JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Biden agenda battle.

Democrats scramble after a key senator breaks with the president on raising taxes on America's wealthiest to pay for a package of social spending programs.

Then: Brazil vs. Bolsonaro.

One of the world's most controversial leaders faces criminal charges for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

We talk with his former health minister.

And learning gap.

Minnesota has one of the country's widest disparities in the education it offers students according to race.

We look at the debate under way over bridging that divide and how it's impacting students stuck in the middle.

JUSTIN GRINAGE, University of Minnesota: Students of color, in particular, are put at a disadvantage because schools don't necessarily function to close those gaps in any meaningful ways.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: Pressure is mounting on lawmakers and White House officials, who met again today, Another thing to really look out for in terms of what's being worked out is how to pay for as they scramble to secure a deal on the president's Build Back Better agenda.

But key sticking points remain, like how to pay for the massive social spending bill.

For the latest on negotiations, I'm joined by our White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.

So, hello, Yamiche.

They are under the gun.

Right now, tell us what White House officials and the president are doing to try to reach a deal, and tell us what the latest sticking points are.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, President Biden and White House officials are scrambling, Judy, scrambling to try to make a deal to try to unit the Democratic Party, so that the president, when he leaves for Europe tomorrow, can have something to talk about to our European allies.

That being said, there are a lot of meetings going on, and the White House has been saying that they're confident a deal could possibly be reached by tonight or tomorrow, but it's really hard to see that coming together, because the details of the bill are still being worked out.

White House officials I have been talking to in the last hour say that really developments have been changing hour by hour.

Now, today, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, she said she was confident that a possibility of a deal could still be reached.

I pressed her on why she felt confident, given the fact that the details are still being worked out.

Here's what she told me.

JEN PSAKI, White House Press Secretary: I think what members of Congress have conveyed to all of you and leaders in Congress, as well as the White House and the president, is that we are very close.

That's because we are very close.

And it does require working through specific details and components that need to be finalized before we have a final agreement.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Now, the key part of what she said there are specific details and components.

So, in the last hour, we learned, between myself, as well as Lisa Desjardins, our Capitol Hill correspondent, that one big key provision that Democrats wanted in, that progressive Democrats wanted in, is already being seen as likely out of the deal.

And that is paid family leave.

Now, the president, as well as progressives, had been initially pushing for 12 weeks of family paid leave, which is, in some ways, mirroring what happens in other countries.

That was then whittled down to four weeks.

And now, within the last hour, White House officials, as well as Capitol Hill sources, are telling us that is likely out.

And it's out because Senator Joe Manchin does not want it in.

And what this is really shaping up to be is really a bill that is mirroring what Joe Manchin wants, rather than what progressive Democrats wants.

all of this.

Now, there was this billionaire tax that had been floated by Senate Democrats.

And, today, President Biden, through his White House press secretary, came out and said he was in support of the billionaire tax.

But, again, Senator Manchin came out and said that he was critical of this tax.

He said that he did not want to be targeting people.

So, again, it seems as though the billionaire tax is dead on arrival.

The ink isn't even dry on that sort of provision, but it's already gone.

And it's, again, because of Senator Manchin of West Virginia.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Yamiche, we have been reporting that President Biden was very much hoping to get this done before he leaves tomorrow for the global climate summit in Europe.

How concerned is he that he may leave without a deal?

And what do the chances look like that there could be something before tomorrow?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, White House officials have been very candid about the idea that President Biden absolutely wants a deal before he gets on a plane to go to Europe.

And he's going to be meeting with the pope.

He's going to be meeting with a number of European allies at the G20.

He's also going to be going to a climate change conference.

At all of those meetings, he wants to be able to say, here's what Democrats can get done.

Here's what Democrats are doing on climate change, on paid family leave, on all of these different provisions, even though, as I said, paid family leave, it's likely out.

But it's really, really unclear whether or not he's going to get his wish.

He really wants a victory here.

The White House is still insisting that there's been a lot of progress that they think could happen.

Another thing to know is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she wrote a letter to lawmakers today saying that tomorrow the House Rules Committee is going to hold a hearing on what she's calling the Build Back Better Act.

So that is Nancy Pelosi really, in some ways, trying to telegraph the urgency that lawmakers want to move here with.

And there's reporting that she's telling committee chairs that they want -- that she wants to see a text of the bill by tomorrow's Rules healing.

Again, it's very up in the air whether or not that's going to happen.

Progressives are saying that they want to see a text of the legislation, the reconciliation legislation, before they vote on the bipartisan bill.

So, really, when the president walks out tomorrow at the White House, it's anyone's guess whether or not he's going to be able to say, yes, we have a deal, or, no, we don't.

Tonight, the president was -- there was talk that he might go to Capitol Hill, but the White House called what we call a lid.

And that means that we're not going to see the president on camera, and we're not going to see the president go to Capitol Hill tonight.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So many moving parts, and the drama continues.

