this morning, my question -- who wants to go to colorado and get high for the new year? plus, the year is over and eric poulder is still standing. and nbc news white house correspondent kristen will kerr is coming to "nerdland." but first, how 2013 reminds us of the enduring truth. the struggle continues. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry happen i don't have to tell you, 2013

has been an emotional year. actually kind of ridiculous how many times i've cried on this year in 2013. at this point, i'm basically john boehner, but, you know, with braids. look, time and again i have sat at this desk and told you about the struggles of progressive movements great and small. there were the moral monday protests in north carolina which attracted thousands of people to protest a republican legislature's agenda of cutting federal unemployment benefits, making it harder to vote, and refusing to expand medicaid among other things. hundreds were arrested. we visited the statehouse one monday in june, and the movement's leader, reverend william garber, explained why so many were risking arrest. >> what do you do when you have insurance and you see people making it harder for people to get insurance, harder for children to get educated, harder for people out of work to get some help, but easier for people to die, easier for schools to be reseg regalted, easier for the unemploymented to go into

bankruptcy and easier for people to get guns. what do you do? do you sit on the sidelines? >> the republican majority passed their initiatives anyway and went home for the year. but the moral monday protests have continued around the state. as reverend barber and others call for a special session to x expand medicaid and undo other anti-poverty legislation due this year. a thousand miles away in austin, texas, demonstrators were at state abortion clinics. they watched as democratic lawmakers tried to run out the clock. wendy davis spoke for 11 hours, vaulting herself into the public eye. she's now running for governor. and as time was running out, it was davis' colleague, state senator lattisewho brought down the house with a parliamentary inquiry that is now running for lieutenant governor. >> at what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the

male colleagues in the room? >> now, those cheers that you heard, they went on for 15 minutes. a thunderous shouting that went on until the session ended, preventing the vote from taking place. governor rick perry, of course,course, called another special session and all the protesters turned out in force but unable to stop the bill from going forward successfully. we saw fast food workers and retail workers risk their jobs to demand a living wage. we saw young people occupy the florida governor's office for days, forcing him to meet with them at the state's stand your ground law. a moving commemoration of the march on washington for jobs and freedom held 50 years ago in august, and listened as congressman john lewis was the only original speaker to take the microphone again this year. >> i got arrested 40 times during the '60s. beat and left bloody and unconscious. but i'm not tired! i'm not weary!

i'm not prepared to sit down and give up! i'm ready to fight and continue to fight! and you must fight! >> and of course that moment, the 50th anniversary of the march, came just weeks after we saw the supreme court gut the voting rights act, one of the movement's greatest legislative victories. so how are we going to remember 2013? there was no presidential election to unite disparate political interests. and for progressive movements there were defeats after unthinkable defeats. but this was not a wasted year. in fact, we may look back at 2013 and remember that this was a crucial year, that this was the year we laid the groundwork for the battles to come. so, yes, 2013 mattered. let's not forget, it was not only defeats and tears. the movement for marriage equality saw real triumph this year. the supreme court struck down the defense of marriage act and allowed california's proposition 8 to fall. rhode island, delaware, minnesota, hawaii, illinois, all passed laws allowing same-sex marriage. new jersey dropped its appeal of

a court order to allow same-sex marriages. the new mexico supreme court ruled in december that same-sex couples in the state could legally marry and the most recent and stunning development a federal judge in utah ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. and hundreds of couples have gotten married since that ruling came down on december 20th. the state is appealing the decision but for now the weddings are happening. 18 states in the district of columbia have marriage equality now, and the federal government recognizes those marriages as legal. it was less than ten years ago that massachusetts became the first state to allow marriage equality. now that's at least something to celebrate for the new year. joining me now is kenji yoshino, the chief justice earl warren professor of constitutional law at nyu school of law. tremain lee, national reporter for msnbc.com. ari berman, contributing writer to "the nation" and author of "herding donkeys."

and also cherilyn ibold, director of the council of the naacp legal defense fund. nice to have you here at the end of the year. >> good morning. >> i want to start with you, kenji, because it did feel like a year of a lot of defeats but the one bright moment was these decisions around the marriage of equality. will this be seen as a watershed year in lgbt rights? >> no question about it. i was in the studio when those decisions were handled down so that was a great privilege last june. what we learned is it was kind of a split decision, the federal defense of marriage act got struck down, but the states really punted on the issue of whether the bans were constitutional or not. what's happening now and what happened most recently in utah, why that is such an important decision, the federal decision,

is now precedent in order to knock out the state bans on same-sex marriage, and that's exactly what the utah judge did. i think we're going to see a cascade. the momentum is undee nibl. nine states had same-sex marriage at the time of the supreme court ruling last june. now it's 18 and the district of columbia. we've doubled in a short period of time. one concerning here, melissa, to put the dark cloud inside the silver line, is this could reach the supreme court as early as next year. it may feel like it's too soon. a lot of same-sex marriage advocates are slightly concerned about that, but on the plus side, the momentum of going from 9 to 18 in such a short period of time suggests that the supreme court may be ready by the time it gets there. >> let me ask you about that question of readiness, cherilyn, because when we look at u.s. support for same-sex marriage overall, it is dramatic the changes that we have seen in such a short period of time. just from 1996 to today, those are the lines crossing there. we see them cross right around

2,000 or so where all of a sudden now there's a majority of americans, not a majority of states, but a majority of american who is say if they had an opportunity to vote for same-sex marriage they would vote yes for it. does this suggest to you that the court may actually look out at the cultural milieu and say, you know what, we are ready? >> i think it's really important. one of the things the court really showed us i think is they don't want to get out ahead. even the justices called the liberal justices, don't want to feel like they're getting ahead of the american people, and that's why the figure kenji talked about is so important. it was nine states when cases were being argued earlier this year. we're up to 18 states that allow same-sex marriage. the court is able to see the shift in the american public. i think it's clear they're looking for that. we heard even justice ginsburg talk about her concerns and misgivings about roe versus wa e wade, getting out ahead of where the american people were. it's critically important and will make a difference. that utah case is probably

headed to the supreme court, lit get to them, they'll make a decision by 2015 and i think lit matter to all of the justices, even those inclined to support, same-sex marriage, to see the momentum of the country shifting in that direction. >> in part this question of momentum always leaves me e a little cold. i think the utah case, kenji, is part of it. if there isn't momentum in utah, which i suspect there may not be momentum in utah around this, should the court decide differently? there's stheng about the inherent civil rights that feel to me, like, well, if the people aren't ready, maybe the people should just get ready. >> yeah. it's going to be such an interesting case study because you look at the polling data, you showed national polls earlier, but if you do it state by state, utah is always in the bottom five with respect to how much it favors same-sex marriage. if there's a backlash, it will be utah. given it was done on federal

grounds, there's nothing the voters can do about it short of calling for a constitutional convention. but it will be interesting to see where the backlash occurs. there are two theories. one is i want to hug you whenever you say, like, should not be put up for a popular vote so the judges have to be brave and do what's right. whenever you say that, i want to give you a hug. on the other hand, what sherrilin is saying, you're absolutely right. when justice ginsburg did her tour last year talking act roe versus wade and how the court had moved too far ahead of the country and the abortion right would have been on firmer ground today if the court had waited or at leastimonious in the way it handled down that decision, she wasn't talking about abortion. she was talking about same-sex marriage. the writing was clear on that. there's some room between those two alternatives where we can be pragmatic on the one handle ayla with bader ginsburg, and -- >> stay with us.

what i want to do when we come back, i want to go deeper on this question of where we're going because there was actually last night breaking "duck dynasty" news. when we come back, the quack is, in fact, back. i want to talk about how what we have seen over the course of the past couple weeks tells us about where we are in our culture around questions of lgbt equality. ♪ searching for a real love [ woman ] too weak. wears off. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. the end of trial and error has arrived. try a free sample at eucerinus.com.

