so i think those are things that that mother had to say today. >> goldie taylor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. up next, our live coverage of the breaking news on the situation in iraq continues with ari melber in for chris hayes tonight. tonight, we are all in. >> today i authorized two operations in iraq. targeted air strikes to protect our american personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of iraqi civilians. >> breaking news. the president authorizes air strikes in iraq to protect u.s. personnel and to prevent genocide in iraq. we'll have the latest. one man's mission. a california business owner is facing death threats after providing shelter to a family fleeing violence in guatemala. he'll join us live tonight.

and the kansas city chiefs reach out to local native american tribes wild t-- while the washington redskins team owner double downs. good evening. it is 11:00 p.m. in new york, 6:00 a.m. in baghdad. we are covering breaking news in the wake of the unusual white house address when the president announced he authorized potential air strikes against terror groups in iraq. >> today i authorized two operations in iraq. an air strike to protect american personnel and a humanitarian air drop. >> the first operation is aimed at protecting u.s. personnel still if iraq.

>> i said in june, as the terrorist group isil began across iraq, that the united states would be prepared to take targeted military action in iraq if and when we determined that the situation required it. in recent days, these terrorists have continued to move across iraq and have neared the city offer beale, where civilians seven at on consulate and american military personnel advise iraqi forces. to stop the advance on erbil, i've ordered air strikes if they continue. >> the second operation that the president laid out is to protect the 40,000 iraqis who have fled to the mountains in northern iraq under threat of death and other threats from the sunni militant group known as isis or

isil. in addition to the humanitarian air drops, which were reportedly completed earlier today, the president is authorizing air strikes, if needed, to help the iraqi government prevent what he describes as a potential genocide. >> at the request of the iraqi government, we've begun operations to help save iraqi civilians stranded on the mountain. as isil has marched across iraq, it's waged a ruthless campaign against innocent iraqis, including christians and yazidis, a small and ancient religious sect. countless iraqis have been displaced and reports describe isil militants rounding up families, conducting mass executions and enshaving yazidi women. in he cent days, yazidi women, men, and children from the area of sinjar have fled for their lives and perhaps tens of

thousands are hiding on the mountain with little but the clothes on their backs. they're without food, they're without water. people are starving, and children are dying of thirst. meanwhile, isil forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire yazidi people, which would constitute genocide. we can act to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> while explaining those stakes tonight and the prospect of two missions in iraq, the president insisted he wouldn't send troops back into an iraq war he's long opposed. >> many of you are rightly concerned about any american military action in iraq. i understand that. as commander in chief, i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. so even as we support iraqis as they take the fight to these

terrorists, american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. >> kristen welker joins us from the white house. after the president finished that address, i know you've been talking to senior administration officials. what can you tell us tonight? >> reporter: well're learning more about the president's decision making process, the decision to proceed with the air drop of food and water, the humanitarian assistance to those 40,000 ethnic minorities stranded on that mountain. the discussions began after there was yet another attack by isis forces yesterday in the northern part of iraq. of course, they have been moving, taking cities in the northwestern part of iraq, getting closer and closer to erbil where the u.s. does have a consulate. it also came after the humanitarian crisis continued to escalate with increasing calls by the iraqi government for

help. so after a series of meetings today, president, this administration decided to move forward again with the actions that president obama announced just a short time ago. we're also gaining more insight into how that air drop actually took place. seen your administration officials saying that a cargo aircraft guarded by two f-18 fighter jets dropped 8,000 -- about 8,000 ready to eat meals over that area where you have those tens of thousands of people who are stranded right now, who have been without food and water for days. senior administration officials were asked about the legal just fi ca -- justification and the president concluded he did have legal justification, that this is legal under international law because the iraqi government requested this aid. the officials also made the point that the president

believes he's protecting the interest of u.s. citizens, again, reiterating that point that the consulate is inn erbil. >> let me play a little more on what the president said tonight. let's listen to what the president said tonight on talking to congress. >> the several hundred american advisers i ordered to iraq will continue to assess what more we can do to train, advise and support iraqi forces going forward. just as i consulted congress on the decisions i made today, we'll continue to do so going forward. >> the direct implication of the president's remark, they will continue to talk to congress, but they have this authority all by themselves. >> that is somewhat they have concluded at this point. they believe that the president