Yamiche Alcindor watching it at the White House.

Thank you, Yamiche.

And, as you just heard, with the billionaires tax reportedly in peril, Democrats now are looking at other ways to fund their social spending bill.

William Brangham explains.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Judy, this so-called billionaires tax could raise up to $250 billion if enacted, but there are also renewed looks at changing corporate taxes as well.

For more on the Democrats' plans, I'm joined by Neil Irwin.

He covers economics for The New York Times.

Neil, great to have you back on the "NewsHour."

As Yamiche has been reporting, I mean, a lot of this is still in flux.

And I'm always reluctant to say something is dead or alive at any given minute on Capitol Hill right now.

But let's just unpack this idea of the billionaires tax.

What is it?

How would it actually work?

NEIL IRWIN, The New York Times: So, when most people buy an asset, buy an investment, and it goes up in value, you only owe capital gains tax on the profits when you sell that investment, when you sell those stocks or sell a business.

And there's good reasons for that, right?

The logic is that that's when how much it sold for, how many profits you have.

You have that cash to spend.

I think what the billionaire tax is aimed at is the ability of people to accumulate truly massive sums of wealth that never gets taxed that reaches just astonishing levels.

So, Jeff Bezos, for example, his net worth might rise by $100 billion as Amazon stock goes up, but if he doesn't sell it, he doesn't owe any tax on those large earnings.

I think there's about 700 billionaires who would be affected by this tax, essentially paying those gains -- paying tax on those gains along the way.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, the sort of assertion undergirding all of this is that billionaires, by -- with these blossoming funds of money that grow, that they're not somehow paying a fair share.

Now, your definition of fair shares is as different from anyone else's.

But that seems to be the essential argument, that they ought to be paying more to the government.

NEIL IRWIN: It is.

And this notion that people can accumulate these massive piles of wealth, and go years and years and years paying very little to the government -- I mean, Warren Buffett has been talking about this for years, that his secretary pays a higher income tax rate than he does, because his wealth is accumulating in capital gains in his company.

So that's the logic.

Now, it does raise some fairness questions, some execution questions.

And I think that's some of the reason that we saw some real doubts emerge just today on actually including this as part of the Biden agenda.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Well, let's talk about those execution questions.

How would you go about taxing that, if the person's not selling those assets, and you can figure out how much they gained, how much they lost?

NEIL IRWIN: I mean, the logic is that, at that tier of wealth, people have a lot of liquidity.

They can borrow money.

These are liquid assets.

These are -- tend to be publicly traded stocks that they can sell relatively easily.

You would phase it in and not make people - - not make Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett sell all their stock overnight, that this would be a thing, that billionaires, who have lots of accountants and lots of capacity to deal with, would be affected by, not owners of smaller businesses that might face real strains.

That's why -- part of why some of the centrists in the Senate were at least open to this, who don't want to raise tax rates on the wealthy, on the capital gains tax, for example, but were willing to entertain this.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: OK.

So, putting that tax aside, what are some of the other ways that the Democrats are looking to try to raise revenue for this big bill?

NEIL IRWIN: So, the one that people are talking about a lot today is having a corporate minimum tax.

So, the corporate income tax is currently 21 percent.

There was for a long time a thought that they would just raise the corporate income tax to maybe 25 percent.

Senator Sinema from Arizona didn't want to do that.

Now there's talk that, OK, we might not raise the corporate income tax rate, but maybe if we say, even if you have all these deductions and are expensing stock options, things like that, that reduce your effective tax rate below 21 percent, we're going to set a minimum; 15 percent is the number of people are talking about.

So that would be an effective -- increasing corporate taxes on companies that have the most deductions, the most ability to get lower rates in effect right now.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So the opposition to that argues what against that proposal?

NEIL IRWIN: Well, one argument is that companies that are able to lessen their corporate tax bill, it's usually for reasons we like to support.

It's because they're making investments and they have to expense those investments.

It's because they're paying their employees with stock options that tends to align incentives, that these are desirable things, and you don't want the tax code to disincentivize them.

That said, if you're not going to raise rates - - if you're looking for this money somewhere, this might be a less painful way for the government to kind of raise this revenue than some of the other options that have been discussed.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, as we have watched these negotiations go forward, I mean, there is a graveyard chockful of proposals that have been floated and have already died.

My understanding is that, according to polling, taxing corporations, taxing billionaires polls fairly well.

What is your sense from your reporting as to why those proposals have a hard time sticking with the Democratic majority?

NEIL IRWIN: I think the reality is just this is a vanishingly small Democratic majority.

They need literally every single Democratic vote in the Senate, 50 votes, plus the vice president breaking ties, nearly that close in the House.

They need nearly every House Democrat to be on board.

And the reality is, even if most Democrats are comfortable with raising capital gains tax rates, raising corporate tax rates, these sorts of things, as long as one or two or three are not so sure, it doesn't happen.

And that's what we have right now.