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okay, "nerdland." if i asked you to assess whether 2013 was a good year or a bad one for struggles for lgbt equality, what would you say? we've been talking act issues of legislation and court decisions but sometimes it's our popular culture that measures our halting or accelerating

progress. take the recent comments about "duck dynasty." are his comments evidence of the discriminatory attitudes gay men and lesbians still face or is it a sign of a new pro-e equality norm? or is the backlash of the suspension an example of how radicalized americans still are? and the break braggiing news fr night, they're reinstating phil. they said, "we at a&e networks exesz prd our disappointment with the statements and the article and reiterate they are not views we hold, but "duck dynasty" is not a show about one man's views. iz resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family, a family many americans are have come to love. they come together to reflect and pray for unity and tolerance and forgiveness, three values that we also feel strongly about." so what do you think? is the "duck dynasty" brouhaha

about our expanding notions around lgbt equality or our contracting ones? >> i think sometimes, and i'm going to speak for black people here -- >> all of us? >> all of us. right now. you're always concerned there's a white person out there you like is going to say something horrible. as he's talking about gay people in one particular way, on the other side, jay z coming out in support of gay marriage. so i think we're starring to see people throwing back into their camps. the support of course is coming from the same sectors. >> interesting there maybe are some funny new coalitions that are getting -- and yet richard kim, by editor at the nation, wrote that this is a bit of a fake outrage machine, like when you look at "duck dynasty" and the kind of show it is and the sort of folks it's meant to be presenting, like the notion that all of a sudden we are outraged to find that phil robertson may not be a supporter of marriage equality to say the least does feel a little bit like ginned-up outrage. >> anybody who watches "duck dynasty," and i like watching

it, knew that phil robertson held extremely conservative views. what i thought was interesting in revealing about this exchange, his comments about gay marriage got a lot of press and rightly so. but what he said about jim crow, the fact that blacks were, quote, unquote, happy and singing during segregation, got almost no coverage. i thought that was reflective of the debate we're having. remember, the supreme court's decision to overturn section 4 of the voting rights act happened a day before they then overturned doma. and the doma decision, which was a great victory for equality, really overshadowed the voting rights act decision. the supreme court, i think, the concerns in the supreme court, have this twilsed notion that there are -- there is a need for expanded rights for some people, at least anthony kennedy had this definition, but not for other people. so basically say, okay, well, gay rights is a thing of the future, to be progressive on, that but rights for blacks and hispanics, that's a thing of the past, that's a protection we don't need, and i think that's twisted because rights are rights. we should have protections for

all people. but the supreme court doesn't seem to think this way. >> sherrilyn, this is fascinating. connect it back to what tremain was saying, what we saw if 2012 and 2013, some interesting new coalitions being built around prominent african-americans taking pro marriage e equality stances, particularly in space i they hadn't previously, for me the moment when phil robertson is talking about experiencing african-americans laboring next to him as happy read to me more as -- i mean, that's strategic on the part of black folks living in the deep south. a lot of times we present happiness or contentment when in fact we're mad because it's not safe for white folks to roll up on jim crow. that's a bad idea. yet i do wonder if there is at least in the reaction, like in the public reaction, a sense that racism or racial angst is not meant to any longer be addressed but questions around lgbt equality are and if that then starts to divide a coalition that is knowledge just nascent in coming together.

>> the good news is lgbt actists have been standing with us on the voting rights piece, which has been extraordinary. many people spoke very e consequently in the lgbt community about the kind of muted celebration, frankly, they felt when the supreme court decided the doma cases because of what they had done the day before in shelby. a stark example. the day of the shelby decision i'm standing outside the supreme court, i'm being interviewed in front of the kind of bank of microphones with reporters, and, you know, marriage equality decisions hadn't come out yet. but the two lawyers who argued those cases, david boyce and ted olson, come out of the supreme court because they're not getting the decisions today, they're walking down the stairs and literally we're crushed. we had this terrible decision from the supreme court. literally half of the reporters got up and followed the two lawyers. the decision hadn't come out yet. they just wanted to follow them and find out what these two celebrity lawyers were going to say about the doma cases that were yet to come. it was kind of a stark moment where this devastating thing had happened not just to

african-americans but to americans where the supreme court had essentially, you know, opened the floodgates to what we've seen in the last few months in terms of limiting democracy. it's a strange kind of contrast between these two things. the good news that's come out is the willingness of lgbt actists to stand firm about their support going forward. >> i want to put a peg in the reminder there's not black communities and gay communities. lgbt communities and those of color intersect. in popular culture we saw that this year. orange is the new black where laverne cox, an actual transwoman playing a transwoman with a certain kind of complexity and interest and then, you know, public attention around it reminds us that these are not sort of completely separate communities. these are communities that often are overlapping even in the same bodies. >> by the same token, you can still get away publicly attacking black folks in certain ways, but the gay lobby is so strong now, don't dare say anything. if black folks push back, it's doing what we've been doing,

make noise and get offended. but there are still -- >> you want to be careful when you say "the gay lobby." the question of laverne cox, chelsea mannings as one of the pieces of news in the course of this year with bradley manning's transition to the identity of chelsea manning. and the way in which even within lgbt struggles, a struggle for marriage is just one part, and there are all these other struggles over and against eve than one element. >> i think the way to keep that coalition together is to add on to that is to say we're talking act the structure of how discrimination happens. first generation and second generation discrimination. gay people should be very alert, right, to the possibility that what's happening to african-americans right now is the future of gay rights. right? so that right now, because there's the discrimination against gay people written into law that says gay people can get married, justice kennedy can see that. all he needs to do is read the

statute. if it talks about crime or welfare, polite people do not talk about racism and racialized terms anymore. any of that goes under the radar. where do polite people talk about race? affirmative action. what does the court do with it? strikes it down. >> that is a lovely way to put it. that question of the jury, the fact there was the notion of a future, stick with us. up next, something big is happening in colorado in four days. it's so big you can be sure governors will be paying attention, economists will be paying attention, federal authorities will be paying attention. the people of colorado might have a hard time paying attention. [ sneezes, coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is.

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you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app. stick with innovation. stick with power. stick with technology. get the new flexcare platinum from philips sonicare and save now. philips sonicare. mary jane, bud, pot, just plain marijuana. more than 20 years ago president clinton said he puffed but

didn't inhale. president obama revealed his pot use in an autobiography more than a decade before running for office. now with the legalization of the lie sensed production and retail of marijuana in both colorado and washington, who knows how many public officials will openly admit to enjoying a little mary jane with no political repercussions? according to a recent gallup poll, a sizable majority of americans, 58%, now agree that marijuana should be legalized. further illustrating the mainstreaming of marijuana is the selection of 36-year-old robert jacob this month as mayor of the town in california north of san francisco. what's so special about him? he's the founder of the town's medical marijuana dispensary and according to advocates for marijuana legalization, that makes him the first person from the medical marijuana industry to become mayor of a city in the united states. and he may not be the last because this week colorado became the first state to give special licenses to businesses

that will begin selling recreational marijuana on january 1st. joining me now from denver, colorado, is mason tempert, director of communications for marijuana policy project, who helped run the campaign for the initiatives p nips to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> what is the key change that occurs at the new year in terms of the purchase and sale of marijuana in colorado? >> well, essentially all that's really going to happen here is that america or coloradans who have been buying marijuana for years will now have the ability to buy it from licensed, legitimate, tax-paying businesses instead of from the underground market where it would otherwise be benefiting cartels and other criminal enterprises. the state will be generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue that otherwise would have gone into the underground market. so it's really a step forward. >> mason, i want to break out those two and think about them a little bit. first, talk to me about the importance of this simply from that first part of what you were talking act, the kind of legal

