Fire . It took him, President Trump, three weeks. The point, this president continues time after time to show he cares about his base and no one else but his base. Giving priority to some and marginalizing others is a clear signal of how you polarize and divide in this country at a time you ought to be unifying and trying to lead by showing theres one standard for eve everyone, particularly when were dealing with something as horrific as mass shootings, whether in a school or in a waffle house in tennessee. One standard, mr. President. Joining me now are two political strategist, democrat Zerlina Maxwell and republican noelle nikpour. Noelle, it may sound like a minor point to some but you have a black male who goes up against an armed gunman in a waffle house in tennessee and disarms him, not many weeks after parkland. Four people were killed that night and more would have been killed had this man not disarmed him. Not a word from the president. Not a congratulations, not an utterance. Three weeks later he very privately calls the man, three weeks later. Then you have this week another brave man, heroic act, white teacher. He immediately calls him when he saves bloodshed. The signal it sends to americans is that some matter more than others, some are worthy of president ial commendation more than others. How can republicans not see that . Well, i think that if you look at the apology and when it came, i think we can all agree that the president claimed mr. Shaw as a hero immediately afterwards. I do agree with that. I think three weeks and a private call, i think thats unacceptable. But what ill tell you is this. I think that america as a whole praised mr. Shaw. I think america he was on talk shows. He was interviewed. He even got a huge check, i think, on ellens show. He was seen as an American Hero for what he did. He stepped up to the plate. He did. Which made it more egregious that the president didnt deal with it. The fact that noelle is raising is that everybody could see what the president either couldnt see or didnt want to acknowledge. Well, i think the president essentially will act or say things when its in his own personal benefit. So the example in the nfl, he talks about he doesnt want the players to kneel when a shooter is a nonwhite person, he condemns it as terrorism or when the hero is a white person, he praises that person as a hero. But the flip side of that is he doesnt do the same things when black people are heroic. I think that that is a dog whistle to his base. I think that black people and people of color around this country understand what hes doing and were not mystified by any of it. Now, you talked about how america reacted to the africanamerican male in tennessee. Let me show you something that i dont think enough people paid attention to. Last friday, President Trump at the Naval Academy graduation ceremony, i want you to listen to this carefully. We are not going to apologize for america. They have forgotten that our ancestors trounce an empire, tamed a continent, and triumphed over the worst evils in history. We trekked the mountain, explored the oceans, and settled the vast frontier. We tamed a continent. We settled a frontier. Wiping out native americans is taming a continent . I mean, what is he talk if you were a native american and youre watching the pride of our ancestors, what does he mean, we conquered the british is who hes referring to and tamed a continent by wiping out native americans. No. I do not what were we taming . I think he was speaking in generalities. I do think that he was i dont think he was trying to take a victory lap for wiping out native americans. How else can you interpret that, noelle . Theyre native americans. We wiped them out to take the continent. No one takes a victory lap. He didnt mean that. But he said it. We all know that the president will make a generality. Hell Say Something and people will have to go behind him and say the president didnt mean this, the president didnt mean him. Im going behind him and saying i do not think that he meant that hes excited about taking native americans out. We know what he means, rev. Nobody watching that is thinking, hmm, i wonder what he means by that. Those are things that he says in his private conversations. He has said that in a private conversation which is why its come out in public. Hes not against native americans. Hes not heres a man who called african nations and haiti shole. He didnt call the people. He called the countries. Who are we talking about. Meaning that the countries were horrible living conditions, not the people. He tried to give native americans, that they were these out of control people that couldnt be dealt with. So when you use the term tame, you are playing right into the stereotype of dealing with the whole question of how we portrayed native americans. I i mean team ame is a very cl word in what it infers here. I think we are looking at this like an attorney would look at it and view and taking each of his words and saying what the meaning is. What could he have meant . Im giving you the opportunity to explain to me. Obviously i am a civil rights activist, so maybe i look at it through a different perspective. So explain to me, who has not been taught in the language of those that have come from different perspective, what could he have meant . This is not a good sunday for me. Okay. Well, i