candle factory in mayfield. we are looking at the aftermath of that huge tornado. governor and the by sheer single last night this will go down as the deadliest tornado in the state's history. 110 people were inside the candle factory at the time it took a direct hit. the roof collapsed. people were trapped inside. people had to breakthrough dry wall just to get out. and we know that 40 people were rescued, but the governor did say it would be miracle if anybody else was found a life. this wasn't the only community sadly. another hard-hit community is bowling green, kentucky. that's a little bit about an hour outside of mayfield. officials have confirmed 12 people have died in and around that city. i believe we have some footage of bowling green that we can also play for you. this is once again, that cattle factory in mayfield. incredible description we're looking at. here's more video. this is from bowling green. we see some rescue crews there in the road. a lot of rescue crews have been asking people if you are safe, if you're in a safe area. don't go out on the roads. don't try to look and see. of course, it might be tempting, but we need to keep these roads open for rescue crews to be able to go to. we want to go to the mayor of branded, kentucky. this is another hard-hit area in the region. a population of about 200 people. the kentucky mayor, alan miller, right now. mayor, can you hear me? are you there with me? . >> can you hear? >> yes, mayor. we can hear you. thank you so much for being with us. we're happy that you're safe. why don't you talk to us right now about what your community, again bremen, kentucky is grappling with? >> just a lot of description destruction. it's more than we've ever seen. we've had tornadoes touched down in our community or in the area before. but the touchdown and then they're gone. this one that touched down last night, it come down, was on the ground for over 16 miles. was about a mile wide. last we heard, we'll confirm it today, but it looks like it may have been a d three. we're just dealing with heavy destruction. >> oh, my goodness. mayor, we know you've told us that people were in their safe shelters and for many of these homes, the homes are completely gone. the safe shelters are all that are left. right now, how many -- this is really tough to ask you, sir -- but how many people right now are we looking at in terms of fatalities and injuries in your community? >> i'm not allowed to give that out just yet. >> okay. >> we've got everybody accounted for, but we have it released just yet. >> okay. and mayor, i wanted to also ask you how much of your community is still standing in terms of homes and businesses? >> there's probably two thirds of it left. it wiped out a large part of it. >> most of the buildings that were damaged were residential structures. it seems like a lot of them that were hit are just completely destroyed. the few that are still standing, it looks like those are going to have to be taken down, also. >> we get cleans thing things cleaned up when, we can get in rescue efforts finished yesterday. today, after daylight will be starting damage assessment and then just start general cleanup today. >> you sure do have a lot on your plate for today in that cleanup effort. we know that an emergency disaster declaration has been made in your state. what does that mean? how do you get resources to where it's needed most? >> the lieutenant governor is supposed to be here this morning and he's coming to see how they can help. he'll also be bringing in the national guard, should be here today. kentucky state police is here with us. be bringing in some of the army and stuff to help clean up. and they'll be looking at fema help and some other things when they come in today. >> right now, we're looking at images of mayfield, kentucky. we're on the phone with the mayor of bremen, about an hour and 40 minutes away. mayor, you talked about what help is on the way. what more do you guys need? >> right now, we're covered pretty good. it's just overwhelming the amount of volunteers that have come out. the amount of supplies and stuff that has been sent into us from all over the tri-state area. not just from our area here. >> mayor allen miller of bremen, kentucky. thank you for your time, sir. our thoughts and our best are with you and your community at this time. >> thank you. >> we want to go now on the ground to mayfield, kentucky, where nbc news correspondent wendy wulf has been talking to people. surveying the damage. wendy, as watching some of your broadcast from recording yesterday. just seeing how impacted emotionally you were and laying ice on what you are seeing. >> [inaudible] >> it doesn't sound like -- >> tens of thousands of people -- and countless neighborhoods and small towns completely flatten like downtown may feel. the aerial footage begins to show the destruction throughout this region. but to see in person's one without words to describe. homeland security, secretary mayorkas, and fema director will be here in kentucky to survey the damage, today. president biden has already approved an emergency disaster and elect declaration and representatives from across the state have been -- what's left of midfield scandal factory. oh, my gosh. trying to find survivors. late yesterday, holding out hope, we spoke to one man who says the going to find his sister who was working in