has the authority to move forward with those targeted air strikes, again, if needed, because, and you heard the president make this argument, he believes that he's protecting u.s. interest in the area, the interest of those u.s. officials who are at the consulate in erb erbil. again, this is to prevent a possible genocide. the president has been consulting with members of congress, the chief of staff did reach out to house speaker john boehner. i'm told there have been a series of phone calls back and forth between the white house and capitol hill throughout the evening to brief congressional leaders and members of congress on the president's decision making process. we are starting to get some reaction from capitol hill. at this point in time, there seems to be some bipartisan support for this decision. carl leaven, rob portman, elliott angle, all saying they believe these were the right steps that president obama is

moving forward in the right direction. not surprisingly, you have senator john mccain who had -- who is more critical of president obama, lindsey graham, i'll read you a snippet of their statement. they said, we need to get beyond a policy of half measures. of course, they have been critical of president obama's policy in the middle east and iraq all along. they believe there should have been a larger force left in iraq and that is, of course, the big fight. president obama has always run on a platform of drawing down and ending the war in iraq. so he believes these measures are consistent with that promise. again, reiterating there are no plans to put u.s. boots on the ground. >> that's the debate as it unfolds. a busy day at the white house. kristen, thank you. we now do have more details on one of the missions president obama did acknowledge ordering tonight. this is the humanitarian air drop of supplies to help the

estimated 40,000 yazidi refugees that we're learning more about. that are isolated on top of the mountains, under threat from isis, in need of food and water after isis took control of their hometown. >> american aircraft have begun conducted humanitarian air drops of food and water to help these desperate women and children survive. earlier this week, an iraqi woman cried to the world, no one is coming to help. well, america is coming to help. >> tonight, we've learned more what form that help came in. three cargo planes escorted by two fighter jets that dropped 72 bundles of supplies, including water and ready to eat meals. the aircraft were over the drop area for less than 15 minutes, flying at low altitude.

we're told by u.s. officials all planes are now out of iraqi air space. joining me now is senior correspondent and associate editor at "the washington post." good evening to you. what are we to take of this address from the president saying number one, humanitarian health has now been achieved and he'll do more, if necessary. and number two, militarily, they are prepared to act to protect u.s. interests and potentially fight isis while promising no ground troops. >> well, two important elements here. one, we've got a clear red line set down by the president with regard to protecting the city of erbil. i think we can take that by extension, protecting baghdad where we have the world's largest embassy. so kind of creating a firewall and an action that's helped

embolden and buttress the iraqi and kurdish forces on the ground, protecting those two cities. what the humanitarian side, this is a much murkier situation -- >> let me stop you on the military piece and may the point where the president said we are prepared to take this targeted action tonight. let's listen to that. >> even as we carry out these two missions, we will continue to pursue a broader strategy that empowers iraqis to confront this crisis. >> let me play the other sound bite where he says going forward, we're prepared to take this precise action. listen to this, as well. >> going forward, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it. >> the president in june really draw thing line and he specifically referenced that tonight. and yet the question i have to

ask you militarily, everything we learned about isis, does drawing a line like that play into their hand it is they want a bigger conflict? >> well, everything we know about them suggests that they are keen to have a bigger conflict and to seize that territory. so i'm not so sure they're going to be cowed by this it's going to be interesting to see whether those air strikes will be enough to push those forces back. my ens is is that usair strikes coupled with ground movements with the kurdish forces should be enough to hold them back. but i don't think they're going to retreat because of this address by the president. when it comes to the yazidi population on top of that mountain, ari, we're providing them humanitarian aid. again, i don't see the isis

