this morning, the politics of $7.25 minimum wage in america long overdue for a makeover. the complicated case of c.c. mcdonald, and what happens when a woman serves time in a men's prison. if i were to ask you, where is the kitchen, would you know i was talking about a black woman's hair? but, first, the debate over stop and frisk. effective police tool or civil rights violation? good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. i want to bring you up to date on a couple of stories we brought to you yesterday.

in syria, at least 35 people killed in the last 24 hours by the syrian army. in the province of homs, nine people today alone were killed according to opposition activists. meantime, the syrian national council has elected a kurdish di disside dissident as its new leader and spain has agreed to take a $125 billion bailout. the deterioration of its banks was threatening to bankrupt spain's government. the top story of the morning. a blatt tent disregard for civil liberties, happening in new york city. for young men of color around the country, something not so funny happens on wait to school, work, and walking down the street minding their own business. what happens to them is conducted by the very people who are sworn to protect the community. i'm referring to top and frisk. in 2011, new york city police

stopped 685,724, a 600% increase since 2002. the first year of michael bloomberg's tenure as mayor of new york city. during his ten-year tenure in office, the number is 10.4 million. what was the number one reason? furtive movements which accounted for more than 50% of the stops. furtive, fly, shifty, sort of how trayvon martin was acting on the night he was shot and killed? make no mistake there, is a definite racial component of those stops, 52.9% were black. 33.7% were latino, 9.3% were white. the numbers flip when looking at the city's overall population. only 25.5% of the population is black, and 26.8% are latino and 44% are white.

how successful was the nypd last year? more than 600,000 people were innocent according to a recent report by the new york civil liberties union. you might be thinking to yourself, well, that's something i just don't have to worry about. i mean, let me just suggest this. you may not be young, or black, or a man or living in the city, but you should care. stop and frisk policies ask us to make a tradeoff between civil liberties and our safety. before we do, shouldn't we known the practice actually makes us safer? last year, out of all of the stops the nypd made, a whopping 6% resulted in arrest. question becomes why would certain kinds of people be under surveillance when others are not? this is not the sort of thing that surveillance would have prevented columbine killers in 1999, and we'll never know what it might have done to stop oklahoma city bomber timothy mcveigh from taking 186 lives in

1995, but it does make one wonder, what if everyone was watched and stopped and frisked equally? would it make us feel safe every or make us feel our rights have been violated? stop and frisk isn't new. the 1968 supreme court case cas ter terry vs. ohio allowed officers to stop people. if your skin is brown, if you are perceived to be a threat, you don't belong in a certain area, it's likely you will be stopped. despite promises by both democratic and republican leader to do away with racial profiling, we see it manifested if other forms. jan brewer has taken her fight all the way to the supreme court. the one most closely to stop and frisk, police can demand papers

and investigate a person's immigration stat fuss they suspect a perch is undocumented. i would love for someone to explain to me how you can tell if someone is undocumented, because no one looks undocumented, unless have you preconceived notions of racial, ethn ethnic, or linguistic characteristics go with undocumented status. i come back to why this should matter, not just to certain communities, but to everyone. we spoken before in nerdland about people having a right to lead full lives. a founding prip pell in our country. when a person's basic rights and humanity are challenged simply because of how they look, the color of their skin or how their jeans fit. it doesn't just affect them it affects our very democracy. joining me, seal chang, criminal justice department for wnyc radio. and althea butler of the university of pennsylvania. alan jenkins of the opportunity agenda and from south carolina, former nypd detective and director of the black law

enforcement alliance, mark clackson. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you for having me. >> i tried to lay out the scope of the problem here, but tell me what else i missed. what is the scope of the stop and frisk problem? >> we continue to see the city's crime rate decreased and stop and frisk is catapulting since mayor bloomberg took office in 2002. about 100,000 stop and frisks in the city. and homicides have declined, but stop and frisks have increased more than 600%. if you look at the number of shootings that took place when mayor bloomberg first took office, about 1,800 shootings that year. look at us today. shootings still ranging in the 1, 800 range. despite people being stopped and frisked, we're not seeing huge drops between 2002 and 2011. >> so this is evidence that stop and frisk, although an enormous practice, is not one that is

necessarily an effective practice? >> the police and mayor says, look, it's because of stop and frisk, violent crime rates have gone down in the city. but we're looking at violent crime rates going back to the early '90s. homicide dropped more than 80% since the early 90s. the vast majority of the decline took place before bloomberg took office in 2002. we've seen an 11% decrease, and a six-fold increase in stop and frisk. >> i was surprised when i looked at the chart, the decade of bloomberg in office and look at sort of that straight line up of the number of stop and frisks. how many people are being stopped. and part of what surprised me about it, our sense that, you know, just sort of not living in new york city, all the time, giuliani, when mayor giuliani was mayor, you heard all the time this mayor was sort of bad, relative in terms of policing to black and brown communities.

i don't have this sense in the milieu that people think of bloomberg as hostile. but we see a clear increase of this behavior. >> if you go into community in new york city like brownsville, brooklyn, south bronx, east harlem, heavily black and latino neighborhoods, they feel like they live in a different world. it's like a tale of two cities for these people. i spoke to several young men throughout the city. if you are in the age range between 14 and 24, this there is a huge likelihood you will get stopped. about 40% -- more than 40% of stop and frisks were of black and latino men between 14 and 24. they only represent 5% of the entire city population. a staggering statistic that gets cited often. the number of stops of young black men between 14 and 24 last year exceeded the entire population of black men. >> they stopped all of them and

their friends from jersey apparently. as we look at these sorts of numbers, it's very easy to go to a position of either vilifying the mayor, police chief or front-line officers. from your asersment as a retired new york city police officer, is it your assessment that stop and frisk is a good policy, one protective of these community? >> well, there are several problems with the policy itself. and the practice as done by the nypd and i think it's been pointed out very brilliantly, numbers don't lie, and as far as the level of stops, particularly in the black and lean tooo community, that's important to point out that we have a definite racial component in regards to the stops, yes, the stops are exponentially increased since the days of giuliani, yes, excessive stopping and frisking, searching of young blacks and latinos throughout the city, but the crux of it is why it is happening to blacks and latinos in their neighborhoods?