think that what he meant was the fact that the american spirit or patriotism, that we came here and we fought to be here. I do not think and who did we fight . Native americans and wiped them out. I give up. But i do not think that he means that it was us against the native americans like theyre some horrible people. We love the native americans. I dont think that he was speaking down about the native americans. I think he was talking about british and the other things he said that we fought them and then we came and tamed the continent. Its steeped in White Supremacy, rev. Essentially its framing native americans as savages that are in need of taming by the white dominance or superior race. And theres this thread, as you have said constantly this morning, its this thread of us against them or we are the definition of what is civilized and better. Right. We being white americans. Right. That is implicit in a lot of what he said. I just dont think he meant that. I really dont think. I am basing my thoughts on what he said based on his words and also based on the history of his words. And so he frequently says racist things and frequently implements policies that negatively impact people of color. If im not supposed to come away from that considering this person has an issue with race, then i dont know what im supposed to come away with that from, right . Like he is saying things that are overtly racist. He is doing things that are hurting people of color. He is ripping babies away from their mothers just because they are brown and dont have the right paperwork. You understand the basis of White Supremacy is that we are superior and Everything Else is gauged by our superior position which is by many of us thought by even seeing the royal family having someone black in it starts hurting the notion of White Supremacy because it starts with a mentality and then it goes into economic and political policy. No, no, no, im not arguing on that point. But what i am going to push back on is the fact that i do not believe in my heart, i do not believe that donald trump, the man, is blatantly racist. I dont. Then why does he say racist things . I think that this guy is not maybe hes careless when he speaks. Maybe he doesnt realize what he is doing or who he is affecting. Hes 71 years old. He went through an entire campaign and has been in office over a year. He and i, hes nine or ten years older than me. He knows race, he knows exactly what hes saying. Thank you, zerlina, thank you, noelle. Youre a good fighter, you hung in there. Coming up, womens power in 2018 turning out to be the year of that women candidates and women voters. Is it the year theyll make the difference . Well be right back. Woman i stay active by staying in rhythm. And to keep up this pace, i drink boost optimum. Boost optimum with 5 in 1 advanced nutrition helps support muscle, energy, bone, normal immune function, and vision. Boost optimum. Be up for life. Boost optimum. If you spit blood you may have gum problems,s and could be on the journey to much worse. Try parodontax toothpaste. Its clinically proven to remove plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums. For healthy gums and strong teeth. Leave bleeding gums behind with parodontax toothpaste. Im ginnwith chantix. Smoking it takes a lot of planning to be a smoker. Its like when am i gonna be able to sneak out of here and go have a cigarette . I just knew i had to quit, and chantix was the method that actually worked for me. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. Thanks to chantix, i did it. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or 0 copay. If i have the honor of serving as governor, we can make inroads that will make life better and, more importantly, we will change the conversation so that more people across this country believe in their power to have what they need and that they deserve it. That was part of my radio interview thursday with Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, just two days after her resounding primary victory in the race that she will now have to face a republican, and a race that the Washington Post suggested could be politically the year of the minority woman. Nearly two years after donald trump defeated Hillary Clinton for the presidency, a Record Number of women have filed to run for congress or for a governorship. Most of them democrats, and many of color. Joining me now is lucy mcbeth, mother of the late jordan davis, currently running for a seat on the Georgia State legislature. Lucy, are you running in georgia where Stacey Abrams won the nomination. You forced a runoff, in fact you came in first and you have a runoff for your state legislative seat. Your son was shot and killed by a white gunman because the music was too loud. And you turned the pain of that into power and to legislation. Ive seen and worked with you over the last couple of years since that death, and you decided you wanted to be part of legislating and real change from the white house to now youre running for office. And you and stacey are part of a wave of black women candidates. Tell me what the wave means and what this means personally to you that went from a victim whose son was a victim to seeking to be a victor in electoral politics. Well, im just very, very excited. Of course there has been a tremendous amount of mobilizing here in georgia, so yes, we have a huge