that s turbulence. sheriff jim clark in selma, that s turbulence. george wallace in dixie, that s turbulence. so we have some obstacles that are in front of us. but i do think on this king day, we can draw inspiration for what dr. king and our civil rights heroes and foot soldiers fought through to make america a better place. maya? well, hakeem said it so well. i don t know if i can top that. but i think it s critical, because one of the things that dr. king wrote on a letter from the birmingham jail was the commitment to demonstration and protest, and even that commitment in the face of those, including eight white pastors who, frankly, took pen to paper to say that they would not support the activism that was actually changing unjust laws in the country. and dr. king said something very important. he said, it is not the opposition of our enemies that we will remember, it is the
they won t let the majority senators vote. and certainly they wouldn t want the majority of people to vote because they know they do not represent the majority of the american people. in fact, they represent in their own states a very small minority. counselor maya wiley and congressman hakeem jeffries are both here. congressman, we listened to dr. king s words today. you heard him there say, because they know, they don t actually reflect the majority or the will of the people. where does that land with you right now? well, the more things change, the more they remain the same, certainly we re so appreciative and thankful for the life and legacy of dr. king for his struggle. his strugy did lead to tremendous progress. so though we confront obstacles right now that are in front of us, dr. king and our civil rights heroes, they overcame tremendous turbulence. bull connor in birmingham,
to both the lie and the fears that it is driving in a country that needs to be pulled together is nothing short of offensive. congressman? maya s exactly correct. my republican colleagues are talking out of both sides of their mouth. on the one hand, they want to elevate the life and legacy of dr. king, but, on the other hand, they are denigrating his mission by failing to support the effort to make sure that every single american has the right to vote. i m hopeful that manchin and sinema will come together and do the right thing in the next few days. i know many of my senate democratic colleagues continue to talk to them. we ll see what happens. but it s important to understand that republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral technique because they ve come to the conclusion that the only way the radical right can consistently win elections is not through the contest of ideas, it s by
we do need to reform and get rid of it. that is something that i believe will eventually happen. but this week, i think the path has to be a voting rights exception, some opportunity to allow these critical pieces of voting rights legislation to get an up or down vote. congressman and maya, appreciate you both as we try to both reflect this day, which matters, and also look beyond history to what s happening right now. i appreciate both of you. coming up, we have the maga riot probe update. neal katyal is here. and later, why democrats say they re going to start the year going on offense. and by the end of the hour the rabbi in the texas synagogue hostage situation discussing that dramatic rescue. stay with us. stay with us
your thoughts, maya? get his name out your mouth. and i say that with heartfelt emotion. it is simply wrong to have watched the insurrection that we saw on january 6th, violent insurrection, perpetrated as we have now been seeing this most recent indictment from oath keepers who formed after barack obama was elected president, that we are seeing nothing short of the direct challenge, it isn t even only to democracy in the form of voting, it is to the very nature of a pluralist country that has people of different races, different creeds, from all over the world. it is fundamentally a threat to whether it is okay that the demographics of this country are changing. and, so, to be willing to use the symbolism of dr. king as you protect and as you give credence