he showed that the one way to rise is to seek to rise, as essential to becoming a leader as to ask people to make you theirs. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, were george zimmerman's injuries really life threatening? that was one of the key questions raised today in his second-degree murder trial. today a medical examiner testified that the injuries mr. zimmerman allegedly received from trayvon martin that night were, quote, insignificant, a claim that could undermine his claim of self-defense. also today, the lead investigator testified mr. zimbabwe may have profiled trayvon martin the night he shot him, acting out of, quote, ill

will and spite. and jurors heard a tv news interview george zimmerman gave nearly a year ago in which he said he had no regrets about his decisions the night of the shooting. a dramatic day in court, but perhaps the key testimony came from that medical examiner who did not perform the autopsy on trayvon martin, but who was asked to review the evidence by the state. she offered her expert opinion on mr. zimmerman's injuries. >> are any injuries in this photograph life-threatening? >> no. >> why not? >> he has no loss of consciousness whatsoever. he didn't have to go to the hospital. he went to a clinic. >> are any of those abrasions life-threatening? >> no. >> and how would you classify the abrasions depicted in state 73? >> very insignificant. if somebody's head is repeatedly slammed concrete with great force, i would expect

lacerations. i would expect a lot of injury that would bleed profusely that would necessitate suturing. and i don't see that in this picture. >> could all of the injuries that you observe in that photograph have come from a single punch or a single blow? >> yes. >> and why do you say that? >> okay, so if you look at the distribution of where the injury is, and let's think that i'm the one inflicting the blow, if i was to punch myself right above here, i would get the injury on the nose and on the few contusions on the forehead. so one blow would be able to inflict these injuries. >> insignificant, not life-threatening. and it's possible george zimmerman was only hit once. that testimony contradicts what he told police happened the night of the shooting. >> i look in my pocket and he

said you got a problem now. was here, and he punched me in the face. i tried to sit up, and that's when he grabbed me by the head and tried to salami head down. i felt like my body was on the grass and my head was on the cement. and he just kept slamming and slamming. i tried to squirm again. all i could think is when he was hitting my head, it felt like my head was going to explode and i thought i was going to lose consciousness. >> the defense responded with an intense effort to argue this was a life or death situation. for mr. zimmerman. attorney mark o'mara questioned the medical examiner on whether mr. zimmerman may have been hit more than once. >> i think he used a suggestion that if you hit yourself in the nose that it could be all one shot, correct? >> one blow. >> correct. >> you're not certainly suggesting that it was only one blow, correct? >> no, but with. >> he gets hit in the nose like

this, just like that, but it does not go up here. so here is the first shot, and here is the second shot. how many is that? >> two. >> consistent with that picture? >> it could be. >> clearly, you don't know how mr. zimmerman was hit by mr. martin, correct? >> correct. >> so you're saying it's consistent with one, potentially, yes? >> yes. >> and it also is consistent with two, correct? >> if the way it was portrayed, yes. >> which you don't know. >> correct. >> so could you just say is it consistent with two as well? >> it could be, yes. >> mr. zimmerman has plead not guilty and claims he shot trayvon martin in self-defense. these questions about his injuries lie at the heart of this case. was george zimmerman in fear for his life when he pulled the trigger? was his use of deadly force justified? joining me now is former prosecutor faith jenkins, defense attorney john burris, defense attorney ken padowitz,

and former prosecutor marcia clark. she is author of "killer ambition: the latest in the racial night thriller series. thank you all for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> marcia, what do you think about all this testimony today on mr. zimmerman's injuries? >> you know, it's interesting that maybe it depends on how you see it. i thought that the medical examiner's testimony was extremely helpful to the prosecution. she made it very clear in her opinion that the wounds to george zimmerman were very inconsequential, minor, and that if he had been slammed into the ground as he claimed his head was slammed into the ground by trayvon martin, he would have required stitches. we know that he got medical attention the day after the eventing and he did not require stitches. he just had some butterfly bandages on. her testimony in large part said what he has described in terms of the beating he suffered at trayvon martin's hands is simply not true. now mark o'mara on cross-examination got her to