Most Democrats would be open to many more kinds of revenue raisers.

Joe Manchin from West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema Arizona and maybe a couple of others are much more reluctant to pull the trigger.

And those votes are necessary if they want to pass this thing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lastly, during the presidential campaign, the Democratic presidential primary, we heard Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders proposing a wealth tax.

How does that idea compare to these other proposals?

And is that potentially on the table?

NEIL IRWIN: It's not right now.

It's not being discussed.

Conceptually, it has some real similarities to the billionaires tax we were talking about, marking capital gains taxes to market for the very rich, in terms of the revenue raised, pretty similar.

It's actually -- if anything, the wealth tax has more constitutional questions around it.

Would it be legal?

Would it be upheld in court?

That said, I think most progressives would be very happy with something like this billionaires tax that was being discussed.

Again, it appears to be by the wayside for the moment.

But this has been a very fluid situation with lots of lots of changes happening by the hour.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Very fluid, to say the least.

Neil Irwin of The New York Times, thank you so much for being here.

NEIL IRWIN: Thanks for having me.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: The White House says states are moving quickly to order Pfizer's low-dose COVID vaccine for young children.

An FDA advisory panel endorsed it Tuesday.

Millions of doses could be shipped next week, once the full FDA and the CDC give the green light.

A congressional report says that at least 59,000 meatpacking workers caught COVID last year and that 269 died.

That's nearly three times the previous estimates.

The report says that companies were slow to take protective steps.

The industry disputes that claim.

Immigration arrests in the U.S. interior have hit their lowest level in more than a decade.

The Washington Post reports ICE agents made 72,000 arrests away from the Southern border in the last fiscal year.

That was down from 104,000 arrests in the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Department announced agents will stop making routine immigration arrests at schools and hospitals.

The top U.S. military commander confirmed today that China has tested a hypersonic weapon.

The nuclear-armed vehicles can launch into orbit, evade early detection, and plunge back to Earth to strike.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, likened China's test to the Soviet Union's first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.

The Pentagon said it's part of a pattern by Beijing, officially, the People's Republic of China.

JOHN KIRBY, Pentagon Press Secretary: These advanced military capabilities are paired with a foreign and defense policy approach that uses intimidation and coercion of neighboring nations to yield to China's interests.

And so, taken in sum, it reinforces for us the need to continue to treat the PRC as our number one pacing challenge.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. has not yet conducted a test similar to China's.

Activists in Sudan say security forces arrested three pro-democracy leaders in Khartoum overnight after Monday's army coup.

Despite the arrests, undeterred protesters took to the streets for another day to voice outrage at the military's takeover.

Many businesses remained closed again.

In Iran, long lines wrapped around gas stations for a second day.

State media claimed most stations were back up and running.

But those who did manage to fuel up were forced to pay higher prices.

Iran's president blamed a cyberattack designed to foment unrest.

He did not name the attacker.

Israel will build 3,000 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

The Associated Press reports a planning council approved the move today.

It's the biggest such action under Israel's new governing coalition.

The Obama administration had strongly opposed the plan.

Back in this country, investigators in New Mexico say there were definite safety problems before a fatal shooting on a movie set.

It happened last week when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun, killing the cinematographer.

Today, the Santa Fe county sheriff said it's too soon to discuss any charges, but they're not ruling out Baldwin or anyone else.

ADAN MENDOZA, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Sheriff: He's obviously the person that fired the weapon.

So we're going to continue interviewing and getting to -- getting the facts of his statements and the evidence and the case and possible witnesses or anybody that has any information.

So, right now, he is an active part of this investigation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Investigators say they found complacency in the handling of weapons and ammunition on the set.

For the first time, the United States today issued a passport with an X gender designation.

It's for those who do not identify as male or female.

The option will be offered more broadly next year under a new Biden administration policy.

On Wall Street today, stocks followed oil prices lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 266 points to close at 35490.

The Nasdaq was virtually unchanged.

The S&P 500 slipped 23 points.

And Mort Sahl is being remembered tonight for revolutionizing stand-up comedy.

He died Tuesday in California.

Sahl gained attention in the 1950s and '60s with satirical commentary on news events and U.S. presidents.

Later, his work inspired others, from George Carlin to Jon Stewart.

Mort Sahl was 94 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": why one state is addressing educational disparities through legislation; the president of Brazil faces possible criminal charges for his handling of the pandemic -- we speak with the country's former top health official; the revolutionary way a Philadelphia museum is showcasing the diversity of America's history makers; and much more.

School board races are normally quiet contests centered around local issues like budgets.

But, this year, many of these boards are engulfed in nationalized, cultural hot-button fights, among the issues mask mandates and Critical Race Theory, an academic framework around America's legacy of racism and segregation.

But that term has become a catch-all for lessons on diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom.

Anger at school boards has resulted in heated meetings and threats of violence.

Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland faced a barrage of criticism from Republican senators for his department's involvement in protecting school officials.

