To help estimate a number. Many times throughout american history the question of how many jellybeans are in a jar has been a racist tool of oppression. In 1890 mississippi lawmakers gathered in jackson to find a way around the 15th amendment which gave africanamericans the right to vote. The white judge who presided put the matter bluntly. We came here to exclude the negro. Nothing short will answer. The mississippi lawmakers adopted two measures to make voting all but impossible for black people in mississippi. One was a poll tax. You had to bring the equivalent of $58 in today s money to vote. The other was a literacy test. Registrars could ask arbitrary questions to decide if prospective voters were smart enough to vote. White people always seemed to get the simple questions. Black voters, well, black voters were asked such things as how many bubbles are in a bar of soap? and they were also asked things like how many jellybeans are in this jar? these practices became common across
procedure combat teams use as they prepare to breach a building and it s instantly recognizable to any soldier or marine who has served. looking at that level of coordination, it s frightening to see just how close we came to a coup and a year later, our democracy remains at risk. today, that risk isn t from a group of men making their way up the capitol steps but from a coordinated, nation-wide attack on voting rights in this country. tomorrow, the u.s. marks martin luther king jr. day, every year we celebrate the life, work and legacy of the civil rights giant, but tonight, on the heels of another federal voting rights failure, i want to play these words from king in 1963. i think the tragedy is that we have a congress with a senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting. they won t let the majority vote and certainly don t want the majority of people to vote because they know they do not repre
to a coup in a year later. our democracy remains at risk. today, that risk isn t from a group of men making their way up the capitol steps but from an coordinated nationwide attack. tomorrow, the u.s. will mark martin luther king junior day. every year, we celebrate the life, work, and legacy of the civil rights giant. but tonight, on the heels of yet another voting right failure, i want to play these words from king in 1963. i think the tragedy is that we have a congress with a senate that has a minority of missed guided senators that will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting. they want the majority senate for. and sooner they would want the majority of people to vote because they know they do not represent the majority of the american people. now that tragedy king spoke about almost six decades ago is still playing our country today almost down to a word. this weekend, kings family rallied in arizona, pushed for voting rights, home state of
facism how close america is to it right now. plus as omicron spreads like wild fire i ll ask the former cdc director what the cdc under joe biden could do to improve messaging. as the school closures escalate the president of the american federation of teachers will join me to talk about what steps she believes need to be taken to protect both educators and students from the virus. good evening. i m mehdi hasan. we just marked one year since the horrible, deadly january 6th assault on the united states capitol. now as the insurrection rolls on we are getting ready for the next national election. not the 2024 presidential election. the midterm congressional elections that happen later this year. it is 2022 already. those elections could decide everything. like if republicans win the house, will they certify the presidential results? should a democrat win the white house in 2024? will they shoot down any further congressional investigation into donald trump and his allies? if
has become more and more clear just how damaged we as a country are. the insurrection exposed both the deepening fault lines in our population and cracks in the very structure of our democracy. it opened a wound many of us want to heal from but find ourselves quite honestly unable to. a sentiment president joe biden reiterated thursday on the anniversary of the attack. the way you have to heal is recognize the extent of the wound. you can t pretend. this is serious stuff. we got to face it. that is what great nations do. they face the truth. deal with it. and move on. president biden is right here. how can we heal when our cries for justice and accountability have largely gone unanswered, when the people and the party that stood to benefit from overturning the election results refused to even acknowledge the realities of what happened on that day? when after a year of investigation no one has been held accountable outside of some of the foot soldiers in trump s mob. a nat