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Republican majority is having. trouble

2:00

controlling its MAGA wing, and

2:02

few have seen the dysfunction like

2:05

Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. And

2:07

even though we're in the minority,

2:10

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2:13

as if we were in the majority

2:15

because we continue to provide a majority

2:17

of the votes necessary to get things

2:20

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2:35

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2:38

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2:40

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2:42

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2:44

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2:46

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2:48

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2:55

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2:57

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Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill

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John Wirthheim. I'm Cecilia Vega.

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I'm Nora O'Donnell. I'm Scott

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today. The

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United States Congress is not particularly

5:24

popular these days and look

5:26

no further than the current session to understand

5:28

why. It will likely

5:30

be the least productive Congress since

5:33

the Civil War. One

5:35

lawmaker who's figured out a way to get a

5:37

few things done is Congressman

5:39

Hakeem Jeffries. He replaced

5:41

Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the

5:43

Democrats in the House over a

5:45

year ago. And the 53-year-old has

5:47

built a reputation as a consensus

5:49

builder in his own caucus and

5:52

as a tough but respectful opponent

5:54

of the Republican Party. Minority

5:57

Leader Jeffries could potentially become the

5:59

first... black speaker of the House.

6:01

So to hear him tell it, the

6:03

Democrats are already in charge. Even

6:07

though we're in the minority, we

6:09

effectively have been governing

6:12

as if we were in the majority

6:14

because we continue to provide a majority

6:17

of the votes necessary to get things

6:19

done. Those are just the facts. The

6:22

fact is Republicans in the House

6:24

are a majority in name only,

6:27

with just two votes to

6:29

spare infighting has crippled their

6:31

conference. Even some Republican members

6:33

are at their wit's end. The

6:36

Lord Jesus himself could not manage his

6:38

current. It's a difficult

6:40

situation on the other side of the aisle because

6:43

many of my Republican colleagues

6:46

are more interested in creating

6:48

chaos, dysfunction and

6:51

extremism. For what purpose? That's

6:53

a good question that has to be asked of them.

6:57

We were sent by the American people to

6:59

get things done, to solve problems. At the

7:01

end of the day, some people

7:03

don't have that view of the

7:06

job. Nine

7:09

months after getting the job of

7:12

speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy of California

7:14

got dumped by the far right

7:16

wing of his party. Following

7:18

three weeks of paralysis, Mike Johnson of

7:21

Louisiana took his place. I want to

7:23

thank you all for the trust that

7:25

you have instilled in me. After

7:28

he worked with Democrats to pass the

7:31

foreign aid bill that included $61 billion

7:34

for Ukraine, Georgia Congresswoman

7:36

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who opposed it,

7:38

said she will follow through with

7:41

the threat to oust him. Jeffries

7:44

told us he works to find common ground

7:47

with the other side of the aisle, and

7:49

at least one Republican who might be

7:51

happy about that is Speaker

7:53

Johnson. Johnson, at some point

7:55

today, this past week, Democrats

7:57

said they would vote against

8:00

Congresswoman Greene's effort to remove

8:02

him. Has Speaker Johnson asked for

8:04

your help? He has not. And

8:07

all of you would traditionally be, let

8:09

the other side work its own mess out.

8:12

But when that mess starts to impact the

8:15

ability to do the job on behalf of

8:17

the American people, then a

8:19

responsible thing at that moment might be for us

8:22

to make clear that we

8:24

will not allow the extremists to throw the Congress

8:26

and the country into chaos. Hey, hey, hey, hey,

8:29

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, as chaos

8:31

spreads across college campuses nationwide

8:33

over Israel and Gaza. Whoo,

8:35

hoo, back up. Some

8:38

far-left members of Jeffrey's own

8:40

party have shown support for

8:42

protesters. Leader

8:44

Jeffries, whose district is 11% Jewish, spoke

8:48

about the protests at his weekly press

8:50

conference this past Wednesday. Peaceful

8:52

protest is an important part of the fabric

8:54

of America. But we shouldn't

8:57

see any protests ever there

9:00

into threatening the

9:02

safety and security of others, into

9:06

anti-Semitism or racism or xenophobia.

9:10

In all, 37 House

9:12

Democrats recently voted against sending

9:14

more military aid to Israel. The

9:18

divisive issue will follow Leader Jeffries

9:20

and President Biden into the election

9:22

this November, where control of

9:24

the White House and Congress looks like

9:27

a coin flip. What do

9:29

you think about how Israel has been

9:31

waging this war against Hamas in

9:33

Gaza? Israel was put

9:35

in a very difficult situation when

9:38

it comes to the horrific events

9:41

of 10-7, a

9:44

brutal terrorist attack by Hamas,

9:46

which is an entity that

9:49

has sworn to wipe Israel off the

9:51

face of the Earth. So

9:53

Israel was in a position where, of

9:55

course, it had to respond to decisively

9:57

defeat Hamas. At the same time, My

10:01

view has been that we have

10:03

to do everything possible to

10:06

get the hostages out and

10:09

to surge humanitarian assistance

10:11

into Gaza. But

10:14

isn't it also true that

10:16

while retaliating and going after Hamas

10:18

terrorists, that Israel has

10:20

been indiscriminate in its bombing? I would

10:22

not say that they've been indiscriminate. I

10:25

do think what we'd like to see moving

10:28

forward is the execution

10:31

of the new phases of

10:33

this conflict with surgical precision.