admit it's possible there were more blows than one or two, but the fact that there were more blows if still inconsequential do not add up to a viable reason to believe that your life is in imminent danger. >> now, john, don't you need what marcia just said, don't you need to establish if your defense is self-defense, that you were in imminent danger of death or bodily harm, or a reasonable fear that that was going to occur? >> well, certainly as it relates to murder. but i will say that it doesn't -- if you have a reason to believe good faith or not, it may be unreasonable, you still may be guilty of a lesser included offense. so the fact that the incoincidental in and of itself doesn't go to the state of mind maybe that he reasonably believed that. that probably would not get him second-degree murder, but it certainly could get him voluntary manslaughter. in many ways, this is not what

mark o'mara wants because he is trying to get not guilty all the way around. but given the evidence that we have now, if he is unreasonable about that position, he still could be convicted of a lesser included offense. >> but ken, aside from the amount of blows there or not, and she said one or two possible, clearly she is saying the injuries are insignificant. the fact that we can argue the medical back and forth, as she certainly seemed straight on that as well as the detectives said he considered it not a significant blow. i think that what really also strikes me is does this make it appear like mr. zimmerman told a lie, or was misleading the police and the detectives in the taped statements? because if the jury thinkses he is lying, it's one thing to say he didn't get injured. it's another to raise the question with the jury then why are you telling us things that

are not true. >> exactly. that's the million dollar question, reverend. you hit the nail right on the head. the prosecution looks at george zimmerman figuratively as a snake. and they are hacking away at the head of the snake by showing every inconsistency, every exaggeration. and at some point, the prosecution's hope is that they will cut the head off this snake and the rest of the body of this snake dies. and that means in this case that the jury would disregard all the statements that george zimmerman has made and all his explanations as to how they lay aye ply in this case. >> faith, the lead investigator said he had doubts about mr. zimmerman's version of events, especially the severity of his injuries. watch this. >> now you said in response to a question yesterday that you perceived mr. zimmerman's injuries to be minor, correct? >> yes, sir. >> you were asked exactly about

exaggeration. do you feel he had exaggerated the manner in which he was hit? >> yes, sir. >> that you have the lead detective saying he felt it was exaggerated. you have a medical examiner saying that she felt it was insignificant in describing what she would expect if he had those kinds of injuries. then we played part of the tape that the jury saw yesterday where zimmerman demonstrated to the detective he bang mid head up and down, up and down, slamming me, slamming me, i felt my head was going to explode. there is a world of a difference in today's testimonies and with what mr. zimmerman said. >> right. and for the jury, the prosecutor wants them to understand it. it is now crystallized that he clearly embellished the amount of physical contact he had with trayvon martin. we know that there were some contact there. we know that he has injuries. but before he said i was punched 25 or 30 times. my head was repeatedly slammed into the ground. then you have a woman who is a medical examiner who has all of

this background and training in examining these kinds of injuries, and she said he just needed a band-aid. he didn't need stitches. he didn't need sutures. he needed a band-aid. one person is dead and the other person needed a band-aid. that's the difference here. even if you get into a fistfight, the law does not protect you if you escalate that fistfight into a gunfight. you do not get to escalate just because he hit you. >> marcia, the prosecution has to prove murder 2 and all of those elements. but also, the judge has given a definition of self-defense. o'mara is going to also have to establish something about self-defense. that not right? >> well, but he can do it in the prosecution's case, as he has been doing through cross-examination. he doesn't have to call any witnesses. >> right. >> really, with the way the prosecution has been trying this case, he's got everything he needs to make the argument to the jury already without even calling a single witness on his own behalf. and he can use. the defendant is always allowed to rest on the prosecution's evidence, because the defense is

not required to prove anything. they have no burden of proof. what he has right now in his lands he could certainly argue the other side of all the evidence that the prosecution has brought forth to say that george zimmerman reasonably believed in imminent danger. john burris, though, makes a very good point, that even if the jury ultimately believes george zimmerman was unreasonable in his belief that he was about to suffer imminent death or great bodily injury, but if they believe he honestly felt that way, even if he was unreasonable, he could get a manslaughter out of that, just based on the prosecution's evidence. . >> ken, we've heard so far the tapes of george zimmerman. we've heard from several of the prosecution witnesses. we've not heard from the defense at all, and don't know as much, they are not required to testify. but have we heard anything in the statements of george zimmerman that said to police i was afraid i was going to die, i was going to lose my life. that's why i did what i did?

