[crowd murmuring] - a crucial supreme court ruling on affirmative action could come tomorrow, as colleges and universities grapple with the possibility that race might no longer be a factor in admissions. - the central question being decided this time: is should affirmative action continue forever in the name of diversity, and are the gains achieved worth the harms allegedly inflicted on asian american students? this is the most important civil rights case of our era. i don t think it s an overstatement to say they re freaking out right now. one admissions official told me, some colleges are so worried about being sued in the wake of this decision that they re thinking about scrubbing racial and ethnic data from their websites. there has to be some discrimination here. there has to be something against asian americans specifically. this case is going to be something more than just about admissions. the notion that noticing race is per se unconstitutional could be devastating
anti-asian violence are gripping communities across the country. president biden and vice president harris are heading to atlanta. it is the first time they ll be in the battleground state since taking office. their trip was originally billed as part of their tour to sell the american rescue plan stimulus, but the political portion of it is now scrapped and the focus is mourning those lost while meeting with leaders in the asian-american community. we ll be covering all the angles of the president s trip, as well as any new developments in the investigation into the shootings. but also this today because it s a big day in the fight against covid-19. the biden administration is set to exceed its goal of 100 million vaccinations in the president s first 100 days in office. 42 days earlier than promised. and a potential game-changer for children in classrooms. the cdc is set to cut its recommendation for physical distancing from six feet to three feet for in-person learning. m
his mother said a lot of things. god love you, indeed. good morning, welcome to morning joe. it s friday, march 19th. with us, we have msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lamir. joe and mika have the morning off. it is a busy morning, though, as kasie just mentioned, we re getting fans in the stands for baseball. good for you. mets, yankees, 20% capacity, a few thousand fans in there. at least it s a start. i know how excited you are about the yankees hot start and spring training and seeing some of those great yankees fans populating that stadium in the bronx. as my mother would say actually, i can t say that on the air. you better no. we re going to have 12% capacity at fenway park. lamir, you excited for the yanks? they re looking good in the spring? willie, my question is, as yankee stadium fills up to 10, 15, 20% capacity, that s obviously going to leave a lot of empty seats, particularly dow
that seeks to deny the real fears in the communities. as a result of historic racism exacerbated by a former president and media allies who describe the coronavirus pandemic as the china virus or kung flu for more than a year up to and as recently as this week. the right is doubling down on the violence trutherism with this comment from congresswoman chip roy. we believe in justice. there is an old saying in texas find the rope and get a tall oak tree. you know, we take justice very seriously. we ought to do that. round up the bad guys. my concern about this hearinging is that it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society. now we are talking about whether talking about china, the chi coms, whatever phrasing we want to use, if some people say we think those people are the bad guys. i think the chinese communist party are the bad guys. and i think that they re harming people. those remarks prompted an immediate outcry, among these colleagues in
will commit additional acts of violence, it s more a question of when. welcome to thursday. this is meet the press daily. i m chuck todd. six asian women are dead when gunman aaron long went on a two-county rampage targeting spas in the area. while a motive has not yet been determined, the reality is this happened to have happened during a massive rise in asian american violence in this nation. a year after the prior administration referred to the pandemic as the china virus or the kung flu. now our leaders are being forced to recon with a ugly reality. two senior administration officials tell nbc news president biden and vice president harris will meet with asian american leaders when they visit atlanta tomorrow. flags are being flown at half-staff in honor of the victims and members of congress did something they said they have not done in more than 30 years, held a hearing on violence against asians and other americans. sitting and testifying about their experiences, i