the factory is excruciating. there were 110 people working that live shift on friday. they have been able to have fine 40 and rescue them. unfortunately, the rest are still unaccounted for. kentucky's governor beshear says it will take a miracle for them to find survivors. but here in this town, in southwestern kentucky, we are still holding out hope and asking for everyone throughout this community and this nation for their prayers. that's the latest here in southwestern kentucky. lindsey? back to you. >> all right, wendy, thank you for that reporting. we are going to stake in the state of kentucky here as we continue to get an idea of all of the damage. we know that officials in bowling green have confirmed 12 people have died in and around that city. i'm joined now on the phone by david clarkson, who lives in bowling green. he was driving home from florida when he and his wife were getting the tornado alerts. but they rushed into action to help their neighbors. so, devin, if you're on the phone and you can hear me, what made you instead of going home -- which your home was okay -- what made you head back out into what was likely pretty dangerous conditions? >> i mean, when we are coming back from florida, a look like this storm was going straight for my mom's house. and that kind of freaked me out. so, whenever it cut down south, we went up to bowling green. and my mom was safe. but i had to think about all of the other people that were in my town, that their kids couldn't get to them. one of the neighborhoods that it went through was a neighborhood that a lot of elderly people live in. so, we went straight to that started trying to dig through and see if we could find anybody, because the tornadoes started on the south and went straight to the north side. so, we knew the police and fire departments and everything we're going to have all hands on deck to help. so my wife, my cousin, we all took off and started trying to make sure everybody was safe up here. >> just incredible. we're looking at some drone footage that you provided to us. i mean, it's really just stark, not only seeing a tornado's path there but obviously some homes covered in debris. other than that, just completely flattened. we're looking at some of it now, but what does your city look like right now? how would you describe it? if you need to go to the grocery store today, would there be something for you to go to? >> today, certainly yes, other ones to know. there's a lot of local shops that got hit, so when the tornado went through, it hit what we call the bypass here. a took out a lot of the local shops. so there's a butcher in town that i got two an ace completely gone. i mean, it went through and wiped out the center of the town. it took a lot of things from us, but there's nothing else you can do but go help, work with each other to try to get through. it >> certainly and you have done that. we know that this drone footage is about a half mile from your house, again, which thankfully was spared. what stories from yesterday's stick out to you? for example, i know one elderly woman you are helping, she asked her to get her something from upstairs and there was no upstairs. >> yeah, that's the one that's the hardest in my head. we were going door to door, police officers were behind us across the street. me and my wife heard something like this. going door to door and we heard a woman down in the basement of this house, walk down the steps, they went upstairs, i went downstairs. and i found her laying in her bed and she was just completely unaware of what was going on. and it had to tell her it wasn't safe in her house. her house was gonna collapse. i said she needed to come. and she said, can you could grab something for me from upstairs? and i said i, don't know how to tell you this. but there is no answers anymore. right after that, police came to help me get her out, because you couldn't walk well on her own. when i was walking her out, a picture of her and her husband -- i picked up the picture of her husband on the floor. i know for a fact that was the only thing she gets to keep from her house, because that house act already fell in after today. >> my gosh, devin, that is definitely hard to hear. what is today look like for you? we know is i believe, about 5:12 in the morning your time. what will you do today? >> i work at a church, so i have the morning services at the church, but the church i work at -- we have a team called reach and it's about reaching into the community. will go out before stuff like this happen and do a lot of different things. help people in the community. they've already banded together got probably three, four, 500 people already signed up, ready to go do whatever we have to do. we're having a big drifted bring together all the stuff we can. water, food, all that. take them out to south more high school, which is where we relocated other people who have no homes any longer. and we're going to try to get that done this afternoon. i was up for 36 hours yesterday. we're going to keep going and trying to help people. >> what do you want people to know, devin? >> regardless of what region you live in, pray for us. we have people from every race and ethnicity in the neighborhood, because one of the neighborhoods that got hit the hardest as where i were a lot of our refugees live, so this doesn't make it any easier on them, so hopefully