>> well, clearly, in all the statements that i have heard from george zimmerman, he's basically giving actions out there at the scene that is contrary to being afraid. he is getting out of his car. he is following this person that he is allegedly afraid of. he is doing all these things that an individual common sense would indicate would not do if you were actually fearful. so, again, the prosecution's trying to undermine the credibility of george zimmerman even though he hasn't testified. he has testified through these statements. the prosecution wants to undermine that and have the jury give very little weight or no weight at all to george zimmerman's statements on tv and to the police. >> i want my legal panel to stay with me. lots more to talk about tonight. we'll be back. coming up, the prosecution called it, quote, a web of lies. today several inconsistencies with mr. zimmerman's story emerge. his best friend takes the stand

and reveals a different account over the gun. plus, did george zimmerman with a depraved mind, did he have one? was there ill will and spite? the lead investigator who questioned mr. zimmerman. and remember, friend or foe, i want to know. send me your e-mails. "reply al" is coming. stay with us. i want to make things more secure. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions

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did george zimmerman change his story about whether trayvon martin grabbed his gun? testimony today exposes a new potential inconsistency in his account. that's ahead. my bill's due today and i haven't paid yet. you can pay up 'til midnight online or by phone the day it's due.

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you will learn that that's when he began to spend that tangled web of lies. >> in opening statements, prosecutors vowed they would expose what they called george zimmerman's tangled web of lies. and now we're seeing them trying to do just that. mr. zimmerman has given his account of what happened that night at least four separate times. three times to police and once on a tv show. today prosecutors played that tv interview to highlight a potential inconsistency in the defense case. whether zimmerman continued to

follow trayvon martin, even after a police dispatcher told him not to. >> what did you do from that minute forward when the dispatch said we don't need you to follow him? what did you do next? >> i walked across the sidewalk on to my street where i thought i would meet a police officer that i had called. >> so you did not continue to follow him? >> no, sir. >> so on tv last year, zimmerman said that he stopped following trayvon martin, but today in court, the lead investigator told zimmerman's lawyer something different. >> a while ago is whether or not you have any evidence to support any contention that mr. zimmerman continued to follow trayvon martin after being told not to. do you have any evidence to support that?

>> i would answer i information yes, that there was just based on where we located trayvon and the fact that the altercation happened after his conversation. that's my interpretation. there was some following. >> there was some following. a discrepancy between george zimmerman and the lead investigator in the case. who will the jury believe? back with me now, faith jenkins, marcia clark, john burris, and ken padowitz. faith, what do you think when you hear the lead investigator apparently contradict george zimmerman? >> i don't think there is much doubt in the jurors' minds at this point that zimmerman followed trayvon martin. just look at the map of the direction he went and his explanation of going to look for a street sign when there are only three streets in that area and that is a place where he walked his dog. >> and lived. >> and lived.

and he is the neighborhood watch,ing of. now is following trayvon illegal? no. is it significant? yes. look at everything we know that occurred before he continues to follow trayvon martin. he calls him a punk. he refers to him as an a-hole. he says these people always get away. so he has that state of mind. and he gets out of his car, has a loaded gun in his waistband. he has the motive and the incentive to be the person to stop and initiate a confrontation with trayvon martin. that's why the fact that he continued to follow him is significant and that he changed his story, because he didn't want the police to know, yes, i continue to follow him. >> john burris, it is not illegal, as faith says, to follow trayvon martin. but he is not a policeman. he is not an officer. he has no real right to do so either. i mean, it's not as though -- we talk about him as if he is an officer of the state. he is a civilian that had

volunteered to watch duty. >> absolutely he is that there is nothing wrong for what he was doing, but he was in fact following him with a particular state of mind. so in fact he wasn't just an ordinary person. he was a person who viewed him as a suspect and had called him a bunch of names. so he had a mind-set to make contact with him. that's why i think rachel jeantel's statements become very important. she clearly indicates he is the aggressor and he is the one making contact. once you make contact because you have a state of mind other -- that is designed to find out who this person is and to be -- to get information about him, i think you have stepped over the line of an ordinary person who, in fact, is making contact with someone. this was a profile situation. he was called a suspect. along with all the other names that everyone knows. so he was clearly beyond. he was in the want to be cop frame of mind at the time. i think the jurors will see that. >> now marcia, the problem with calling him a suspect is there