Garland said the moment called for federal monitoring.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. Attorney General: I think all of us have seen these reports of violence and threats of violence.

That is what the Justice Department is concerned about.

It's not only in the context of violence and threats of violence.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For a look at how this is playing out across the country, I'm joined by Grant Gerlock of Iowa Public Radio.

He joins us from Des Moines.

Jenny Brundin of Colorado Public Radio, she's based in Denver.

And, in Columbus, Ohio, Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

It's so good to see the three of you.

Thank you for joining us.

Jo Ingles, I want to start with you.

What does school board races in Ohio look like this year compared to previous years?

JO INGLES, Ohio Public Radio and Television: Well, they're intense.

The Ohio School Boards Association says we have more than 2, 600 candidates for school board this year.

Now, compare that with four years ago, Judy, it's a 50 percent increase.

And the races are hotly contested in most areas.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And skipping over to Colorado and to Jenny Brundin -- and I want to say, before we hear from you, I want to play some of the commentary at -- this was an October school board candidate forum in Colorado Springs.

This is just an excerpt.

WOMAN: We don't need to indoctrinate or legislate programs to expect respect.

WOMAN: No school should ever have the ability to make health care decisions for any family.

MAN: DEI is.

It is CRT, and it is, at its core level, Marxism.

MAN: I am not a fan of DEI.

They're very good, nice, flowery words, but equity is not a word that we -- that is really American.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Jenny Brundin, as we said, this is just a sampling.

But tell us, how typical are the issues that these candidates are raising?

JENNY BRUNDIN, Colorado Public Radio: Yes, I would say I have sat in on quite a few school board forums.

And, for the most part, the traditional issues, that is, student achievement, how to close the achievement gap, school budgets, those are the main issues.

But when you get into some of the more conservative areas around Colorado Springs and indeed in a few races closer to the Denver area, you do hear more questions and answers about masks, about Critical Race Theory.

And, as you saw there, they were mentioning DEI.

That's diversity, equity and inclusion.

And many parents are conflating that with so-called Critical Race Theory and are upset about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And it sounds like it's coming up a fair amount.

I want to move over to Iowa now and to Grant Gerlock.

And, Grant, now we have a short clip.

This is what some citizens were saying to school board members in September in Ankeny.

This is a suburb of Des Moines.

MAN: We know where you live!

We're going to stalk you!

We're coming to your house!

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, for those who couldn't hear, he was saying: "We're going to come to your house, we're going to stalk you."

It sounds like a pretty fevered pitch there.

GRANT GERLOCK, Iowa Public Radio: Yes, especially at that meeting.

That's where the school board voted to put in place a mask mandate for all students, which hadn't been in place before.

In fact, there had been a state law prohibiting schools from putting mask mandates in place.

After that was blocked by a federal court ruling, schools came back and several of them have put mandates in place.

But, in Ankeny, that's been a controversial issue going back to last school year.

And it really came to a head that night and led to those harassing statements from that person in the crowd.

And he has been associated with a group who has been very vocal against mask mandates and in some cases is spreading false information about masks and conspiracy theories and that type of thing.

They have been pretty prominent in the school board races, too.

It's just carried over, those controversies about the mandates carrying over into the school board race as well.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jo Ingles, you were telling us that even -- that in some parts of Ohio, school board members have actually been threatened.

We have heard a little of that in that clip there from Iowa, but what are you seeing in Ohio across the state?

JO INGLES: Yes, some school board members report they have been threatened.

We have seen a lot of bad behavior at local school board meetings.

And it's the same thing as everyone else is saying.

It centers around COVID protocols, masks, and it also centers around the teaching of diversity in the schools.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Jenny Brundin, tell us what you're seeing in Colorado.

And I know it's hard to ask you not to generalize, because I'm asking you to talk about an entire state, but talk about the issues that are being raised, but also the fact you were saying you're seeing new people running for school boards, people who had never really been involved in public education before.

JENNY BRUNDIN: In Colorado law, indeed, there is a law saying that schools need to focus on the history, culture and social contributions of a variety of minority groups.

And so schools are actually following the law, but it's been twisted a little bit by parent groups.

But, yes, in general, the main issues are student achievement, the critical mental health crisis that youth are in, and also the critical shortage of teachers, school bus drivers.

Those are some of the issues coming up.

But, like you said, newcomers.

We're seeing a lot of newcomers.

Traditionally, people who run for the school board have sat on accountability committees and parent-teacher organizations for many years.

And we're seeing lots of newcomers, people that are just parents who maybe tuned in during the pandemic, and have also been swept up in the national politics and some of these flash point issues.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And staying with you, Jenny Brundin, for a minute, you said some of what the newcomers, the candidates are saying is twisting what's in the curriculum?

What did you mean by that?

JENNY BRUNDIN: Yes.

I have spent a lot of time looking at curriculum.