why are innocent black and latino families, mothers, fathers, elders, seniors, being stopped at the same rate as our young folk in many neighborhoods. the policy of stop and frisk is rooted in the terry vs. ohio decision and based in large part on the fourth amendment of the substitutio constitution. but it's how police departments choose to apply stop and frisk is the real problem. and in new york city, stop and frisk is applied racially. this is a racial profiling issue and that's why the momentum is built surrounding it. >> alan if i'm an mhp viewer and living in suburban ohio and we're talking about stop and frisk in new york city neighborhoods, why should i care? what difference does this make to me? >> it's a great question. we need to step back. we deserve a law enforcement system that keeps us safe, up

holds the values under due process. racial profiling fails on all scores. the massive nature of stop and frisk does so as well. something we need to worry about. counter to public safety. counter to values, undermines faith in law enforcement and hurts everybody. >> real quickly before we go. i want to let you weigh in on the notion of this cost benefit analysis, althea. it feels like we are told public safety for civil liberties. some reasonableaway to assess public safety versus civil liberties. >> the one big thing really troubling to me. they are stopping people in their own community. that's the issue. policing community. yes, public safety. but i don't think they care about public safety in our community. let me blunt. that's first. second, it's like an old plantation mentality. you have to have your pass to leave outside the plantation and the neighborhood is the new mantation. and they are policing that. but not policing the other

things going on in the neighborhood because they are too busy stopping and frisking people who are not doing anything and when there is real crime, other things don't happen as fast, the police don't come when they are called. so this is -- you know, we want public safety on the one hand, but on the other hand, what we don't want, a police force going overboard in trying to do what they think is right, but which is egregious policy. >> we're not anywhere near done with this topic. we're staying on this. thank you for giving us the overview on this your reporting has been wonderful. coming up, as elsa just told us, the people experiencing this are young african-american men. you remember our young men, table of teenagers from the trayvon story? they are back and we'll talk with them. the same young men we introduced you to a few months ago about their experiences with stop and frisk. come back and stay right here.

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if you are still not convinced that stop and frisk is misused, then let me remind you of those that it affects the most. black and latina mails in 2011, ages 14 to 24, accounted for 41.6% of the nypd stops. that's almost half of all nypd stops, and we can talk about the facts all day long, but instead, let's hear from those who experience stop and frisk first hand. back to share their stories are the young menu first met here on "mhp" when we discussed trayvon martin. c.j. morrison who just graduated from high school and enters college at the fall. and a junior from an academy from the bronx and we also have

a young man headed to college later this jenkins from the opportunity agenda. thank you for all being back. let me ask you, have you ever been stopped and frisked. >> multiple times. multiple times i've been stopped. i told you the story about me leaving the park, and that was my -- the worst one. it was me leaving the parking 7:00, 8:00 at night, street lights come on and me and my friends walking up the hill and we got to teller hill, and the cop pulled up, and he started asking us, what are you guys doing, asked us if we had drugs? and one of my friends got frisked. i just kind of just got out of the situation, just walked away, but it's a big problem, because they just look at and you assume you are doing something wrong all the time and it's hard, because it's like -- is it because i'm black? it's really aggravating. >> part of my question, is how does it make you feel in general about the police, about your

city? i can remember growing up in a very sort of soft, nice neighborhood. and we thought of police officers as officer friendly. the nice guy that if you got lost from your parents, would you go ask him how to find them. is that your experience of the bliss, or do you have any different idea of who the police are relative to you? >> me personally, i started to like them. and i don't want to grow up like that. and i think, you know, every day i grow up unfair. why should i? and not afraid of other people, but afraid of the police. that they will stop me, that they will stop my friends, stop discuss harass us, because that has happened before, so, you know, i do find it ridiculous. >> that's an interesting transition, the idea that the group are you afraid of, aren't sort of other folks that might be commit krimg against you, but fear of the people meant to serve and protect. >> similar to your experiences? >> definitely, melissa, and i would like to agree with dialo and c.j. they mentioned, they start to

build this reputation where kids just start to hate them and they'll say, oh, cops just want to harass us because of our skin color, and not because of our -- the way we act or whatnot, and i feel like just building that reputation can cause trouble and it can aggravate students and youth to where they won't necessarily trust in cops. they'll feel like how they can trust them if they want to go against them, and i -- i definitely experienced a lot of stop and frisk times, i was actually coming home late from a game, and the cops had actually came over and harassed me, and they started to violate me and personally, i felt violated because it was almost as if i was branded as a suspect. and, clearly, you know, as our reputation of school, c.j. graduated, dialo about to graduate and i'm attending georgetown university.

we're clearly not criminals, why view us as suspects, when we're doing well in school? >> i love that what you just said, the language of violation. the violation of your actual body. someone putting your hands on you. something we're taught, part of how you -- demonstrate respect for yourself, is not to allow others to put their hands on up does this break the fabric between citizens and their government when the people we interact as government, our police officers and our experience of them is a violation of our very bodies? >> absolutely. these experiences just remind me of things that happened to me when i was a teenager almost 30 years ago. it's astounding that some of the same practices are going on today and they undermine the values of our nation, of equal justice, of equal treatment, due process and law enforcement is based on evidence. they really violate everything that we're supposed to stand for as a country. >> and so talk to me then. when you are growing up, in

circumstances where you've been stopp stopped and frisked, your friend have. do you talk about strategy. i talk about this motion of how are you meant to talk to the police, do you talk about strategies? >> yes. >> yes, sir, yes, ma'am. that's one thing you also have to say to a cop. they ask you a question. you answer it, complete sentences, because if you slur, they might think you are drinking or something like that. but talking in complete sentences, look them -- i don't personally -- i don't look them in the eyes, sometimes they get kind of intimidating, they may raise their voice at you, things like that, you have to be respectful in everything you say. >> what you just described, that notion of not making eye contact so as not to appear to be confrontational of using yes, sir, yes, ma'am, those are like the rules of jim crow. those were the rules of african-americans supposed to adhere to in the south when we

couldn't sit on the same seats on the bus. it's appalling to hear in 2012 we're talking about the same kinds of practices. >> honestly, with c.j., as he mentioned, i don't honestly look at cops in the eye. totally, completely opposite with me. i was told as a sign of respect when are you communicating or networking, you look somebody straight in the eye to give their respect. when a cop is talking to me, conversatin conversating. i would mention i'm doing well in school, looked them in the eye, and i know that's a plus for me, i won't necessarily get stopped or fined for anything. >> reaffirmed your identity. and this issue has helped to launch an important coalition of groups that i wanted to see working hand in hand for a long time. up next, why stop and frisk is even bigger than we think. don't go away. ♪ how are things on the west coast? ♪