forces just walking away from sinjar, which then leaves the bigger question of what are we going to do, if anything, to help get those people off the mountain, because it doesn't appear that the iraqi army troops and/or kurdish forces are in any position to help retake that time to get the yazidis off the mountain. >> that's the tough part. thank you so much. i want to move now to policy impact coordinator and michael green, who served in combat in iraq and afghanistan and clerked in the office of the white house counsel. good evening to you both. your thoughts on whether this type of one part humanitarian, one part military threat intervention is tenable? >> i think it's a disaster. it diminishes one of president obama's most important legacies, which is ending the war in iraq. i think that there's a lot that

we can point out in iraq that is going wrong, there are a lot of crises, but dropping more u.s. bombs or sending more u.s. jet planes is definitely not a part of the answer. >> do you think it would be acceptable if the u.s. actually achieved what the president laid out tonight, which was only humanitarian and no ground tr s troops? >> he didn't limit just to humanitarian work. he spoke about limited air strikes, which takes the u.s. back into military action in iraq. the u.s. will become yet again -- >> captain, your response?

>> i think we may have lost him. so let me go back to your point there and read to you what lindsey graham and john mccain are saying about this tonight. >> i think that goes to the caution you're raising tonight, which is both strategically on the ground and politically in this nation if we reopen this, do we insight all this excitement to have a bigger conflict? >> yeah, that is one major question, which is once we start bombing and interfering in iraq, where is the line that we draw in the sand? how many air strikes are we going to accept? how many bombs are we going to drop? but more importantly is the realization that this

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the latest on the developing situation in iraq. the president speaking to the nation tonight, authorizing air strikes in iraq, if necessary. all this as the rebel group isis pushes a violent offensive across the country. protests at the white house. stay with us for more.

tonight, the u.s. here is launching a new humanitarian mission in iraq. a response has caught many by surprise, just as the rapid success of the terrorist group isis surprised to many. the group's first incursion hit mosul, overrunning the city sending thousands of iraqi troops fleeing from there. today, isis controls land from the syrian board in the northwest town towards baghdad. isis seized all this land in under two months. today, the group took control of iraq's largest dam, which provides water to much of the country, giving isis new leverage over infrastructure in addition to efforts to intimidate iraqi troops and civilians. in mt. sinjar, 40,000 are

stranded with food and water running out. isis says they are fighting a religious war with no end in sight. >> that footage is from a filmmaker working for vice news who embedded with isis as they pushed through iraq. joining me, kevin sutcliffe, head of vice news europe. good evening to you. >> thank you for having me. >> i mentioned before we had someone from vice, not the reporter. we have you, the editor. how did you get so much access here? >> we spent a lot of time with the filmmaker trying to find out a way in, trying to work a safe way in and a safe way out for

the filmmaker. we made the right contacts over a period of time and we were satisfied that we could get in, inside, and try to find, build a portrait of what life's like in the islamic state. >> when you are working with a group this dangerous, what did you do to secure the safety of your reporter, and what was isis' goal in granting you this video access? >> the first thing, a filmmaker like this has a huge wealth of experience going back years. we were able to draw on that to make a decision about how he could get in and how he could work safely. so once we've done that, once we've got the bona fides and the invites that we got from isis to come in, we decided it was safe and we could manage the risk of him going there. >> and they, what do they get out of it? >> i don't know. you have to ask them. i think what we got out of it was an extraordinary portrait of the islamic state. a very chilling portrait of the

determination of the people inside this state. to an expansionist state. a group of people who are so determined with weaponry to expand beyond the borders of syria and iraq. in fact, they do not recognize those borders now. they're spilling over into lebanon where there's fighting now. this is a middle eastern sort of crisis in the making. >> yeah. i was discussing this just earlier in the show here. and obviously we're on a night where the eyes of the world are on isis with 40,000 people here in what's being called a humanitarian crisis. i'll read something from one isis fighter saying "al qaeda is an organization and we are a state. osama bin laden, god have mercy on him, was fighting to establish the islamic state to rule the world and praise god, we have achieved his dream." you say they don't acknowledge those other borders. that's because they say they're creating new borders for a caliphate.