And many school districts now are undergoing a process of making their curriculum more inclusive and representative to reflect the student body, so, for example, reading a piece of English that might be written by an African American person, so tinkering with the curriculum so that it looks more like the student body, which is what Colorado law calls for.

And I think, when you have some groups of parents that are reading about Critical Race Theory and are reading about diversity, equity and inclusion, in whatever form they're reading it, it's basically -- their view is somehow that teachers are teaching kids to dislike white people and that students of color are the victims and white people are the oppressors.

And everything I have read in curriculum and talking to many teachers, that is not what is being taught, but there are a sizable segment of the population, parents, who believe this is happening.

And I should also say I have sat in on many, many, many school board meetings, and there are dozens and dozens of parents who applaud the equity efforts.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Grant Gerlock, what about in Iowa?

I mean, what is your sense of how proportionate the criticism is?

GRANT GERLOCK: Oh, well, all this sounds very familiar, what I'm hearing from Ohio and Colorado, whether it's on masking or it's on teaching racism and equity in schools.

For the most part, it's only a handful of districts across the state where these are really coming to a strong contentious point ahead of these school board elections.

Oftentimes, I have noticed it's been in some of the fast-growing suburban areas.

And these are areas where they're growing quickly, the populations are changing, the demographics are changing, more students of color in the school districts.

And, sometimes, it's students themselves who are trying to drive these conversations about race and equity in their schools.

Parents are hearing about it, maybe coming late to the conversation, and coming, in many cases, from this frame of the national debate about CRT or the buzzwords around these issues.

And it's creating this dichotomy going into the school board election where we have national issues that are breaking in on local conversations about these issues.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it is such a not only important story for us to cover, but one that we want to keep an eye on as we get closer, not only to this year's elections, but, of course, midterm elections next year.

But we want to thank the three of you very much, Jo Ingles in Ohio, Jenny Brundin in Colorado, and Grant Gerlock joining us from Iowa.

Thank you all very much.

We appreciate it.

Many schools across the country are also grappling with ways to close the achievement gap between white students and students of color.

Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro has a report on those efforts in Minnesota, a state with some of the greatest disparities.

It's part of our ongoing Race Matters coverage and Fred's series Agents For Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It's a busy Monday in Thetis White's fifth grade class at Monroe Elementary, math, English and even some history, all before lunch.

White's class in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park is an outlier in this state, highly diverse and taught by a Black male.

THETIS WHITE, Teacher: I grew up in Minnesota.

I had I had some very impactful teachers, black, white.

When I say that though, I didn't have my first Black teacher until I was in seventh grade.

All through my education, I had three teachers of color.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Even today, fewer than 1 percent of teachers in Minnesota are Black men.

White's own teaching career started less than three years ago, after working for UPS and spending more than a decade as a youth football coach.

He eventually connected with Black Men Teach, a nonprofit that works to recruit, prepare, place and retain Black males in schools.

THETIS WHITE: I really want them to understand that, especially for some of my African American students that are in my classroom, that you can be whoever you want to be, but you do have to have someone there that maybe looks like you letting you know that it is attainable.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Experts say the low number of teachers of color contributes to wide educational disparities in Minnesota.

The state has historically ranked near the top in test scores and graduation rates.

But those numbers mask wide differences between white and, in particular, Black students.

This year, about 52 percent of white students met state standards for math, compared to 18 percent of Black students.

And, on reading, 60 percent of white students were proficient, double the percentage of Black students.

Nehemiah Johnson is a fifth grader in Thetis White's class.

He used to go to school in the Minneapolis Public School District.

But his parents wanted something different.

DANIELLE THOMPSON, Mother of Nehemiah Johnson: All his teachers were older white women.

And I felt every day with him that I would have to encourage him to ask for help.

You know, don't be intimidated.

Don't be nervous.

Don't be scared.

It was more like he was uncomfortable.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: But, with White, Nehemiah has found confidence.

NEHEMIAH JOHNSON, Student: He helps me on my work in math and reading ABDUL JOHNSON, Father of Nehemiah Johnson: It's good to see that someone cares.

You know, a Black male teacher is showing that, expressing he cares about them.

It probably would have helped, being that age, having a Mr. White.

It definitely would have helped me.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: University of Minnesota Professor Justin Grinage studies racism and inequality in education.

Growing up here, he says he didn't have a single teacher of color until college, and understands from his own teaching experience why they're so difficult to recruit and retain.

JUSTIN GRINAGE, University of Minnesota: I would go up to a teacher and introduce myself.

And about three or four times, they assumed I was security staff.

It impacted my mental health, because I started to like, say, OK, how are people perceiving me?

Should I even be a teacher?

And I kind of got this complex, like, oh, I'm not good enough.

And so that's a subtle example, but, like, those things can accumulate.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Among the systemic challenges, Grinage says public education dollars are not distributed equitably between the state's poorer and wealthier school districts.

JUSTIN GRINAGE: There's been wide societal inequalities that have existed for decades.

And schools and classrooms don't exist in a vacuum.