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while the practice of stop and frisk is disproportionately a male gendered black and brown issue, the fight against it will no longer be one sided. in new york, lgbt, lesbian gay, bisexual and trancegendered announced mutual support of the stop of stop and frisk. and instead of letting others stoke the differences, on this issue they are going to work collectively. back with me, c.j. morrison, george nunes, and dialo along with alan jenkins. are any of you planning to go to the june 17th rally around stopping stop and frisk? >> i'll be there june 17th, father's day, and i believe all

the youth watching this show and have heard about this rally and protest should be there. i feel like the youth are the voice of change. without youth, there won't be change and progressive things happening in society. i feel like the youth have been so passive to the point where we don't have a chance to talk about what's going on. and many youth so afraid to speak up. i can't speak for my brothers here, like dialo and c.j., we're not afraid to speak up on any topic, any situation, and it's time that we all work as an activists to change and make a better society. >> let me ask you a question, dialo. one of the things happening in the stop and frisks, the law allows a police officer to frisk you for a weapon. they can stop you for looking suspicious, but only frisk you for thinking they have a weapon. but most of what they find are small drug crimes.

we have folks in new york, lawmakers considering making certain amounts of marijuana legal, so that if they did find a small amount of american, that you wouldn't be in a circumstance of then being arrested and being taken off to jail. what do you think about a policy like that? does it seem like a reasonable policy or the wrong way to go about fixing this problem? >> it can be both. but it can be wrong for us, because, you know, you carry those certain amounts and, you know, to me the nypd still finds a way to set us up. finds a way -- even though you are allowed to have that little amount, but you still have that weapon on you. >> um-hum. >> so i think -- i think, you know, which ever way the law does go, we still have to be careful. so, yeah. >> c.j., what would be the think that could help turn the corner in the relationship between police and african-american and latino young men? >> that's a good question.

to turn the corner, i guess you just have to -- for police, you have to trust people in general. i know that's a hard thing to do. let go the stereotypes you might have about blacks and latinos. if you see a black man and he has a hoodie on, he's not necessarily a criminal. or if you see a latino, and he's sagging his pants, that doesn't make him a drug dealer or something. you have to just kind of give everyone the same benefit of the doubt. if you are going to stop somebody, stop everybody for the same reason. don't stop somebody because of the way they look, who they are it's not fair and then you wonder why we have these rallies. we shouldn't be having a stop and frisk rally. shouldn't be this way in 2012, but it is. in order to stop it you have to trust people in general. >> alan, young men willing to go to a rally, a broader coalition of civil rights groups. i'm excited the naacp came out for marriage equality and let's

see if the lgbt came out on civil rights issues, and here they are. what should adults be doing to start working on policies that will impact the lives of young men? >> this rally is a crucial part of the, and immigration rights activists speaking out about show me your papers laws in arizona and other places. we can support the end racial profiling act, which is federal legislation, training for law enforcement officers. community policing based on evidence and with officers understanding the community they work in, and vice versa, and rising above the stste stereoty takes training and we need to protively rid ourselves. those are positive solutions. >> what does the end racial profiling act do? what are the elements of it? >> bans racial profiling as a practice. and it requires federal law

enforcement officers to be trained. you a state municipality or locality, you need to take proactive steps end to racial profiling and collects data, so not talking about anecdotes, talking about real facts. who is being stopped? how often successful? how often does it appear to be based on race? >> alan, thanks for being here. young men, lovely to have you, congratulations on graduating. heading off to college. congratulationses in graduating in a couple of weeks. you stay amazing, george, and we'll have you back before you graduate next year. >> thank you. >> up next, why it's a complicated job to be a police officer in this day and age. and we'll join the conversation with reverend al sharpton. in the next hour, we'll talk about my hair. you keep e-mailing about it. we'll put it on tv. [ female announcer ] foamtastic news! nice'n easy colorblend foam is winning top beauty awards hands down!

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we've heard from those who are targets of stop and frisk. now i want to bring it back to those who hold the power in these situations. back with me is the opportunity agenda's alan jenkins, anthlea butler, al sharpton and mark claxton, also the director of the black law enforcement alliance. thank you for being here, reverend sharpton. the young men we just had on, said they will definitely be attending this march. they are clearly prepared to stand up for themselves on this what do we hope this march is going to achieve in terms of policy change? >> i think the march. marches are always designed to put focus on a problem. >> right. >> if you didn't drama ties a problem, no one has the need, urgency, or the push to solve the problem. so the march over 200 organizations, working along with all of us.

national action network, representing the naacp. the idea is to show that this is a problem across the board. as you saw this morning's "the new york times," gay and lesbian groups coming out with us. we want to force the agenda to deal with it, front and center. once we do that, have you people like opportunities that have come forth with the policy steps we need. a lot of people talk about the civil rights movement, they don't understand. dr. king and others dramatized an issue that the defense funding and others legislated, so our role is it's just wen too quiet. we need to make enough dramatic noise that forces them to listen to people like this, on what has to be done. and ironically, melissa, people like mark claxton. mark has worked with national action network many years. their problem is in the inside the police commissioner doesn't have to hear them until the community rises up and says, oh, no. you're going to hear them, because we won't take this

anymore. >> i want to go to you, officer claxton, on exactly that. thank you for a beautiful segue. that's exactly -- i worry about this notion when we already have stop and frisk creating such a fissure between community and police officers, talk to me about how front-line police officers in their relationship with community, sort of how they are feeling about doing stop and frisk? is it really about rogue police officers? insewn ties coming from the top telling them to do it this way? is there a way to use the policy well? >> the important thing to realize -- excuse me, is that instead of focusing on individual police officers, we have to come to the understanding that this is systemic, that this is sent down on high in the case of the nypd, the police commissioner's office, mayor's office, systemic and part and parcel of what has become law enforcement in many community, and in large part, it's a copout. the individual police officer

actually is -- is working below grade, because anyone can just cast a wide net out and drag everybody in and let god sort it out so to speak. it takes a professional to alie the law, and what's important and missing in many stops is reasonable suspicion. the policy, the procedure, the abuses, the targeted enforcement, the quota system, that all comes from the system within that particular agency and in this particular case, the nypd. >> so interesting to hear you talk about it that way. and i heard you say earlier and heard the young men reiterate the sense that the police are not here to help us feel safer, they are here as a kind of invading force, and you hear an officer like officer claxton saying, look, we're also sort of caught up in this system, where it's coming from the top. are there ways for us to think about being in coalition with police officers to change these policies? >> absolutely.