>> yeah, that's right. it's worth remembering that they split from al qaeda because al qaeda felt this group was too brutal to be associated with which is extraordinary. >> let's pause on that point. you're saying from your reporting here, and your news organization's reporting, al qaeda found this group too brutal. >> that's -- isis went their own way, and you can see online, you can see anywhere, they're posting videos of the most extraordinary brutality. we have in the film syrian regime were overrun in a small part. and the 50 or so soldiers were killed. their bodies were beheaded and displayed in the center of town. >> yeah, that has been a big part of their effort when you look at what they're doing going after people in each town they run into. it is that intimidation we've been reporting on. it would seem that media, internet, and video is a part of that campaign. >> they have a very sophisticated media campaign, and i think the social media is

pull of these images and they're disseminating. they know exactly what they're doing. what we've attempted to do, and i think we've done it very successfully, is to show you a chilling portrait of what it's like to be there. an independent filmmaker has gone in and operated and come back with something that i think is an exclusive. no one else has got there. i think of the portrait you get, you're inside the sharia courts, seeing how they indoctrinate children, seeing how they operate the state. >> kevin, doesn't that -- and doesn't that, kevin, go to the point that washington is debating tonight whether the president is moving toward the right action here? doing some kind of humanitarian drop there into iraq? because it seems to me that if you actually define this as a humanitarian mission, whereby you want to protect people who come into contact with isis, you would have grounds for humanitarian mission anywhere isis is in charge. any young woman in any area that isis is in charge of is in a humanitarian emergency. >> in the vice news film, we see

armsmen going around enforcing law, enforcing sharia law, enforcing women to wear veils. this is an extraordinary thing. i can't see how the humanitarian mission is going to work. this -- the genie is out of the bottle. >> you cannot see how the president's mission will work? >> i think the genie is out of the bottle. how do you stop this? this is a small, organized determined force. there's only 7,000 to 10,000 fighters. look how fast and how quickly they've spread across syria and iraq and toward lebanon now. how do you stop that? >> well, and what is the risk factor? you heard some of the guests earlier tonight including a former secretary of defense saying, yes, there is risk, but this can be done in a controlled way. that's what white house aides are telling our reporters tonight. you don't think based on your knowledge of isis that that is true? >> i think what the film shows you is the determination of these people. they do not see boundaries. they absolutely are convinced they're doing god's work and they will continue to do that everywhere.

they are, i think, ruthless, brutal, and very, very scary. >> and what was your reaction as a filmmaker in seeing some of that brutality? >> one of the things that really struck me was what's it like for people when isis comes to town? how did you live? how did you get by? not everyone who's coming in these places is a supporter. they're patrolled. their streets are patrolled by armed men who are imposing the most draconian rules and lifestyles. lifestyles that were alien to them less than six months ago. that's extraordinary. >> and final question, as the president moves forward on this humanitarian mission tonight, as we've been reporting, in iraq, do you think based on your knowledge of isis that there is a risk that they will try to use any u.s. involvement there on the humanitarian front to ensnare the u.s. further? >> i have no idea. i think that their view is an expansionist view. they simply wish to establish a bigger and bigger caliphate in the region.

that's their determination. their anti-american, anti-christian. they are pro what they're trying to do and they're doing god's work in their view. >> kevin sutcliffe from vice news. thank you for being here tonight. also watch the first installment of the isis report on vice.com we should mention. a california man decides to take in a migrant family from guatemala and now he's getting literal death threats. we'll talk to him. that's ahead. when you run a business, you can't settle for slow.

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we've been reporting on the president's address tonight. and there are breaking news out of israel. the israeli military announced two rockets fired from gaza hit southern israel. terrorists have violated the cease-fire. that three-day cease-fire was set to expire less than two hours from now. and israel had offed to extend the truce with no added conditions. hamas vowed to end it if their demands were not met. we'll be right back with much more. thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers today. angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. visit angieslist.com today.

