i love teaching at a university, but even i have to wonder, is the cost of higher education worth it? i'm talking about the scandal that turned all eyes on washington this week. kerry washington that is. plus the supreme court's unexpected interest in nudity and why i'm scared at night because of it. but first the politics of unemployment and making the numbers sing your song. good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. this week, you may have felt a little bit of whiplash, because we took a turn. there we were cruising along gop primary lane, and then all of the sudden mitt romney hit the accelerator clinching victory in three states. his nomination is looking more and more inevitable. and just like that, the view is starting to look like a general election campaign. so president obama signaled a

turn this week himself with the first name check of the man he will likely be facing off against come november. >> one of my potential opponents governor romney has said that he hopes that a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency. he said he is supportive of the new budget, and he ven called it marvelous, which is a word that you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget. >> in other words, mitt romney, game-on! and i suspect that former governor mitt romney is glad that the turn has arrived. the nominating contest for the last few months was unfamiliar for him, and social issues are shaky ground for him and now he can find more sure footing on the territory and the jobs and the economy, right. remember when the gop contest began and back when the states were battlegrounds and not women's bodies. remember, this was not supposed to be an election about

reproduction, but about job production. and mitt romney was the republican answer to a sour economy. well, a lot has changed and the shift from primary tot romney goes from front runner to underdog. a independent poll in 12 ski states have the former governor point margin. and romney is hoping to close the gap that in seven months voters should take into consideration this reminder about president obama. >> when he took office millions of americans looked to him to turn the economy around and to lead is back to full employment. he failed the americans. the administration pledged that the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate below 8%. it has been above 8% every month since. >> in other words, things could be better. but the latest job numbers

released yesterday give the president the fodder for claim that things are better. according to the labor department's monthly job report says that the e kconomy added 120,000 jobs and it is the smallest increase since october, but it is a dip in the up employment rate to 8.2%, the lowest it has been in three years. now, from where mitt romney is standing, 8.2% is still above the 8.0% line that the administration said they would not cross. but if you are president obama looking for any improvement, the addition of 120,000 private sector jobs is looking pretty good. but the question is how the voters see it. it is all in how you view the proverbial glass. well, this is an actual glass. president obama is hoping that you are a half full kind of voter, and that you will see the jobs report as the indication na america's limping economy is in recovery, you know, this part of the glasz. but this part of the glass is

mitt romney's economy. he banwants voters to focus on water that is not in the glass. and remember, while the economic patient may not be at the death's door, it is sick. now of course, there are updated reports and job numbers to come, and how the voters view this glass may have more to do with how thirsty they are for jobs at the end of the long hot summer, around whether or not the economy is pouring anything else in. joining me now the decide what kind of glass we are looking at. we have a veteran journalist and a fellow of politics at the harvard university's school of government, and adam welsh, chief editor of wealth magazine. delight delighted to have you both here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> we have made the move to politics, and it looks like rick santorum is unable to win this

nomination, and it is going to be mitt romney. we are in the fast lane and the campaign will be about jobs s. the report half full or half empty? >> i think that the report is half empty. people are reeling from the number. the-number that we should focus on the most is workforce participation, and how many people of able body, age and mind are working? that is a number that is below 1% from where we were last year and the time of the recovery where we were inching towards a better position. it was 68% last year and 63% this year, and those numbers are as bad as the carter/reagan recession of 1982/1983. what the supporters have to sell or of come is that it could be worse. that what they are hitting now for a couple of years. it might be enough to rally the

brace, and gain independents over romney. >> now, whether it is bad or good might actually be ancillary to whether it is good or the bad for election or political purposes, right. so if we have lower labor force participation, and 120,000 new jobs does not mean a strong economy, but looking at numbers of economic confidence in march, which is the highest since january of 2008, and we are looking just before the 2008 election cycle kicks off. if people perceive this and framed as good even though it is not good empirically, is that still enough for the president this is. >>le with, politically, the president is on track with the economy. it may not be where we want it to be overall, but i do think that for political purposes, the president seems like someone who, you know, and he did lift us up from the absolute nadir of

our economy in the last two decades and bring us to a full circle. i do believe that this is a concept of full employment capable, and also there is economic h economic history is that the length of unemployment is twice as long, and people are out of of the employment force for 40 weeks or longer, and that is something that the president's policies have not so far addressed. >> we talked about this a little bit on the show, this idea that there are job listings, right, listings for employment opportunities and because being long-term unemployed is not a protected class they will say that you must currently have a job in order to apply for the job, and that is going to impart

your earlier point. let me ask this, because i know that some of the work has been on this, and i would be interested parly in a libb libertarian perspective around this. if the president is going to run on the the health of the economy and you have a republican party saying that the government cannot create jobs and only the private sector can create jobs s this fully a question for americans about tax policy or something that the president is meant to be doing despite the fact that government does not create jobs? this is a serious empirical and serious challenge for me. how do you make that claim? >> let me totally agree with you here. what is fascinating is that the president has continued to frame the jobs outlook as the understandably growth in private sector jobs. one reason that the african-american unemployment rate is so high because in a time of the 1950s and 1960s when it was hard for black people to break into the private sector

employment because of segregation, you went into employment like bus drivers and schoolteachers and postal workers. >> yes. >> i have both in my family, but what we are seeing is a continuing decline in the public sector employment. the president does not make the case that we are willing to increase it, and the republicans will not go there. so when we look at the -- i personally think that smart judgments about strong public sector jobs and who would argue that kids in america don't need more and seniors don't need more, and there are things that are political sector, but it is untouchable. >> matt, weigh in. >> i think it is interesting of the way that obama went after romney. because he wanted romney to be paul ryan. paul ryan is a wonk, and people who disagree with him respect where he is coming from, and he has an articulated vision if you

shrink the size of government you increase the opportunity elsewhere and you to tackle the entitlements time bomb and go after the housing campaign. but romney is not running on those issues. he is campaigning calling rick perry for calling social security a ponzi scheme. he has not been running a government-cutting strategy. >> that is why the critique from the right is so powerful on obama. >> and obama is baiting a conversation that would be a real conflict of visions which is more interesting, i think than that what we have currently. romney is kind of the classic chamber of commerce republican where you attack obama for being anti-business because he is not handing out the good dis to the free market, and this is not the market philosophy. >> it is interesting to learn how to make the 2012 more interesting. and coming up, just in time for pass oaf, we are seeing exodus.