we can all bent together and help out. >> devin clarkson, thank you not only for efforts but for your time and sharing your story with us. we appreciate it. >> no problem. thank you. >> all right everybody, for now we're going to send you back to the regularly scheduled program of the mehdi hassan show. we'll be back at the top of the hour with more breaking news on the storms ravaging the u.s.. stay with msnbc. >> false accusations. earlier, i spoke with senator tammy duckworth sits on a small business and entrepreneurship committee, who cosponsored the anti hate crime bill earlier this year. i spoke through about this small nomination, and the senate in general. >> thanks for coming on the show tonight. you met with a nominee last week, who tweeted a photo thanking you and others for continuing to support him. are you surprised at all that a non controversial nominee for a relatively low profile position is being treated like this by the republican party? >> at this point, i am not surprised. if you asked me this a few months ago, i would've been surprised. but there's been a consistent, and i will say it, a very racist approach to nominees of color and the biden administration, where time after time, republicans continue to stall, prevent or as police strange questions of the nominees. but [inaudible] let alone, have the vote. >> and do you think islamophobia, anti-muslim animus has a lot to do with this? they came out saying, anti-muslim animus was driving this unprecedented action against him, of course we are seeing right now from the gop, openly bigoted rhetoric being held, and we have a line omar, who is muslim, it is all part of the same reason islamophobia? >> i think it is. i think overall, it is a whole push against all of the nominees of color, not just those who are islamic. but, you definitely see this, very consistent among the republican attacks in particular against those who are muslims. >> this story of course, senator, is not just about muslims in america, but a larger issue when dealing with a post trump america, where anti immigrant, anti minority sentiment seems to be much more mainstream, and more violent. earlier this year, we saw the tragic shootings of a spas in the atlanta area, targeting members of the asian american community. you were a cosponsor of the anti hate crime bill that biden signed into law in may. it is supposed to make reporting hate crimes easier, at state and local levels. how do you think we as a country are handling this issue? >> well, i am glad my piece of legislation, the anti asian hate crime bill, and i hate comey's all groups, actually, is a good thing. i think it is great that president biden is nominating persons of color to all of these leadership posts, whether it is in the interior, small business administration, as in the case with mr. syed. but there's a sizeable population who listened to donald trump. remember, trump began his presidency by barring people from muslim countries. it was not that long ago, it only got worse, with him leaving very racist rhetoric all around this presidency. and now, you see it showing up on the senate floor, which is sad. it should not -- this not keeping up [inaudible] >> yes, turning up on the senate floor, anyone who thought racism would be gone when trump left the white house, it seems to have become even worse. talking on the senate floor, i have to ask, the senate, including mitch mcconnell, effectively voted today to break the filibuster to help move a bill forward that would allow the u.s. to raise the debt ceiling. a piece of legislation was proposed to allow a fast-track process for the senate to vote on that bill. for one time, and one time only, with a simple majority. so if you can bypass a filibuster to raise the debt ceiling, why can't you bypass the filibuster, one time only, to get voting rights passed, the most important issue of our lifetime? >> well, because agreement with the republicans to allow us to do, that they won't agree us -- to allow us to change, to pass voting rights legislation. because they like all of these pieces, these laws at the state level, that are meant to prevent, in particular, persons of color from being able to vote. so, we take them, working with democrats in order to pass this legislation. which, by the way, not too long ago, the majority of republicans supported it. and now, you see it is a real effort to move us towards the gates, telling people how many delegates will probably get to vote. well, we can still restore the filibuster to what it was, such as a talking filibuster. we could still change the rules, it just might take longer, we might need more effort, and to convince a couple of democrats, right now -- >> we'll, we are almost out of time. are you going to commit? i've had so many senators on the show, i've asked on this question. will you get him to change's mind? yesterday, he voted with republicans to, you know, overturn a vaccine mandate that the biden administration relies. on he seems to be getting worse, not better when it comes to voting with your party? >> well, he has not been open -- he says he opposes any filibuster, he says he is open to it ready for it. which, would be a talking filibuster. you can't give up. >> no, i know. we are running out of time, i appreciate you taking time, senator tammy duckworth. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> still ahead. if there is a media figure on the right who couldn't one, single statement management massages to, and i signed and denigrate trump as well, who do you think that person might? b i will give you a hint, there are nine -- name rhymes with sucker parson. after this. on after this ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. at progressive, we love your pets as much as you do, like this guy in a hat. that's why progressive car insurance covers your pets for up to $1,000 if they're ever in a car accident with you. this mini majorette's gonna march her way right into your heart. -i'm sorry. can we stop? i know that we're selling car insurance here, but, you know, all the cute little animals, it's too much. define "too much." what's wrong with cute animals? 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think global, act local. >> in my view, this is the defining challenge of our time. democracy, government of the people, by the people, for the people. ken at times be fragile. but also is inherently resilient. it's capable of self correction and it's capable of self improvement. >> i hope d.c.'s politics and prose bookstore has a good section on democracy self improvement. because the president needs to get down there asap and start browsing the book steps. i mean, we keep warning them from general trump -- list practice. another assault on american democracy on's underway right now. top aides and allies to trump continue to fight the investigation into the events that led to the attack. 19 states have adopted new laws this year that will make it harder to vote. 19. and the republican effort to undermine voting rights isn't anywhere near over yet. there is also blatant gerrymandering in the week of the 2020 census, that will all but ensure a republican victory in the house, that is not representative of the will of the people. and don't get me started on the senate. it's madness over there. so, please, please, mister president, tell us what you're planning to do about? it were all airs. >> my administration is going to keep fighting to pass two critical pieces of legislation that will shore up the very foundation of american democracy. the second right of every person to make their voice heard. to free fair and secure elections. >> i'm sorry. what was that? you're going to keep fighting? is this president labor on the miss apprehension that what his administration has done so far counts as fighting? that is even sufficient? as i've already reported on this show this week, because the president is correct that there is an urgent issue facing the nation, but we're almost a year into his first term in office and not a single piece of voting rights legislation has been passed. not a single one. the for the people act. the freedom to vote act. the john lewis act. all blocked by poor republicans in the senate. all by using a filibuster that plenty of senate democrats still support. how can the president of these less than united states speech -ifying to other world leaders about backsliding democracies? going unchecked? a list that the u.s. is on for the very first time, by the way, backsliding democracies. how can he do that and not seem to ramp up the campaign of what he's ready to do here at home to save democracy? ere at hom to save de>> the faith in ourser democracy and each other. that's what this sum is about. i'm so looking forward to a productive session and discussions that will have over the next two days. i'm looking for to the connections we will build and support our work moving forward. so, let's get to work. >> come on, joe. summits are not the answer. they are window dressings. same as the gingerbread house of the state dining room. and the more than three dozen christmas trees deployed through at the white house right now. look, who does a recent american citizen have to call to actually get something done to save u.s. democracy? santa claus? joining me now is jason stanley, professor philosophy at yale and author of "how fascism works". jason, thanks for coming back on the show of tonight. joe biden called this summit. he sounded the alarm. but let's start by asking a very blunt question. is the united states really in a place to be lecturing other countries about democracy right now? >> well, we're all hypocrites, because we owe in a system of injustice, all of us benefit from and democratic institutions. private universities, private bts. so, there's hypocrisy here when the united states is under really an existential threat. not just from the electoral loss, but the attacks on our education system, which will result in less informed voters. and the protest laws. 45 states have considered 230 bills regulating protests. 