reform, war on drug kind of crimes perspective. how much does this change that in the state of colorado? >> well, this is eventually going to eliminate the underground marijuana market for adult use. basically we're going to have retail marijuana stores that are open and available to people. they simply have to show proof of age in order to make a purchase. and in doing so they will not have to go to the underground market where they might be exposed to other illegal drugs and they won't be giving their money to criminals. >> how important is this from a kind of local economic impact perspective? how much does colorado expect to benefit from this? >> according to the state's legislative council, this is supposed to generate upwards of $70 million annually just in this first year alone. the first $40 million raised by one of the taxes that's been imposed is going to benefit the state's public school construction program. so that money that would otherwise be going into the underground market, going to

cartels, will instead go back into the community. >> so there is still a law being broken here, though, and that is the issue of federal law. so how much exposure do individuals who will now be operating legally, both as sellers and buyers in the state of colorado, how much exposure do they have on the question of federal law? >> well, the federal government back in august for the first time ever made it clear that if businesses are following state regulations and state laws pertaining to marijuana sales and cultivation, they will not be interfered with. and this is a huge departure from previous policies at the justice department. so essentially as long as the state has created sensible, strong regulations and these businesses are following them, the feds will stay out. and that's what colorado's done is create some very tight regulations that will essentially do what needs to be done, which is prevent sales to minors, prevent interstate trafficking and so on. >> one last question here, and

that's around the politics of this. we have seen a massive increase in the number of americans in general who believe that marijuana ought to be legal, ought to be sort of close ore the model that colorado now has. do you see a sort of partisan divide at all in colorado around these questions of legalization? >> well, you know, traditionally, democrats have been more supportive of ending marijuana prohibition than republicans. but increasingly we're seeing support grow for marijuana policy reform among conservatives, of course among independents as well. you know, people just recognize that marijuana is not as harmful as they were once led to believe. in fact, it's octoberively far less harmful than alcohol and more and more people want to see it treated that way. >> mason in denver this morning. i know there's a lot of nerds claiming -- my producering claiming they're going to colorado for new year's eve. thanks for joining us this evening. up next, considering how many people thought he wouldn't even be attorney general anymore, eric holder has had a

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exxonmobil uses advanced visualization and drilling technologies to produce natural gas... powering our lives... while reducing emissions by up to 60%. energy lives here. ♪ earlier this year, things weren't looking so good for attorney general eric holder. senators were mad about the drone strikes on american citizens. there was that whole mess about going after reporters' records in leaked investigations and open speculation that he was a liability for the president and had to go. but in spite of all that, holder kept working on something very important, reforming the justice system, especially when it comes to mandatory minimums. take a look. >> outsized, unnecessarily large prison population. we need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish,

to deter, and to rehabilitate but not really to warehouse and to forget. i took action to change this by modifying the justice department's charging policy so that people charged with certain low-level, nonviolent drug offenses, individuals without ties to large-scale organizations, gangs, or cartels, will no longer be charged with offenses that impose draconian mandatory minimum sentences. >> holder also helped to bring about last week's decision by president obama so commute the sentences of eight people who had each served at least 15 years for crack cocaine convictions. each case was recommended to the president by the justice department. so we wanted to go to attorney general holder and this in part, sherrilyn, because i was teasing in the last block around this notion of marijuana legalization and it all gets kind of talked about this in laughing, oh, the stoerns will be out on new year's eve kind of way, rather than the fact that this is

deeply tied to this drug war that has had this profound impact particularly in black communities. >> listen, the reality is that on the ground, what these kinds of marijuana arrests have done, and this overall criminalization of a drug that is actually not more harmful than alcohol, has done is it has decimated the lives of predominantly african-americans, their family, and their communities. with marijuana arrests weather the records that result from it weather the kind of sentences that attorney general holder's talking act, this is going to be looked at as one of the great kind of inhumane acts of the late 20th, early 21st century, our culture of incarceration, and much of it has been centered around marijuana. so when we talk about legalization, it's nice to talk about it in colorado and oregon and all these places where we'll see it happen, it's not about slackers sitting around in their pajamas getting high. it's about changing a substantive policy, a structural policy that has essentially decimated african-american communities by the war on drugs being concentrated on this particular drug.

so it's good that these changes are happening. they're loosening up the soil. they're getting people to understand that we can make this change without, you know, real harm to the community, but we shouldn't take our eye off the prize, and our eye on the prize is what's going to change our criminal justice system, which is really what this policy should be focused on. >> between 1980 and 2013, we went through spending in the u.s. -- we went from spending $540 million to $6.8 billion on prisons. you talk about decimation, but there's also decimation of our economic realities when we look at how much we've been spending. >> right. just to piggyback off the earlier comment, not only need to look at marijuana but also the disparities among the different kinds of sentences that are disbursed for different kinds of drugs. there's a disparity between powder and crack cocaine. it used to be 100 to 1. it's been revised but there's still a significant discrepancy. >> one of the great achievements of the obama administration that

rarely gets talked about was the moving down of that disparity. >> 18 to 1 now. >> exactly. but think about it, even 18 to 1, 18 grams of, you know, powder cocaine is going to get you the same time in jail as one gram of crack cocaine. we know that over 90% of people who are convicted of powder cocaine are white. we know that over 90% of people who are convicted of crack cocaine are nonwhite. so that disparate impact is huge. and it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, about second-generation discrimination, because the thing that makes it look so innocuous is white and black or the name of any race is not on the face of the guidelines. it flies under the radar of the courts. >> in fact, if you look at the top offenses for which people are imprisoned in this country, drugs as a whole category, at 50%. immigration just over 10%. you have 60% of people being sentenced around drugs and immigration offenses. look how much higher those are

than, for example, sex offenses or bribery, extortion, weapons and explosives. you think of those things as dangerous. these are the folks in our prisons. >> it's crazy. i think there is a shift in attitudes about drug policy, not just eric holder. it's coming from conservative republicans as well. that's what's so important at this moment, having people like rand paul come forward and say why are we locking up so many nonviolent offensive enders? so to me the real shift is going to come when it's not just people like eric holder talking about it but also a broad coalition of democrats and republicans joining together. >> talking about 1.5 million people incarcerated in this country, the vast majority for these nonviolent drug offenses. beyond that 6.8 million whatever it is in prisons, the cost of parole parks role violation, the urine testing. then even the rim into the community. public housing. if you have a felony, you can't live there. go to east new york. there's a place where a vast majority of people have some

sort of felony conviction. and you can't associate with other felons. can't associate with your neighbors. >> this is one of the accomplishments of 2013 is we've seen a little bit of movement on the banning the box movement, including target actually saying they're going to ban the box, that mark that i've been incarcerated. doesn't mean they can't ask or won't ask on those initial pieces of application, but it's such a good point because it's not just serving your time, it's the time you are then expected to serve in terms of the ability to get school loans and housing and all of those things sort of going forward. >> you've still got criminal background checks. there's a case in ohio right now. criminal background checks. you sold marijuana five years ago, $5 worth of marijuana. you get fired from a job you had for 20 years. what we're doing with people is taking their whole lives out of this one arrest. the crack powder and sentencing disparity is interesting because even are judges saying -- there's seven judges on the tenth circuit court of appeals who talked about the racial

elements of this disparity. i think that, you know, you're absolutely right about this shift happening right now, the right on crime movement, these conservatives who are recognizing that we've got to change this criminal justice system. 2014's going to be a pivot year for criminal justice. >> as much as we are mostly against incarceration as the kind of overuse in this country, there are times when people need to serve jail time and times when they don't. earlier this year, we brought you a story that at first we couldn't even believe was true, but now there is an update this is just as unbelievable. somebody ought to be going to jail who's not and my "letter of the week" is next. [ woman ] too weak. wears off. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. the end of trial and error has arrived. try a free sample at eucerinus.com.