10:36

You could still be a strong supporter of

10:38

Israel and Americans' defense of Israel and

10:40

be critical of their approach about how they've waged

10:42

this war in Gaza. That's correct. But

10:45

you seem reluctant to criticize Israel at all. I'm

10:47

dealing with the facts on the

10:49

ground. The facts are that according to the

10:51

UN, half of Gaza's 2.2 million

10:53

people are on the verge of famine. Has

10:56

Israel done enough to get food and aid

10:58

into Gaza? Israel clearly needs

11:00

to do more as

11:03

they have recently

11:06

acknowledged through their actions to

11:08

surge humanitarian assistance into

11:11

Gaza. The other thing that I think

11:14

is important... Only after they

11:16

killed seven aid workers from World

11:18

Central Kitchen? And that was horrific,

11:21

including one American. Now

11:23

in terms of the loss

11:25

of innocent Palestinian

11:27

life in this tough theater

11:30

of war, that is deeply

11:34

disturbing, tragic,

11:37

and should be painful for

11:39

anyone who has a shred of humanity

11:41

in their body. And

11:45

civilians do not deserve to suffer

11:47

for the sins of Hamas. The

12:00

go to peace is Israeli

12:02

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Was

12:05

later summer speech a turning point.

12:08

Anything. That such humor has to say. Ah,

12:10

On the subject is gonna be

12:13

incredibly important and received. But.

12:15

At the same time, every single member

12:17

of congress. Has. The.

12:19

Responsibility of answering to their constituency.

12:21

That's the beauty of American democracy.

12:23

So what lead assume or has

12:25

to say on a given to

12:27

see what Miss Mcconnell has to

12:30

say? Want to give an as

12:32

yet it's some importance connected to

12:34

it. In. Congress inside

12:36

the Beltway. I was

12:38

a very long answer without answering my

12:40

question. Was it was there. Will come

12:42

on yet. Chuck Schumer. Criticizing.

12:45

The Prime Minister of Israel, Calling.

12:48

Friend to be replaced? That's a big deal. Subsume

12:50

was words speak for themselves. But

12:52

I think that trying to suggest

12:54

that Leaders Schumer is somehow undermining

12:57

the Us. Israel relationship is ridiculous.

13:00

How worried are you. At

13:03

Voters frustration. With President

13:05

Biden. Over the war in

13:08

Gaza. Could. Hurt democrats

13:10

chances and this lesson? Yeah, We

13:12

can't say. Any.

13:15

Vote. For granted. But.

13:17

Also believe that at the end

13:20

of the day voters are gonna

13:22

look at the totality of circumstances.

13:25

Who. Is fighting to deliver? For.

13:27

Everyday Americans. And

13:30

who is simply fighting for

13:32

himself? Hakeem. Jeffries

13:35

says he learned about fighting

13:37

for everyday Americans from his

13:39

parents. His. Father was a

13:41

substance abuse counselor, his mother a

13:43

social worker who Jeffrey says taught

13:45

him and his brother a college

13:47

professor to work hard and be

13:49

good to people. Jeffries.

13:51

Attended N Y U Law School. Worked.

13:54

For a prestigious law firm. then

13:56

spent a few years as an

13:58

attorney for sixty minutes parent company

14:00

CBS before entering politics in 2006.

14:04

This election is about a fresh start

14:06

moving forward. So many great pictures of

14:08

Brooklyn all around here. You were the first

14:10

black leader for either

14:12

party in either house ever. What

14:15

does that say about America? Government

14:17

of the people, by the people, and for the people

14:20

isn't just a theoretical concept.

14:23

Like, it actually exists

14:26

in America. He was

14:28

raised in the Crown Heights section of

14:30

Brooklyn, a few blocks away from his

14:32

district, where

14:36

Sundays were for church. At

14:38

12 years old, he became an usher and

14:40

also taught him how to talk to people. These

14:43

are challenging times. Jeffrey

14:46

says he visited more than 60 churches

14:48

in Brooklyn last year. And

14:50

in Washington, we're going to continue to

14:52

put people over politics.

14:57

One of Jeffrey's allies told us

14:59

his ability to connect to both

15:01

young and old black voters makes

15:03

him an important surrogate for President

15:05

Biden this fall. Black voters are

15:08

a core democratic constituency. Why do

15:10

you think support for President Biden

15:12

has decreased among black voters? I

15:15

think that tremendous progress has been made

15:18

for African Americans under the leadership of

15:20

Joe Biden. That's quantifiable.

