the nonprofit wellness in the schools. he also helped launch first lady obama s let s move initiative. thank you all for being here. so did you see a new tone from our first lady this week? i certainly did, and rightfully so. this is a real food fight. we are all trying to figure out why we are in this position. the school nutrition association worked really hard for decades and were very, very supportive of the regulations. we are baffled that they have made this turn-around and we are trying to figure out why. it certainly is not about children. so the narrative is that what it s about is cost and the difficulty of schools. you know, honestly as i listen to it, you know, maybe this is a stretch, but, dang, it sounds a lot like that all deliberate speed anxiety that we had 50 years ago about the integration
and a year after the passage of the healthy hunger-free kids act, championed by the first lady. at the time there was no shortage of conservative backlash and response to the campaign and the first lady herself. there were critical comments about her physique, the accusations that her promotion of breastfeeding was ushering the era of a newnany state and eventhe suggestion that her push to get americans walking would endanger pedestrians. when critics hit back it was mostly with a velvet glove. here s what she told a reporter for scholastic reporter. let s move is not about telling having government tell people who to do, because government doesn t have all the answers. i mean a problem that s this big and affects so many people requires everyone to step up. that soft touch approach was characteristic of first lady obama s nonconfrontational response to opposition, which is why this week the food fight got
matter. thank you, melissa. you can see more of irin s documentary on msnbc.com right now. also thanks to kelly baden right here in new york. thank you for week here this morning. we have a lot to get to this morning, including the latest on the va scandal, the aftermath of last week s rampage in california, and the first lady s big food fight. up next, the campaign to wage against the machine scores a victory in an unlikely place. an incredible story of success, yes, success within our political system. whew, we need a palate cleanser, next. we have a personalized legal solution that s right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we re here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.
welcome back. i m melissa harris-perry. everybody look out for flying fruit! in case you haven t noticed, we are smack in the middle of a full-fledged food fight. and the stakes, namely the federal government s role in the nutrition and health of american kids, couldn t be higher. on one side we have congress, and more specifically house republicans, who are at the urging of an influential food industry interest looking to let some schools off the hook from the white house s new rules to make school meals healthier. in the other corner we have first lady michelle obama, who has been america s most visible and vocal advocate for healthy kids since she first launched let s move campaign against childhood obesity in 2010. the food already has been flying for quite some time. think back to 2011, just a year after the first lady s campaign first got moving.
within their own racial category. so even as we are trying to do the work within, for example, racial justice, we often are very silent about the ways in which black men s violence vis-a-vis black women s bodies is also part of this story. and then we have melissa alexander being penalized for defending herself. that s part of this whole systemic problem. whether it s masculinity or race privilege, we need to make these connections in a large kind of way. it s why i m happy we re having this conversation. and yet i m sad about why we have to have this conversation. thank you to jenn pozner and by run hurt, i hope you come back again. although every time we are together it is behind madness. also thanks to jonathan metzl for being here. yolanda will stick around a little longer. coming up, the first lady s food fight. first lady obama like we have never seen her before and my remembrances of dr. maya ang angelou. there is more nerdland at the top of the hour.