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vicked of raping a woman thee times when she was a teenager. i was hopeful when i heard an appeals court ordered a judge to reaccept tense klemm after prosecutors argued that the lenient sentence violated state law. but on monday judge woodruff issued the new sentence and added only two years to klemm's probation, reduced his original 40-year suspended sentence by five years to 35, and he decided again that klemm should spend no time in jail. it was yet another slap in the face to courtney, who said she was speechless and in tears when she learned about the sentence. and it was a setback for the prosecutor who had already work sod hard to appeal the original sentence and put klemm behind bars. so i wanted to send that prosecutor some words of encouragement in my final letter of 2013. dear district attorney bryan jones, it's me, melissa. when i heard the news on monday my first emotions of disappointment and disbelief

were quickly replaced by something else -- rage. rage for courtney andrews, who shared her story and should have gotten justice in return, rage the that judge woodruff confirmed the worst nightmares of survivors who don't speak for fear that we're not going to be heard, rage he could have used his power to protect the vulnerable but chose instead to allow a predator to go free, rage at the failure of a justice system that has allowed austin klemm to be among the 97 out of 100 rapists who never serve a single day in prison. now, i know you understand those daunting odds because as a district attorney you're fighting against them every day and it must feel sometimes like you are pushing a boulder uphill. but i want to tell you, don't stop. keep pushing. because this case has already overcome so many of those odds. 54% of rapes are never even reported, but courtney andrews courageously defied that statistic when she told. only 12 out of every 100 rapes leads to an arrest, but austin

klemm was arrested. just 9 out of every 100 rapes ever gets prosecuted, but thanks to you, this case was among that small number that went to trial. five out of every 100 rapes leads to a felony conviction. klemm was convicted of one count of rape in the first degree and two counts of second-degree rape. after getting so close, i can only imagine how you must have felt after you fought the original sentence and instead of fair punishment that you sought, the new sentence is even worse. but whatever those feelings might have been, you didn't hesitate. you challenged the judge's second sentence right away. and i'm encouraged by your determination because there is no justice in a system that gives freedom and security to a rapist while his victim lives in fear and uncertainty. one of the best hopes for fixing what is broken about that system is people like you who will do

what justice woodruff will not do, who will use their power to bend that proverbial moral arc just a little bit closer towards justice. district attorney jones, i know this is just one case out of many for you, but for courtney and other survivors of sexual assault, it means so much more, because your push for a just sentence is sending a message that we who survive most need to hear. i believe you. i will fight for you, and it is safe for you to speak. you will get justice in exchange for your truth. that we need not be left only with our rage and disappointment and fear because now, thanks to your efforts, there's at least a little reason to hope. keep pushing. sincerely, melissa.

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one state decided to keep their governor. the voters of the country's biggest city decided after two decades they'd like a democrat as mayor. but when it comes to election enthusiasm, it's all about even numbered years and all anyone wanted to know about the 2013 elections is what they situationaled for those of 2014. the biggest news of 2013, the broadest implication for future election, wasn't how people voted but the assault on their ability to vote. this was the year that the supreme court undid nearly 50 years of historic civil rights legislation by striking out a key provision of the 1965 voting rights act. in june the court removed the requirement for federal approval to change voting laws in nine states and parts of others with a history of discrimination. those states waste nod time putting restrictive voting laws into e effect. just hours after the decision, texas announced it would begin

to launch its voter i.d. law and a redistricting plan. a month later north carolina passed a grab bag of anti-voting measures that made it the nation's worst state for voter suppression. both states but must get by attorney general eric holder, who is leading the justice department challenges against the laws. so, sherrilyn, is it overall in 2013, if you had to assess it, was it a win for the voting rights advocates? >> it was not, but the good news is we were ready. we were not surprised by the shelby decision. in fact, i think america in some ways was ready because we'd had the 2012 election and had all the voter suppression efforts, the very same texas law was a law we challenged and deneated in 2012. people saw the long lines and americans of all strides were saying what is going on, what's happening? people under what voter suppression is, and that's a good thing, but there's no question the supreme court's decision with the stroke of a pen took away a 48-year protection. it's all summed up in the words of the secretary of state of

florida who said we're free and clear now. and all sum they're's what we saw. we saw jurisdictions feeling free and clear to decide to close polling places, change election systems, to limit early vote, to do what north carolina did, pass that omnibus anti-voter law, and so we've had to be on the ground fighting this literally with swords in a way that we didn't have to in the past because of section 5 of the voting rights act. now the push is on to try to get a legislative fix for section 5, but in the meantime we still have to protect the right of people to vote. even in the elections that don't seem that important, the water board, school board, municipal district. >> this was your 2013. this is what you lived. yet there was still a sense, on one hand, people know what voter suppression is, they sort of know, and yet there was a lot of discussion about are these efforts about protecting the right to vote and the sanctity of it or are they about suppression? there is a new article. it's an academic piece.

i want to be clear. written by the university of massachusetts at boston, sociologists and a political scientist. and "the washington post," you know, sort of poelsed it on their monkey cage blog. but it just demonstrates empirically, right, no ideology here, that in states where african-americans turned out to vote in big numbers, in the next year you start seeing legislative efforts for voting rights restrictions. >> there was 180 bills introduced in 41 states after the 2008 election to restrict voting rights. what happened in 2008, the first african-american president was elected. it didn't take much to put two and two together. i think this was the worst year for voting rights since 1877 when troops pulled out of the south and end reconstruction. not saying it's similar situation because it's different now. but southern states are reacting in the same way. okay, we can go back to doing what we did before, discrimin e discriminating against people at the ballot box. now they're saying basically the same thing. in thk north carolina, texas, a

remember, this was an off-year election so most state legislators weren't this there, most elections weren't happening. really i think we'll see the effect of the supreme court's decision in 2014, next year. all these southern state legislatures are coming back, they know they don't have to clear their changes this with the federal government anymore. they know if they change a polling place, do some crazy redistrict, change a law before an election, it's going to be hard to challenge it now. so 2014's going to be critical. if we want the next year to be a year of enfranchisement, there's a lot we have to pay attention to. >> you're right about saying the worst since 1877, this is that period of redemption, but we'd seen expansions previously and now restrictions. up next, we'll talk about the president's year in a review and how his biggest accomplishments became his biggest headaches. kristen welker joins us with a look at what happened in 2013 and what to expect in 2014. we'll continue to talk voting.

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we went to the one person who is head of it all -- president obama. how well did 2013 go for president obama? to answer that, nbc's kristen welker gives us a look back because it has been quite a year for the president. >> reporter: it was a year that started with great expectations. but a few months later, a trio of controversies quickly threatened to derail president obama's second term agenda.

revelations the irs was targeting conservative groups and that the justice department was seizing the phone records of journalis. plus the ongoing fallout from the attacks on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> the fact is we have four dead americans. was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill americans? what difference at this point does it make? >> reporter: one of president obama's biggest policy goals, enacting stiffer gun laws in the wake of the newtown tragedy, failed to go anywhere after a bipartisan bill was narrowly defeated in the senate. >> this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> reporter: and his other big priority, immigration policy, didn't get much further. but it was the president's signature achievement, health care reform, that ended up becoming his biggest headache. the president forced to apologize over and over for the botched rollout. >> i am sorry. fix it myself but i don't write codes. we did fum tbl ball on it. >> reporter: and for telling americans -- >> if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.