blue wave that were riding on right now. That wave affords people like me, you know, im not a politician, al, you know, but it affords people like me to be able to stand up and move forward to make an impact in washington on the things that are concerning to the people that live in my district, the sixth congressional district. Theyre very, very concerned not only about gun violence and keeping their children safe, but theyre concerned about health care. Im a twotime Breast Cancer survivor, so i know how important it is that everyone have access to good health care. Theyre very concerned about the tax scam, as weve been calling it, trying to make sure that our middle class families and Small Businesses have some tax relief. Just very concerned about making sure our children have access to good education. I run a nonprofit because of that very reason. I want to make sure that children that are falling through the cracks have some assistance financially and mentoring to make sure that theyre not left behind. They deserve a good education. So for these kinds of voices to be lifted and people like me, candidates that have never run before, women that have never run before to stand up and to move forward in making sure that our children and our communities are thriving, i think its phenomenal and im very excited to be a part of this movement into legislature. Now, how much of this do you think is because of what has been considered by many the misogynist kind of campaign we saw from donald trump from the access hollywood tapes dropping to a lot of his policy recommendations have driven women . We saw women immediately mobilizing and now its translating into electoral field. How much of this do you think is a reaction to the trump candidacy and presidency . I think a lot of this is due to what we see coming out of washington. I just want to say theres nothing that seems to be consistent coming out of washington. I think people are very, very scared from day to day whats going to happen. Were finding out about foreign policy, were finding out about the state of the union through tweets, which is basically unacceptable. I think democrats and republicans are both pretty sick of it. Of course i think women, because we are the central focus of our homes, our communities, were now breadwinners in our families. I think women have decided that they have to stand up, they have to have a seat at the table. Its our time. Its time for us to move forward because were looking at a very sensitive a breakdown of our democracy here in the united states. Women have just decided that enough is enough. We have to stand up. We have to preserve our families. We have to preserve our communities. We have to preserve our future generations and our sense of democracy. This is the reason why it is the year of the women and women will be victorious. Well, i think you have shown that you can take a very tragic situation and turn it into a drive for real change. I think its very inspiring, very happy to have you on this morning. Lucy mcbath, thank you very much. Still ahead, i went to seattle this week to have a conversation with the ceo of starbucks ahead of his companys training on race that will take place in two days. What he told me, coming up. Need a change of scenery . The kayak explore tool shows you the places you can fly on your budget. So you can be confident youre getting the most bang for your buck. Aloha. Kayak. Search one and done. If you have a garden, you know. Weeds are lowdown little scoundrels. Draw the line with roundup. The sure shot wand extends with a protective shield and target weeds more precisely, right down to the root. Roundup. Trusted for over 40 years. The sun goes down. You run those miles, squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom and floss to set a good example. You fine tune the proposal, change the water jug so no one else has to, get home for dinner and feed the cat. You did a million things for your family today but speaking to pnc to help handle all your investments was a very important million and one. Pnc. Make today the day. I support the Affordable Care act, and voted against all trumps attempts to repeal it. But we need to do more. I believe in universal health care. In a Public Health option to compete with private insurance companies. And expanding medicare to everyone over 55. And i believe medicare must be empowered to negotiate the price of drugs. California values senator Dianne Feinstein to negotiate the price of drugs. Ithe race for governort. Has turned into a scam. Gavin newsoms trying to elect a republican who was endorsed by trump. And villaraigosas being bankrolled by a handful of billionaires. Its everything thats wrong with politics. And none of it is helping struggling families. Heres my pledge to you. Ill keep our budget balanced. Invest in affordable housing. Fight for universal healthcare. And stand up to donald trump. As governor, you can trust me to do whats right because i always have. And now for this weeks gotcha. Some bull going down to the Buckeye State according to our friends at the nation magazine. Since ohios republican governor, john kasich, took office in 2011, the state has cut the number of households using cash assistance nearly in half over the last seven years. Thats 46,000 families. And its not due to a rising tide folk. No, the States Employment requirements to certain