15:22

But the reality is there are

15:25

still real challenges. One

15:27

new challenge in communities in New York City

15:29

and in many others around the country

15:32

is the influx of migrants. Shelters

15:35

to house thousands of them have gone

15:37

up in and around Jeffrey's district. What

15:40

do you say to voters who not

15:42

only see migrants streaming into the U.S.,

15:44

not just from Mexico and Latin America,

15:46

but also from China and

15:48

other countries and wonder, what's Congress doing

15:50

about this? We have a

15:52

broken immigration system, and

15:54

we have clear challenges at the

15:56

border that we have to confront.

15:59

Decisive. and in a bipartisan

16:01

way. And the American people are crying

16:03

out for us to do something about

16:06

the situation at the border, in a

16:08

manner consistent with our values. How

16:11

big of an issue will abortion rights

16:13

be this election year? It's

16:16

going to be an incredibly significant

16:19

issue because on

16:21

its own, it's about freedom,

16:24

and the extreme magma Republicans have

16:26

set in motion the erosion of

16:29

reproductive freedom. We're going

16:31

to fight for it with everything

16:34

that we've got at

16:37

our disposal. If Roe v.

16:39

Wade can fall, anything

16:42

can fall. Social security

16:45

can fall. Medicare

16:47

can fall. Voting

16:49

rights can fall. And God

16:51

help us all, but democracy

16:53

itself can fall. If

16:56

Roe v. Wade can fall, then

16:58

anything can fall. Every single

17:02

thing that we care about is

17:04

on the ballot in November.

17:07

Leader Jeffrey says Democrats have a

17:09

story to tell beyond what voters

17:12

have to lose in November and

17:14

pointed to legislative wins for gun

17:17

safety and the billions invested in

17:19

American manufacturing and infrastructure.

17:22

Those are real results.

17:25

But two-thirds of voters think the economy

17:27

was better under President Trump. Well,

17:30

that's just not the case, and

17:32

we have to do a better

17:34

job of laying out the facts

17:37

that the economy has dramatically improved

17:40

under the leadership of President Joe

17:42

Biden. But if those are the

17:44

facts, why don't

17:46

voters believe it? Is that

17:48

a communication problem? Voters understand

17:50

that more needs to be done, that there

17:53

are challenges that remain.

17:56

We understand. We have to lower costs. We

17:58

have to end prices. gouging. We

18:00

have to grow the middle class.

18:02

We have to keep our communities

18:04

safe. We have to solve the

18:07

problems and challenges at

18:09

the border. We're on the right side of those

18:11

issues and we just have to make sure we

18:14

make that case in a

18:17

compelling, a clear, and a comprehensive

18:19

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ago, CEOs earned around 20 times

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19:42

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19:44

average laborer earns in a year. No

19:47

wonder there's not so much a wealth gap

19:49

as a wealth canyon, rendering the

19:51

American dream for so many a mirage.

19:54

Into this crisis strides Pete

19:56

Stavros, unlikely champion for empowering

19:58

and enriching. the rank and file.

20:01

Stavros is a heavyweight in the world

20:03

of private equity, an industry famous for

20:06

its ruthlessness. Yet he's emerged

20:08

as the leading evangelist for the concept

20:10

of employee ownership. His idea? Take

20:13

the same incentives that have long

20:15

helped the C-suite get rich, and

20:17

apply them to the folks working

20:19

factories, flatbeds, and farms. Norman

20:23

Rockwell never did paint Arthur, Illinois.

20:26

But what a canvas of Americana.

20:29

Beating slow in the heart of the heartland, this

20:31

town of 2200 sits in

20:33

a pocket of Amish country, a

20:35

place where past and present cohabitate.

20:38

Not long ago, Arthur was the

20:40

unlikely site of a daring experiment

20:43

in American capitalism. CHI

20:45

overhead doors, which manufactures garage

20:47

doors, was founded by a

20:49

local Amish carpenter. Then

20:52

in 2015, KKR, one of

20:54

the world's biggest private equity firms,

20:56

came to this small town and

20:59

purchased CHI for $700 million. That's

21:02

when Brad Edwards, a 19-year veteran

21:04

of the factory floor, and

21:06

his wife, Crystal, started googling the

21:08

new corporate overlords. To me, it

21:10

seems like they owned half the

21:13

world, right? And then the rumors

21:15

start going around like, this is

21:17

big New York private equity. They're

21:19

going to skin this

21:21

down to the bare bones until they can squeeze

21:23

a few bucks off of us, and whenever

21:26

they leave, there's going to be nothing left. Today,

21:28

roughly 12 million Americans are

21:30

employed by companies owned by private

21:32

equity. Firms like KKR that specialize

21:34

in buying businesses with the goal

21:37

of improving performance and value, in

21:39

ultimately reselling, ultimately reselling for

21:42

a profit, a practice

21:44

that often involves cuts and layoffs.

21:46

Over a 10-year span, it's estimated that at

21:49

least a half million jobs have been lost

21:51

to private equity cutbacks. That

21:54

would have devastated Brad and Crystal Edwards.

21:57

Buried under credit card debt and with no

21:59

savings, They had taken second jobs

22:01

to support themselves and their three daughters.