>> reporter: we now know that's not true and that now infamous comment, along with the revelations about the nsa's massive surveillance program, eroded the public's trust in the president. meanwhile, republicans didn't fare any better in 2013. the gop watched their poll numbers plummet after the public blamed them for shutting down the government. it was a failed effort aimed at defunding the president's health care law, led by tea party reps like ted cruz, who staged a filibuster that will go down in history. >> i do not like green eggs and ham. >> reporter: the one bright spot for both sides, a bipartisan budget deal struck just a few weeks ago. could it be a sign 2014 could be better for washington and the american people? the president almost sounded hopeful at his year-end news conference. >> i firmly believe that 2014 can be a breakthrough year for america. >> joining me now for the first time here in "nerdland" is nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. also with us is msnbc.com's

trymaine lee, sherrilyn ifill. so thanks for putting that piece together. sometimes it's hard to remember this was the year in which the president was reinaugurated. right? and yet stands at this point with approval rating of just 40%, a disapproval rating of 52%. how hard a year was it for president obama? >> well, i think it was an incredibly hard year. we should note that the economy did improve, so that was another bright shot-spot at the end of the year. the unemployment rate dropped to 7%. i think what you're see noug is a bit of a reset within the obama administration. certainly that started with health care. they've started to get that website back on track. you're seeing a surge in enrollment numbers and people going online and actually being able to navigate to the website. in early january the president will come out and talk about what he plans to do, if anything, with the nsa, obviously gotten a lot of pressure there, and a bit of

reorganization within his administration. he's bringing in john podesta, that's clinton's former chief of staff. i think there's a recognition that they want to sort of reset in 2014 and do a better job of reaching out to congress as well. >> but it's a tough time. i mean, you know, i think part of what makes me feel sad in the 2013 moment is here you had the reinauguration, that incredible moment where he talks about sto stonewall and soma and seneca and the visionary obama we had seen from the campaign trail. then the year ends with -- in a lot of ways with the nsa revelations weather the tough stances in syria. i guess part of what i'm wondering, particularly to the extent that president obama was part of how we overcame some of those voting rights restrictions that we saw earlier. it was the fourth of atasmts of the president who got so many people to the polls despite the difficulties. how much does a declining public opinion for president and for

congress end up having sort of a ripple effect on the quality of democracy more broadly? >> i think looking at those same groups who came out en masse to push the president over the hurdle in communities of color in particular, i think one piece that will be kind of hinged to his legacy will be the inability to pass meaningful gun legislation, not just the crazy mass shootings in the navy yard or aurora, but the everyday violence. remember the girl who marched in his inaugural parade in chicago was gunned down back home. what are you going to do for us? now we're saying can we get a grip on this and is it a matter of choice? i think we'll still see that spillover. the court of democracy is, the democracy e equal for all of us, the protection for all of us? >> tough part on that, kristen, you said towards the end of the piece you had this decline in public support for congress as well because obviously the president put forward and worked with manchin and toomey to get that legislation, but it doesn't go forward, doesn't happen. >> right. what was so stunning about that,

of course, is at the time when you looked at the polls, almost 90% of americans wanted that legislation to pass. and just recently we heard from senator manchin it doesn't seem like they're going to revive that legislation. but if you look forward to 2014, immigration reform is really the one to watch. house speaker john boehner just brought rebecca talon on to his staff. she has been working on immigration reform. that's a signal he might be serious about trying to get something done, and of course for republicans politically speaking not acting on immigration reform could be incredibly damaging in these upcoming -- >> you have a situation where you have these incredible activist movements coming to washington but it doesn't seem like washington is at all responsive to what they're doing. these were hume failure, failure to pass immigration reform, gun violence. i don't think we mentioned shutting down the government. >> i did. >> we use the word washington and we're encompassing the president with congress. i think right now, i mean, we can't look at history when we're

in it, but the reality is america is failing. and i think that's how people are going to look back at this time. the president has had a couple of important moments in 2013. we shouldn't forget. we learned how to use the bully pulpit. that speech that he gave at the impromptu news conference after the verdict in the trayvon martin case. >> incredible. >> amazing. his speech after newtown was critically important. his ability to use his executive power. all the things we were talking about earlier that attorney general eric holder is doing around mandatory minimum, the president choosing to pardon those eight people. >> come back to the moment when the president comes out clearly emotional, using the bully pulpit after the zimmerman verdict, and does make -- i mean, makes history, right, in that moment by reflecting himself in the boy who has been shot and whose assailant is not found guilty. in that moment, though, we don't end up on the back end of it with legislation that addresses guns. >> but that won't attach to the

president. i mean, at this moment, his approval rate rgs low because we're feel like we're failing. who else are rewe going to attribute that to? i think when we look back at, this it will be america who failed. i don't think it will be historically attached to the president because he gave a speech, because he was so passionately made clear what his intentions and desires were. the president got a bloody nose this year. i think congress got two black eyes and america, our democracy, got a black eye, too. that's what we're going to be forced to -- >> as much as the domestic stuff is always about fault and maybe it falls at the foot of congress, the foreign policy stuff, especially the nsa stuff, has really hurt. we're seeing a lot of new nsa news this week. how much will that historically attach to p president. >> i think it will, and i think that's why you're seeing the president come out. in january he's going to address it. he had this panel that came out with 46 recommendations about how he should change and alter the nsa. he seemed to signal in his final news conference that he's going

to announce some changes. i don't think he's going to adopt all 46 recommendations but maybe come out and say that he's going to allow private companies to hold the mehta data. that's one of the changes that's been talked about quite a lot. then issues behind the scenes. syria, that is a big one. >> yes. >> of course there has been progress towards getting rid of their chemical weapons program, but you still have so many people being killed every day at the hands of the assad regime. that is one that is going to continue to be at the back burner. then of course iran. you have that nuclear deal that a lot of folks in congress aren't happy about, and they want to see sanctions put in place. the white house says that would be a bad idea. that's going to be a little battle we'll see as well. >> the 2014 question on syria will be interesting. i think the president was incredibly deft politically in how he managed to walk that syria piece. it was very difficult. we saw his political capacity in that moment. it will be interesting to see what happens to the american

public and whether or not we care that people are dying in syria, which we know can be difficult. stay with me. kristen welker, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> up next, putting the law on tlil and the protesters who are standing their ground against our justice system. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. it's not the "fumbling around with rotating categories" card. it's not the "getting blindsided by limits" card. it's the no-game-playing, no-earning-limit-having, deep-bomb-throwing, give-me-the-ball-and-i'll-take- it-to-the-house, cash back card. this is the quicksilver cash card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so let me ask you... what's in your wallet? i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages.