recipients has meant that many of its disabled, underemployed and those without transportation have been unable to work enough to stay eligible. So to shore up the suffering and in september, nearly 70 of the states mayors asked the Ohio Department of jobs and Family Services for 12 million, 8 million to pay Household Water bills, another 4 million to purchase vital items like overthecounter medicines, first aid supplies, and even diapers. And the request was already paid for, coming out of the 570 million in federal block Grant Funding the state has saved from the slimmer welfare roles. But for seven straight months, the answer was no. Then earlier this month, a response. This september the state will allocate 500,000 in block Grant Funding to help residents pay their water bills for a month. As for the 4 million for bandaids and diapers, no mention. I guess as long as the baby is clean you can take chances with the carpet, right . But heres the best part. The money will come from funds slated for nonprofits that helped the same kind of people kicked off cash assistance in the first place. Mr. Kasich, your time is almost up as governor and youve been touted as the principled conservative answer to President Trump in 2020. So i need you to know that allowing your state to hard funding that would be best spent on those most vulnerable is precisely the trumpish selfishness you need to distance yourself from. So do better, because trump or not, the resistance is ready to get you, but for now, i gotcha. For all the eyes that get itchy and watery near pollen. Theres flonase sensimist. It relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. You might be missing something. Y healthy. Your eyes. Thats why theres ocuvite. Ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. It has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega3. Ocuvite. Be good to your eyes. This is then just the beginning, we dont think this is a magic 529 and kumbaya and were all together. Thats right. This is the beginning of our journey. I see this as something that is woven into the fabric of how we operate as a company. More than 8,000 Starbucks Stores and the companys corporate offices will close on tuesday for a nationwide sensitivity training on racial bias that the coffee giant hopes will help correct for the controversial arrest of two black men at one of its Philadelphia Stores last month. On friday in seattle, i met with the ceo of the company, kevin johnson, ahead of an msnbc special on race in america premiering tuesday night and hosted by my colleagues joy reed and chris hayes. Johnson told me the company accepts the criticism it has received, but hopes that his public contrition will set an example, making it appear sensitive to the experiences of their minority customers. Joining me now is president of the victory front, aisha moodymills, andrew smith Senior Writer for Rolling Stone magazine. Aisha, i went up not only doing an interview for the special, but i wanted to meet with him and i also talked with Howard Schultz, the founder, because i just wanted to say, wait a minute, you cant just do a oneday feel good thing. Where is this going . And you contrast that with the waffle house that had the incident in mobile, alabama, of the clemons young lady that was dragged by police and the incident in North Carolina in a waffle house, who came out defending the police and said theyre not sorry about how their managers operated. So starbucks, though we question how far they will go in contrast to waffle house i thought was important to sit down and talk to them and deal with how is the private sector dealing with these kinds of obvious racial differences in terms of how people are treated in their stores. Yeah. I mean Howard Schultz is publicly embarrassed because what happened in his stores goes against the values that he himself has exuded and what he has had the company exude. So i give my hat off to starbucks for taking this seriously. The training looks good. It may not be perfect. It is the beginning of a conversation. I think we need to make sure that we hold them accountable to beginning a conversation and not just having a oneoff. But whats really interesting to me is that starbucks is trying, right . Pepsi had a horrible commercial. What are they doing in the aftermath of that . What, like you said, is waffle house doing . What are all the other companies doing . And so the question becomes to me can we start to get other companies to take advantage of the tools that are being created for this training and to start to use those as well, because i think that if we start to saturate that Corporate Market with more of an inclusion narrative, then starbucks could really be a leader in a bigger way than were all realizing. You know, jammel, when youre in this age of trump where people are standing up to them and them being us, you contrast a waffle house with a starbucks, and again, im by no stretch not saying we must hold starbucks accountable beyond tuesday, but, for example, i asked the ceo of starbucks what more can corporations do regarding race. Listen to this and respond. During the age of such polarization and racial antipathy, what do corporations who make money from the public, who enjoys whatever they enjoy in terms of abatements from local municipalities, whatever it is, how do they stand up and become responsible to this issue of racism . Well, i just share kind of my own journey and perspective on this. You know, personally i would acknowledge that this happens in america. Race and racial bias is something that america has been dealing with for centuries. Yet i think its too easy to be on the sidelines and say someone else needs to do something about it. Its too easy to be on the sidelines. Racism is a reality. And that contrast, like the president thats denying it and acting like people like me are just out there creating polarization and creating divisiveness that does not exist. Right. Its a convenient narrative for people like the president to say that were inventing this out of whole cloth. That essentially this is, you know, crying wolf. But i think when you see what the starbucks incident and the reaction to it is a recognition of the obvious. Certainly theres a danger, though, that we think that one days training, despite having wonderful people involved such as Brian Stevenson and the equal Justice Initiative and Heather Mcghee of demos and Sherrilyn Ifill helping to establish this curriculum and to form it, i think that its important that we take a step back and think whats the longterm curriculum. Also im thinking about the starbucks locations that are all over the country. In your question you make an important point. Theres a youve got to think about whats the you know, where the all the things that starbucks benefits from from cities, where are the benefits what are the benefits coming out of . Where are they going to put the benefits into cities . Ive got to see a little bit more than training to get a little biltmore optimistic. And thats my point. You get tax abatements, you get incentives to come into cities. Do you do business with black Money Managers that could invest in those cities . Do you deal with hbcus to change the Educational Options for our community . Do you get involved in how we deal with the culture in the communities . It cant just be training your employees. Exactly. And i think that thats where the next step is. Theres kind of an undertone that starbucks is trying to understand the structural implications around what happened. But lets be real about what happened in philly. The cops need to be taken to task and need to be a part of this training because its the Police Departments implicit bias that says were going to show up at a situation that is not hostile, not violent, like the people are just sitting there. But were going to put them in handcuffs and were going to create an ordeal and dehumanize these people. I think that starbucks is going to have to decide who its going to be in a public specter, in a Public Policy realm as we think about the Structural Conditions impacting black people in this country and poor people in general. So for example right now in seattle theres a City Council Bill thats moving or that has moved and theres a repeal attempt to it to make Companies Like starbucks pay a little more tax per employee to use that pot of money to help Homeless People in the city. Well, starbucks et al, they dont want to pay more money to help Homeless People in terms of their taxes. So the question becomes are you practicing what you preach at the end of the day in your philanthro philanthropy . And in your business practices. Do you bank with minority banks. Theres all kinds of ways. But jamil, she went right there to my home spot and that is law enforcement, because the one thing i think we have not raised enough and weve got to hold starbucks of the world and the waffle houses et al responsible. The people in mobile, alabama, it was the police that dragged miss clemons until she was exposed. The same thing, it was the police that did the chokehold in the waffle house in North Carolina. It seems like were seeing some movement from starbucks. Nothing from the police. In fact theyre doubling down and waffle house said we support them. Weve got to do both. We cant just deal with the private sector because the police could have come to those scenes and said theres no probable cause here, theres no reason for us to do anything. They did the opposite. Yes. Well, theres a culture in policing right now that would have us accept that kind of behavior, that kind of action as normal. And so when the police come out and defend the arrest, including the black police chief in philadelphia, i think that what they want us to do is say, okay, well, when a starbucks manager calls to weaponize the police against black people in white spaces, the police are just doing what they normally do. This is what the police are supposed to do. In fact this is not what the police are supposed to do. In fact the police are not to be deployed as, you know, essentially a custodian of these white spaces. Its not even what they do, aisha, because you can call the police and if youre black and you almost have to convince them to make certain moves. Mmhmm. Certainly we dont want them disrobing people and chokeholding people. But its not that they just normally because you call them make an arrest, thats not true. The history of policing in this country, the police force was created to, quote unquote, protect white people from their slaves, from black people. And so what were seeing play out is that white people call the police and the police automatically are trained to kind of have their own bias and assume that like, oh, well, the brown person, the black