wasn't even a crime. >> right. >> a suspect of what? >> exactly. exactly. and he refers to trayvon martin as a suspect repeatedly in his statement to the police. so it still shows even after the fact, this mind-set, even after the police are telling him in the interrogation, which they do, you know, he wasn't doing anything wrong. you know, he wasn't a suspect in any way. he continues to refer to him as a suspect, which shows that fixed mind-set about seeing what he expected to see and what he believe head was seeing, not what was there. and on top of that, i want to point out also that the investigator, serino said, you know, if i had seen what george zimmerman described seeing trayvon martin do, i wouldn't have stopped him. i wouldn't have even pulled my car over to look at him. i didn't see anything suspicious about it. and i think that was very important as well. >> now, ken, zimmerman's friend testified that zimmerman told him trayvon martin actually grabbed ahold of his gun. listen to this.

>> and he told you that he, the defendant, managed to break the grip on the gun where the guy grabbed it between the rear side and the hammer, correct? >> whether it was the gun or the leather casing or just reaching down there and grabbing something. >> but here is what associated press reports today. quote, that account is different from what zimmerman told investigators in multiple interviews when he only said it appeared martin was reaching for his gun prior to the shooting. he never told police the teen grabbed it. and, ken, this best friend who wrote a book saying this, there is no dna that was found of trayvon on the gun. i mean, is this another inconsistency that could come to haunt them at summation on the defense? >> yes, absolutely. this is not only an inconsistency, it's a very substantive inconsistency, because although it's the state

witness being called to the stand, it actually is the best friend of the defendant. so you would expect if you're a juror that this person testifying is going to testify in the best light of george zimmerman. and here he is pointing out this very important inconsistency. so, again, the prosecution is hacking away at the head of this snake, george zimmerman, trying to kill the snake and trying to show the jury you cannot give this person any credibility. >> all right. let's go around the horn on my legal experts. good day or bad day for who? faith? >> i think it was a really good day for the prosecution, especially because of the medical examiner and her testimony that george zimmerman's injuries were truly insignificant, despite us just having heard many statements where he talked about essentially being pummelled by trayvon martin. >> john burris, good day or bad day for who? >> good day for the prosecution, although the defense made some points. but a good day all in all for the prosecution. >> marcia clark, good day or bad day for two? >> on balance, better for the prosecution than the defense, but it's close. we had an investigator say last night that he thought that the

defendant, zimmerman, was truthful, and today the judge had to strike that of course, i don't think the jury is going to be able to keep that completely out of their minds. now that they have heard it, you can't unring the bell. but the prosecutor got out from the medical examiner as well as from the lead investigator that the injuries zimmerman had were minor. therefore not consistent with his story. >> ken padowitz, good day or bad day for who? >> i think it was better day for the prosecution. marcia clark is correct. it started off bad because he told the jury, hey, you have to ignore the lead detective in the case who testified that he believes george zimmerman and his self-defense explanation. you can't unring the bell. the jury heard it. but the prosecution came back strong with the medical evidence from the medical examiner that testified, hey, these injuries are minor, a very big inconsistency for george zimmerman. and also undermining george zimmerman's credibility. >> faith jenkins, marcia clark, john burris and ken padowitz, thank you for your time tonight.

>> thank you. >> still ahead, the prosecution's attempt to prove a depraved mind. what the lead investigator said about george zimmerman's behavior that night. also, how the president is fighting to expand health care across america, despite gop roadblocks. stay with us. the end. lovely read susan. may i read something? yes, please. of course.

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today at the george zimmerman trial, the jury heard a tv interview that he gave near lay year ago in which he said he had no regrets about his decision that night. >> is there anything you regret? do you regret getting out of the car to follow trayvon that night? >> no, sir. >> do you regret that you -- you had a gunship that night? >> no, sir. >> do you feel you wouldn't be here for this interview if you didn't have that gun? >> no, sir. >> you feel you would not be here? >> i feel that it was all god's plan, and for me to second guess it or judge it -- >> is there anything you might do differently in retrospect now that time has passed a little bit? >> no, sir. >> trayvon martin is dead. george zimmerman has no regrets. how will the jury react to that? lots of questions raised by today's testimony, including a

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[ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in. did george zimmerman act with a depraved mind when he shot and killed trayvon martin? today a crucial witness was back on the stand. lead investigator chris serino, who questioned zimmerman multiple times. he took the stand with gripping testimony, shedding light on zimmerman's state of mind the night he killed trayvon martin. the prosecution focused in on zimmerman's own words, asking serino whether zimmerman acted with ill will and spite, two conditions for proving second-degree murder. >> from the non-emergency call the defendant made. >> okay. >> [ bleep ] they always get away.

