefferson, third president of the United States, writer of the Declaration of
Independence, enlightenment thinker, and slave owner of more than 600 people.
Visitors have long come here to see and admire his mansion and its many wonders. The first
tour to focus on the enslaved people here only began in 1993.
But over the last several decades, Monticello has slowly expanded the story beyond Jefferson,
through research and archaeological work, to include the vast majority of those who
lived and worked here.
At a site about a half-mile from the main house, students in a summer program dug trenches,
sifted dirt, and found ceramics, nails, and other artifacts of slave life.
Fraser Neiman is Monticello's Director of archaeology.
FRASER NEIMAN, Monticello Director of Archaeology: It's kind of the undeniable physical remains
of the people who were the vast majority of residents here.
They didn't leave behind the tens of thousands of letters that Jefferson did, but they did
leave behind thousands of pieces of trash and artifacts that we can begin to learn a
little bit more about.
JEFFREY BROWN: The restoration of Mulberry Row beginning in 2011 opened a window onto
the workplaces and houses of enslaved artisans and domestic workers.
LESLIE GREENE BOWMAN, President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation: I think Monticello is a microcosm
of the American story, right? How willing have the American people been to acknowledge
slavery as their history and not someone else's history?
JEFFREY BROWN: Leslie Greene Bowman is president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which
owns and operates Monticello. In 2000, Monticello published a report on DNA and other evidence
of Jefferson's paternity of Hemings' six children, four of whom survived to adulthood.
That and work by leading scholars helped bring public acceptance. Some doubters remain, but
experts and Monticello itself now consider this a settled matter.
LESLIE GREENE BOWMAN: Monticello says that he's the father of her children.
JEFFREY BROWN: No question?
LESLIE GREENE BOWMAN: No question.
JEFFREY BROWN: This summer the foundation opened six new exhibits, including the plantation's
first kitchen.
The archaeology uncovered a stew stove of the kind Jefferson found and admired in Paris,
where he served as U.S. ambassador to France in the 1780s. Sally's brother, James Hemings,
was trained in French cooking in Paris and used the stove here at Monticello.
But the main new addition in what until now was a public restroom for visitors is a display
on the life of Sally Hemings in one of the two rooms researchers now believe she lived
in.
Part of her story is told in the words of her son Madison who gave an oral history of
life at Monticello in 1873. Sally Hemings was just 13 or 14 years old when she went
to Paris as a maidservant, and the relationship with Jefferson, then 43, began.
When Jefferson returned home, she could have stayed in Paris as a free woman, but negotiated
terms for returning to Monticello, that her future children would be freed at age 21.
NIYA BATES: What we have been trying to do here is to give our visitors everything that
we know. We have given the basic biography, her birthday, her death day, the days that
she was in Paris, what she was doing, the type of work, where she lived.
But we have also been able to have some of those more complex conversations, again, about
the nature of the relationship. Was it consensual? Was it love? We don't actually know the answer
to the question.
JEFFREY BROWN: Outside the room, a plaque asks, without answering, "Was it rape?"
NIYA BATES: Oh, it absolutely had to be asked. There's no way that we could talk about Sally
Hemings and Thomas Jefferson and not talk about the power dynamic between the two of
them. He did own her. And it wouldn't be acceptable for us to tell this story and not address
that power imbalance.
JEFFREY BROWN: An oral history project called Getting Word has been another key part of
the new effort here, bringing in descendants of the Hemings and other enslaved families.
Seventy-year-old Diana Redman is a direct descendent of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.
Andrew Davenport, 28, is the great-great-great-great grandson of Sally's brother Peter.
DIANA REDMAN, Descendent of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: When I look around Monticello,
I see the labors of the enslaved community and what they were able to do. Jefferson might
have had the vision, but the enslaved community operated, acted upon that vision and built
this edifice.
We had been part of everything that is Monticello. Knowing that I had enslaved relatives who
were here who were involved in the carpentry, who were involved in the cooking and the gardening
and the nailery, this is where my ancestors lived and labored. So, that gave a -- it made
it feel different for me.
JEFFREY BROWN: Can you describe the difference? What did you feel?
DIANA REDMAN: I won't say it was a sense of ownership. It was a sense of being.