person is the one causing some ruckus. Or youre guilty until proven innocence. So the message is white people stop calling the police on black folks when you have no idea whats going on. If theyre sleeping in their dorm room, stop calling the police. Dont call because you assume of some bias theres a crime. And police should only operate on probable cause. Thank you, aisha and i will ask jamil to stand by. You can see more of my interview with starbucks Ceo Kevin Johnson this tuesday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern in a special town hall called everyday racism why america right here on msnbc. Up next, President Trump is rallying his base again, praising the nfl for banning players from taking a knee during the National Anthem. My thoughts on limiting free speech, when we come back. 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Family members, including your grandchildren babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. But you can help prevent this. Talk to your doctor today about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. Because dangers dont just exist in fairytales. Well, i think its good. You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem or you shouldnt be playing, you shouldnt be there. Maybe you shouldnt be in the country. You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem and the nfl owners did the right thing. President trump scored a win this week in his personal culture war with black athletes with the announcement that the nfl has adopted new punishments for teams that allow player protests during the National Anthem. The new rules say in part that teams can stay in the locker room during the anthem. But once on the field, all players and staff must stand and, quote, show respect for the American Flag and the anthem. And for those in adequate shows of respect, possible fines, firing of team personnel, and ingame penalties applied for every player that kneels or sits during the anthem. Its a fitting surrender for a league that has that we know now has been more concerned with offending this president than supporting the black players that make up nearly 70 of its roster. Back with me is jamil smith of Rolling Stone magazine. Also joining me, Sports Writer howard bryant, author of the heritage, a black athletes, a divided america, and the politics of patriotism. Howard, let me go to you first. When an athlete is contracted, theyre contracted to play the game. Theyre not contracted for the preliminary ceremonies. So as i recall, when Colin Kaepernick and others took a knee, they did not do it in the middle of the game, they did it during the preliminaries, which was saluting the flag, and some would argue, i would, that its patriotic to also do things that would protest to show the country that it ought to live up to the flag theyre saluting. It has nothing to do with what they were contracted for because when the game started, they were on the field doing what theyre supposed to do. Thats exactly right, rev. I think what you find here is when Colin Kaepernick took his knee in 2016, the players association, Demaurice Smith and Roger Goodell immediately had a conversation. Part of that conversation was whether or not Colin Kaepernick was going to be sanctioned at all. One of the reasons why he wasnt was because what he did did not take place within the field of play. The game had not started yet. There was no reason to penalize. So what you are seeing is an expansion of this culture war because you have a president who is now saying, well, all of this counts as ingame. So to do this without collectively bargaining is a shot against the players who made this deal, this 90 Million Partnership with the owners. So for them to go after the players after they made that deal says that this is far from over. In fact its just ratcheting up. When you look at, jamil, that we saw the tape released this last couple of days of the nba player in milwaukee, sterling brown, who was tasered by police for no reason and is now contemplating a lawsuit, i mean athletes themselves are going through what they are protesting with the knee, so its not like theyre sympathizing with somebody somewhere else, this is life that they live, even athletes, and sterling brown is representative of that. Indeed. One would think that the nfl owners would realize that their workforce, nearly 70 of which is black, is subject to this kind of harassment, abuse and violence. So the sterling brown incident happening essentially in the same time that they make this decision certainly highlights the fact that they have not taken this into account, that they do not consider their players essentially eligible for these kinds of incidents, when in fact essentially we up to the reality of what race israel is and how it man the fests in this country. Sfwl you know what was interesting to me, the same week the president and his giving this praise to the nfl for coming out with these rules that many of us feel is is unfair and clearly violating peoples free speech rights as well as as you said, did outside of our collective bargain, which means it can be challenged by some of the athletes. He pardons jack johnson. The first black heavyweight champion of the world, who he had said he bid trump while he was convicted for racial reasons. So let me get this right, howard. You want to correct racism in the criminal