Students of color, in particular, are put at a disadvantage because schools don't necessarily function to close those gaps in any meaningful ways.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In recent years, lawmakers, educators and researchers have searched for ways to close the gap.

One effort is being led by two prominent figures in Minnesota, Alan Page, a former Minnesota Viking, NFL Hall of Famer and retired state Supreme Court justice, and Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari.

They have proposed an amendment to the state's Constitution.

The current language requires a general and uniform system of public schools funded by the legislature.

The amendment says all children have a fundamental right to a quality public education and that fulfilling that right is a -- quote -- "paramount duty of the state."

ALAN PAGE, Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice: It puts children first.

Our current Constitution focuses on the education system and funding of that system.

It doesn't say one word about children.

But we think it's important that every child, no matter what their economic circumstance, no matter what the color of their skin, no matter their ability or disability, can learn.

And our proposed amendment shifts the focus to individual children.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Under the amendment, the state would set standards for a quality education.

Parents who feel they aren't being met can seek remedies in the courts.

But critics say that would only delay reforms.

Denise Specht is the president of Education Minnesota, the state's largest teachers union.

DENISE SPECHT, President, Education Minnesota: It would require groups getting together to define things like quality.

I do get a little worried when we are looking at a solution that is dependent highly on lawsuits.

We see the urgent needs of students right in front of our faces right now.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Specht says the state could take more specific and immediate action.

DENISE SPECHT: I actually wouldn't mind if we were talking about a constitutional amendment that would specifically call for lower class sizes in our schools or universal health care for every student, universal pre-K for every student.

Those are the things that we know are affecting the gaps right now.

And I think we have to get down and figure those out.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Many critics say fixing the state's education system doesn't require a constitutional amendment.

The argument being, the solutions ought to be legislated, not litigated.

ALAN PAGE: There were probably those people that said that about Brown vs.

The Board of Education.

There are probably people who say that about a woman's right to vote.

There are probably people who said that about freed slaves' right to vote.

If we weren't in the position we were in, and the current constitutional language was working, we wouldn't be here having this conversation.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The amendment has some bipartisan support, but it's yet to pass the state legislature, which is required before it can be placed on the ballot.

Amid the debate over reforms and how to enact them, there's little disagreement on the importance of teachers like Thetis White.

THETIS WHITE: This makes me emotional even thinking about it.

I just really hope that somebody is going to see this and be turned into wanting to become a teacher, because we do need African-American teachers.

They just have to want to step up.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Closing the education gap in this state may depend on it.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Fred's reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

A Brazilian Senate committee investigating President Jair Bolsonaro submitted their findings today to the country's attorney general, recommending the president face criminal charges for his handling of the pandemic.

The inquiry is unprecedented and scathing, accusing a sitting head of state of crimes against humanity for Brazil's COVID death toll, the second highest in the world.

Here's Nick Schifrin.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It is a memorial of grief, what activists call a shrine of shame, 600 tissues for more than 600,000 Brazilian lives lost.

Their posters ask, who is responsible for this tragedy?

The Senate's answer, largely one man.

From the beginning, President Jair Bolsonaro opposed a nationwide lockdown, blocked mask mandates and social distancing requirements, and denied the virus' gravity.

JAIR BOLSONARO, Brazilian President (through translator): In my case, given my athletic history, if I was to be infected, it would not necessarily concern me.

I wouldn't feel anything other than at most a little cold or be under the weather.

NICK SCHIFRIN: He touted unproven therapies.

After testing positive, he called antimalarial hydroxychloroquine a cure and, just this week, disparaged vaccines with lies.

JAIR BOLSONARO (through translator): The reports from United Kingdom government officials suggest that they are completely vaccinated.

They are developing AIDS faster than what was expected.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Facebook and YouTube later took down this and other Bolsonaro videos.

While spraying that fire hose of falsehood, Bolsonaro told Brazilians to stop whining and pushed to reopen the economy.

JAIR BOLSONARO (through translator): The collateral damage of the measures to fight the virus cannot be worse than the very illness.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Brazil ended up with the world's second highest official death toll, just after the U.S.

Senator Omar Aziz led the inquiry.

OMAR AZIZ, President, Brazilian Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (through translator): The presidency is an institution.

The presidency is not an office in a bar where you CAN say what you want while drinking beer and eating barbecue.

Bolsonaro tells the Brazilian people about unfounded studies, when we ask to vaccinate the population.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A majority of the commission's members endorsed the report's recommendations to accuse Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity, inciting an epidemic, charlatanism, and misuse of public funds.

The 1, 200-page document found Bolsonaro's government omitted and opted to act in a non-technical and reckless manner in the fight against the pandemic, deliberately exposing the population to a concrete risk of mass infection in order to achieve herd immunity.

Today, the report was submitted to Brazil's Attorney General Augusto Aras.

He is a Bolsonaro appointee and doesn't have to pursue charges.