>> is that something that you would use in reference to somebody that you're going to invite over for dinner? would you call them these [ bleep ]? >> no, sir, i would not. >> does that seem like to you like a friendly comment about somebody else? >> no, sir, it's not. >> go straight, don't turn and make a left. he is rung. >> he is running? which way is he running? >> down towards the other entrance of the neighborhood. >> which entrance is that that he is heading towards? >> the back entrance. [ bleep ]. >> does that not indicate ill will, hatred and spite against somebody else, sir? >> no, it does not. >> in your opinion, calling somebody, reference them as pardon my language, but [ bleep ] punks? >> that is ill will and spite. >> it is? >> yes. >> yes, it is ill will and spite. serino was asked very specifically about whether mr. zimmerman might have profiled trayvon martin.

>> if i had were to believe that somebody was committing a crime, could that not be profiling that person -- >> objection, your honor. leading. >> overruled as related. >> do you understand my question, sir? >> yes, i did. it could be construed as such, yes. >> was there any indication that trayvon martin, trayvon benjamin martin, a young man i think 20 days past -- just turned 17, was committing a crime that evening? >> no, sir. >> was there any evidence that that i don't think man was armed? >> no, sir. >> no evidence he was committing a crime. no evidence he was armed. how will the jury react to this gripping testimony? joining me now is zachary carter, a former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york, and michael cardoso, a former prosecutor, now a

criminal defense attorney. thank you both for being here tonight. >> good to be here. >> zachary, the defense bleeping punks was just slang. your testimony on this about ill will and spite. >> ill will and spite, sure. i think the jury is going to have an opportunity to view the totality of the circumstances, not just one phrase, but his whole course of conduct, the fact that he referred to them as a-holes, the fact that he talked about them being f-ing punks or worse, depending on how you hear it on the tape. the fact that his course of conduct in following this young man, who didn't behave in any way based on any objective evidence we've seen so far that would signal that he was involved in any suspicious or criminal activity. i mean, one of the things that i think it will be useful, and i'm sure that the jury will see it

at some point is the surveillance tape in the 7-eleven, because then you see the trayvon martin that any rational person would have seen. and there you see a tall, skinny black kid dressed the way our kids do in a hoodie. after all, it was raining, who is coming in to run an errand, to buy skittles and an iced tea. and it doesn't seem that the clerk feels like he is in any danger from this kid. he doesn't see a thug. he doesn't see a criminal. he sees a customer, who comes in and pays him. now, if you believe george zimmerman's description of trayvon martin and how he was allegedly behaved that evening, he would have punched the cashier in the nose and taken those skittles. he wouldn't have paid for them and walked out the door. >> michael, what do you think on that point? because when o'mara, the defense attorney, pushed the

investigator serino about whether he would have stopped trayvon, listen to what serino said. >> if you were driving an unmarked car past that at that precise moment and saw trayvon martin there, standing between two buildings at night in the rain, not moving, maybe even looking in through a window, would you have stopped and talked to him? >> not just based on his presence, no, i would not. >> and why not? >> he might live there. >> but the question is who you stop and ask him? >> not just based on what you observed, no. >> so he had the defense attorney couldn't get the lead investigator to even say he would have even stopped to ask a question, michael. >> well, for a second, do any of us believe that? i come from the bay area, oakland.

police stop people all the time. they're standing on corners, police walk up, they start to ask questions. remember, when an officer testifies in a case like this, this is an adversary proceeding, and they feel very obligated to give answers that are going to help the prosecution. so obviously the answer is going to be oh, no, i wouldn't stop him in that situation. when he might well have stopped him simply because he was a black man in that area. we all know that happens all the time. >> but mr. zimmerman is not a policeman. >> i agree. >> and mr. zimmerman did not have the authority to stop or question anyone. so why would mr. zimmerman have an assumption, as zachary said, that the store owner didn't and the police testified to? zimmerman had no authority or obligation to do anything. >> oh, absolutely. and he had said that right from the beginning that it wasn't his