36 of them have been enacted. these are bills that you have to think of intend him with the attack on the electoral system. because there are preparing us for the protests that will greet the stealing of an election. so, you have this very open anti-democratic movement happening. funded also by the oil companies. many of these anti-protests bills are restrict protests and legalize protests near pipelines. so, is all happening at once. the structure of big oil. the company's -- many big different business business interests that are threatened by democracy whose work is for the public good are threatened by this movement. >> and yet, the president doesn't seemed to be doing much about. a washington post columnist jennifer reuben knows, joe biden today said feel your own voting rights is not an option. then he avoided any remarks on the filibuster. how can biden say that he's doing anything and regards to voting rights and preserving democracy if he continually refuses to engage in the debate over the filibuster? >> he must. he simply must. but one wonders what's going on behind the scenes. for instance, senator manchin, i mean i think that the republicans have kind of left him alone. if there were any sign at all that senator manchin would support these voting rights bills, i assume they would target him. so, i think something is going on there. you can see this systematic attack happening. you can't just isolate one part, is so massive. it the attack on the education system. so that when there are protests, americans will understand their cause and will call forever more violent police reaction. the attack on protests, the gerrymandering, all of this. and we're a very young democracy, anyway. so, we've only became arguably somewhat more complete democracy in the 1960s. so, we're a very young democracy at a fragile democracy. what you're seeing is that fragility being severely tested. >> when we look at american democracy, some of its many flaws pre day trump. it's very to easy to say about from the republicans and what state parties are doing. but a lot of flaws, they are baked into the system, to the constitution. to the way we do things for decades. things like the electoral college. or an anti majority aryan senate. with the fact that politicians can draw their own districts and blatantly gerrymander. i mean, biden -- sitting with a bunch of met western democracies in. no other western democracies do i know politicians been able to draw their own boundaries in the way they do in the united states. there are broader institutional problems with american democracy are, they're not? >> we have -- were nowhere near a democracy because what democracy would have one party win the popular vote and seven out of eight presidential elections and lose most of those elections? so, we're not a democracy. the senate empowers states with very few residents. and the supreme court has been acting undemocratically. one thing one has to realize is if you want to topple a democracy, you take over the courts. it's the first thing you do. so, we have a court takeover. the results of the court takeover we've been saying for many years. when the voting rights act, the key provisions were struck down. and a number of other anti-democratic measures. we see in realtime why the courts are so important. you target democracy, you take over the courts, and the schools. so you have an uninformed citizen. what we're seeing is the fruits of that. the multi year fruits of that. so we also have to pay attention to what we are going to do about our supreme court, that has been stacked with conservatives, despite the fact that donald trump lost the popular vote by 3 million and 20 in 2016. n an >> a lot of what you're described, jason, seems to have taken place in hunger, as you and i have discussed before. the stacking of the courts. the takeover of the media. the takeover of universities. this kind of liberal democracy. hungary was not invited to participate in this global democracy summit today, by the way, at the white house. he he was a cherished visitor to the white house. what do you make of the decision to not invite or band to this gathering? >> that would've been completely absurd to invite oregon. i mean, 90% of the media in hungary is in some way, shape or form government control. you have the courts dominated by or bans lackeys. you have -- hungry is most of the citizens speak hungarian. so taking over the media really is powerful there. so democracy, is not just majority votes. a majority of russians would vote for putin. when you have a lack of information, when you have a lack of options. when you have the relentless amplification of opponents and the manufacturing of fake opponents by critical like critical race theory, to create fear and panic, you're not going to have a democratic system. i mean, north korean's would vote for their leader again and again. so, you can't invite hungry and we still have a -- >> hey, it's called the democratic republic of korea for a reason, jason. he said it would be ridiculous and absurd if orbán had been invited and hungry had a seat at the table. and in india, under moody and in brazil under bolsonaro, were invited, despite their own authoritarian, illiberal, anti-democratic -- some would argue that modi has been far more authoritarian than even orbán. >> yes, so we live at a time where two of the world's largest democracies around by far right, ultra nationalist leaders. bolsonaro openly talks about military dictation ship. the only thing stopping hit from dictatorship is that military, who are like, no, not really. but that is obviously fragile. so, he is extremely explicit. has modi been targeted journalists, academics, the free press. all of that is under massive attack. in the case of india, you have something similar to the united states where you have a dominant majority being -- having their ethnic nationalism with stoked and being told that the minority group in this case, the muslims, are an existential threat to their culture. just as here were told that leftist and minorities -- >> and yet they've given a pass by the white house. >> yeah. the white house is giving itself a pass. >> i think as you put it, jason, we're out of time -- i'll call you from the start, we're all hypocrites. jason stanley, thank you for your time. kyle is appreciate it. when we come back, the list of americans kids are in danger of not being taught is growing all the time, but is wearing more debt ridiculous, too. and in a related point, does anyone have a dictionary i can? 