22:03

You were working, she worked midnights at

22:06

Casey's. The gas station used to be

22:08

open 24 hours. So you

22:10

took a late shift at the gas station. Like you

22:12

had a gas station and then maybe slapped

22:14

or maybe didn't sleep. Soon

22:17

after KKR bought CHI, employees

22:19

gathered to meet the new

22:21

boss, KKR executive Pete Stavros,

22:23

who came bearing an unexpected

22:25

message. No slashing, no

22:27

burning. CHI would be

22:30

growing. And the entire workforce would now

22:32

be part owners in the company. What's

22:35

your immediate response when you heard about that?

22:38

It was too good to be true. You

22:41

would hear people talk about, no, this is

22:43

just, they're just dangling the carrot. What's

22:46

the catch? Yeah, what's the catch? Exactly.

22:48

A lot of times you're walking in

22:50

and people say, I've heard

22:52

promises before. Stavros had

22:54

given the employee ownership pitch before

22:57

and was accustomed to a skeptical

22:59

audience. Day one, we sit

23:01

down with the workforce. We explain at a

23:03

very high level, this is our

23:05

business plan. This is where we're headed. These are

23:07

the key priorities. There is a

23:10

pool of ownership set aside for you. His

23:13

idea really is simple. Give rank and file

23:15

workers a stake in their company on top

23:17

of salary, plus a voice in how the

23:19

business is run day to day. With

23:22

skin in the game, they'll be motivated

23:24

to work harder and smarter. Ownership is

23:27

really an ethos. It's a mindset. What

23:29

I mean by that is, what

23:32

you want are people feeling

23:34

like these are my products. So

23:37

if I'm sending out poor quality, that's

23:40

a problem for me. If our productivity

23:42

is down or if our customers are unhappy, these

23:44

are my customers. And this doesn't

23:46

happen overnight. But when they pay off, you

23:48

do get behavior change. You get people on

23:50

the shop floor saying, I have ideas on

23:52

how to reduce scrap or improve quality. The

23:54

concept is not a new one. In

23:57

the 70s, Congress passed laws to encourage

23:59

employees. ownership, a story 60 Minutes

24:01

covered at the time. A year ago,

24:03

the 75 employers of this

24:05

company were told they were going to

24:08

become part owners, stockholders and infant specialties.

24:10

But as corporate America struggled with the

24:12

complexity of a new model, the effort

24:14

sputtered. Today, while it's common

24:16

for executives to be compensated with shares,

24:18

fewer than a quarter of private sector

24:21

employees own a stake in their company,

24:23

all as their wages and wealth have

24:25

stagnated. On this topic,

24:27

devout capitalist Pete Stavros can sound

24:30

downright revolutionary. You've

24:32

said the social contract in America is broken

24:34

right now. What do you mean by that?

24:36

That workers feel like they don't have hope,

24:39

they don't have a way to get ahead. There's

24:41

half of America earns an hourly wage. Most

24:44

of them have no assets, no

24:47

plans for a dignified retirement.

24:50

This Stavros says it's not as

24:52

bad for society, it's bad for balance

24:54

sheets. 70% of America doesn't like their

24:56

jobs. Somewhere around 20% hate their

24:59

jobs, but they're throwing the proverbial wrenches in the

25:01

machinery. Like, sabotage. Sabotaging their

25:03

own employer. That's bad for human beings,

25:05

it's bad for our economy. You very

25:08

clear, though, this is not charity, this

25:10

isn't philanthropy, this isn't socialism, you are

25:12

making a business

25:14

case. This is the

25:17

right thing to do that also

25:19

happens to be good business. His obsession

25:21

with employee ownership traces to his working

25:23

class upbringing outside Chicago. His

25:25

father paved roads for a construction

25:27

company. And the lessons around the

25:30

dinner table from my sister and I were really

25:32

about the plight of the hourly worker. And there's

25:34

no incentive. I mean, the thing that

25:36

really drove my dad crazy, he used to talk about the

25:38

need to just work steady. If you

25:40

work too fast and you're too productive, your hours

25:42

go down and your paycheck goes down. You

25:45

need hours. You need hours. In

25:47

Harvard, Stavros published research on, you

25:49

guessed it, employee ownership. Once

25:52

he'd reached the gleaning offices of KKR, he

25:54

put the program into action, for the first

25:56

time in 2011. Today,

25:58

thanks to Pete Stavros. KKR has

26:01

implemented the model at 47

26:03

companies and counting. That's

26:05

100,000 employees globally, union,

26:07

non-union, in manufacturing, e-commerce,

26:10

even book publishing. Will

26:12

you do a deal that doesn't have employee ownership now?

26:15

In the U.S. now. We've been at this almost 15 years. This

26:19

is the new way we are operating. This is

26:21

the model. In February, we

26:23

visited a recent KKR acquisition,

26:25

Potter Global Technologies in St.