obligation to stop people that will be a jury question. did he in fact stop him? did he in fact stalk him? now, the big issue in this case and the big thing will be has the evidence and will the evidence when we get through this w this trial prove beyond a reasonable doubt, in other words, will the jury have an abiding conviction of guilt in this case. now, we can all say what we think what happened, here is what probably happened, here is what might have happened. but will the jury believe it beyond a reasonable doubt enough to convict him of second-degree murder? the one witness that i think that really helped trayvon, the prosecution in this case is, excuse me, when they testified that trayvon was on top of zimmerman fighting, and they were rolling around. so what happened in that situation? then we have that mma fighting, the punching. you know, a jury has to decide, do they believe that beyond a

reasonable doubt? unless they do, what does all that mean? >> when you have the guy that said trayvon may have been on top, they were rolling, the punching. >> right. >> but then you now have, zachary, the medical examiner say but there were no significant injuries. you also have the same guy that say he was on top say but the guy at the bottom could have fought. we've heard testimony now that there was mma training of zimmerman. so if zimmerman had martial arts training, why didn't he defend himself? why did he have to shoot to kill this guy? have we heard any reason at all, zachary, as to why it necessitated taking this young man's life? >> well, again, the jury is going to view this as they always do, looking at the totality of the circumstances not just one thing. they're going to at some point have a picture, each of them individually and ultimately collectively will have a picture in their minds of what occurred that evening. and they'll use their common sense. they'll know there came a point during this confrontation when

trayvon martin was entitlemented to defend himself. the stand your ground laws don't just protect the zimmermans of the world. they protect the trayvon martins with iced tea and skittles as their only armament. so to the extent there is testimony that there may have been rolling around at some point, i don't believe that that's necessarily fatal to the prosecution's case. the jury is going to sort out whether or not this confrontation was initiated improperly by zimmerman, and at some point he used deadly force when it wasn't necessary to protect himself from mortal injury. >> zachary carter, michael cardoza, thank you for your time tonight. >> you're welcome. leaders all over the country are literally turning down billions in money in help for the poor. we're taking action. we'll talk about health care crisis in america, next.

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right now in america,

millions are living without insurance. but the president's health care law is poised to make a big difference. and the administration is doing everything it can to make it work. today we learned that the administration is giving employers more time to provide coverage for their employees. but despite that extra effort, the gop is showing absolute disregard for this crisis. today we learned a tea party lawsuit challenging kentucky's medicaid expansion is moving forward. in pennsylvania, state republicans are making moves to kill that state's program too. both states could end up joining the 21 others that have blocked medicaid expansion. and why is that so head-scratching? well, they're literally throwing away federal money. all told, these 21 states are rejecting $346 billion. they're saying no to a program

that won't cost them a dime for the next few years. and as a result, they're leaving nearly 10 million people without any insurance. how is this happening in america? that's why tomorrow we're proud to partner on a free health clinic, a free health care clinic in new orleans. and we're going there with the national association of free clinics. joining me now is nicole lamoureux, the executive director of the national association of free clinics and jim cochran, a volunteer at tomorrow's clinic. thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> our pleasure. >> nicole, let me know how things are looking for tomorrow's clinic. i'm excited about it. i'm on my way down there to join you. >> i tell you, everybody down here is real excited to see you, rev. and we have hundreds of people already signed up to be with us

tomorrow at the convention center. people are unbelievably in need here in new orleans. they need diabetic testing, and they need that exam, and they need that connection to the prescription medications. but more than that, we also have all of these volunteers who want to make a difference. i'll tell you, the battle for health care is not over. we need to continue to stand by, side by side, to provide access to health care to so many people who need it. you're going to see it tomorrow. lines and lines of hundreds of people who need access to health care, who have to swallow their pride to come to a convention center to see a doctor. it should not be that way in this country. >> joe, why did you want to get involved a as a volunteer? >> i became a volunteer with the national association of free clinics because i truly believe every american deserves a right to health care. i do not understand how our nation can continue to thrive and prosper with so many people