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it's as simple as it is depressing. he talked about race. never mind that the class he was teaching was titled, contemporary issues. and the lesson that got him in trouble happen just weeks after the death of george floyd and the shooting of jacob blake. he was speaking to the class about lake, an unarmed black man in kenosha, when this constant, we shot and injured by the police. he can feared compare the fates of black and color rittenhouse, who was acquitted of wrongdoing by a jury after fatally shooting two people during demonstrations in kenosha. he pulls this fought to his nearly all white classroom? white privilege as a fact. what are we going to do, what we're going to do is we're going to discuss gus how we can help solve the issue of racism in america? what can we do here in northeast tennessee? i mean. he was teaching a class called contemporary issues. but for posing questions like that, and assigning authors as dangerous as ta-nehisi coates, who lost his jobs in may. that's a months, tennessee passed a law banning schools from teaching the idea that an individual by virtue of the individual's race or sex is inherently privileged, racist, sexist or a press. and as we've told you on the show, conservative groups have already used this law to try banning books about ruby bridges. and about martin thinking junior. but this isn't just about tennessee. this isn't just about matthew horn. this is about a nationwide attempt to censor, to crack down on any discussion of equality, race and america's full history in the classroom. don't take my word for it. take the word of wisconsin state assembly member, chuck workers. he's trying to ban teachers from using specific words in that classroom. you want to know which words? let's see how many i can squeeze and in 60 seconds. start the clock. critical race theory. our current civics. social emotional learning. diversity, equity, inclusion. abolitionist. you can't efficient -- anti black-ness. and he meritocracy. obtuse meritocracy. colorism. conscious and unconscious bias. critical ethnic theory. cultural earnest. cultural competence. cultural proficiency. cultural relevance. diversity focused. diversity training. dominant discourse. educational justice. equitable. equity hedge ammonia. identity d.c. construction. implicit, explicit bias. institutional. bias internalize. racism internalize white supremacy. interrupting racism. intersectional-ism. microaggression. multiculturalism. on segregation. patriarchy. rush's old centralism. reseal-ing. racial justice. racial privilege. racial supremacy. social justice. spurt murdering. structural bias. structural inequity. structural racism. systemic bias. unconscious bias. white fragility. white privilege. white social capital. white supremacy. whiteness. woke. the >> list goes on, and, on, i couldn't even keep up there, as you saw. here's a few of the big doozies eyelet missed. couldn't get. to social justice, systemic racism, whiteness, and of course, woke. they're all on that proposed banned list. when we come back. i'll be speaking to that fire tennessee teacher about all of this. don't go away. t go away. of nature breathing. and this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is a different kind of asthma medication. it's not a steroid or inhaler. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's one maintenance dose every 8 weeks. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils. fasenra is designed to target and remove them. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. this is the sound of fasenra. ask your doctor about fasenra. >> man: what's my safelite story? 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♪ if it's “let's wrap this up?” season, it's walgreens season. ♪ son of a— —beth? if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, it's walgreens season. if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> joining us now is matthew hawn, former tennessee social studies teacher fired from his job for teaching about white privilege. mr. hawn, thanks for joining us tonight. did you ever imagine that you would get fired over i think what you said? teaching what you taught? >> absolutely not. i've taught this class for a decade and there has never been any issue. i'm a 16-year tenured teacher and i have never had any complaints of until now. >> so why do you think it happened? >> i mean, i think there is a political divide that we are all experiencing. that i have tried to keep out of my class. you know? i think as we can see with these bills being passed, people are looking to get into education and kind of control what we are trying to do. i think is maybe a misunderstanding of how my class operates. look, my class, i just keep kids to understand perspective. that's it. i don't teach them what to think, i teach them how to think. >> what have you've been hearing