i'm going to say it here, i will volunteer myself if they want sensitivity training or history about the african-american community. there are professors like myself that are happy to do that. part of the problem is you have a cultural divide, and african-american police within the culture seem to forget, they enter another kind of culture in the police department. it's also about training in the very beginning. so much training on the firing range. why can't you keep that training up about cultural issues in the community, about having community organizing, being there in meetings, in being part of the community rather than just xlising the community from on high. when you have a top down situation, it's one thing, but if you are there in the community, you can feel like how white people are feeling, the police are good. but right now we don't feel in our community the police are good. we feel like they are the ones imposing structure and something detrimental to our children. >> may i say something? >> yes, please. >> i was going to say, i

appreciate those comments and understand those comments, this really isn't an issue of training, it's almost impossible to train, if you have an officer who is engaged in law enforcement tooilts based in race, you can't untrain that, what you can do is penalize severely those individuals and organizations that violate any racial profiling provisions, federal law, et cetera, and what you have to do is make better solutions of the police officers coming in, and then finally, you have to be willing to acknowledge that there is a racial component, that this is a problem that works outside of law, detrimental to community relations, actually working backward and pulling ourselves as agencies, police agencies, further away from the community and you can't be effective in law enforcement strategies when you do that. it is suicidal in effect for law enforcement, and you deprofessionalize it, law enforcement on a large scale.

too simplistic. pull them all in, let god sort it out. >> as i'm listening to this, thinking about the conversation the president just had. we are suting state and local budgets, firefighters, police officers, teachers, and i'm thinking, yeah, who right now wants to -- what person with high-quality skills, good education, says i'd like to go be a police officer? right? no pension, no union for me, working longer hours. we' would devoting more resources to the police but crafted in a particular way be helpful? >> i think that both the professor and mark is right. i think that's why in the last segment, when he was talking about the racial profiling, that becomes important. because if you set the boundaries where the commissioners have to deal with these issues, when you can say, we can establish as we are with this march, 85% to 90% of people

you stopped and are black and latino, and 88% have not committed a crime. training is an aspect. but i agree with mark, some are just full-blown bigots. i think you need a combination of all of this, the law must be enforced. i remember in the early '90s and johnnie cochran and i started talking about racial profiling on the new jersey turnpike. they were thinking that we were talking about blacks in harlem. they were profiling blacks that had fine homes on the gold coast of new jersey. they wanted to know how they had an expensive car. it wasn't a class issue, it was a race issue. racial profiling, now we're dealing with stop and frisk.

if you're young, black, look a certain way. you are getting ready to talk about hair. if you have a certain hair style, you will be stopped and frisked in new york. if you look at the data, it's almost impossible if you are young, black, and latino not to be stopped in new york. >> mark claxton, reverend al sharpton, thank you for joining me. coming up, how does a woman survive in a men's prison, especially if she's transgender? you asked, we answered. what prison authorities say they will do to protect c.c. mcdonald, and what she may really be facing. d i got no pla. [ female announcer ] aging may slow a dog down, but iams helps keep dogs playing year after year with our age-specific nutrition. and now, even for dogs 11 and older with new iams senior plus. it helps boost the immune response

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degree murder of dean shifts. cece is trancegender, transitioning from male to female. her attackers used racial and homophobic slurs. cece was sentenced to 41 months and sent to a correctional facility in st. cloud, a men's facility. outrage was immediate. we did some checking. it turns out the minnesota department of corrections already houses ten transgender inmates, all male to female and all housed in men's facilities. the department does take extra steps for security. cece under short-term evaluation in st. cloud to determine where she will serve the reminder of her sentence. there she was in a single cell and allowed to shower alone. officials told us prison security is aware of the

heightened sensitivity and prison officials in close proximi proximity. this morning, there is more to the story. joining me now is the executive director of the national center of transgender equality. maura, i understand cece called from prison with an update. >> yes, cece last evening was able to speak with her support committee. i didn't speak with her, but her support committee did. she is out of administrative segregation and into the general population, again, the male part of the jail. there is so much about that that should be setting off alarms for everybody. first of all that transgender people get put in solitary confinement all of the time, supposedly to protect them. that's a huge, huge cost for protection, second, she is in a male prison, but that's often what happens to transgender inmates. >> we were surprised as we made the calls and found out there

are already transgender inmates in the minnesota system. in our conversations with them, they seemed as though they were taking into account the difficulty here. is enough being done? >> that's such a loaded question. there is not enough being done anywhere in the criminal justice system. and as things drift off toward for-profit prisons, it's only going to get worse and worse. not enough is being done to make sure that transgender people is safe or anybody is safe from sexual assault. in california, there was a study done of people in the state prisons, and transgender women were 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted. now, in large part, that's because they are in male cells, but also just that the -- the sexual assault abatement processes have never been good, anywhere. >> do we know what cece herself wants? if she would prefer to be in a single cell? prefer to be in the men's prison

or women's facility? >> no. we actually do not. we don't yet. and that's a really, really complicated issue. and something that she needs to be able to, you know, express to the people who are classifying her. something that's supposed to be taken into consideration according to the mib state policy, and the new prison rape elimination act. which minnesota is already gone fairly far to at least having a policy to match. but, you know there are a lot of reasons why trancegender woman might decide to be in a -- an administrative segregation cell, although that's solitary confinement, and never a good long-term solution. and there are a lot of transwomen who think they would prefer to be in a male cell, where they know the other transgender women have traditionally been. they are not worried how they will fit in to a women's prison.

it's a really complicated thing sdpshg jails and prisons have to start better understanding vulnerability and how to gauge that and how to do better by keeping people safe. >> thank you, mara. i appreciate you being here. cece's vulnerability did not begin with her sentencing. her vulnerability began long before that. and all of us feel sort of sick that she was a victim in this as well. we'll try to keep our eyes on making sure we can get as much justice as possible. >> thank you, melissa. back in 1938, fdr made a promise of an income that the working class could live on. we're still trying to make good on it. the federal minimum wage has an exi stential moment. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink?

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back in the late 1930s when economic conditions had certain similarities to today. weak job growth, the political administration noticed a need for a solid minimum wage. here is fdr speaking to congress in 1938. >> two lines, first, the immediate desirability to increasing the wages of the lowest paid in all industries, and, second, thinking of terms of spanning the worker of the individual worker more greatly throughout the year. in other words, in thinking more in terms of the worker's total pay for a period of 365 days, rather in terms of remuneration by the hour or by the day. >> that was the year the federal

minimum wage was established, providing a guarantees 25 cents per hour and a maximum 44 hour workweek for about one fifth of the workforce. the federal minimum wage law has expanded. the federal fair labor standards act was expanded. the stand minimum wage was $1.15 in 1961. it wasn't until 1968 whether the federal minimum wage peaked at almost $10 in 2012 dollars, making it the highest federal minimum wage ever. in today's dollar, the standard federal minimum wage is $7.25, which only nets a full-time employee $15,080. which is just below the federal poverty line for a household of two. as of last year, 3.8 million people compensated at or below the federal minimum wage that is

in part because the federal standard isn't keeping pace with 18 states across the country that have minimum wage laws that have a higher base than $7.25. and zero is the number of states in the country where it is possible to afford a two-bedroom apartment on a 40-hour workweek at a federal minimum wage according to the national low income housing coalition. if my next guest, congressman jesse jackson jr., has anything to say about it minimum wage will go up to $10 right away. that coming up. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac

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try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! this monday marked the 100-year anniversary of the first minimum wage law enacted in the united states. in 1912, massachusetts, the place where mitt romney used to be governor, but not in 1912, it was the first state in the

nation to standardize wages for women and children. this week, a group of liberal democrats in the house put forward legislation to immediately raise the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour. congressman jesse jackson jr. and others argued that increasing the minimum wage would go along way to stimulating the struggling economy by increasing the purchasing power by the millions of wage earners. no democrats have come out to support them. and any mandated wage increase would crush small business growth. here to discuss the possible first increase in the minimum wage in three years is small business owner joe alivo who owns a printing shop, originally owned by his parents we learned during the break. and anthea butler. and jesse jackson jr. joining us from chicago. congressman, i want to start with you.

talk to me about why now? why at this moment would be need to, as you call it, catch up to 1968? >> well, it should be clear that conservative economists and liberal economists have suggested that the number one problem with the american economy is aggregate demand. the american people are not spending, they are not buying with the moneys this they do have, enough items that keep our economy and begin to turn the wheels of our economy in a positive direction. and the only group since 2007 that has not experienced some form of pay increase have been those americans that are locked in the minimum wage, and why are they locked in the minimum wage? because the congress of the united states has set the standard at $7.25. and so if congress, in fact, catches up to the 1968 purchasing power of wages in this country, in fact, the american people who earn $7.25 an hour should be earning, melissa, $11 an hour. but $10, a reasonable place to

begin, president obama, when candidate obama in 2008 said that if he's president by 2011, he wants to see the minimum wage raised to $9.50678 the question is not to bain or not to bain, with all due respect to william shakespea shakespeare, the question is to eat or not to eat. >> the idea you point out, not just out of economists, that ordinary people need spending money in order to stimulate the economy, it was actually the great entrepreneur ford who said i want my workers to be able to buy their cars. joe, you're a small businessman. own a small business in new jersey, one started by your parents more than 30 years ago you were stelg me. what difference would it make if tomorrow the federal minimum wage went from $7.25 to $10. >> as a small business owner, i'm in touch with my employees, i get to know their difficulties in life.

my concern, the minimum wage, by setting an artificial minimum wage, it pushes up the entire wage scale. if i have somebody working with my company for three years and has more seniority and someone all of a sudden making close to what they have, it will have the affect of pushing up the entire wage scale and believe me, i would love to pay all of my employees more. i would love to pay them what a congressman makes, all of them. but market forces don't allow me to do that. i would be out of business in a week. >> i'm not sure about the structure of how you pay benefits, if you didn't have the cost of health care -- i'm not asking to you support government-run health care, if there was health care that your employers were able to get and not carrying that burden, would you be able to associate with a higher wage? >> everything has to be looked at in the context of what my competition is doing. it's very hard to say that with the taxes out there and the increasing regulation, i would be able to pay them anymore.

really all subject to the market, and that's my concern it comes back to the mind pum wage increase, and subverting the market and creates a distortion. >> it's interesting. we hear the two economics arguments, both from the congressman and from joe, our small business owner. but it felt like franklin roosevelt in the piece we saw earlier was making an ethical market, about americans setting a floor that at least allows someone who works full time to be able to afford an apartment, which these new data show us they can't. >> they need a living wage and i can appreciate what are you going through in terms of being a small businessman, you have people who don't make enough to put food on the table. if you are saying, if you are going to make a minimum wage, you have to make a second job. you are not out in the workforce eight hours a day, you may be out there 14, 16 hours a day it decreases the quality of your

life, your family's quality of life. where do people get this money from? it's a real issue of justice. if in three years we haven't brought that up from $7.25, i think it's high time we do it. >> you obviously have both small business owners and people making minimum wage your constituents. how do you responsibility to these issues? >> lets be clear. $7.25 is below the federal poverty line. millions of americans are working below the federal poverty line. at the end of a hard day's, people can't keep up with the consumer price index. our legislation ties an immediate increase to $10 and future increases to the consumer price index so worker who's work every day will not find themselves in their same condition, and it's not an accident in our legislation that we recognize that raising it to $10 will force not only small business owners, but also large

business owners, like walmart, that earn people a higher wage. the economy needs it right now and we can afford it. >> joe, do you feel like you can afford it? >> no. what the congressman isn't listening to is that the fact that increasing the minimum wage would cause me to look for a more efficient use of technology or equipment and possibly replacing the same type of workers he's trying to help. that's my concern, it actually will do harm to my employees. >> the fact that -- it's hard to imagine in this economy and struggling as many americans are struggling that we'll actually make an argument that people who work 40 hours a week should permanently be in poverty, even though they are doing the best they can. mr. alvarez, in one of the articles written about our efforts, said for 20 years he has been working, and he has never earned more than $8.90 an hour. now, what kind of a just society would allow a man who worked 20 years of his life, and he can't

get paid more than $8 an hour? remember this is not about artificially raising the wage. congress sets the standard and small businesses and large businesses, particularly workers that have no negotiating power with a small business owner, or no negotiating power with a large business owner, only congress can provide them the aggregate demand and purchasing hower they need. >> there are obviously 18 states that are actually leading at this moment. you talk about congress setting the standard. at the moment, many western states, a few in the northeast and upper midwest, including illinois, where you represent, are actually doing better than the federal minimum wage, in part out of a recognition that these -- these employees literally cannot get an apartment, right? there was a time in america where one earner working a federal minimum wage could support a family, put your kids in public schools. feels like it's connected to the american dream, now it's just a

below poverty wage, feels not only unjust, but not associated with our understanding of what the american dream should be. >> that's why our argument is that the incremental approaches that have been offered by democrats has his fto forically historically supported. the reason we have stalled on ayes raising the wages of american people, congress, democrat and republican, too busy raising money to get re-elected to stop and give the rest of the american people the wages that they deserve. congress makes $84 an hour. it's time for working americans to earn $10 an hour. me lisa the billed is h.r. 5901, and i hope those who can hear my voice will call their representatives and get them to cosponsor. let's shift from bain or not to bain to it's time to eat or not to eat. >> joe, particularly if this

legislation moves forward, what would you ask for in terms of support or assistance as a small business owner? >> i think i can do a better job without their help. as a small business owner, my deepest and darkest days were three years ago, when i had to layoff nine employees, due to the deteriorating economic conditions and there is nothing worse than calling in an employee, you know their family, you know the affects it's going to place on their family, of not being able to afford it continue to employ them, partly due to increased government mandates and taxes. >> i'll give you the last word, congressman. >> 17 tax breaks for small businesses since president obama has taken office. historically, the minimum wage has been tied to tax breaks for small businesses. they have gotten 17 of them. since 1 since 2007, workers have not gotten an increase. >> congressman, i appreciate as

always your voice and voice for working folks. joe, i appreciate you so much. there are always two sides to this issue and i appreciate you being here to talk on this question. anthea, stay with me. we'll do good stuff. up next, we'll talk about hair. black hair to be specific. i promise you, this is a political question. y'all been asking. we'll answer. up next. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters.