and this time it is a exodus of women, and you want to know where they are going. and coming up kerry washington, and we will talk about her latest foray into politics coming up. i like helping people save. time, hassle, and the big one -- money. hundreds, in fact, if you're a progressive customer, like me. next hundred cars, they're on the messenger. release the savings, my friend! ♪

there's been a lot of talk about women and women's issues lately as there should be, but i do think that the conversation has been oversimplied. women are not some monolithic bloc. they are not an interest group. you should not be treated that way. >> that was the president

stating the obvious or what should be obvious at yesterday's white house forum on women and the economy, but unfortunately, we have reached a political moment where it needed to be said. as both democrats and republicans jockey for position to prove who most feels the women's pain, the idea that women are, you know, human beings and not a cheollection o walking and talking uteri is a new concept. so who gets it right and who doesn't. joining us is liza monday, the author of "the richer sex" and a fellow from the american foundation, and also julian falldo from american black college foundation. we have the hungry caterpillar in hee bro for passover and english as well. i want to take a moment to

listen to the caterpillar comment which was reince priebus who said this. >> the democrats said we had a war on caterpillars then every mainstream media outlet talked about a war on caterpillars then we would have a war on caterpillars and the fact is it that is a fiction. >> dr. malveaux, can i go to you first. okay. we have the republicans on one hand saying that we have got, you know, if this were a war on caterpillars, we would have a problem with caterpillar, but it is not cat pill lars, but actual women who the white house had yesterday to talk about economic questions. so when we think about that intersection between gender and the economy, what are there specific women's issues or are women economic voters in precisely the same ways that men are? >> well, there are specific women's issues, and i was at the enconference yesterday and it was exhilarating with three cabinet members there.

there is a report out, melissa, that talks about what women have done. the fact that there are so many single mothers makes it important that we talk about the issues therein. men who are married who have unemployment rates of 3.2 to 5.b0%. so targeting to the moms and also the services to the moms with only 3% of fortune 500 companies have child care. so you look at those gender specific things. women, also, melissa, are more likely than men to receive the pell grant. 60% of pell grant recipients are women. and social security, because women live longer than men, those are women specific policies, and one might say when you improve social security, you improve it for the men as well. but basically the women tend to be a little bit more dependent on the economy that is driven by services. so i know that liza munday's

book about the "richer sex" focuses on the top, but we have to focus on the bottom and find not the glass ceiling, but the sticky floor. >> yes, we are the very hungry caterpillar in the economy. liza? >> well, i don't focus just on the top, but in my book, i interviewed a lot of women who were supporting their families whose husbands had lost jobs and i spent time in michigan talking to women who had taken part-time jo j jobs or second jobs to make it. they are all still in the workforce and working. and the president alluded to the number of women who are breadwinners in the households, and single moms and women who went to work in the recession or working all along, and the fact that they face a gender wage gap because they are supporting households on less than a man might make. >> and you made the point earlier that the president is

trying to frame mitt romney is in the context of paul ryan. i wanted to listen, because the president used strong language in talking about that ryan play and it connects to the questions around gender. let's listen to what the president had to say here. >> disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really and an attempt to impose a radical vision on the country. it is thinly veiled social darwinism. >> he is calling it thinly veiled social darwinism to let those most vuler inb nenerable away, and we won't feed the hungry caterpillars, and let them fall away. is that a fair critique? >> no, that thinly veiled social darwinism is at a tack by a person who said that we should

not have social darwinism in the history, and so to repeat that is a little bit inaccurate. paul ryan's budget increases the size of the federal budget from 3.6 trillion to 9.2 trillion and if that is social darwinism, we are screwed, because we can't afford our own government. that does not apply. in terms of gender politics this happened in march when we were having a terrible transvaginal moment. >> yes, that was awful. >> it is still going on for many women across america unfortunately. >> on the state and the local level for sure. mitt romney will not run on that, because he was pro choice before he was pro choice and all that, but he will not make that case. he made the case insincerely to the case that he tried to win the nomination, and he has that wrapped up. he is not running on that in the general election. for people who are strong pro

choice, they have enough to be alarmed by mitt romney, but we won't talk about the transvaginal issues. >> and just as we have seen the transvaginal moment was occurring at least in terms or ndent women move but the dramatically towards the president in the polls. so we have mitt romney at 37%. president obama at 57% among the swing state women, and precisely the voters who could choose whom the next president will be, and if that is driven by pro choice rhetoric, then it might change in the general election? >> well, it might change, but if you look at the battles over reproduction rights, they have played out over several decades already. people won't forget by november who has basically championed an agenda in terms of the interest groups and parties.

certainly not the democrats and not the progressives that literally inserts probes into women's bodies. i have gotten to know while i am a little bit harvard at the i.n.s.b tut of politics, people who work in regions and former elected officials from places like oklahoma which does have a very frightening law on the books right now which is held up by sort of a judicial review, but this is not over. this is not over and won't be over. >> and transvaginal moment has led us to accept general ultrasound laws that are literally less probing. we will stay on a variety of the concerns around this with these guests. still ahead this morning, how the supreme court can be closer to ever to overturning roe v. wade in the next hour. but first, the divide over trayvon martin and why i won't stop talking about him. that is up next. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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using polident on a daily basis will make sure that you are as confident as you can be in that denture. >> this beak as i was reading the "atlantic" one passage jumped out at me. it is a piece from daniel denver examining the trayvon martin case and publicized and the less jude kated cases of young black men. denver writes that it takes a remarkable degree of excess to spark public anger, and even then spectacularly excessive force does not guarantee a widespread public response or ultimately justice. a remarkably degree of excessive. this week two people on the bridge died and the officers received prison terms ranging from 6 to 65 years.