26:27

Louis, manufacturer of fire protection

26:29

equipment. Employees were first

26:31

learning the details of their new ownership

26:33

plan. It was part

26:36

pep rally, part

26:40

polished TED Talk. As

26:42

of today, you're a part of a movement. A

26:45

movement to change the way ownership is shared in

26:47

corporate America. Afterward, we sat

26:50

down with factory employees Debbie Brumit,

26:52

Craig Leppert, Mike Irby, Donna Henson

26:54

and Gina Grant to hear their

26:56

reaction. We kept hearing employees start

26:58

thinking like owners. What

27:06

does that mean? It's easy to spend somebody else's money,

27:08

but when you work for it and you own it,

27:10

it's a difference. When it's your money. These

27:12

big checks, that's a motivation? Absolutely.

27:15

They said no, the payouts and

27:17

what it can potentially bring in my future. This

27:19

is actually something I have prayed for.

27:21

It's personal to me. The

27:24

aim is for employees like these

27:26

to get checks equivalent to at

27:28

least a year's salary when KKR

27:30

sells the company five or so

27:33

years later. Congratulations on becoming owners.

27:35

Stavros also offers workers free financial

27:37

literacy training to better understand the

27:39

economics. But he is

27:41

quick to stress, any payout depends

27:44

on how the company performs and

27:46

whether KKR sells at significant profit.

27:50

There is no downside because workers are not investing

27:52

out of their own pocket, but

27:54

there is definitely no guarantee. We always

27:56

say we need to perform for

27:58

this to work. to have that ceremony

28:01

on the shop floor of, look, we're

28:05

selling, but unfortunately there's no pot

28:07

at the end of the rainbow. We haven't had

28:09

that yet. It will happen. That day will come.

28:11

We've been fortunate so far. Pete

28:14

Stavros has his critics. This, after

28:16

all, is private equity, the sector

28:18

often vilified for its aggressive business

28:20

practices. Here are some of

28:22

the critiques we've heard about your efforts. It's

28:24

greenwashing, it's whitewashing, it's mostly public relations, it's

28:27

a watering down of the real employee

28:29

ownership. What do you say

28:32

to detractors like that? When you look at what workers

28:34

are getting, I just think there's too much substance for

28:36

someone to shrug it off and say, ah, that's just,

28:38

that's fake. Coming

28:40

from a sector that doesn't traditionally

28:42

act like this, that tends

28:44

to cut jobs and tends to squeeze profits

28:46

and tends to hollow out companies, does that

28:49

create an additional challenge for you? Well, I

28:51

don't agree with that characterization. You don't? No.

28:53

I think certainly mistakes have been

28:55

made both in

28:58

our industry and in capitalism. If all

29:01

private equity was doing was plundering, I just

29:03

don't think it would be where it's at,

29:06

which is continuing to gain

29:09

market share. Stavros does concede that when

29:11

there is a sale, top executives stand

29:13

to make orders of magnitude more than

29:15

rank and file workers, tens

29:17

of millions of dollars. I think that's

29:19

one of the things that I

29:21

struggle with about employee ownership

29:23

in general. It's giving people a chance to get

29:26

a leg up, but it is not going to

29:28

solve the wealth inequality problem that we have. Talk

29:31

about this yawning wealth gap

29:33

we have in the country.

29:35

Does private equity help that gap or help

29:38

create it? We're investing

29:41

capital, and that capital is owned for the most

29:43

part by wealthy people. It's just a fact of

29:45

life. So in a sense,

29:47

we are compounding the problem.

29:49

So we'll be experimenting. We'll

29:51

learn. An imperfect messenger, perhaps,

29:53

but Pete Stavros has emerged

29:55

as the leading employee ownership

29:57

apostle. He's founded a nonprofit.

30:00

that teaches executives how to deploy the

30:02

model. He crisscrosses the country

30:04

preaching his gospel at business schools and

30:07

before DC lawmakers, advocating to

30:09

update the tax code to

30:11

incentivize employee ownership, which he

30:13

hopes will soon be standard

30:16

business practice, not an exotic

30:18

exception. This is an unbelievably

30:20

popular idea with liberal

30:22

progressives and MAGA Republicans and everything in between.

30:24

You can make this palatable to anyone on

30:27

the spectrum. That's right. It's not a government

30:29

handout. This is a benefit tied to work.

30:31

And the outcomes are driven by performance. And

30:34

about performance. Nothing has matched

30:36

that of CHI in Arthur,

30:38

Illinois. In 2022, KKR

30:40

sold the business for a

30:42

10-fold return. Employees were

30:44

again summoned to the factory floor. They

30:47

knew they stood to gain, but not precisely

30:49

how much. Pete gets

30:51

up there and announces what the payouts are

30:54

gonna be. You're smiling. Yeah, yeah. Obviously,

30:56

I'm excited for myself. I mean, how could you not be?

31:00

And they start tossing those numbers around. Even

31:02

our newest colleagues are gonna get a meaningful

31:04

payout of $20,000. Oh!

31:10

$20,000, $50,000, $100,000.