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ever think we first opened the first doors of nerdland, one topic made regular and frequent appearances in the subject line of viewer e-mails. my hair. i would like to take the opportunity to answer questions about black women and hair. why tackle such a hairy topic on

a political show? there are a few follicles more politicized than a woman that grow out of a black woman's head. and we'll talk a little bit about politics later, but, first, a quick teachable moment. let's begin. a personal. used interchangeably with a relaxer is a process by which tightly coiled strands are relaxed relax ed to straighten styles. those straight styles can be achieved with a hot comb. a heated metal comb that women use to straighten hair without chemicals, it figures prominently in the childhood of many a black woman. why when a black woman refers to a kitchen, not just referring to the room where the room heated and the session where it hatted. the nape of the neck, commonly the hair most resistant. the weave. it's the addition of hair that you bought to the hair that you

grew. black women get weaves for all kinds of reasons. to add length to add fullness, experiment with different looks without altering their real hair. the list goes on. remember this about weaves. they are generally two categories. synthetic hair, which is, well, synthetic, and human hair which came from an actual person. if our hair is much longer today than it was yesterday, it is safe to assume we probably got some added in. and, yes it is our hair. we paid i hfor it. not all women with long hair are wearing weaves, and no,ith not politely to ask. braided hair. when we get it braided with extensions it can take up to eight hours. for everyone who asked, that's how long it takes me to get my hair done. we don't shampoo our hair every day, yes, where he still perfectly clean. nappy is a term that we use to

reclaim pride. we're happy with our nappy, just like that other "n" word, you probably shouldn't use it. if your black friend spends the night, she may wrap her hair in a silk scarf. she may decline to join you in a canonball at your pool party. water is the enemy to a black woman with a straight hair style. if you have a black boyfriend with a short fade and you want to run your fingers through his hair, rub forward, never back. never back, natural hair, means that a hair has not been treated with any chemical relaxers, and afro, small or voluminous halo of texture that floats among textured sclapz does not mean she is about to set off the revolution. nothing dreadful of dreadlocks, and not a sign that someone sells or smokes marijuana and by the way, they are locks, not dress

dreds and a black woman who chemically treats her hair is not trying to be white. the best course of action is trying to understand a black woman by what's in her head, not what's on it. stick around. we'll pick through the politics of a black woman's hair, coming up. for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery.

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our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. i'm here with carol, flo, and karen for a girls night out talking about activia. i tried it and my body felt so right, for a change.

and then there's you... why should i try it? my system gets out of sorts but that comes with age, right? wouldn't you like to feel great? just because we're in that over 50... what does that mean? are we done? activia helps regulate your digestive system when eaten daily. these could be our best years yet. activia in last week's "washington post" there was an opinion piece making a case despite who is currently living in the white house, we're still waiting on the first black president. harris argues president obama, hasn't, in his estimation, paid special attention to the black agenda and he deserves to have his placard revoked. try telling that to this little boy. 5-year-old jake on philadelphia three years ago in what has since become an iconic photo. by now you know the story. he wanted to know if his

president's hair felt like his own. now, i'm not saying that the president's edged up caesar is more important than his policies. but if you were the black boy that could never see himself in the leader of his country, the black girl ever asked if that's your real hair, the only black girl at the pool explain yg your hair shrunk up that, if you are that thaw personal, the physical body of the president and first lady matters, the hair of the president and first lady matters. i found that out when a got an e-mail about her 9-year-old daughter. she wrote, the main reason for her watching you is your braids. she's excited to see someone on tv who really does look liar her on tv. her dream is to be a model and an actress and watching you on the weekends keeps that dream alive for her. she can be pretty, smart, and wear her braids. i'm trying not to cry when i

read that. it reminds me again why hair matters. joining me today, nicole arie-parker, leading actress on "streetcar named desire" which i have seen twice and have tickets for a third time. and anthea butler, professor of religious studies and graduate chair of religion at university of pennsylvania. joan morgan returning to nerdland. author of "when chicken heads come home to roost." and nikki walton, founder of curly niki.com and author of "better than good hair." thank you, all, for being here. and for -- and for being throng have this conversation. for me, black women's hair, the politics of it, seem obvious. but i realize that it may not be obvious to everyone, particularly maybe to our viewers who haven't encountered these questions before. help me make the case for why black hair matters?

>> it matters because u.s. a historical way how we look at each other. from slavery, it matters, how you wore your hair or if someone took it away from you, c.j. walker, cools mes up with the process to straighten your hair and black women pentecostal tell you not to straighten your hair, to black power when you want to wear an afro and your mother tells you you can't. hi, mom. when we see natural hair, it is very different, we're making a kind of statement even if we're not making a statement. a political statement to those on the outside and those on the interior it says we want to accept ourselves the way we are. >> yeah. >> for who we are. >> and it feels like no hair stale doesn't signify something to somebody. if you wear a relaxer that signifies something. the picture of "the new york times" cover. we remember this, right, from 2008 campaign, and -- excuse me,

not "the new york times," the "new yorker." president barack obama rendered in an outfit he wore in real life, right? as problematic that comes from an actual thing, but then there is michelle obama, wearing a hair style which, just by representing her in that way, it tells you -- that is the burning constitution. that is the -- because an afro is inherently radical somehow. >> can i add on to what anthea is saying. the debate comes up often whether hair is political on curly nikki.com. the fact that everything everyone does can be seen as political it impacts how you see the world and how others see and you how you spend your money, where you spend your money, and the social stigmas tied to wearing your hair natural comes from the power dynamics in our society. what's ironic, we didn't put

this straight hair standard, we didn't create the straight hair standard, it's in our control to change that. and we're doing that by setting an example in the media with you here. you know, in these positions of power and leadership. on the other side of things, it's not political in that -- it's not a counter culture. we're cultural leaders. this is made up of women who are educated and affluent and tech savvy. we're not looking to rebel, it's more about practicality. there's immediate results for that. in your quality of life. so if goes from me trying to conform to a straight hair standard in your whole life revolving around your hair. if you want to start a new workout routine, go to the beach, the first thing you think about, what am i doing gg to do with my hair? it's awesome to have versatility and flexibility and hopefully natural hair movement will help