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i just wanted to come here to talk to you for a moment to let you know how important it is that we amend this stand your ground, because it did not, certainly did not work in my case. we need to do something about this law when our kids cannot feel safe in their own

community. >> that was sybrina fulton, the mother of trayvon martin, testifying before a u.s. senate hearing on state stand your ground laws which gained national attention after the shooting death of her son. now, the law states that people who do not -- people, in fact, do not have a duty to retreat when confronted with a perceived threat and that they can use deadly force to protect themselves. florida was the first to institute stand your ground in 2005, but now more than 20 states have similar laws. and ohio is looking to become the next one. the ohio house passed a bill in november that would, among other things, eliminate the duty to retreat. the bill will go to the ohio senate, which could consider it in the next session starting in january. while back in florida, the fight against stand your ground still continues. leading the charge is a group of young people, the dream defenders, who in july camped out in governor rick scott's office until he agreed to meet with them. joining us from miami z the executive director of the dream defenders, phillip. back at the table with us is

kenji yoshino, professor of constitutional law at nyu school of law. phillip, tell me, what's going on in florida in terms of where your efforts are now? >> well, you know, in 2013 in october, we were granted a hearing on stand your ground after our occupation of the capitol. and what we saw was that repeal bill be shot down by a florida legislature. but if we can be clear, as we look forward to 2014, stand your ground is going to remain a top priority for the dream defenders here in florida. but stand your ground is just one branch in a really poisonous tree that shows how florida cares about its young people. and at the root of that tree is prejudice, profiling, and prisons for profit. so if we're going to talk about stand your ground and as we look forward to twin it being a priority, we've got to talk about what the other issues that florida have prevailing against young people, the school to

prison pipeline, where we rank number one in the country for arresting young people in schools. we've got a department of juvenile justice that's 100% privatized. they continue to give private contracts to a company called youth services international that has a track record of abuse against children. so as we look forward and talk about stand your ground, it's very important that we talk about those other issues because florida does not care about its children with that law and many others. >> phillip, thank you. stay right there because you put so many things on the table. that intersection of these multiple issues of schools, of state funding, around issues of poverty, and around this question of violence and who it impacts is precisely where you brought us before the break when you were saying these are the big questions facing many of the communities that were part of the successful 2008 and 2012 voting coalitions. >> the dream defenders are part of this kind of broad new generation of activists that

kind of congealed after the trayvon martin killing. it wasn't a high-minded policy kind of thing, it's right on the ground, do our lives have value, can you shoot and kill us. you see what happened to jonathan ferrell and to mcbride. we're seeing this continued growth and the dream defenders are part of this broad movement we haven't seen in a long time. >> part of what i'm -- your point about not -- sybrina fulton at the front of this movement and the dream defenders in the movement, but sybrina fulton is kind of the face of it in a coretta scott king sort of way, almost, very modest, simply to say under the context of stand your ground, if you are an aggressor, if you pursue, the trayvon martin law is if you pursue you can no longer say stand your ground as part of what's happening. >> there is a lot of the echoes of the '60s in 2013.

to me the dream defenders me of snik. they didn't wait for them to give them something. they went and did it themselves and brought through direct action public attention to a huge outrage in north carolina. that reminded me of dr. king and the broad based movement there. i think you have a new generation of civil rights activists looking back for inspiration at the '60s and trying to adapt it to the 21st century and the reality we face today. >> you heard artie saying your organization is reminiscent of sncc. is that how you see your fight going forward? >> it is an honor to be compared but sncc was a college based organization focusing on trained indigenous leadership in the communities. as we move forward, that's where our focus will be, from a college-based structure into the communities. tow yao talked about it. 2014 is important in the state

of florida. we're going to be building electoral power. another area where young people are acutely aware, being part of an emerging demographic and majority of people that can shift the political discourse in the country. we're going to be building electoral power in florida, seeking to change the conversation, shift the platform points in our gubernatorial election, and to be frank, for any politicians, if they don't have mass incarceration or private prisons on their platforms, then there is going to be a problem. it's the number-one defining issue of our generation and that's what we'll be fighting against from here on out. >> phillip agnew, thank you for your continued advocacy. so appreciative of "time" magazine choosing the pope as their person of the year, but if the i had to make that choice it would have been sybrina fulton because her grace this year under unspeakable circumstances is not like anything i've ever seen before, and i appreciate the work that you all are doing to keep that legacy alive. >> thank you. >> up next, ground zero in the fight for reproductive rights is

here. what happens when the far right messes with texas. ♪ [ male announcer ] new vicks dayquil severe. helps relieve your ugliest, nastiest, roughest, toughest cold symptoms. new dayquil severe. with maximum symptom fighting ingredients. ♪ new vicks nyquil severe. helps relieve your ugliest, nastiest, roughest, toughest nighttime cold symptoms. new nyquil severe. with maximum symptom fighting ingredients. ♪ i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something. [ male announcer ] dayquil cold and flu doesn't treat all that. it doesn't? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting antihistamine. oh, what a relief it is! plus has a fast-acting antihistamine.

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than exxonmobil. because using energy responsibly has never been more important. energy lives here. ♪ in 2013 the state of texas became ground zero in the fight for reproductive justice. in july, texas lawmakers cast a measure that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. the plan would in effect force a third of the state's 36 abortion clinics out of business and prevent an estimated 20,000 women from accessing safe, legal abortions. the measure attracted national attention after weeks of protests and rallies, an epic 11-hour filibuster from wendy davis, now running for texas governor. after the law passed, it was blocked by the district judge only to be reinstated again by the u.s. court of appeals. last month the supreme court rejected an emergency

application to block the law and now the case is going back again to the appeals court, which is expected to hear arguments next month, which means that for now at least 12 of texas eli sense prod veiders can no longer offer abortions. joining me from texas is one of those provider who is's been forced by the law to turn women away. amy hackstrom miller, president and ceo of whole women's health. nice to have you here this morning. >> thank you, melissa, for your coverage of this issue. >> listen, get us up to date, given all this back and north the courts, what is happening on the ground for you as a provider in texas. >> you know, it's been a very difficult couple of months. there's a number of us that have had to stop providing abortion services in our clin clinics. i've faced layoffs of numerous staff because i was not able to keep the doors open and serve the women who need us. we've had infrastructure issues giving people bus and gas tickets to try to help them get to the clinics that are still open in the community. and, you know, even when some of

us have been able to get admitting privileges, like i was able to recently in my ft. worth office, only 1 of 4 physicians has been granted privileges, and he's only available to work with us on saturdays and sundays. and so we've had women having to wait for weeks in order to get an appointment then when they can actually come in, we stayed open until midnight the first saturday we were able to reopen in order to serve the women in the community who needed us. >> i want to pause just a moment. i want to come out on this question, kenji, because i want to talk about the legal strategy here. this is a very different set of strategies than we thought previously which were aimed at the patient who was seeking abortions and trying to limit that. this is really toward the providers. why that kind of strategy, kenji? >> yeah, well, there are multiple strategies going on. i would think of one strategy as a kind of chipping-away strategy, right, so the dominant legal standard is prior to viability a woman as a right to an abortion and the state cannot put an undue burden on her

accessing abortion after ta viability. the state can prescribe abortion as long as there are exceptions for the health and life of the mother. sorry for the legalese but that's from a 1992 case embarrassed by the supreme court in majority and a 2000 case. so we basically have that law on the books. essentially the right has respond in two ways, one is a chipping-away strategy and the other a sledgehammer strategy, which is a lot easier to see. if north dakota says once you can hear a fetal heartbeat you can't have an abortion, that's directly flouting the supreme court because -- >> the heartbeat -- >> because previability you should be able to have that abortion and the state can't place an undue burden. so that's directly asking the supreme court to overrule its priors predeath penalties. it's really underruling the supreme court in a really -- in my view, kind of outrageous way. >> amy, i want to talk about the chipping away because one of the

things i heard you say is you got provider who is now -- patients who have to wait weeks, so we just hear from kenji here that there is this sort of legal standard about viability, and then obviously a set of strategies that are making it impossible for providers sometimes to provide these abortions in a short time period. does that actually end up bumping up against some of these viability questions? >> absolutely it does. you know, what we have here is there's a right that exists on paper, you know, a woman still has the right to make the decision to terminate a pregnancy, but if she can't access that right it's completely meaningless. without providers that are able to serve women safely and professionally, the right is just an abstract thing that exists on paper. what we're seeing is numerous women unable to exercise their right to a safer legal abortion both because they can't travel to where the clinics are open, you know, there's costs that are barriers for them, but also because the clinics that have remained open are unable to serve the demand. and this is just with the