31:12

Holy cow. They

31:16

haven't even got to 19 years yet, right? You're

31:19

your seniority level. The payout is six

31:22

and a half times. Absolutely. Brown

31:27

and Crystal were too modest to reveal exact numbers, but

31:30

told us their check was in the mid six

31:32

figures. Life changing. Absolutely. And

31:34

not just for us, for our kids too. Yeah. Our

31:37

kids don't have to worry

31:39

about us being stressed out about money. We're not

31:41

working night shifts. The Edwards

31:43

family donated to their church. They finally paid

31:46

off that credit card debt. And

31:49

they started a college fund for their kids and for

31:51

Brad. Still at

31:53

CHI, he's studying for his bachelor's degree at

31:55

night. These stories

31:58

rippled across Arthur after the summer. sale

32:00

as CHI employees had money

32:02

to spend in and on

32:04

the community. I'm curious do

32:06

you think this idea of hey employees

32:09

can turn into employee owners

32:11

is that a challenge or is that hey it can

32:13

happen in the middle of Illinois it can happen anywhere? Absolutely

32:16

it can happen anywhere. You

32:20

know look outside of my window

32:22

you're gonna see a house and miles

32:25

of cornfields right if it can happen

32:27

here where can it not happen. But

32:29

this might be the biggest payoff of

32:31

all. Employee ownership was not

32:33

a fad or a one-time windfall. After

32:36

KKR sold the workers got a stake in

32:38

the business under the new owners. Why

32:41

change a winning culture? Why mess

32:43

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34:02

the school year ends, many students will

34:05

be only too happy to see math

34:07

classes in their rearview mirrors. It

34:10

may seem to some of us non-mathematicians

34:12

that geometry and trigonometry were created by

34:14

the Greeks as a form of torture.

34:17

So imagine our amazement when we

34:19

heard two high school seniors had

34:22

proved a mathematical puzzle that was

34:24

thought to be impossible for two

34:26

thousand years. We met

34:28

Calci Johnson and Nakia Jackson at

34:31

their all-girls Catholic high school in

34:33

New Orleans. We expected

34:35

to find two mathematical prodigies. Instead,

34:39

we found at St. Mary's Academy all

34:41

students are told their possibilities

34:44

are boundless. For

34:52

Mardi Gras season, New Orleans

34:54

is alive with colorful parades,

34:56

replete with floats and beads and

34:59

high school marching bands. In

35:03

a city where uniqueness is

35:05

celebrated, St. Mary's stands out,

35:07

with young African-American women playing

35:09

trombones in Cuba, twirling batons

35:11

and dancing, doing it all,

35:14

which define St. Mary's, students told

35:16

us. Junior Christina Blasio

35:18

says the school instills in

35:20

them they have the ability

35:23

to accomplish anything. That

35:25

is kind of a standard here, so we aim

35:27

very high. Our

35:29

aim is excellent for all students. The

35:32

private Catholic elementary and high school sits

35:34

behind the Sisters of the Holy Family

35:36

Convent in New Orleans East. The

35:39

academy was started by an African-American

35:41

nun for young black women just

35:43

after the Civil War. The

35:46

church still supports the school with the

35:48

help of alumni. In

35:50

December 2022, Seniors

35:52

Nakia Jackson and Kalsy Johnson

35:54

were working on a school-wide

35:56

math contest that came with

35:58

a cash prize. I was

36:01

motivated because there was a

36:03

monetary incentive because I was like $500 is a lot

36:05

of money So I would like

36:07

to at least try Both

36:09

were staring down the thorny

36:12

bonus question. So tell me

36:14

what was this

36:16

bonus question? It was

36:18

to create a new proof of the Pythagorean theorem

36:21

and it kind of gave you a few guidelines

36:23

on how would you start a proof? the

36:26

seniors were familiar with the Pythagorean

36:28

theorem a fundamental principle of geometry

36:30

you may remember it from high

36:33

school a squared plus b squared

36:35

equals c squared in plain

36:37

English When you know the lengths

36:39

of two sides of a right triangle, you can

36:41

figure out the length of the third Both

36:44

had studied geometry and some trigonometry

36:47

and both told us math was

36:49

not easy What

36:51

no one told them was there'd been

36:53

more than 300 documented

36:55

proofs of the Pythagorean theorem

36:57

using algebra and geometry but

37:00

for 2,000 years a

37:02

proof using trigonometry was thought

37:04

to be impossible and

37:07

that was the bonus question facing

37:09

them when you looked at the

37:11

question, did you Think

37:13

boy, this is hard Yeah,

37:16

what motivated you to say? Well, I'm gonna try

37:18

this. I think I was like I

37:21

started something I need to finish it. So

37:23

you just kept on going. Yeah for

37:26

two months that winter They spent

37:28

almost all their free time working

37:30

on the proof. She was

37:32

like mom. This is a little bit too

37:34

much CC and Cal

37:36

Johnson are Calci's parents So then

37:39

I started looking at what she really was

37:41

doing and it was pages and pages

37:43

and pages of like over 20 or 30 Pages

37:46

for this one problem. Yeah, the guy

37:48

was getting was full of papers, which she would,

37:50

you know work out the problems and If

37:53

that didn't work, she had balled it up

37:55

through in the trash. Did you look at

37:57

the problem now? Liska Jackson

37:59

is The Coyotes mother

38:01

personally. I. Then that doesn't.