okay. review, spectacularly excessive force. well, they shot and killed one man who was developmentally disabled. they did it even though the men had posed no threat and just had survived a hurricane and levee breach. whether or not you live in new orleans, this case sparked a outcry once the facts were known, so it follows denver's template, but it has been 6 1/2 years between the shootings in 2005 up to the sentencing this week. justice has taken a long time to arrive. a lot of things have happened in the country and our personal lives in 6 1/2 years. it is hard to focus on a single issue for that long, and most observers simply lack that attention span. we are already seeing it happen in the case of trayvon martin and it is happening sadly along a racial divide. a recent gallup poll shows that

african-americans are following this closely, but other adults, only 19% are paying attention. other divides put out by pugh this week asking with political affiliation asked if there is too much trayvon coverage. 56% of republicans say too much, and 25% of democrats say too much, and over half of democrats 33% say too much. all of this just more than 40 days after trayvon's death. 40 days during which we have seen widespread public anger over what happens to be spe spectacularly excessive force, but no justice served, and in fact, we don't seem to be close. it took years to get justice in the katrina shooting case. how long must this go on? as martin luther king jr. said in 1965 when he quoted the

abolitionist minister theodore parker, the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice. the key word in this instance, long. so for those of tiring of the story, i'm sorry, but here in nerdland, we will continue the cover it. i know that some of you may be tired of trayvon's story, but i am much more tired of the continuing injustices of young black men dying. until i see movement toward justice, i ain't going to let nobody turn me around. comi coming up, is college really worth it? ♪ ain't going to let nobody turn me round ♪ [ female announcer ] here in california, our schools need help.

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sprayed while protesting a controversial two-tiered tuition scale put in place by the college board of trustees. it was a solution to of crowding and the college decided to raise the fees of the most popular classes so by the end of the week in response to the student protest, the community college has decided to scrap the plan, but it is not an isolated case. increasing tuition and rising college demands are increasing and faster than all other commoditi commodities. compare the most recent average of $17,500 and upwards of $6 0,000 for america's most expensive colleges and universities. this year, 30% of college students are getting a degree, d1975, where 14%

were getting college degrees. this is not elitist, but while we know that college degree equals higher earning potential, and lower rates of unemployment, it is not the easy ticket into the middle-class that it was once, and why? because student debt is very high. all of the debt is a hindrance to the middle-class lifetime. currently, the college graduates are facing the lowest rates of homeownership. and so, college, is it still worth it? with me to discuss the state of college is a professor from harvard, and also a professor melissa mundy, and also we are joined by a professor from the university of bennett college, julian malveaux. i want to ask you as your role as president of the university,

is college still worth it given the cost that students are now facing? >> well, it is absolutely worth it, melissa, for a number of reasons. you have to differentiate between the public colleges where states have the lowest level of subsidies to the public colleges ever. the santa monica college case is useful to look at, because california has been cutting. what it does for colleges, and that is a community college, and they have had to eliminate over 1,000 sections of classes since 2008. so obviously when you eliminate the classes and the students are going to community colleges at record rates and you combine that, yes, class shortages. when you look at harvard on the other hand with the huge endowment, harvard should never raise the tuition. i mean, the endowment is humongous, and if you go to the category that i live in hbcu land where we struggle toll make

ends meet, the only time we raise tuition is when we have no other choice, and the utility rates are going up, and my faculty has not had a raise in three years, and in three years, because we are balancing budgets. this year, we balanced the budget by less than 2%, and that is unreasonable margin if you think about unintended costs, but last year we raised tuition, room and board total by 4.5%. we had another raise the year before and we won't do one this year, but there are colleges who are heavily endowed can afford not to raise the tuitions, but colleges and universities can not only raise tuitions if the statings restore. in new york state two years ago the tuitions went up by nearly 40%. and the private small private colleges are in a totally different category. >> dr. malveaux, i appreciate when you say that i was teasing you in the break, julian, that we had the article from the washington post from david levy,

do college professors work hard enough, and i was joking saying, oh, yeah, and clearly i had to take a second job to make it all work. so. >> well, the reality is that we are not working hard enough, because the obl time nly time w working is right in front of the classroom and we don't have to write lectures or do research. so clearly in terms of what dr. malveaux did, the raising of the tuitions is that they have no incentive not to. this is akin to the mortgage market under the clinton administration, and changed the guaranteed loanm is. the loan system, and so like if this person cannot afford this loan, there is no incentive for the schools not the write the loan. they are saying that we can hike up the tuition, and there is no ceiling for it. so what we are look for is of course edgekication is worth it.

my father grew up in a segregated down in georgia and the great and the most prideful thing that his son accomplished was graduating from howard brown university, and my life is far different than his. but it is difficult when you see the people coming out with crushing debt. >> yes, looking at the numbers growing exponentially. >> well, i speak as a journalist and a parent of teenager, and it is much on my mind these days. as you said in the introduction unemployment rates are more than half than those with college degrees. you can't deny higher wage, and for men for whom the highest raising for their cohorts and for women, they are rising at a higher rate. women have gotten the message

and they are the majority of the to college students in the country, and one of the things that i saw in the research that surprised me is that parents now, and parents of working class boys and girls will pay for the daughter's education and not necessarily for their son's, and one of the reasons that boys are not going on to college is because they are feeling pressure from the parents and to get out to the workforce to earn. and women are going to college and better equipped to earn. >> so you are doing work with young people lately, and how much in the mind of young people? >> well, i'm up at harvard and i went there as an understood grad for 22 years ago and the working class for a aide was very low. there has been a turn around in the philosophy of what you demand from the students to go

at the elite universities. they have really lessened the load, but as dr. malveaux says, it is harder for the other colleges to do. pop culture reference yesterday ended up flipping through and watching "undercover boss" and there was a 19-year-old in the situation that you mentioned. the 19-year-old young man who had a scholarship, but he had to work for his family. i do feel that this is not a gender-based equality issue, and i hope that the yong men and women can rise together. but i also finally think that good trade schools and good apprenticeships should make a return. we need a direct pipeline for people who didn't want a liberal arts education and want to go straight into the trade. >> it is one thing to say it is worth it, and another thing to say it is only route. still ahead the fabulous kerri washington will join me at the top of the hour to talk about

her new show. and first, i will say why parents maybe should not save for their children's education. we will be right back. ♪ love is lifting me higher the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. greetings from the people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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just note your mileage and zap ! you're outta there ! we'll e-mail your receipt in a flash, too. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. it is harsh, but saving may not be worth it as the college tuition costs are climbing and it is nearly impossible to keep up. financing all of the child's education with savings may be insurmountable, and here is the point, if you are putting it away for college maybe you are not doing it to retirement, and student loans are bad, but you can take a student loan for college, but you cannot take a retirement loan. so the best thing that you can do to secure your kid's financial future rather than your own. and so what are you to do?