Bolsonaro himself has repeatedly dismissed the committee and its report as politically motivated.

JAIR BOLSONARO (through translator): How good would it be if this Senate committee was doing something productive for our country?

They took time from our Ministry of Health, public employees, humble people and businessmen.

They produced nothing besides hatred and rancor.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For more, we turn to Dr. Luiz Henrique Mandetta.

He served as Brazil's minister of health in 2019 and 2020, until President Bolsonaro fired him over their differences in how to respond to the pandemic.

He is now laying the ground work to run for president of Brazil, and joins us from Brasilia.

Dr. Mandetta, thank you.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

You were the committee's first witness.

Do you agree with the charges recommended?

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA, Former Brazilian Minister of Health: Yes, yes, thanks for having me here on PBS.

Well, the committee made six months' work, and in the six months, they showed too many mistakes that were under COVID, the negotiations on buying the vaccines, not negotiating with Pfizer, 81 e-mails from Pfizer offering vaccines, and they said no.

Then they tried to buy vaccines from India from Covaxin that didn't have not even a phase two.

Then they showed very clearly that the president had another office, a parallel office, that was trying to sell chloroquine and ivermectin and make all those fake news.

So, there were so many mistakes, so many things that they were -- that was shown by this committee, that we think that it's going to take more time to really put them under justice.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As we just heard, President Bolsonaro says that these charges are politically motivated, created by political opponents.

You're running for president against Bolsonaro.

Are you making your charges because of your political opposition to the president?

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA: Well, they talk, but there are facts.

They are not.

They don't have answers for anything.

There are so many mistakes and wrong things, wrong decisions, and a toxic leadership that he made.

Last week, he said that who takes the vaccines goes into HIV.

So he keeps on doing it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: When you urged him to take the virus more seriously, why did he say he was resisting?

And where was he getting his information?

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA: Well, he said that he got into a false dilemma that says, between economy and health, I will keep with economy.

And he decided to do that when he came back from a trip that he made to Mar-a-Lago, where he met President Trump.

Well, the next week, they were both with a chloroquine box on their hands.

And they started saying to governors and mayors not to stop the economy, let's keep on working, take this medicine, that it will work.

They didn't want to prepare the system to anything.

By the time I was looking and saying, well, maybe the Americans have some -- just like on the movies, that they come with some kind of vaccine or a medicine that will solve the problem, because they're really not taking any -- any kind of measure to protect their people.

And when I saw what happened in New York in all those hospitals, at Central Park, the health system could not handle all of that, I gave to him three kind of scenario, one very optimist, another realist, and another pessimist.

And I showed him that if he would take the way, the decisions that he was going to do, that we would have these kind of deaths that, unfortunately, we had.

So he knew what he was doing.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you believe President Bolsonaro believed what he was doing could actually save the economy?

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA: No, he always knew that he would have more problems with the economy.

But he just want a political vaccine.

So he made that choice in the election way, thinking on the elections.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What happens if the attorney general equivalent does not pursue criminal charges?

Do you think, actually, that the penalty that Bolsonaro may face is actually more political?

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA: Well, I think that, by this time, this is a Senate committee.

They have a lot of things that were shown and now are going to be sent to the prosecutors.

I don't know which -- they're going to -- they're going to probably go deeper in these investigations.

This is not the end.

This is just the beginning.

It's like you show, you turn the light on, but now you're going to have the cases.

And this is for the prosecutors.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Dr. Luiz Henrique Mandetta, thank you very much.

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA: Thank you.

Thank you for having me here.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A new exhibit titled Liberty in Philadelphia seeks to tell a more inclusive story of the American revolution, introducing visitors to people critical to building the nation, but whose names they have likely never heard.

John Yang visited as part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JOHN YANG: At first glance, this painting at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia looks like a typical depiction of the time, but take a closer look.

It's a little known moment in U.S. history, the Rhode Island Regiment, which had two companies of soldiers who were Native American or of African descent, marching past Independence Hall.

MICHAEL IDRISS, African American Interpretive Fellow, Museum of the American Revolution: This is just an incredible scene that, when I laid eyes on it for the first time, just really helped to center the contributions of people of African descent.

JOHN YANG: Michael Idriss is the museum's African American interpretive fellow.

MICHAEL IDRISS: This group is primarily African American.

They are led by a white commanding officer.

And in the middle of this is this young man who is looking at this scene.

His name is James Forten, that these men were a brave of men as ever fought.

JOHN YANG: Forten's words, brave men as ever fought, give this painting its name.

It was commissioned by the museum as the centerpiece of a special exhibit called Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War.

Forten is an unheralded Revolutionary War figure, a grandson of enslaved people who was born free.

He fought in the war as a teenager and later became a wealthy businessman and leading abolitionist.

MAN: We deserve life, liberty and happiness.

JOHN YANG: A play about his life opens on Veterans Day, part of the museum's efforts to showcase the diversity of American history.

