May 18, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The national calls to action over racial justice have brought new awareness of past injustices in many parts of our society, including the fields of science and medicine. Yamiche Alcindor speaks to Dr. Aletha Maybank, the American Medical Association's chief health equity officer, about the organization's racist history, how it plans to reckon with it, and the intersection of race and medicine.

In our news wrap Tuesday, a North Carolina prosecutor says he will not charge three sheriff's deputies who shot and killed Andrew Brown Jr. last month in Elizabeth City. U.S. public health officials stepped up appeals for younger Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Southern Louisiana braced for more downpours and flooding this week.

Congress on Tuesday sent to President Joe Biden's desk a bill to combat the recent rise in hate crimes, including against Asian Americans and people of Pacific Islander descent. It's a rare moment of bipartisanship in a Capitol increasingly gridlocked on major issues. Lisa Desjardins reports on how the U.S. got here and what it means.

A new movement has sprung up in the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, demanding an end to violence against women. But the government of the twin island state, just off the coast of Venezuela in the southern Caribbean, has been accused of ignoring a study’s recommendations to reduce murder and domestic abuse. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports with help from cameraman Dylan Quesnel.

John Yang reports on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East as calls for a ceasefire are ignored and destruction spreads as Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli artillery attacks continue on day nine with no let-up in sight.

A new book, "Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR" explores the careers and friendships of trailblazing journalists Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts. For NPR's 50th anniversary, Judy Woodruff spoke with author Lisa Napoli and Susan Stamberg about how women turned NPR into one of the U.S.'s most popular media outlets.