with us at the table, our panel. julian, i want to go back to you to start this off. am i getting the parents bad advice here, and what do you say to the parents of bennett college students? >> well, first of all i advice the parents to start saving early for college education. the tax deductions and the special tax plans and the 517 plans, and if the parents save ear early, they can afford it. but secondly the advice is spot-on. you shouldn't take a loan out for the child. let the child take the loan out themselves. students should look at the mix of colleges and look at transferring from community colleges to a four-year college. certainly, you know, in hbcu land as we call it, we have challenges, because many of our students are first generation. >> right. >> their parents didn't go the college, and they don't understand. i have had students doing extremely well, and their moms or dads say, you have the come home the help support the

family, and you have to come home the do this or that, and young lady with a 3.75 headed for the mba dropped out at the end of the junior year to help the family with a working class family in the northeast pr pressured by the mom to drop out and come home. that is what i tell the student, you have to be on your own and take out the loans. the loans are there. now i wish that we would do a better job for the young people, and when we bailed out aig, they pay 1%, and a young person pays 6.5% minimum on the student loans, so that is crazy. but i will say when you listen to president obama at the women's conference yesterday, he talked about what he had done in education, and the maintenance of the pell grant at a time when the austerity team is trying to cut everything, that has been important, the maintenance of the subsidy to hbcus is important, but we have the be passionate about education,

melissa, and while you point out that 28% of all americans have gone to college and have a college degree, the fact is that we won't be able to compete with china, india or eastern europe unless we produce more thinker, and more people who are thinkers. >> i appreciate that you disag gr disagree ed with me there. and everybody from nerdland says you should take the advice from the political scientist, and not from the host about what to do. and now pel grants support, this has come up and this is what paul ryan's budget says to do, get rid of the pel grants, and that means more student loan debt. >> yes, and the president pointed out that the majority of the recipients are women. so that may be why women are moving to the democratic party. it is interesting in terms of a parent, because my approach is your likes yours, and in terms of forms households and unions

and as a parent, you keep your kid out of debt or minimize it, they may be marrying and enormous relationship with debt load while they want a to have a house. >> and the average debt is $25,250,000. -- $25,250,000. and so while you were making a point of harvard being highly endowed, but other universities do a blind admission, because they have the enormous endowments, you are graduating and so that the rightest and the best are not going to wall street, but they could make a choice to go to teaching or less remunerated jobs, but that is not the vs. ast majority of families.

>> my sister is a public health doctor who does aids and tu berk low sis wo -- tuberculosis, and she still has student loans. she could have gone on to other for-profits who are for the most giving a and the selfless in the career choices, we don't reward those fields even within a specialty like medicine. so part of it is that we is are to assess how we compensate people for work. >> interesting that you wrote a book on president obama, and don't i remember that in mr. and mrs. obama's notes that they were both paying off student loans moments before the election? >> yes. there is a hidden cost to the debt. when we look at the strengths of the american economy and what we have done traditionally well is

to innovate. and somebody coming out of college with that debt, they are forced the go take the first job they can get their hands on. this is not somebody who going to start apple computers or go out the do something bold. this is not necessarily somebody who will go out to find themselves for a few years and come back to do something socially productive. this is a hidden cost to it. as a historical point, we look at the period, 1940 just before the start of world war ii and 5% of the american population had college degrees. the g.i. bill result ed ed in t explosion of the number of people going to college, and that is doing exactly the opposite of what the ryan budget wants to do. >> fascinating. thank you so much to the panel for joining me this morning. the rest of you are going to hang around for the next hour. coming up, why i am all about the beauty pageants this week. that is next. ♪

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>> and now this is an outrage and it is not working.

may is going to be an exciting month for my feminist friends and me. for the first time we will be able to watch a beauty pageant with pride. what, you didn't think i would say that? hear me out, ladies and gentlemen. normally i would not be excited but enter 23-year-old jenna t l talackova from canada. she is trance jesgendered and h reassignment surgery at age 13. last month she was disqualified from competing in the miss universe pageant in canada. this is why she was disqualified. quote, because she did not meet the requirements to compete dispute having entered otherwise on the form. we reached out to the miss universe organization and they

said that jenna was disqualified because it says you have to be a naturally born female. now, here is jenna talking about her disappointment with the initial decision. >> then i was told by representatives of the miss universe canada pageant that i could not compete, because of the rule stated that i had to be a naturally born woman, and they said i was not. i am a woman. i was devastated and i felt that excluding me for the reason that they have gave was in doubt. >> on monday, the donald trump organization reversed the decision stating that the miss universe organization will allow jenna talackova to compete in the 2012 miss canada competition, and the miss universe canada pageant provides she meets the legal gender

recognition requirements of canada. but is it enough? according to jenna, no. >> i also want mr. trump to clearly state that this rule be eliminated, because i do not want any other woman to suffer the discrimination. >> now, others might want to take note of this turn around like the city of anchorage, alaska, that rejected a ballot initiative to add sexual orientation and transgendered i identity to a list of protected classes or the university of miami ohio who assigned a kaeden kass a transgendered student from housing. it is a beginning. we reached out to the author and

pioneer of kate for her opinion. she said i agree to strike the rule altogether, but progress happens in increments, and this is a big win. i think that jenna is a brave, brave woman to take all of this and stay standing. i applaud her. as do i, so i have one thing to say to jenna talackova, you go, girl! we will be watching and rooting for you. coming up, nerdland gets a bit more glamorous. i have a movie star joining me. kerri washington is on the set! stay with us. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners,