struggling to be healthy, to stay alive in this country. today i was out walking the streets of new orleans, passing out pamphlets. my pamphlets were simply telling the people of new orleans, telling folks who i came across on the street about the health clinic tomorrow. i was astounded, astounded. walking through a city, being mindful of the people in need rather than just looking at a city as a new way to look at it for me. the people of new orleans are struggling. i find it difficult to understand why we are having a debate about whether we should have health care or not and not how can we improve health care. >> now, you know, nicole, louisiana is a clear example of a state that would have benefitted from medicaid expansion. >> exactly, exactly. >> but it refused it. as a result, the state has blocked coverage for up to 400,000 people and is rejecting close to $16 billion in federal funds. this is where you are, this is

where i'm joining you tomorrow. this is unbelievable. >> it's ridiculous. i think i've said it before. i find it irresponsible. people need help. we need to look at every american and say you deserve access to health care. we talked about this before, rev. you know, your health is something you take for granted until someone in your family or yourself is no longer healthy. we invited the governor to come. you invited the governor. we invited city council people to join us. no one is joining us. we're still going to be there. you want to expand medicaid? we're going to continue to give people access to health care because they need it, because it's the right thing to do. that's why we're here. >> and i want people around the country to understand a point that you have made before, and i have made before. the people who come to these free clinics are working people. >> exactly. >> they're not that are the takers as some people try to degrade them in a derogatory

term. 83% of the patients at the country's free and charitable clinics come from working households, nicole. >> they do. they come from working households. you know, the easiest way to look at this, they're our brothers, our sisters, the people would go to church with, the people we go to the grocery store with. i'm getting tired of hearing these are people that are living on the dole or they're lazy. that's absolutely completely false. i'm so happy that we're doing this clinic, and across the country that we're telling the story, that the uninsure ready not just a number, they are a person, someone you can reach out and touch. and when you hear the stories of single moms working hard every day trying to decide whether or not they put food on the table or get access to health care, it make yourself stomach sick. it shouldn't be that way in this country. >> nicole and jim, great, great work. thanks for being with us, and we really look forward to seeing you tomorrow. >> thank you. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> again, a special edition of "politicsnation" from new orleans at the free health

clinic tomorrow. i want to take a moment right now to talk directly to the "politicsnation" family. it takes a huge team effort to provide these free clinics, and we need your help. you may not be able to go with me to new orleans, but you can donate. you can help. if everyone hearing my voice right now donated just $1, just $1, it would make a difference to so many families. please, go rate now. go to urgentcare.msnbc.com. with your help, we can make a difference and get health care to so many americans who really need it. we'll be right back. go!

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vo: ta friend under water is end usomething completely different. i met a turtle friend today so, you don't get that very often. it seemed like it was more than happy to have us in his home. so beautiful. avo: more travel. more options. more personal. whatever you're looking for expedia has more ways to help you find yours. it's time for "reply al." keep sending me all your questions. friend or foe, i want to know. mary writes, dear reverend al, i would love to attend the march

on washington, but i am a teacher and the event takes place after the new school year starts. how can i make my voice heard? well, event's on a saturday, august 24th, and martin luther king iii and i have bus, caravans leaving from all over the country. go to the website, www.nationalactionnetwork.net. put your name in and find out where someone is going and coming back the same day on that saturday. if that's too far for you, though, mary, you can make your voice heard by writing your congress person, saying that i'm concerned about jobs, justice, and voting. i couldn't march, but i'm with those that are marching august 24th. richard writes, how can we count on congress to restore voting rights protection when all the house of representatives is interested in doing is voting for abortion bans and repeal obama care? richard, the fight for voting

rights is alive, especially today. this is the 49th anniversary of the historic 1964 civil rights act, today. >> this civil rights act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and in our states, in our homes and in our hearts. to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice. in our beloved country. >> with president lyndon johnson's signature, the civil rights act became law. it ended the jim crowe era, outlawing segregation by race, religion, and gender. this landmark law also paved the way to the voting rights act of 1965. how did we get that act? we got it because people galvanized. they marched. they rallied. they lobbied congress. they put on the pressure. and that's how we must keep the voting rights act today.

that's how we must keep moving forward. it doesn't come from the top down. it always comes from the bottom up. and we must be those at the bottom that stand up across all racial and gender lines and say we're going to make the dream a reality. we want to answer your questions. so e-mail. askrev@msnbc.com. remember, friend or foe, i want to know. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. we'll see you tomorrow night from new orleans. "hardball" starts right now. was it self-defense? and has the gop kissed off the latino vote? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'