38:04

Look as I'll add on to say which is though I. At

38:07

what if we did this would five

38:09

crisis. Does this help a x square

38:12

your most Teachers Michelle Blue and Williams

38:14

initiated the mass contest and did you

38:16

think anyone would solve it? Well,

38:18

I wasn't necessarily looking for solve, so

38:21

no at removing for I was just

38:23

looking for some ingenuity. You know, Chelsea

38:26

and the Coyote delivered on that.

38:29

They tried to explain their groundbreaking

38:31

work to Sixty Minutes. Chelsea's proof

38:33

is appropriately titled the Waffle Cone.

38:35

So to start the proof, We

38:38

start with just a regular right

38:40

triangle. Where the angle in

38:42

the corner is by a degrees

38:44

and the to angles are alpha

38:46

and beta. So then what we

38:48

do next is we draw a

38:50

second can grow in which means

38:53

they're equal in size. But then

38:55

we started creating similar but smaller

38:57

right triangles. Going in a

38:59

pattern like this of in a continues

39:02

for infinity and eventually it creates this

39:04

larger waffle cone shaped. Am I

39:06

going a little to show you been

39:08

beyond me since about six or so?

39:11

How does you figure out the proof?

39:13

Came so that have a right

39:15

triangle, ninety degree angle. Alpha

39:18

Data. From would as you do. Have

39:21

a. Tangle inside a

39:23

circle. And. I

39:25

have a perpendicular by scepter

39:27

at o p C divide

39:29

the tranquil to make that

39:31

that small by triangle. And

39:34

that's basically what are these for?

39:36

The proof? That proof that's

39:38

what I call a movie. Or

39:41

think. Vivid been

39:43

one other documented proof of the

39:45

serum using trigonometry by mathematician Jason

39:47

Zimmer in Two Thousand and Nine.

39:50

One in two thousand Years Now

39:52

it seems Decline and Kelsey of

39:55

join perhaps the most exclusive club

39:57

in mathematics. so you both. independently

40:00

came up with proof

40:04

that only used trigonometry.

40:06

Yes. So are

40:08

you math geniuses? I

40:12

think that's a stretch. If not genius,

40:14

you're really smart at math. Not

40:17

at all. Yeah. To

40:19

document Kalsy and Nakaya's work, math

40:21

teachers at St. Mary's submitted their

40:24

proofs to an American Mathematical Society

40:26

conference in Atlanta in March, 2023.

40:30

Well, our teacher approached us and was like,

40:32

hey, you might be able to actually present this.

40:34

I was like, are you joking? But

40:37

she wasn't. So we went, I

40:39

got up there, we presented, and it

40:41

went well, and it blew up. It

40:44

blew up. Yeah. It blew up.

40:46

Yeah. What was the blow up like? Insane,

40:49

unexpected, crazy,

40:52

honestly. Today's story

40:54

features two local students, Kalsy

40:56

Johnson and Nakaya Jackson. It

40:59

took millennia to prove, but just a

41:01

minute for word of their accomplishment to

41:03

go around the world. They

41:05

got a write-up in South Korea and

41:08

a shout-out from former First Lady

41:10

Michelle Obama, a commendation from the

41:12

governor, and keys to the city

41:14

of New Orleans. Why

41:16

do you think so many people found what

41:18

you did to be so impressive? Probably because

41:20

we're African-American, one, and

41:23

also women. So I think, oh, and

41:25

our age, of course, our age has probably

41:27

played a big part. So you

41:29

think people were surprised that young

41:31

African-American women could do such a

41:34

thing? Yeah, definitely. I'd like to actually

41:36

be celebrated for what it is. Like,

41:38

it's a great mathematical achievement. Achievement,

41:41

that's a word you hear often

41:43

around St. Mary's Academy. Kalsy

41:46

and Nakaya follow a long

41:48

line of barrier-breaking graduates. So

41:51

good, oh. The late queen of Creole

41:53

cooking, Leah Chase, was an alum. So

41:56

was the first African-American female New

41:58

Orleans police chief. Michelle Woodfork

42:01

and judge for the Fifth

42:03

Circuit Court of Appeals, Dana

42:05

Douglas. Math teacher Michelle

42:08

Bluhan Williams told us, Calci

42:10

and Nakia are typical St.

42:12

Mary's students. They're not unicorns.

42:14

Oh, no. If they

42:16

are unicorns, then every single lady that

42:19

has matriculated through this school is a

42:21

beautiful black unicorn.

42:24

You're yours? Pamela Rogers, St. Mary's

42:26

president and interim principal, told us

42:28

the students hear that message from

42:31

the moment they walk in the

42:33

door. We believe all students

42:35

can succeed. All students can

42:37

learn. It does not matter the environment

42:40

that you live in. So, when word

42:42

went out that two

42:45

of your students had solved this

42:47

almost impossible math problem, were they

42:49

universally applauded? In this community, they

42:52

were greatly applauded. Across the country,

42:54

there were many naysayers. Or the

42:57

shame. They were saying, oh, they

42:59

could not have done it. African-Americans

43:01

don't have the brains to do

43:04

it. Of course, we sheltered our

43:06

girls from that, but we absolutely

43:08

did not expect it to come

43:11

in the volume that it came.