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not revealing anything and there are no smoking guns to report from the campaign trail. i am referring to the new show "scandal" that premiered this week on abc and it is about keeping the secrets and the potentially damaging information of the elite under wraps. take a look. >> how did you miz it? >> i didn't. it is wrong. he is a boy scout. >> you have to be wrong. keating has been forer of the ba base. >> well, he is not a team player and goes for the vp. >> you cannot put keating in. 23 years ago, he slept with a high end hooker. >> and this is three or four weeks tops. >> it is a dirty little secret, and dirty little secrets always come out, don't they cyrus. >> billy, give us a moment. >> no, i won't, but you need to get yourself a backup nominee. >> you may remember her as the

naacp role opposite jamie foxx, and also in "king of scotland" or a surrogate in the campaign trail in 2008, and i am talking about none other than the very lovely kerry washington who is here to talk about "scandal", politics and more. thank you for coming here. >> i am so excited to be here. >> there is pandemonium here in nerd land and you are a actual movie star and i am like, ah, kerry is coming. it is possible that somebody will come out to try to wipe your brow. >> well, i am a fan of the show and everybody here. >> and your character is based on a real fixer. >> yes, i like to say that the character is inspired by this woman named judy smith, and she works in crisis management in

washington. she has worked with everybody from monica lewinsky to michael vick, and she has been doing this work for a long time, and in my opinion, she the best in the game, and also a producer on the show. so she has been hands on and very involved and we have become friends, but the kascharacter i inspired by her, but not based on her, because my character has a complicated situation with the white house that judy smith never did when she worked with the first george bush. >> we don't want to spoil it if you have dvred it, dvr'd it. >> well, it is complicated to say the least. >> and when political shows are engaging to the american populati population, and i for example think that the "west wing" had a lot to do with the progressives to escape and bartlett could go be our president when george h.w. bush was in office, so why the "scandal" show now, because

of an election year and there is something titillating and exciting about what is going on behind the scenes in the real wor world? >> well, it is something about the way that information is distributed now, and the way it is disseminated, and you know, secrets and what information you can hold on to and what we have access to and the difference of the reality programming and the news television and drama has become blurry and confusing, and i think that the show is very much about containing information. what you do with the secret. the show has a lot to do with politic, because it is based in washington, but judy has worked with athletes and entertainers and ceos and people in the labor movement, and our clients at pope and associates on "scandal" you never know what problem they will bring to us. >> and it is a complicated relationship she has with the white house, but i like her, because she is complicated. she not easy likable, and in the

first show you have a whiplash, i am rooting for her or not rooting for her. >> that is right. >> sometimes we feel like we don't have complex women characters available to us. >> well, that is what drew me to doing this. i was not looking to do a television show at this point. i have a thriving film career and i don't want to stop doing that, because i love the theater, and television is a huge commitment, but when i read the script i was so blown away by this woman who in one area of her life, in the professional life, she is brilliant and sophisticated and empowered and in her personal life, she is vulnerable, and torn and confused and i thought that this is an incredible challenge for any actor, but we also don't get to do that often as women in this business as people of color in the business, to have all of the complexity to explore. >> yes, i mean, you are in this role fair ly new to television, right? you are an actual movie star which is part of what is so exciting, but this is my first time to hanging out on tv, and

any advice on television? >> you are doing a fantastic job. ? yeah, now, we don't stand and no love, because i am only allowed to fan you. >> and you are doing a fantastic job, and we are both in a wonderful position right now to kind of adding to the idea of inclusivity in the media that people should be able to when they turn on the televisions not just see one perspective and one story being told, and one person's take on the current affairs or one person's take on the state of their own lives, so both of us are adding this voice of expanding of the idea of who we, the people, really is. >> and speaking of expanding our imagination of what is possible, here we are about to move into the re-election cycle and the re-election or the defeat of america's first african-american -- >> and the re-election campaign. >> yes, of the first african-american president.

>> yes. >> how do you think that the actually the obama white house and obama white house in a relationship to the arts and the humanities has been actively working to expand, either actively working or to adjust or expanding what is available to us in terms of the imagination of what is possible? >> it is so interesting. i mean it is a complicated answer, because in some ways the arts help us to expand the ideas of what is possible before it happens in the real world. we saw african-american presidents on television in one-hour dramas like "24" or "the event" and we saw african-american television presidents before reality. >> and there was like a alien invasion or some -- you know, that is drama. >> yes hashgs is wh, that is wh. but i do believe that this white house is doing an incredible job

of saying that this is the people's house, and we are going to open it up for all americans and this is part of the arts, and that is what the first lady and the president has have done. the first lady is the chair of the arts committee i have been serving on. the project is on "film forward" which is using to engage cultural dialogue through film exchange around the world. we just released a landmark report on the state of arts and education called reinvesting in the arts which is a fantastic opportunity to restate the importance of integrative arts education in the kun tcountry. >> because there is a way that the high-stakes testing leads us to believe that all of the the children need are the writing and the reading and the arithmetic that they clearly need, but making the link to the arts. >> we talk about the challenges in education, and arne duncan wrote the forward to the report, because we know that a lot of the challenges in education are getting the kids to stay in

school, and getting the kids to do better in school. arts is not something that you add on as the last ingredient or the froufrou of education, because art is the key to unlocking the problems. when you have art integration in school, kids come the school, they stay in school. and when they are learning, and lots of studies that when you are studying music the math scores improve and history and poetry, you have better comprehension. it is a tool to make our brains work. >> our brain is a complex -- growth. >> we are to compete and instill it in the next generation. the arts do that. >> stay right there and when we come back we will talk about what the first lady and nicki minaj have in common. yes, i said it. that is next. ♪ we done did everything that you can think of ♪ carfirmation.