ADRIENNE WHALEY, Director of Education and Community Engagement, Museum of the American Revolution: There are approximately 2.5 million people in British North America on the eve of the American Revolution, and they are not all John Adams, right?

JOHN YANG: Adrienne Whaley is the museum's director of education and community engagement.

ADRIENNE WHALEY: If we are not looking at a story of the American Revolution that is inclusive of all of those people, we're doing poor history, number one.

But, number two, we're not providing people with the opportunity to understand how they themselves and communities like theirs might have been dealing with the challenges and the complications of this crazy, chaotic, hopeful, beautiful, challenging time.

SCOTT STEPHENSON, President and CEO, Museum of the American Revolution: We had hoped that we could sort of be an American Revolution 3.0 museum, a place that focuses more on asking questions.

JOHN YANG: Scott Stephenson is president and CEO of the museum, which opened in 2017.

SCOTT STEPHENSON: Washington's army at Yorktown in 1781 may have been as much as 25 percent soldiers of color.

We want to teach people to be historians, rather than sort of be passive, passively walking through a museum, just looking at the artifacts and a traditional kind of telling.

We really wanted it to be interrogative experience.

When our kids come through, they have a character card.

A museum that's about inquiry that asks questions, that's the best kind of learning, I think, that that we can we can possibly do for our rising generations.

JOHN YANG: The museum's core exhibit includes many little-noted stories:, the fiercely debated decision by the Oneida Nation of Native Americans to support the revolution, enslaved women like Phillis Wheatley, the first African American and only second woman in North America to publish a book of poetry, and enslaved people of African descent who fought for the British in exchange for their freedom.

That's illustrated in this tableau called Sometimes Freedom Wore a Red Coat.

It depicts a woman overhearing a young enslaved man telling a friend he was running away to join the Red Coats.

By design, all the figures are the likenesses of people now living.

ADRIENNE WHALEY: One of the reasons that we do that is really just to help to emphasize the fact that these are real lifelike.

Like, they have got the breath and the blood of real people in them, right?

When you look at a figure like this that's actually been life-cast, right, and you start to be able to make connections to the people and the stories of the past.

JOHN YANG: And you talked about being life-cast.

This is you.

This is your skin.

This is your face ADRIENNE WHALEY: This is literally me.

This is my skin.

This is my face.

One of the first things that I was asked to do at the museum was to lend my likeness to one of the tableau figures.

JOHN YANG: There are also flesh-and-blood interpreters in costumes playing the roles of historical figures.

The museum's Black interpreters portray both enslaved and free people.

Interpreter Kalela Williams: KALELA WILLIAMS, Historical Interpreter, Museum of the American Revolution: You know, other Black folks will look at me and say, how does it feel to portray a slave?

And I generally don't.

But, of course, I would.

That's a role that I would like to portray.

To me, there's beauty in portraying who was there, JOHN YANG: Currently, Williams portrays Helena Harris, a Philadelphia schoolteacher, a rare profession for a Black woman in the 1790s.

KALELA WILLIAMS: We have a very narrow idea of where Black folks played a role in the history of the United States.

I want people to come away with the understanding that black history is U.S. history.

Indigenous history is U.S. history, is world history, is all of our history.

Everyone's history is part of who we collectively are.

JOHN YANG: Michael Idriss, the interpretive fellow, portrays a Philadelphia baker based on Cyrus Bustill, a formerly enslaved man who owned a successful bakery.

MICHAEL IDRISS: I want to tell stories that meet people of African descent at bedrock, at inception.

I want people to understand that the stories of people of African descent are centered there as well among others that are part of this a revolutionary story.

JOHN YANG: Idriss says it also serves to draw a direct line from the 18th century to today's reexamination of racial justice.

Does that affect you, this bridging of centuries and what's going on now and what was going on then?

MICHAEL IDRISS: Pinning back history is really important.

It's a way of revealing that there has always been tension.

This is an experiment that is ongoing.

The museum speaks to that.

It's a revolution that is ongoing in so many respects.

ADRIENNE WHALEY: I think that we have this opportunity to tell diverse stories at a moment when so many members of the public are really, really hungry for those diverse stories.

JOHN YANG: That resonates with many visitors, like current Alabama schoolteacher Shae Deason.

SHAE DEASON, Teacher: It's neat to see someone that looks like you, to know that, hey, you do care about my history.

You do see it.

You know, we were there too.

JOHN YANG: And retired teacher Gary Stringfellow of California.

GARY STRINGFELLOW, Retired Teacher: That's the part that puts the tears in my eyes, because we're in the room where it happened.

I will borrow from "Hamilton."

But you're also seeing everybody's point of view.

JOHN YANG: Points of view that haven't always been included in history books.

The exhibit Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War runs through September 2022.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang in Philadelphia.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The history that we all need to learn.

And an update before we go.

Earlier in the program, I said the Obama administration opposed Israel's current plan to build 3,000 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Apologies.

I meant to say the Biden administration.

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, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.