JEFFREY BROWN: A sense of being?
DIANA REDMAN: Yes, being where my ancestors had been before me gave me that sense of,
OK, we're part of this country, we're part of this growth, we're part of a bigger picture,
and I can lay hands on things that they did.
ANDREW DAVENPORT, Descendent of Sally Hemings' Brother: It's my identity. Surely, I'm white
as well, but this is part of our story.
And I would be denying a significant part of my history and our history if I didn't
own up to the fact that, yes, I may pass as a white man or whatever you see in me -- that's
up to you -- but I have to identify as having African-American history, and this is my story.
JEFFREY BROWN: How do you see both the injustices to and the contributions of your ancestors
who were here?
ANDREW DAVENPORT: That's the hope, that we can begin to share these stories with the
wider world, so that we understand, regardless of the institution of slavery, individuals
thrived, personally, within their sphere. And they made life and love here, too. So
this is as complex as it gets.
JEFFREY BROWN: What about when you actually walk in that room?
DIANA REDMAN: Well, I see the image, and I would love to know what she looked like. But
that's not meant to be. And I think that's a sadness, but that's a sadness for many descendants
of enslaved families.
JEFFREY BROWN: Monticello officials are also hoping the new exhibits will help attract
Americans of all races to view their common history.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, online, we have an extended conversation with the Monticello descendants
we featured in our story there. That's on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
And finally tonight, a unique program that teaches urban youth how to build boats and,
in the process, grow their communication skills and self-confidence.
The story is reported by student Anthony Rivera and comes to us through our Student Reporting
Lab at the U School in Philadelphia.
ANTHONY RIVERA: High schooler Saviel Veras Nunas is becoming an expert in a field that
some would consider unusual for a teen living in north Philadelphia: boat building.
SAVIEL VERAS NUNAS, Student: We try new stuff every day, and we build different boats, and
there comes the day when we have got to go and try it at the water.
ANTHONY RIVERA: Saviel is part of an apprenticeship program at the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory.
Founded in 1996, the organization provides after-school programming for urban youth living
in some of the city's toughest neighborhoods.
Emma Bergman is a social worker and served as the organization's clinical director for
two years.
EMMA BERGMAN, Social Worker: Many of the young people who come to us who are recruited through
their different school communities have experienced some kind of trauma as a result of living
in areas where there are high rates of poverty and also community violence.
And so our programming is designed to be a trauma-informed program where we support young
people with engaging in corrective experiences.
SAVIEL VERAS NUNAS: People that work here treat us like family, because they always
there for us, even when we go into the good times and the low times.
ANTHONY RIVERA: The organization balances boat-making programs with social and emotional
peer- and counselor-led support.
Former executive director Brett Hart says the objective is to arm young people with
the skills to problem-solve any challenge.
BRETT HART, Former Executive Director, Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory: Having social workers
on our staff, and having those supports in place for the young people who engage, and
then being intentional about the social and emotional health and aspects of our program
build a sustainable model for apprenticeship for teenagers who are in a crazy hectic moment
in their lives.
ANTHONY RIVERA: Clarence Thomas graduated from Wooden Boat Factory and now works as
an engineering aide for the city of Philadelphia. The program helped him overcome the disappointment
of not being able to play professional football.
CLARENCE THOMAS, Alumnus, Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory: I literally had all my goals
set on football. You know, I didn't care about anything else. I didn't care about school.
All I cared was about football.
And when I came here, it was like, hey, there's something else out there that you can also
be interested in.
ANTHONY RIVERA: Perhaps the most visible impact can be seen in the feeling students have when
they finally get to put their boats in the water.
CLARENCE THOMAS: Finishing a boat, it was amazing. I can't explain it, because it was
an accomplishment that I don't know a lot of people that have built a boat before.
And seeing it on the water, it was unexplainable. This program impacted my life by me physically
and mentally, because I would break down and go, I can't do this. And you have to figure
it out, because that's the way you going to build the boat. That's the only way you're
going to progress.
ANTHONY RIVERA: For the "PBS NewsHour"'s Student Reporting Labs, this is Anthony Rivera in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Terrific program for those young people.
And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff.
Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank
you, and we'll see you soon.
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