43:14

And after such a wonderful

43:16

achievement. People

43:18

have a vision of who

43:21

can be successful. And

43:25

to some people, it is not

43:28

always an African-American female,

43:31

and to it is an African-American female.

43:34

What we know is when teachers lay

43:36

out some expectations that say, you

43:39

can do this, kids

43:42

will work as hard as they can to

43:44

do it. Gloria Ladson Billings,

43:47

professor emeritus at the University

43:49

of Wisconsin, has studied how

43:51

best to teach African-American students.

43:54

She told us an encouraging teacher

43:56

can change a life. And

43:59

what's the difference? say between having

44:01

a teacher like that and a

44:04

whole school dedicated

44:07

to the excellence

44:09

of these students. So a whole school is

44:12

almost like being in heaven. What do you

44:14

mean by that? Many

44:16

of our young people have their

44:19

ceilings lowered. That somewhere

44:21

around fourth or fifth

44:23

grade, their thoughts are, I'm

44:26

not going to be anything special. What

44:29

I think is probably happening at St.

44:31

Mary's is young women come in as

44:33

perhaps ninth graders and are told, here's what

44:35

we expect to happen and here's how

44:37

we're going to help you get there.

44:40

Who is the author of this story? At St.

44:42

Mary's, half the students get scholarships

44:44

subsidized by fundraising to defray the

44:46

$8,000 a year tuition. Here,

44:50

there's no test to get in, but

44:52

expectations are high and rules

44:55

are strict. No cell

44:57

phones, modest skirts, hair

44:59

must be its natural color. Students,

45:02

Raya Sadiq, Summer Ford,

45:04

Carissa Washington, Tatum Williams

45:07

and Christina Blasio told

45:09

us they appreciate the rules and

45:11

rigor. Especially the standards that they

45:13

set for us, they're very high and I don't

45:16

think that's ever going to change. So

45:18

is there a heart of philosophy

45:20

and essence to St.

45:22

Mary's? Sisterhood. Sisterhood.

45:25

Sisterhood. Yes. And

45:27

you don't mean the nuns, you mean... I mean, yeah. You. So

45:30

when you're here, there's

45:33

just no question that you're going to go on

45:35

to college. College is all I've been talking

45:37

about. And, Arizona

45:39

State University. Principal

45:42

Rogers announces to her 615

45:44

students the college is where every

45:46

senior has been accepted. So

45:49

for 17 years, you've had a

45:51

100% graduation rate and a 100% college acceptance rate. That's

45:57

correct. Nakia Jackson. Last

46:01

year, when Nikaya and Kelsey graduated,

46:04

all their classmates went to college

46:06

and got scholarships. Nikaya got

46:08

a full ride to the pharmacy school

46:10

at Xavier University in New Orleans. Kelsey,

46:13

the class valedictorian, is studying environmental

46:15

engineering at Louisiana State University. So,

46:18

wait a minute. Neither one of

46:20

you is going to pursue a

46:22

career in math? No. No.

46:26

I'm a minor in math, but I don't want

46:28

that to be my job job.

46:32

People might expect too much out of me. I'm a

46:34

part of my petition. But

46:36

math is not completely in their

46:38

rearview mirrors. This spring,

46:40

they submitted their high school proofs

46:43

for final peer review and publication,

46:46

and are still working on further proofs

46:48

of the Pythagorean theorem. Since

46:50

their first two... We found five, and

46:52

then we found a general format that

46:55

could potentially produce at least five

46:57

additional proofs. And you're not

46:59

math geniuses. No. No.

47:02

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your car from your comfy place. Now,

48:11

the last minute of 60 Minutes. Tonight

48:16

an update of the story from

48:18

October, a quiet invasion of the

48:20

country of Georgia. As

48:22

the nation's president, Salome Zorabishvili,

48:25

told Sharon Alfonse, Russia

48:27

occupies 20 percent of Georgia,

48:29

even as Georgia applies for membership

48:31

in the European Union. A

48:34

proposed law in Georgia's parliament could

48:36

scuttle that membership. Resembling

48:38

Russian legislation, it opens the

48:40

way for a crackdown on

48:42

journalists, aid groups, and other

48:44

international agencies, and may draw

48:47

Georgia away from democracy and

48:49

closer to Russia's orbit. This

48:51

past week, Georgians took to the

48:53

streets in protest. They faced

48:56

off against water cannons, tear gas,

48:58

and riot police. Parliament

49:01

is expected to pass the law, but Georgia's

49:03

president, Zorabishvili, has promised

49:05

a veto. I'm

49:08

Bill Whitaker. You'll be back

49:10

next week with another edition of 60

49:12

Minutes. If

49:16

you like 60 Minutes, you can

49:18

listen early and ad-free right now

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by joining Wondery Plus in the

49:22

Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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Prime members can listen ad-free on

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Amazon Music. Before you

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go, tell us about yourself

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