hold that flag up high. hold that flag up high. >> after watching a group of american flag waving protesters turned back buses carrying migrant mothers and children last month a small businessowner near san diego decided to take

action, personally take in a family from guatemala and now he said he started receiving death threats as a consequence of taking a stand and trying to help. >> mark lane runs papa's fish company but when we were there, he was busy taking call from immigrant activists across the country. he doesn't have a position on the immigration crisis but decided to take a stand against murrieta when his 5-year-old son asked him why these buses carrying undocumented women and children were blocked. >> why do i have to explain to my 5-year-old why people are mad at the buses when really they're mad at the people inside of the buses? >> lane took in a mother, two teenage sons and 23-year-old daughter. according to kgtv in san diego, that family fled guatemala after gangs threatened to kill the sons for not joining their gang and the 23-year-old daughter was raped multiple times during their journey to the u.s.

the backlash started when he helped launch the facebook campaign, boycott murrieta, california. after he decided he had to do something personally to help the families. word spread. a facebook page encouraging a boycott of his business popped up. that page has since been taken down. joining me now is mark lane. good evening to you. how are you? >> i'm good, thanks, ari. thanks for having me. >> you bet. mark, let's start with what you mentioned there in that local broadcast. this conversation you were having with your son. >> we were watching the news and the news of the protests came up and he happened to be sitting on my lap. he's an innocent kid and looked and saw what was going on and turned to me and said, hey, dad, why are the people mad at the buses? that was just kind of -- something inside me, like, why in 2014 do we need to tell a 5-year-old they're not mad at the buses, they're mad at the people inside of the buses? you know, that just kind of triggered something inside of me. >> how did you go about making contact with this particular

family? >> well, we started -- we started doing some things online. through that, i came into contact with a charity called border angels, a local charity. and they put out a post looking for host families. we called them and said, you know, i talked to my wife. she said it would be okay. we called them and said we could do it. and maybe three or four days later they called us and this family needed help and we went and picked them up and they've been with us ever since. >> and what did you learn about what they went through on their way to the u.s.? >> you know, it's -- before they left, the gangs were recruiting them. they said, no. they said they would kill the whole family. they came and took the daughter. she was gang raped as a mechanism to get the boys to start working for the gang. they decided that day they had to leave. they didn't have money. they walked to the border. the father was beat up as they left. he almost got beat to death. the family escaped. they came across mexico on the

train called la bestia, the beast, where people ride on top and promptly all their money was stolen, the little bit that they had. it took them a couple months to get across mexico. again, the girl was abused. the boys were beat up. it was just a tough journey for them. they got to tijuana and turned themselves in to the border patrol and are now in, you know, immigration proceedings. >> do you think the u.s. should try to find a permanent home for them or ultimately process them and send them back? >> i don't think it's the u.s.' job to do either one. it's just the judge is going to decide the disposition of them. that's what the law asks to be done. and so they're going to go through the process. immigration judge will decide if they get to stay or don't get to stay. you know, that's just way it works. you know, for me, it's more of an issue of how do we treat them while they're here? you know, they're here. they're here legally. they're here on refugee status.

and i just don't believe we should terrorize them. >> and so when you got all this response, the targeting of sort of you and your business, and according to local reports and one interview i read with you previously, you said people were actually making threats to you and your family. what do you make of that? what's your reaction to that? >> you know, it's disappointing to me that, you know, we're in 2014. that there's still not a clear understanding of first amendment rights and what is free speech and what is terrorizing, what is threatening. things like that. you know, they set up the page to boycott my business and to boycott me. i have zero problem with that. and if they want to do that, that's their first amendment right. but when they put my kids' pictures all over their hate sites, my wife threatening us, i was getting phone calls. you know, that tuesday, they were going 100 miles an hour. you know, that i'm a race traitor, i'm a traitor to the country, we're going to kill you and your family, we're coming down there. that kind of thing. someone posted on their site

that mark lane deserves a severe beating in front of his customers. that's not free speech anymore. you know? you can have hate speech. that's covered. you can't threaten and you can't, you know, go after people's families and things line that. that's just -- it was disappointing. it made me angry and just strengthened my resolve in what i'm doing. you know, if they reacted that harshly, i know i'm doing something right. >> yeah, mark, so what do you want to say to folks who are looking at this or folks who support you on a way to move ahead on solutions? >> you know, one of the things that happened that really touched me was the way they were dehumanized. you know, they're disease ridden, they're vermin, lice ridden. we can't dehumanize people just because they lost the birth lottery. we won the birth lottery because we were here. that doesn't make us better than them. it doesn't make them worse than us. we need to treat them as humans. we need to let the process do