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now before the break i may have distressed some of you byn first lady and pop star nicki minaj, and they were both at the kids choice awards. but here is the claim, they are both with an image and real people, but they have an image that is given to young girls on a daily basis, so it is easy to say that the first lady is positive and nicki minaj is different, and so as a observer, i want to take pieces of both and look at the images, so i am fascinated talking to my guest

kerry washington are the the drama "scandal" about the african-american women presentation, and i went through a tough time and while i went through it, i went through the gospel music, but also nicki minaj, because it is the girls empowertment, and i have my voice and i will say it my way, but then in brooklyn last week, a young teenaged african-american girl said to me, it is an imperative and like i feel like i have to turn myself into nicky mi minaj, and get people to like me, i have to turn myself into michelle obama, and so we have a multiplicity of images and also not to create the imperative for young girls. >> well, we are at an exciting place in the arts, and in the images of ourselves that are out there, and i say "ourselves" in

inclusive of black or white or asian or gay, straight, or latin or african -- and it is important that we embrace our difference differences in the separate categories, and part of that is assisted there tu arts and through people who are being allowed to have more than one image of what a black woman is out there. you know, there is a lot of pressure often when there is only one. when we only hold one image and say this is what it has to be, but when we allow ourselves to explore and talk about lots of different images and say this is wrong and this is right, then we allow people to find their own best selves and the greatest strengths. >> well, we are in a political moment of who women are and what they want and need from the government is central. are you surprised at how much

gender has become the political talking point over the course of the past few months? >> i am disappointed. i'm disappointed, you know, to hear mitt romney say that he would like to put an end to planned parenthood, an organization that provides vital health care to women and families. and you know, cervical cancer screen in screenings, and breast cancer screenings and my mother is a breast cancer survivor and i know how important early detection is, and that he would work to destroy the agency or support the rubio amendment that says that you should take women's choices and the reproductive power out of their hands and put it into the bosses' hands, it is shocking. i feel like we are supposed to be moving forward and having more equality, and you know that when obama came into office he signed lilly led bbetter and signing equal play and moving to equality and not a place of stripping away the rights as win. >> so you are doing this work in

part politically, but also in terms of the organizational work. i know that you are a member of the v-board for the v-day organizatio organization. >> yes. >> and part of what you are all doing is this issue empowering and asking about the violence that women face. >> yes, we are an organization who wants to go out of business, because we want to put an end to violence against women. i think that sometimes this is legislative violence against women, and it is happening all over the world. we have to make sure that we are showing up at the polls this fall. you know, it is not going to be easy. it is going to be a close election, but there is too much at stake. too much at stake in terms of jobs, too much in stake in terms of women's rights, and too much at stake not the show up, not to volunteer, and no to make it another historic grass roots election. the president is going city to

city, and state to state and we have to go door to door and neighborhood to neighborhood to help this, and that is why being a surrogate is so important to me, because we are so lucky to live in a representational democracy, but our leaders can only represent us if we share our voices so that they know how to represent us. so i always say that i don't participate as a celebrity, but as an american. we are all supposed to be participating as citizens. >> kerry washington, i am so pleased that you joined here. i will end on a personal note because we were talking about the images of young girls. and my daughter, parker, who is 10, and she absolutely loves you, and you had a moment, and i appreciate it. >> a bright star and gorgeous girl. >> i thank you for all of the work you are doing as an actor, and citizen, and come to hang out in nerd land. >> i hope you enjoy "scandal" and we will talk about it, and the scandals unfold and continue to shock you.

>> i have a sense if i was shocked in the first show, over the course of the whole series. >> yes, nothing is as it seems after episode one, so stay tuned. >> good. i love that. coming up the supreme court's new ruling on strip searches, and how it says a lot of what the high court could do to abortion rights. we will explain that next. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team.

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take a look. >> the court said in a 7-2 decision that in the first three months of pregnancy, only the woman and her physician may decide if she may have an abortion. and in the second three months, all the state may do is to regulate the abortion procedures and only in the final three months can the state forbid abortions. >> well, it will stand out as one of the great days for freedom and free choice. this allows a woman free choices as to whether or not to remain pregnant. this is extraordinary. >> whatever the legal rational seven men have made a tragic decision of who shall live and who shall die. in spite of the horrifying decision, the american people must rededicate themselves to the protection of the sacredness of all human life. >> from the beginning pro

abortion proponents have seen this as a legal issue, and the freedom to have an abortion is a freedom right, and the legal fight is in effect over. >> the legal fight is in effect over? well, if that were true, but the legal fight is still very much under way, and the right to privacy is still very much at risk. how? i will explain that when we come back. er, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com. the chevy cruze eco also offers 42 mpg on the highway. actually, it's cruze e-co, not ec-o. just like e-ither. or ei-ther. or e-conomical. [ chuckling ] or ec-onomical. pa-tato, po-tato, huh? actually, it's to-mato, ta-mato. oh, that's right. [ laughs ] [ car door shuts ] [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today.

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greetings from the people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent.

so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i just remind conservative commentators that four years what we have heard is that the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a dually constituted and passed law.

well, there is a good example, and i'm pretty confident that this court will recognize this, and not take that step. >> that was the statement president obama made on monday that started a week of back and forth about whether the president was at tetempting to influence or intimidate the highest court of the land as it considers the constitutionality of the affordable health care act. the backlash of the president's comments were immediate. senator mitch mcconnell called it distasteful, but anthony scalia said that the court does not respond to media. the president has to sign off to turn acts into law, and remember that, you know, i'm a bill on capitol hill, and remember the little ditty? well, in the end, it the nine unelected lifers who gets to see if the law stands. all of the checking and

balancing is not a scholarly exercise, but inherently political. here to parse it is kenji who is a law professor at the new york university, and also a professor from afrikaner studies and our original guests. this is not the only president who has picked a fight with the supreme court. in fact, we have president bush talking about activist judges while on the campaign trail. >> you think that activist judges should be allowed to redefine the country and issue new laws from the bench, vote democrat. but if you believe that the role of to judge is to strictly interpret the constitution and leave the legislating to the

legislato legislators, vote republicans. >> unfortunately, some of the judges give in to the temptation to make law instead of interpreting them. >> judges should be servants of the law and not legislate from the bench. >> right into the camera, not legislate into the bench. so when i have anxiety, they page you, kenji, and like melissa is freaking out about the supreme court. and please get kenji in here. is the president picking a fight in this moment or just sort of how presidents behave relative to the court when their pet legislation is in front of the court? >> well, the president is not picking a fight. he said one sentence that was extremely controversial and he misspoke, and he probably would have worded the statement differently if he had the chance where he said because this is enacted by a democratically, you know, large majority of the congress then the court has to stand down, and that is clearly not true. but anyone who is even law