women achieve that. >> niccole, are you in the land of presentation of images. >> right. >> and by the way "streetcar," extraordinary. anyone who comes anywhere new york should come see you in that play. is this just working out our owe emotions or something meaningful about as african-american women, are trying to think through our self-presentations? >> i think there are so many angles to analyze it, and that movie good hair, i think tracy thoms, a fellow actress, she said it best, very simply, it's amazing that it's considered revolutionary to wear my hair the way it grows out of my head. and i never forgot that, this is just the way it grows out of my head. this is the beginning. this is my "is"ness. just how it is. for me, i can also consider that, but i also -- my hair

issues change once i became a mother. >> yeah. >> and when i have this little girl watching me undo weave braids, fry my hair, or glue on an instatrack, or don't push mommy in the pool. you know, i was -- i had a wakeup call, and -- but at the same time, i do appreciate versatility. i'll blow my hair out, flat iron it, people know me for my funky little styles or whatever, but as an actress, i have the luxury of versatility and trying new things, so i'm kind of free and unpolitical in a way. but very personally, u.s. a self-esteem issue for me, because i'm an example to my daughter. >> that point of what happens in the mother/daughter piece, because -- >> dynamic is incredible. >> it's the definitive experience of little black girl hood. the thing we -- >> i have to watch my language, like -- you know, we say, come

in, girl, your hair is a mess. sit down, let me get rid of this head. we say it loud, in front of their friends. >> the hours you spend sitting. and if it hurts, you're tender headed and overly emotional. >> my daughter's hair takes forever to do, yes, but when i do it, i am so positive, i tell her how beautiful it is and how lucky she is, and, oh, my gosh, you can do so many things. and she's in a school where, you know, she's one of two in her class. and so -- but she loves herself, but i had to work on that. >> and it goes back in part to your point that this isn't just about -- this isn't fundamentally a class issue. instead of a class issue it may be in part about folks that find themselves in integrated settings in many ways trying to manage these identities.

joan, so much of your work about black women and politics, so much of our identity is right here in the top of our heads. >> absolutely. i think that the very question is black hair political gives us too limited analytical framework, because there are multiple conversations going on. right now, i think that the mainstream media's obsession with transitioning movement. when i think of transition, i think of people dying or i think of vampires. we're talking about moving from one state to another. >> for folks who don't know, the transitioning movement is this movement from using chemicals in your hair to not using them. >> your hair is so versatile. you don't need chemicals. >> i think black women's bodies are always in conversation with the larger society. black women's bodies are always in conversation with black men.

so the choices that we make -- it's really the first layer is what do these so-called "radical choices" mean. mine is not that radical. i'm really lazy about hair. three hours before your producer called, i just stepped out of the barber's chair. if you start with hey, nubbian queen, you missed the boat. it's nothing about that. it's not just about how we feel about our hair, it's about how black men feel about hour hair, will be desirable hires, desirable lovers. >> this notion of it being written on black women's bodies, vn an african-american woman first lady, and when malia wore her hair braided and the angst that created for people. she's a little girl. it's summer, you braid your hair. you might want to swin or, deal with the humidity.

>> and the comments were crazy about that. oh, look at it, her in the braids, everything else, not appropriate for the president's daughter. who are you to say anything about this child's hair? this is not your hair. her hair on her head and they can do whatever they like to do with her hair. but for people on the outside, they make judgment calls about what you are saying with your hair, when it just may be about convenience, maybe about what you want to do. but ki we get constantly judged about what our hair looks like. somebody determined who we are and what we're doing. >> we'll keep talking about this but we'll talk about the economic side of it. a whole industry generating hundreds of millions of dollars. the economy of black hair when we return. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm.

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there is big business in black hair. the mass market black hair product industry is worth an estimated $185 million. more than one-third of that market belongs to the two largest black hair care makers, l'oreal and alberto colbert. straightened hair has been the cash how, but relaxer sales have begun to decline. the demand from all of those natural women for products to take care of their hair has given life to a cot auj industry, made up mostly entrepreneurs of african-american women. some of whom whipped up products of their own to help meet demand. joining the ranks of black women whose beauty salons have long been the bedrock of small businesses in black community, and followed in the footsteps of madame c.j. walker.

in the guinness book of world records for the first woman to become a self-made millionaire. okay. so there is money to be made here. and there is money to be made in both ways that are troubling and terrific. >> what's so interesting about that, with all of politics and all the -- the emotionally health issues, us loving ourselves, we're vain. >> we want to look good. >> nobody is talking about that. we even judge each other -- we were just talking about some being upset on twitter. there is still this thing about getting your hair done. whether it's afro, twists, braids, relaxers, everyone wants their hair done, so she -- you know, embraces just get up and go, and she's beautiful and so people on the internet, they just how come she doesn't go to a natural salon, da da da da da.

>> salange knowles, the sister of beyonce, who we have an obsession with on "mhp." we want it done, whatever the grooming it. >> we want it done. >> when i talk about the industry, it's not just the products industry, it's also like the informational industry. curling, nikki, is about creating a community where people are having this conversation. >> and working it out. >> exactly. i am proud to be able to provide a positive platform for women who come in a safe place and encourage each other, share, and get this information, and it goes beyond the aesthetic and goes back to what you were saying, self acceptance, accepting hair for what it looks like, whether you want to get up and go, or twist and braid out, and no judgment. for the most part, myself and

the curly nikki.com community this is not about being anti relaxer or anti straight hair at all. this is about empowering textured women to achieve healthier hair and versatility. >> textured women. everybody is textured. >> anthony dickey salon here in new york, hair rules, i went there for the first time since i'm here doing broadway and i knew i was transitioning out of a relaxer and really, because there was so much new growth, and the relaxed part wouldn't curl up so we did the big chop. i remember sitting in the salon in the waiting room, and he has white customers and natural customers and relaxed customers, and every single person had a head full of hair, that was the first time that i have ever sat in a black salon and everybody's hair was beautiful. because we are usually frying it and singing it and chemically --

>> beating it into submission. >> beating it into submission and here this was roomful of beautiful women. >> we're talking about economies, and i kind of -- since it's us, i want to get to the nitty gritty of this. i think it's really -- and it feels great to embrace all of the positives of what we're seeing in terms of black natural hair. when we talk about the economics of hair, we're talking about -- there are people who are now robbing stores that sell extension hair and selling it on the black market, and i think the idea of actually robbing a place to sell hair that came off someone else's head, to put on your own head and that there is enough of a market and an obsession with that, is worth talking about. you go down in harlem at any given windy day, there are tumble weeds of synthetic or natural hair rolling down the street. you know, or on the subway. the pencil that goes underneath,

because the weave is not a good weave. that speaks to me of another kind of addiction. and a place where we haven't yet moved. another kind of pain that we're not comfortable addressing. >> and there is a lot of profit to be made from that. >> exactly. >> on the one hand, small business owners, overwhelming for african-american women, salon owners of one kind or another, but l'oreal making millions, from african-american women's hair, and beauty supply stores, often immigrant workers owning that. a multiethnic sort of -- an international system that is in part supplying us. we'll talk more about black hair. this time we'll go into a little bit not only our history, not only the economics, but the aesthetics. what it looks like and we'll have a great moment in black hair. this country was built by working people.