its thing, and, you know, while they're here, there are solutions, you know, the government needs to get busy and get some funding to provide judges. you know, so they can get the process going, provide more agents to create the security for both the americans and for the refugees coming across. you know, we need -- congress needs to provide funding to make sure we're detaining them humanely. i mean, they're in cages. they're sleeping on the floor. you've got children next to each other sleeping on floors next to outhouses. >> yeah. >> and we just -- >> go ahead. >> we just need to treat them humanely. we need to be able to fund that. and on the front lines of it are people like me, you know, thousands of families across the country that are hosting families, and we're doing it on our own dime. >> yeah. >> it's important -- it's important that, you know, that's the american way. we've always done that. we've always helped people. and, you know, in that spirit, it's kind of the strength of my resolve and we're working on a foundation we're going to

announce later this week. we're going to help support the families that are working to be shields. really from the hate. >> well, you know, mark -- >> to these kids and these women. >> i appreciate that and what you're doing. we cover this issue a lot. we cover politicians a lot in washington who talk about a quote/unquote humanitarian crisis but it seems many like a political football to them. you're obviously in your own way on the front lines of that. i want to read, again, something you said. "we can't dehumanize people because they lost the birth lottery." i hope people hear your message, mark. thanks for sharing it with us tonight. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> of course, you bet. now, up next, how the kansas city chiefs are trying to prevent a washington redskins-style controversy. that's ahead. when you run a business, you can't settle for slow.

that's why i always choose the fastest intern. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. back in the 1990s a group of kansas city chiefs football players posed for a poster,

that, well, let's say it's hard to imagine a team today thinking this was a good idea. while the team has shied away from some of the more offensive associations with its name, the chiefs are still among the teams that play the tomahawk chop during game and allow fans to show up to home games dressed like this guy. yeah, that guy. the chiefs know they have a potential publics relations night mare looming. in june, the u.s. patent and trademark office canceled the team's trademark legislation deeming it and the logo disparaging to native americans. that decision is under appeal. redskins owner dan snyder defended the team name, meanwhile, in a new interview on monday on espn 980, a radio station he actually owns. >> i think that it's time that people look at the truth and the history and real meanings and look at us for what we are. we're a historic football team that's very proud, that has a great legacy that honors and respects people. >> they respect people.

they say so themselves. now, the plaintiff in the trademark case against the redskins was a navajo and social worker named amanda blackhorse who also protested the cleveland indians who scaled back the use of that logo. blackhorse criticized the kansas chiefs as well and the chiefs are, according to the "kansas star" trying to, "avoid a cultural free for all by forming an alliance with american indian groups." the chiefs have reportedly reached out to several of them. chiefs president mark donovan held meetings with two local american indian leaders in the past week, alone. for the chiefs, like the redskins, indians, chicago blackhawks and other teams with native american names and logos, it's simply getting harder and harder to keep the critics at bay. eleanor holmes-norton is washington's representative, and jacqueline keeler, navajo and co-founder of the group eradicating offensive native mascotry. good evening. >> good evening.

>> congresswoman, are we there on this issue yet? >> we have tipped. you've got not only the second time native people have won in the patent and trademark commission. they lost the first time on appeal only because of the technicality. you've got members of the house of representatives, i'm one of ten, who have filed a bill to cancel the trademark. you've got 50 senators who call for canceling of the trademark. you've got religious leaders, civil rights leaders. this is a movement, and the law is on our side. the native people are winning, and i don't know what roger goodell of the nfl and dan snyder are waiting for. do they want to be kicked? do they want to be dragged kicking and screaming across the line? shame.