admitting privileges part of the law in effect. once we see the ambulatory surgical center requirements going into effect late they are year, it's going to be even more drastic and worse for women. and you're seeing kind of what kenji was describe, see kwhag we call supply-side barriers, so they're passing infrastructure barriers about hallway whips, about operation room size, about admitting room privileges. previously in the anti-abortion movement it was about waiting periods or it was about parental consent. now what they're doing is basically restricting people's ability to access the service by putting all these onerous regulations on the actual people who are trying to provide the care. >> i want to ask ari one question about this. so part of what we're hearing from kenji is the flood of legislation that occurred in the states. and when you just sort of look at how many states pass something, if we compare ta that to what we were just talking act, a 113th congress that has passed almost no legislation at all and compare that to all of this action occurring in states, there's a part of me that wants

to step back as an academic and say, okay, why? like what in the world is going on in the world that we might see later historically that says in a moment when we don't bother to pass any other kinds of laws we are passing these kinds of restrictions? >> well, one of the things that's happening is you have one party republican rule in so many states, and so many states flipped from blue to red after the 2010 election and statements like texas that were red just got redder. the states are the ones passing the voting rights restrictions, the abortion rights restrictions, the gun rights bills so to speak. and congress is basically irrelevant right now. to some extent the obama administration is irrelevant right now because all the extreme conservative policy making is happening at the state level, where the conservative movement has spent so much time and energy and where they have succeeded so dramatically in the past few years. >> amy, thank you so much for your conned work and for joining us again. we will continue to keep your

eyes on what's happening in texas. amy hackstrom miller from austin, texas. >> thank you. >> when we come back, to my guest trymaine lee who has been for months working on terrific reporting on one of the most underreported and important stories happening in cities across the country. that east next. [ female announcer ] skin looking tired? wake it up with olay regenerist. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface, because energized skin is younger looking skin. ♪

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it gets an impressive 34 highway mpg and comes with no charge scheduled maintenance. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. sign. then drive. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends january 2nd. visit vwdealer.com today the biggest education story this year one in which tradit n traditional public schools are steadily disappearing. and the thing so many of them have in common. msnbc.com's trymaine lee has chronicled the school shutdowns across the country, from cities like philadelphia, where 9,000 public school students have been rerouted to different schools often having to travel through dangerous intersections and neighborhoods. in normandy, missouri, near st. louis, the economic effects of students leaving so-called

failing schools for better ones in other districts has been crippling because the district they leave has to pay all transfer-related costs. to chicago where terms like "phasing out" and "school anderson ert" are taking on special meaning with the largest single school closing in history. trymaine has a piece on msnbc.com, the closures are devastating students and their communities. trymaine, what is the punch line here or the finding here? what is it these schools have in common? >> the finding here is that overwhelmingly the people who are bearing the heaviest load of all these policy decisions and all these school closures are young black and brown people, primarily black people, primarily poor people. why we have the big conversation about reform and choice and should we open charter schools and give parents in these communities who have been sent to failing schools -- the schools are not educating the

people. people in the community say is it a failing school or a failing system? while the charter movement gains strength from the economic incentives, poor black and brown children are going to schools that are overwroud crowded, that don't have toilet paper. we're talking 2013 where they don't have updated books, they have to walk dangerous routes through dangerous neighborhoods. they're already the most vulnerable demographic. you can overlay the maps of the school deserts with the food deserts and voter i.d. laws and gun violence. these kids are bearing the brunt of it. >> children who are hungry are going to school -- children who are hungry, often suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder or ongoing traumatic stress disorder as a result of lifg in violent neighborhoods, then go to schools that are underresourced. not much of a surprise they have trouble accomplishing a variety of academic tasks. then those schools are closed. yet, as you point out, because they were failing schools, sherrilyn, part of what we've seen undoubtedly as members of

the civil rights community, this fight, then, doesn't fall out along the sort of -- it's a tough fight. >> it's difficult. we're coming unon the 60th anniversary of brown versus board of education and have a tremendous amount of work cut out for us where education is concerned. what every parent wants of every race is a school that's going to educate their child and prepare their child to be a citizen and to be able to work in our economy. the problem we have in this country is we have decided to walk away from the commitment to public education. and the commitment to public education is the only way that we can ensure that every child -- because some parents will have the choice and some parents won't are have the choice. that means -- >> and some parents will not be present. >> exactly. ? v. >> if your parent is the kind of parent -- >> that doesn't happen for you. unless we are prepared to make

that commitment, turn that failing school around, we veal precisely the kind of situation that trymaine documents in his article. the reality is the resources these schools need to be able to educate these children are not there and are not there because of our failure to make that commitment to them to be there. as a parent, as a young person, a young mar rid person, are you going to move to a neighborhood that has no schools? >> no. >> you're not. >> if you have that choice. >> again, if you have that choice. if we're talking about, you know, the children, we're also talking tact vitality and the future of the communities from which they come, because businesses are not going to locate there. you're not going to have economic development there. and so we're talking act just deserts, not school deserts or food deserts but urban deserts. >> trymaine, what you often hear from the political leaders in these cities, because these are often cities where african-american voters are politically em pempowered, righ, sometimes black mayors of these cities, and they'll say we are

facing an economic crisis, these are schools that are failing, don't worry, we'll open charters. the nary stif we don't have any choice. what other choice do we have? >> there are some charter schools that do a great job of educating kids. most don't. most perform at or below the level of the school the kids left. >> say that one time. >> these schools are not performing at a greater level. so in the community, parents will say choice is give us the resources we need to get our kids in position to excel. because on the back end, we see it so clearly. no wonder why the school to prison pipeline is so strong. no wonder when you look inside, many dropped out of school, many come from these communities. it's not a matter of this high-minded philosophy. there's real impact. when they come back, can they get a job, be productive members of society, attract the young parents and families to a community to bolster it. >> and of course these things all connect back in the sense here you have a set of states who are making decisions that make it harder often for women

of color and often for poor women to access reproductive choice, and then their children are caught in circumstances that can be devastate, and then you have a school to prison pipeline. i mean, these things are not -- we do them between commercial breaks but, in fact, they actually are all deeply connected in the way we are currently making policy. trymaine, i really appreciate your reporting and staying on this. we want to make sure everyone knows that this latest piece can be seen online at mh pcsshow.com. when we come back, late breaking news from last night on the continuing effort to wage against the machine. a judge's key ruling in what is becoming one of the nation's most important test cases for establishing a living wage. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief.