Justice System of 100 years ago, but you want to penalize people that talk about the existing racism that continues in the criminal Justice System today. Lets correct 100 years backwards, but not even make it right for people to raise the issue before games in my time. Well, its easy to pardon jack johnson because hes been dead for a really long time. Hes no threat. Whats taken place now is you have to deal with a real live threat. You and i spoke when i was researching this book last year and a year and a half ago ch we sat in your office and talk a added about this, about how youre dealing with a revival of these africanamerican athletes taking responsibility. When i asked you where were these players in the 80s when you were out there doing your thing and you said not a single athlete got and helped you out in this or put their name on anything. So youve got an entire generation of the public thats not used to this player reasserting themselves and i think that is the real threat. I told you the story. In the 60s and 70s when i was growing up. Th athletes stood up, now after i and others got rounded up, this is resurgence. Not the beginning of athletes doing this. Absolutely. Its the awakening. I think what youre seeing here is this clash between the post 9 11 sports becoming very militarized and this revival of the post black athlete. But whats really interesting about this is youre see iing t public make a distinction between politics and patriotism. When you see the military on the field, thats patriotism. But when you see Colin Kaepernick take a knee, thats politics. And i think that is part of what as we go into memorial ta, we need to really deal with. I think its patriotic to stand up and challenge the country to live up to the principles that it represents. I think that howard hit it right on the head. I think people that love the country correct it. My mother loved me. She used to correct my bad behavior. The if yu love something, you dont let it keep going in the wrong direction. Indeed. We see this with kind of black activism, a series of patriots. I sort of lived by the James Baldwin motto, which is that i love this country so deeply that i reserve the right to criticize it and i think we should all reserve that right. Push this country to be better and i think what these athletes are doing should be celebrated and not penalized. I think the nfl certainly is responsibding to the stress tesf the trump era and exactly the wrong way. Howard out of time, will the athletes stand up and fight this . What do you predict . Are they going to choose their career over their commitment or what . I think the players are not going to be as forceful as they should, but theres one group that is forceful. Its republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives, who simply do not want to see paid patriotism on the field. What they really want is true respect of the veterans if theyre going to be out there. Thank you, jamil and howard. Up next, my final thoughts on this memorial weekend. Stay with us. vo i was born during the winter of 77. I first met james in 5th grade. We got married after college. And had twin boys. But then one night, a truck didnt stop. But thanks to our forester, neither did our story. And thats why well always drive a subaru. Like nothing you, ncy or she, has ever seen. Filets of 100 real natural chicken or seafood. Handcrafted, and served any way she wants. Purely fancy feast filets. Love is in the details. Anna and a little nervous. Into retirement. 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Tomorrow is memorial day. Where we give our best thoughts and prayers to those memories of those who lost their lives in military duty. Who stood up for this country and protected this country and lost the life. Whether we agree with the wars and military engagements, they fought or not, they stood up for all of us. Lets remember that memorial day was really cemented during the civil war. A war in which my ancestors had the to fight the become a part of the union army. People did not even want them to fight in the army that would ultimately lead to their freedom from slavery. Im reminded of the tuskegee airmen, three quarters of a semp century later, who did battle and became heroes in world war ii. And was never given the recognition for the battles. I preached the eulogy of one, who became a Major Political g figure in new york. These are real patriots. Patriots that not only gave their lives for the protection of this country, but they did it with this country did not even give them the full rights of citizenship. People that came back home from battlefields and had to sit in the back of buses behind enemies that they fought overseas. When they couldnt buy a cup of coffee in the local lunch counter. Remember them tomorrow as we remember all of our military. Remember those that bleed in the country. Even when the country didnt bleed in them. And their rights. That does it for me. Thank you for watching and to keep the conversation going, like us at facebook. Com politicsnation and follow us on twitter at politics nation. Ill see you back here next sunday. Now to my colleague, alex witt. Thank you so much for that. Im glad that was excellent. Appreciate that. A very good morning to you. Im alex witt. 9 00 a. M. Ehere in the east. Summit seesaw, day two. 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