>> yeah. jacqueline, let me ask you on that point -- i was reading up on this today and one of the bizarre counterarguments you hear from the defenders is, well, we should really be focused on the plight of native american indian communities, reservations, economic issues. i'm not aware of the rule that says you have to only do one of these two things. what do you say to that argument? >> well, i think that native people are able to do many things simultaneously. and certainly we work on those issues as well. i've spent 20 years working in native communities on these issues. i think the reason this is really important is because it affects all the other issues. we are stereotyped, we are marginalized and our issues become obscure. obscured by mascots. everyone knows the mascots. they know the stereotypes. they don't know anything about us. when it comes time to make decisions like policy decisions, funding decisions, these are harmed by this lack of

knowledge. and you see that in supreme court justice rulings, you know, and where children are taken away from the tribes. you see that in funding where the indian health service, their funding is reduced because there are a lot of misconception about native people. and this is why, you know, mascots have to go. basically they promote stereotypes, outdated stereotypes about native people and pigeon hole us so real native people aren't seen for who we are and nobody knows anything about us. >> congresswoman, do you think that teams would get away with this with roughly comparable terminology or imagery about larger or potentially more politically powerful groups? >> this is a very important point. they would dare do this to african-americans or hispanics. look at the difference between us. native people are 2% or 3% of the population. african-americans are about 10%. and hispanics are an even larger number. the larger the number, the more

difficult it is to use the stereotype. stereotypes in a diverse society are intolerable and harmful to children and to the people themselves, as you have just heard. and they are not tolerated. except when the group is so small and so spread out that it's harder for them to fight back. well, i tell you one thing, native people have raised the consciousness of people far from native people and now what we have is a movement in every part of the country. >> jacqueline, do you agree with that? >> yeah. she's absolutely right. you know, most native people live off the reservation, like 60% to 70%, and so native youth are subjected to these mascots and images in their schools, on tv, by their friends. you know, alone. you know, they're like a minority amongst minorities in urban and suburban communities and rural communities. and then, so, studies show that

this really affects native youth self-esteem, lowers it. studies show even native youth who say they're okay with mascots, their self-esteem is measurably lower after seeing a mascot. and this has -- it's a real taking from one of the most vulnerable populations in the united states. native youth have three times the rate of suicide of any other group of youth in the country, and those are from the cdc figures. >> and congresswoman, what do you say to the argument on politics, not on substance, mind you, but on the politics that more needs to be done to win this effort because you'll still see polls showing a majority, one poll showing 71% of people saying this doesn't need to change. >> yeah, isn't that interesting that what we've had in the last few years is a consciousness raising effort led by native people. i am a third-generation washingtonian. i've lived with the washington team all my life. and i'm a civil rights activist, civil rights lawyer. they had to raise my consciousness. so, of course they're going to have to raise the consciousness

of the american people. people did not know, shame on us, but we did know. we did know. and now we know. once you know, there's no excuse. >> well, what you just said is not easy to say, i think, especially for a politician. maybe you're not a normal politician, congresswoman eleanor holmes-norton, and jacqueline keeler, thank you for joining us and for your work. >> thank you. >> of course. now we're going to turn next to an update on the situation developing in iraq. stay with us.

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we have a mandate to help. in this case, a request from the iraqi government. and when we have the unique capabilities to help avoid a massacre, then i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> president obama announced he's authorized air strikes in iraq if necessary. some 40,000 iraqis have fled isis militants and trapped in the sinjar mountains in northern iraq. the u.s. military has carried out humanitarian air drops to provide those iraqis with much-needed food, water and supplies. that's "all in" for this evening. rachel maddow starts right now. >> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. rachel has the night off. we are continuing to cover the breaking news tonight.

at this hour, the united states is weighing taking him tear action in iraq, again. throughout the day today, president obama met with his national security team to consider authorizing american air strikes in iraq to protect iraqi citizens trapped by islamic militants in the northern part of that country. the united states has found itself in this position, has found itself once again considering a military operation in iraq tonight. it's helpful to go back to six months to february, february of this year, because it was in february of this year that serious fracturing among terrorist groups spilled into public view when al qaeda released a statement disavowing any association with isis. isis is not a branch of al qaeda, the statement red. isis does not have an organization organizational relationship with al qaeda. and perhaps more importantly, al qaeda is