adjacent would understand that this is a misstep on his part. in fact, if you look at the statement as a whole, before that, what he is talking about is the specific weeds of the affordable care act, and the specific precedents that have led up to, you know, basic statement that this is constitutional. so, to listen to the right talk about this particularly the judges on the 5th circuit who gave a homework assignment to the d.o.j. to write about this, you would think that the president is calling for the overruling of the marbury legislation ruling, and this is p prepostrouse. we should look at it from the back of our hands. >> and a judge on the 5th circuit asked the department of j justice to write a student paper and like a three-page paper about marbury v. madison, a judicial review to show that the administration does support a separation of powers in which

the supreme court has the ability to do judicial review for which i felt like you were wanting to jump in here? >> well, i agree with you on most points, kenji, but i don't know if the president misspoke as much as spoke politically rather than legally. obviously, he, himself, has a law degree and quite savvy, but one of the triangulations that is happening in the obama campaign now is the question of whether or not the disgruntled progressives who wanted president obama to be more liberal are going to follow him into the second election battle. i wonder if he spoke the way he did to corral some people, and say, you know, obama, you are our only hope if that makes sense. >> yes. and this is a political issue that the president during the state of the address singled out the supreme court justices over citizens united which is a issue

he didn't like either. this is a huge, huge thing, and gigantic bill and 1/6 of the economy. if it is overturned or parts of it are overturned, it will dominate the political discussion, so yes, of course, he is going to use this to rally a disgruntled base going forward. it is disappointing in the perspective, disappointing, but not surprising from the perspective of someone who is billed as a constitutional thinker to have this kind of formulation. every president of course complains about the supreme court, because they get their laws messed with, and he turns out to be another president. >> it is interesting because on one hand, he is ascholar, but o the role of being president, the competing roles and interests of being president, and the point that the presidents don't like the justices of the supreme court, and we had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about fdr who so didn't like it, he wanted to change it by packing it. >> well, i'm not sure he was speaking politically, and

certainly a political implications to what he said, but the president was meandering and uncharacteristically inarticulate here. what he was referring to was judicial activism on the right. i think that you can make the argument that he is responding to a court that is functioning in a very politicized way. so when we were talking a couple of weeks ago, i said that supreme court justices don't respond to the way they want them to, and even the presidents that appoint them, and i should have added that since "bush v. gore" we have seen a disturbing parity of what a political wing wants and what the supreme court justices are doing. particularly when we saw how justice scalia talked about the 2700 pages in the bill, and can we actually go through it? it is realistic or scrap it and so on? that did not lend itself to thinking that this is an even-tempered judicial thinker here. >> well sh, can we distinguish

between the statements, because two statements here. the one that jalani is talking about is not the clip that i referred to. he said, because this is enacted by a strong majority of congress the supreme court should stand down. that is manifestly untrue, and first of all it was not a majority of the congress and even if the congress said, well, all states get a third senator, and no way that the supreme court would strike that down and everybody would and should agree that it is the province of the judiciary to strike it down. so i want to separate that out which is a misstep on the president's spot to the broader context of which he was talking about the constitutionality of the affordable health care act, and the charge that the right has lobbed to the left when they are guilty of this. because of the warren court years of the activism on the right, the left has made hay out of the fact that the liberal judges are activists, but the

conservative are just as activists such as citizens united. >> yes, you want to make this claim operating on the same side as well. so are we in a position where the courts are not this constitutionally imagined separate from the people, and separate from the politics so that they can make these kinds of discretionary decisions without having to worry about the re-election? that is the point of the unelected supreme court, and are they now too responsive to the politics that we are currently seeing? >> i think that the supreme court is more respontive to public opinion more so than parties at any point, because they don't want ahead of or behind public opinion. they will come back to say they have ratified their minds on things which is happening with gay marriage, and they will come around to where the culture is

coming if it comes in front of them. >> come with all deliberate speed perhaps. >> well, i mean, if you look at the most controversial supreme court decisions, like "roe v. wade" regardless of that, they are out in front of the culture then, and it did not blow up then, but a couple of years later. so they are sensitive to that, and that makes the affordable health care act vulnerable on the specific mandate, because it is not popular and both majorities don't like it and see it as unconstitutional, and the legal arguments give them political cover and more responsive to that than the democratic. >> and i am glad you brought us to the "roe v. wade" because the court did something this week that has me completely freaked out about "roe v. wade" and i want to ask you all about that. that is after the break. who is the your business entrepreneur businessman of the we

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even for minor offenses. now, that decision immediately made me wonder about the security of "roe v. wade." why? you think they are unrelated, but it felt to me that monday's decision further stripped individual citizens of right to privacy in interest of the state. as i have said before the right to privacy is a fundamental tenet of citizenship, and in fact, women didn't fully become citizens until the landmark case 1973, "roe v. wade" which was based on privacy so now that security trumps privacy, what is it saying? how will this potentially impact the meaning of privacy overall? back with me to answer that question is kenji, and jalani and matt and jadia. so, a couple of weeks ago, i was concerned that overturning the affordable health care act mandate could mean the 1964 civil rights act because of the commerce clause, but is this,

and i know it is the 4th amendment and instead of the 14th, but if the government has a right in this case local government front line police officers to strip search my physical body, does that make my physical body less mine, less me able to keep it private in ways that could impact are reproductive choice options l e later? >> yeah, so i hope i was able to talk you down about the civil rights act a couple of weeks ago and hope to persuade you that you shouldn't be worried in this context, because privacy a term of art and it allows in context and privacy in the context of privacy and search and seizures like the criminal amendments is different from the privacy of the 14th amendment and there is wone amendment of the privacy case amendments, and it is in the connecticut contraception case, and the court said that we

are going to discern the rights to privacy and the shadows cast by the other amendments by the third, fourth and fifth amendments and so if you go become to 1965, you can see them knitted together, so if you knock down one domino, it can have downstream implications for the 14th amendment, but it is an at t atenuated link. >> well, there is disproportionate enforcement of the law. on public radio, wync, there was a matchup showing how there was disproportionate stop and frisk for marijuana possession in black and brown neighborhoods in new york. i think that one thing that i'm concerned about is that it is not the gender implication, but the racial implications of this, and you know, because law enforcement is human, and also people live differently.