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all year we've been talking about the tough economy and the

fraying of the social safety net which just became even more fragile. today unemployment benefits expire for 1.3 million americans who have been out of work more than 26 weeks. president obama has expressed support for a senate plan to extend the benefit for another three mos, but in the meantime the long-term unemployed are in economic limbo. even some people with jobs are feeling left out of the economic recovery because of the growing income gap. that's why walmart workers and their supporters staged 1,500 protests on black friday. why fast food employees walked off the job more than 100 cities earlier this month. and why several states have passed their own minimum wage hikes. in 2014, 20 states and washington, d.c., will have a minimum wage floor higher than the federal level of $7.25. but late last night, a setback in the city that has become the poster child for voter action on wages. a judge in washington state has ruled that sea-tac's new voter-approved law establishing a $15 an hour minimum wage for

travel and hospitality workers does not apply to nearly 5,000 airport workers. the judge says that seattle tacoma international airport is outside the city's authority because it is owned by the port of seattle, a separate government entity. support of the laws are allowed to appeal. christine owens is executive director of the national employment law project. she joins us from washington, d.c. that news out of seattle last night, how big is it? >> it's not really a surprise. you know, we found that in these ballot campaigns, the opponents challenge them all the way. we generally win them and they're still challenges so we're not at all surprised by this decision. it's the same judge who initially ruled it couldn't be on the ballot to begin with and that decision was overturned by the state supreme court. supports will take this back to the supreme court. it's really too early to speculate as to what the court will do. i think the important thing is that this jeannie is out of the

bottle. it can't be put back in. the victory in se sae tack has excited folks around the country, has helped build the momentum. we now have campaigns in the city of seattle and chicago and new york for higher city minimum wages, and we have state minimum wage campaigns in roughly a dozen states and a strong federal minimum wage campaign. as you said earlier, people are acutely aware something is deeply wrong with this economy. it actually starts at the bottom and that's where we have to start to raise wages. >> so let me come out here to ari, sitting at my table, because when we look at support for raising the minimum wage, it is almost consensus position. a lot of people think we ought to go ahead and raise the minimum wage, at least make it proposed that it's tied to inflation. for democrats basically consensus, even for republicans, although there is a majority against, a bare majority, 56% against, independent, 71%.

if i'm looking at that and running for office, i'm thinking this is where you go, you go to the minimum wage. as we talked about a variety of issues today, it feels like what the voters want. it's totally unrelated to what the legislators are doing. >> it sort of seems like with congress the more popular it is the less likely it is they're going to do it. we have this huge pot of inequality and the fact the minimum wage is not rising is a reflection of that. at the least, we should be raising it. then you look at the issue of unemployment benefits. congress paid themselves when they shut down the government. >> they did. >> they're not willing to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for one year, two years? that is so morally wrong, it's kind of unbelievable to even think about it. people aren't demanding more of their members of congress. >> they also take government-sponsored health care at various points over and over again. kenji, i'm wondering what about the legal aspects here. so here we have voters who make a decision about what they want people to be paid, but then we

have a court say, hey, this entity, although it is within the geographic boundaries of seattle tacoma, it's govred by something different so these voters don't get to speak on it. >> that was a legislative decision rather than a voter decision to carve out that jurisdiction. it's basically a jurisdictional issue. it will play out. i actually that's a hiccup along the way to the broader picture. one thing i want to highlight is let's notice the way in which the ballot initiatives, which i was so hard on, you know, last year with prop 8, you know, i'm celebrating here, right. >> yeah. >> and i want to underscore i don't think there's hypocrisy there because i think the ballot initiative was created during the progressive era when legislators had been captured by special interests such that the people were not being hurt. it's the disenfranchised who were saying we're going to create a plebiscite in order to speak. more recently, unfortunately, the plebiscite has been used to trample on minority rights as in prop 8 to have gay rights movement. both are ballot initiatives but

this one is truer to the progressive era that actually spawned these movements in this country in the first place. >> christina, let me ask you about that rather and the era we find ourselves in now. your organization has been instrumental in pushing this to the fore front but traditionally thinking about these workers' rights issues we would be looking to labor unions and they've had a tough couple years. what do you see as the future for the questions of labor and workers' rights in this country? >> i think that there's actually a lot to be excited about in terms of the labor movement. i think it has become much more broadly a workers' movement. there's a lot of support among established unions for a lot of the efforts that are under way, whether it's the fast food strikes, the walmart strikes, the efforts on the part of employees of federal contractors to win decent wages and to have the opportunity to have a voice at work if they want to. so i think the partnerships that

have been emerging between groups like mine, worker centers, other worker organizations, and the labor movement, the formal labor movement, is sort of a new generation of labor. and i think it holds a lot of promise. >> we will continue to keep our eyes on this. christine owens, kenji yoshino, ari berman, sherrilyn ifill, and trymaine lee, thanks for being here. coming up, we'll check back in with some of the most ips partial birth aborti -- inspirational people we met this year, like gene taylor, who shares his music skills with patients at the hospital he works in north carolina. he released this on itunes. we'll be right back. [ sniffles, coughs ] shhhh! i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. [ sniffles ] i better take something.

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program know on saturdays we close the show with our foot soldiers of the week. people in their communities taking action to create change be it large or small. so as 2013 comes to a close, we wanted to bring you some incredible updates on the inspiring individuals we featured throughout the year. first there was ben simon, a student at the university of maryland and a founder of the food recovery network. that group uses volunteer power of students to take unsold food from campus dining hauls and donate it to local food banks and shelters. when we first met ben, the group had just 13 chapters. now there are 46 chapters and they have donated 200,000 meals to hungry americans. we met aaron jackson founder of planting peace famous for the rainbow colored equality house directly across from the homophobic westboro baptist church. last month they repained the house in honor of those who have

been lost to violence. planting peace is also creating secret safehouses for members of the lgbt community in uganda where draconian anti-sexuality bill passed last week. this year we also met 12-year-old madison kimry who started a moveon.org begs asking north carolina governor pat mccrory to meet with her why he signed an ultrarestrictive voting rights law. after coming on our show, she gave a stirring speech at a moral monday protest in the fall and started a new petition calling for federal legislation to grant 16 and 17-year-olds the right to preregister to vote. dr. malcolm woodland founded a training program for african-american boys in washington. this past summer, six high school sophomores lived at howard university learning about medicine is, psychology and health issues affecting their communities. the young docs are also taking part in local health fairs and

meet every saturday throughout the school year. they're looking forward to returning to howard this summer. then there was tamar bogs, a true hero. this lancaster, pennsylvania teenager took to his bike when he heard a 5-year-old girl had been abducted from his neighborhood. heched to find the girl and return her safely home. not only has he stayed close with the family but has become a leader in school and tells us he stays focused on the bright side of life. for more on these amazing foot soldiers and many others check out our website at mhp show.com. that's our show for today. thanks to you at home for watching. i'm going to see you again tomorrow morning. remember when anthony weiner was a contender for mayor of new york or the election that featured both eight jackson. >> or when ted cruz broke out green eggs and ham on the senate floor? tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, our second annual look back in laughter. you know jamie kill steen is

going to be here and pia glenn and judy gold. they're all going to be here. yes, it's the nerd land joke show. here's the deal. we have no idea whether it's going to work. it's time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." >> i'm supposed to follow that? come on. okay. anyway, let's go with this, everyone. there's been a setback in trying to free that ship trapped by ice and in antarctica. how did it end up there and how much longer can the dozens on board last? the striking and personal video released by the daughter of new york city mayor bill de blasio. what she said and how it might help others. if the cold in new jersey doesn't keep you away from the super bowl in february, another aspect of the game probably will. americans and their attitudes towards 2014. how does the public feel about the coming year? will it be better or worse? don't go anywhere. the day buildt begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief.

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[ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ behind the numbers, how will the ending of jobless benefits

for more than a million people affect the economy? the answer might surprise you. still trapped, more drama today after one attempt fails to rescue dozens stuck in antarctic ice. what will happen next? he's back. in fact, it's like he never left. the duck dynasty dude no longer suspended. did the controversy just serve to promote the show? >> is that your car? >> it's a jag? >> yeah. >> make a lot of money? >> yeah, i do all right for myself. >> the top ten films of the year. one expert with his picks. where does "the wolf of wall street" fit in? hint, it's not number one. hey there, everyone. high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to weekends with alex wit. more than 1 million americans got an ugly post christmas jolt at midnight last night. long-term jobless benefits