from students and from fellow teachers and from parents of those students since all of this happened? >> man. fortunately, i've had 16 years of being in the same school and in the same community. the support i have received has been so overwhelming. my former students have been so supportive. my community members have been so supportive. my family has been supportive. my friends have been supportive. former appearance, or parents of former students have been supported. i'm just eternally grateful to them because, this is extremely difficult. my livelihood was taken away. i'm not really sure what my place in the world's. if i'm not a teacher then, what am i doing? is something i've dedicated my life to. so, i'm very grateful for that support. support. >> just to circle back to my opening question. this came out of the? blue is not as if you are seeing, oh, wow, there is moved a flow in the skews school? i noting sing a growing climate center ship. i better be careful i say. you didn't have any of that? this came out of the blue? >> yeah. it came out of the blue. this is something, unfortunately, racial injustice and racial equity is a contemporary issue and it has been for 400 years. and i've taught this for ten years. so, i'm puzzled as to why i'm here? you know? i have had a reputation of. my school is 96% white. i live in a community that is a 95% white. i'm doing what the state of tennessee asked me to do and giving my students very varying viewpoints. >> i want to play for you but is now a notorious example out of texas, of teachers this year being so fearful of breaking new laws there that they're willing to teach both sides of a subject that is even have two sides. have a listen. >> make sure that if you have a book on the holocaust that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives. how do you oppose the holocaust? >> wet? >> believe me. that's come up. >> believe me, that's come up. people demanding different perspectives on the holocaust. i do have to ask, is there now a climate of fear amongst teachers in american schools? what other combinations have been like between you and your former colleagues? oh, absolutely. i've heard from teachers all across the country. not only about the holocaust but something like the salem witch trials. in states were these bills have passed. we're not real sure -- they are not real sure how they are going to teach that kind of stuff. in a democracy, the free flow of ideas is central and it's key. what better place to have that than in a school? now you're telling us that we can't talk about things? or we can't bring these issues to our students. they were telling me that i need to show the opposite of white privilege. what is that? i've never told my students that white privilege is a fact. i just asked them to look at it. that's it. and i asked them, okay, if i have to teach the opposite of white privilege, do i have to teach the opposite of the holocaust? drive to say that the holocaust didn't happen? do we have to say that the earth is flat? you know? this doesn't make any sense. >> what is the opposite of white privilege is a great question? i have to ask, there is an irony that the same political party that goes on about free speech has spent the last decade fearmongering about threats to speak free speech in schools, on campuses. is now the same party that is openly, happily, enthusiastically, policing speech inside of classrooms? >> yeah, absolutely. i don't understand that. here in my community there are a lot of conservative people who have reached out to me and they have the same questions that you and i have. what are we doing? as a part of a community, they're still good people here and they're still wondering the same thing. why is it not lucky to teach the truth about american history? and to invite different perspectives from our kids to learn from. >> what is your next step in this process? are you trying to get your job back? are you taking legal action? >> yes. because i'm a tenure teacher, the state of tennessee affords us a three-step process. i'm in phase two of that. i lost the first one, the first appeal in august. the second step is an appeal in front of my board of education. if i don't like the outcome there, then i can possibly appeal it to chancery court. so, that is the third step. right now, we're just waiting on it -- my appeal to the board of education is on tuesday, december 14th. >> it is crazy, crazy, that this is happened. that you are a teacher who is being treated in this way because you tried to teach a class about white privilege, as you said. teaching them not what to think, but how to think. matthew hawn, i appreciate you taking time out to join us this evening. thank you for joining us. i'll see right back here tonight at 8 pm eastern on msnbc world kick off another week of in-depth interviews with key news makers. you can also catch me monday through thursday at 7 pm eastern on peacock on the choice from msnbc. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ breaking right now on msnbc, 24 hours after historic devastating storms, people in the, hardest hit communities a grappling with loss. lovedin ones, homes and livelihoods gone forever. >> the windows start breaking, dogs flying through the air. ith didn't know what to do. walls feel like they was caving in. it was very scary. >> it hurtsit to see the resides hurt and sad and