if you are walking, and you are walking, it is easier to stop you and frisk you than if you are in a car. so economics plays into it. >> can i add something here. i think that you are exactly right about the racial implication of this decision being at the foreground. one thing that is disturbing right off of the bat is that this case began in new jersey on the new jersey turnpike which is that we know where the case originated with people being stopped on the new jersey turnpike. and also, the implication is that the court decided that it was a distinction between the law that was practiced and the law enforcement practiced in theory and reality. so the majority that said that you can be strip searched for any offense even a traffic ticket said they were doing so because they wanted to make sure that people didn't have lesions to indicate they had a communicable disease and then come into a crowded jail or prison to transmit them and so on, and while that might be a

concern, a much, much more realistic concern is that african-americans disproportionately will be arrested an humiliated an entered into the instance, there was not even an accurate traffic stop, and this person was arrested for the a ticket for a fine he had paid and the system did not include that he had paid it. >> he was a passenger in the car. >> yes, a passenger in the car. >> i saw a wonderful and horrible cartoon about this, you know, demonstrating kind of the willingness there of wonderful and horrible of the conservative members of the court to despite being supposedly conservative members of the court to shine the light of government on literally our most intimate space. so you have to ask this question, why would it be these folks, right, who are most willing to make this particular choice? >> i think that the answer is that the war on crime and the war on drugs which is both a war on americans more than anything, and specifically lower income and minority americans.

that has made people crazy in the judicial system. their eyes turn purple and they turn into the hulk when they talk about the criminal justice issues distinct from other intrusions of other government. scalia had an incredible speech this week defending this thing. he was talking about his own judicial philosophy and said i'm an originalist, and he and clarence thomas are the biggest originalists, and we should go to the original meaning of the constitution, and this is great, because the prisons are tough to manage nowadays and -- >> oh, my gosh. i'm an originalist, because these prisons -- >> and we know what the founders thought about search and seizure from the government. they didn't like it, and this is an incredibly increasing the cost of every time you come in contact to have a conversation with someone in law enforce lt right now, it is a terrible decision and distinct from that majority for whatever economic

and commerce clause issues and other things, and it has something to do with the obama care, too, because it is "gonzalez versus raiche" because it is the biggest commerce clause and scalia was in my view on the wrong side which was a medical marijuana case. because it was seen as part of the war on crime, he flipped and it was on the wrong side of that and that will affect how the affordable care act. >> let me pull a melissa harris-perry move here, because one thing that you do as a teacher is to pull out the counter attacks, and i disagree with the act, and i want to be clear here, but there is a silver lining that in procedural criminal aspect the supreme court has been hands off and if that is a separate population and if it is separate population, we will treat it that way and won't explore the constitutional freedoms. there are two rights in priz so

one is to segregation, and one is the right to marry that i can think of as having transcend ed the boundaries of the prison. one thing that is fascinating about the decision even though it is not a general exception to the rule of deference, the things that you can be strip searched for is so broad that everybody, all americans can be subjected. so breyer's implications is that you can be strip searched like not having a muffler on the car or not having a bell on the b e bicycle or obeying a dog leash law, and that is what every american can do, and what i am hopeful that it will create an outrage, and this is going to breakdown because it could be me. the police could take me to jail and strip search me in this way. >> and it could create empathy,

but the likelihood of who is precisely most likely to be pulled over is actually not the suburban lady with the dog. thank you all four for hanging out and having this conversation with me. in a moment, why wanting an education got some kids in a whole lot of trouble. and before that, we have a preview of "weekends with alex witt." >> thank you. everyone, the passing of the so-called painter of light. we will talk to the writer who interviewed him for insight of how thomas kincaid was reviewed by the art world and americans. and how big of a divide is there when it comes to the opinions off whatp had to trayvon martin case. and tina brown, the editor-in-chief of the new york daily beast talks about her advice to president obama, and as well as princess diana who she knew. and a boat race that has abruptly stopped and we will tell you what has happened that has not happened in more than 150 years. this is a story that you can't

believe, melissa. i can't believe this guy was not hurt worse. >> looks like a lot of fun, alex. >> yes. >> and an easy "a." and that makes them our foot soldiers. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals.

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let me share some images with you right now. this was the scene in detroit, michigan, last october when the football team for the fredericson douglas academy got new everything a week after thieves stole everything. the donation came from a local company teaming up with two players from the nfl detroit lions. but this was the scene march 29th when about 50 students from the same all-boys school walked

out of classes in protest. now, they weren't speaking up this time about the lack of sports equipment or anything like that. they were protesting the lack of an education. most of them were seniors, really looking out for the youngerllowing them in this sch. on their list of complaints, the fact from the school district offices moved inside part of their building, that their principal was reassigned, that they don't have enough books and that not only do they suffer from a lack of teachers on staff, they're dealing with teachers who don't even bother showing up. according to "the detroit free press" douglas academy students spent weeks passing time inside the gym due to a lack of teachers in the classroom. reportedly, the problem was so bad, that one parent claimed that her son got an "a" in geometry last semester without even taking a final exam saying, quote, it was by default, just for showing up. it wasn't because he earned an "a."

here's the same parent, sharee smith, speaking to a local tv station at the press. >> reporter: it's a shame that these young men are at school every single day, showing up and the teachers are not and the education is lacking greatly in the school. it's a travesty. they're pushing smoke up parents' butts. and the parents better get the hell up and do something about it. >> how did the school respond? the same day, every single student protester was suspended. all of them. now, we've reached out to the school for comment on the douglas academy protests and suspensions and we will let you know on our blog, mppshow.com if and when we hear back. we also received no response from the office of the emergency manager who runs the detroit public school. incidentally, that manager, roy roberts, excavated himself two days ago from a mountain of complaints that he's received from parents of douglas academy

school in order to announce next school year's action plans. and they reportedly include such radical changes as allowing ten detroit schools to govern themselves the douglas academy for one men won't be one of those schools. but these students and their parents have shown us with this protest that they more than anyone have their own best interests at heart. and that's why they're my foot soldiers of the week. that's our show for today. thank you to our panel for sticking around. thanks to you at home for watching. i'll see you tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. i'll be wearing my easter bonnet. coming up, "weekends with alex witt." top quality lobster is all we catch.

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