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now it's time for the part of the show i'd like to call great moments in black hair. those handful of moments when black hair became an iconic issue. they dared anyone to deny that black hair is not beautiful who could forget the audacious afro of angela davis? who in 1972 was found not guilty of murder charges after j. edgar hoover added her to the fbi's most wanted list. no hair accessory is more readily recognized than the gardenias of billie holiday, many consider her the greatest jazz artist whoever lived and black moments of black hair wouldn't be complete without diana ross and someone who has

dedicated his life by working with social justice by working to stay fabulous, my fellow msnpbc host and friend of the show, the reverend al sharpton. my guests are still here. i wanted to add one last great hair moment, and it's one that is much more personal. the images we're coming across, talking about racial divide, how difficult it can be to walk with white friends, family, colleagues and we found these terrific photos of professor greene of emory university, an adopted daughter from africa and taken the responsibility of being her main hair care person and all these gorgeous pictures of him braiding her hair. and she's sitting between his legs in exact that will moment that so many of us had with our mothers over the years, we were doing a cheer that went something like go, white daddy, go. a beautiful job of doing this young girl's hair. >> amazing. >> and the picture calls to mind

so much, because we think about how white people talked about hair and see him do her hair, this moment in which we can move past, and i think it also says something to his daughter too. my father accepts me. and i think for a lot of women, this issue of acceptance of how our fathers accept us, how our boyfriends and husbands accept us, has a lot to do from my hair. i know the kind of looks i got from men when my hair was straight veis-a-vie my hair is like this. and that's perfectly acceptable. >> i had the exact opposite. when i cut my hair, i stopped traffic. men speak to me all the time now. it's the christ yearaziest thin. i think i look like myself. the whole -- i don't look like i'm trying to be somebody else maybe and that's a certain kind of beauty. >> speaking of staying together,

you do have a product. i don't want to go away from this. >> part of the hair issue, the surgeon general came out and talked about hair and health, and i really wanted to be part of the solution, and i realized that i couldn't convince all my relaxed sisters to go natural which say whole new freedom in and of itself, but i could encourage them to find ways to take care of themselves and keep their hair, so i created a sweat band for us that really worked. i had to think about it and test it and test it on myself and friends and blind study groups, and came up with save your do. and it really -- really gave women a way to take that walk, get on the treadmill, and not be so afraid of the gym. >> people think we are crazy, right? the surgeon general said we're not working out, literally dying, because of our hair. >> literally dying. you should not be having a stroke at 27 years old. >> exactly. >> and no way. walking is free.

not about gym memberships or cute outfits, it's about taking care of yourself and having the freedom to do that. >> if you have to save your do to go for a walk, you should. >> and it came out, new colors, so we can be extra cute. >> i love it. >> in a moment, what diversity actually looks like. first, time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." >> we could hear from the supreme court tomorrow about the health care law a new article examines who might provide the pivotal vote, justice anthony kennedy. we'll talk to one of his former clerks. a disturbing videotape. a father beating his stepson way belt. it's painful. don't like that, right? a new film takes a look at america's love affair with our pets, specifically dogs. one nation under dog. but also a sad side to this story. an? office politics, los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa tells

us about the latino vote and the gorgeous ceilings in his office. did i tell you how much fun. >> extraordinary reaction to the stepfather and all the moms here sort of freaking out. thanks, alex. up next, what i learned from my own conference table. she's healthy, she eats properly. i was pushing my two kids in a stroller when i had my heart event. i've been on a bayer aspirin regimen ever since. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i know if i take my bayer aspirin i have a better chance of living a healthy life. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook. she would help her child. go! goooo! [ male announcer ] with everything. but instead she gives him capri sun super-v. with one combined serving of fruits and vegetables. new capri sun super-v.

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for today's footnote, i want to talk a bit about process. in this case, the process of bringing the mhp show to you every week. we're a very young show, probably too young for you to ever have wondered how we decide what stories to discuss, who to bring to the table or what procprops to employ. but this weekend felt like one aspect of our process, the diversity of our staff. and mhp is a very diverse staff. our diversity makes for some, shall we say, lively editorial meetings. take our decision to focus on the politics of black hair. there are those of us for whom this is a deeply personal issue,

one that has shaped our sense of self, our engagement with our communities and our sense of belonging at school, work and in the world. we got pretty animated around the conference table as we told our stories and expressed our frustrations. but at one point in the conversation, i looked over at our beloved, very bald, senior producer, and his face was a mask of surprise and wonder. these were not issues he had ever previously encountered. and later he revealed that his own hair care regime involves an annual pack of razors purchased from a big box store. i cannot tell you how long we laughed after asking him, do you know what a laze front is? it's a wig, by the way. some of us love football, others not so much. is it politically fair to enter into a discussion of the mormon faith as we did yesterday? some foind religious conversations enlightening, but others want less god talk.

is the outrage on our twitter feed well placed? should we pin our political leaders down on something questionable they just said or give them the benefit of the doubt? by the time the show airs on weekend mornings, we have rarely settled all disputes or come to firm agreements. what we have done is trust one another enough to air our differences with the commitment to the belief that encountering diver divergent strengthens, rather than weakens, our political ideas. in the course i teach, i taught my students that it's a terrific way to form hypotheses and a lousy way to adjudicate whether our hypotheses are true. so we generate ideas with our gut but we revel in anticipation of arguments. i realized we build mini laboratories of some of the bigger issues we tried to raise this week. i'm not entirely sure how to

build a successful television show, but i am hopeful it is the same formula for building a successful country and openness to those we might first assume are our opponents, a willingness to engage in unfamiliar topics and a commitment to exploring divergent points of view. oh, and cookies. we try to make sure there are plenty of cookies. that's our show for the week. we will see you again next week at 10:00 a.m. saturday and sunday morning, and up next, "weekends with alex witt." thank you all for being here. for three hours a week, i'm a coach.

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♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! hello, everyone. approaching high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. and welcome to "weekend with alex witt." a