braley, is more than interesting. and we'll have a report on that, and some economic development news after may tag left. good evening, rev? >> good evening, ed, and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live tonight from chicago. tonight's lead, will there be more cases of ebola? late today, president obama meeting with senior health and national security officials, reviewing the government's response to ebola so far. here's what we know. nbc news confirming the identity of the dallas nurse who got ebola while caring for the late thomas eric duncan. 26-year-old nina fong is isolated, in stable condition. now officials are investigating why her protective gear failed

to keep her safe. today the head of the cdc said that this second infection means the u.s. must rethink how we combat ebola. and he warned, don't be surprised if more people get infected. >> we have to rethink the way we address ebola infection control, because even a single infection is unacceptable. we'll work with hospitals throughout the country to think ebola in someone with i fever or other symptoms who's had travel to any of the three affected countries in the previous 21 days. we're rn cconcerned there could other infections in the coming days. also today, troubling new questions about why america hasn't yet developed a vaccine for ebola. and whether the fight over the proper role of government in the u.s. has hurt the country's

ability to respond. the questions now, are hospitals ready to deal with more potential cases? are new procedures needed to keep health care workers safe? and does america need to re-evaluate how it's fighting this disease? joining me now is dr. seema yasmin, public health professor at ut dallas, and joan walsh, editor at large for salon.com. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, rev. >> thank you. >> doctor, what does the cdc mean when it says hospitals need to think ebola? aren't hospitals doing that already? >> this is really a call to wake up and get ready, reverend. we've already seen this one case in dallas where a gentleman from liberia had fever, symptoms consistent with ebola and he was discharged home from the hospital, and then he sadly died, possibly because of a delay in diagnosis.

we don't know. this is a wake-up call that physicians across the country need to take essential travel history from anybody with fever or other signs consistent with ebola. we will continue to see imported cases in the u.s. and other parts of the world as long as it continues in africa. >> this nurse confirmed infected has been identified. can you share with us any other information about her and how she was -- has become a victim of ebola? >> so it's very hard to say, without having all of the details. but we know she's a young nurse. her family spoke to the dallas morning news where i work and told us she has a very big heart. she's a caring person. and reverend, i can tell you from experience, sometimes putting on all of this gear can be tricky. sometimes you're in a rush. you're working very long shifts. you're caring for multiple patients at the same time.

so health care workers try their hardest, but we're human, we sometimes make mistakes. it's sometimes difficult to find out what was that one incident that caused the exposure and it may be that we never, ever get that answer. >> joan, health officials say they have things under control. do americans believe them? >> well, i think americans are increasingly worried, reverend al. we know there shouldn't be espn panic. but this second case, where a health care worker -- we were at least initially told, had taken precautions, wearing the right protective gear, the notion that she would wind up sick mystifies people, exactly what happened? and the doctor is right. it seems as though there was a breach in protocol in the way she took off her gear, and all of that is important. but i think there's a lot of worry, that people don't have adequate training. we've seen cutbacks in health care funding and something like 45,000 state and local public

health workers have lost their jobs just in the last five or six years, under just budget cut again and again and again in a lot of states and cities. so i think people are worried about the infrastructure. they're also worried, there are lots of stories about friends and family of thomas eric duncan who were quarantined but they weren't given food, they were not given fresh bedding for days. the clean-up of that site, lagged behind what it should be. so i think people want to know that all of our authorities on the ground are prepared and doing what they need to do and are protecting us. >> dr. sema, i saw you nodding your head while joan was speaking and i was reading a report today of people that lived in the area where this nurse lived. there's real fear out there, isn't there? >> there absolutely is, and there's so many questions from local residents here in dallas, about whether local hospitals are prepared. and we heard from a national

survey of nurses that 85% of them did not feel adequately prepared to deal with ebola. i visited a local hospital a few days ago, nurses off the night shift said the same thing. the way that their hospital responded was to say, if you're telling us you don't feel prepared, let's go over the training again and again and again until you do feel ready, until you do feel comfortable to care for a patient with ebola. >> now, joan, i want to go back to something you mentioned about the cuts. because the head of the national institute for health says america would have developed an ebola vaccine if it weren't for budget cuts. the quote, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this. and here's the chart. adjusted for inflation, nih funding dropped $5.3 billion between 2004 and 2013.

i mean, how big of an impact has that had on research into ebola, and could we have had a vaccine by now if we had not seen these cuts, in your opinion? >> well, dr. francis collins is a very wonderful expert on this, and is a very sober person. he told this to sam stein of the huffington post, if he says it, and i don't think he's given to hyperbo hyperbole, i think he means it. they have been coping with cuts. we lived through a period of austerity where both parties at times have looked for cuts and they've looked to some of our health funding and particularly prevention and containment programs, which are labor intensive. it may seem that we're not dealing with a pandemic, so we don't need this department. but it's like a fire department. they might sit around for a

while, but you need them when there's a fire. so there's a notion that has hurt infrastructure and research, absolutely. >> sema, your view on the budget cuts, has it affected the possibility of a vaccine to have been found by now? >> absolutely. and not just vaccines, but also public health preparedness. when i was working at the cdc, we had consistent cuts in public health funding. we always felt like we were trying to do more on less year after year. preparedness is one of the keys of public health. it's the behind-the-scenes work you do to be ready for a situation like this. now this has happened, we're scrambling to find the right people, the right resources to send to west africa, including the vaccine. cuts there in medical research as well. vaccine development can take up to ten years and many hundreds

of millions of dollars. that's a big reality check for us right now when we're suddenly demanding an ebola vaccine right away. it doesn't work like this. this is a very brutal reminder that cuts to medical research and public health can be deadly. >> wow, and you've seen it first hand. thank you, dr. seema yasmin and joan walsh. thanks again to both of you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you. coming up, a hazing scandal on a new jersey high school football team. the details are graphic and shocking. and some say, the teens should be tried as adults. also, scott walker's duck and weave on his right-wing policies, but we'll slow him down. plus the controversial ad that's dividing the political world today. is it offensive, effective, or both? and beyonce, jay-z, and the mona lisa.

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developing news in the fight for justice in this country. st. louis police say 19 people were arrested in protests today in ferguson, missouri. the latest in the ongoing reaction to the shooting of michael brown. it's part of the larger national conversation about policing in america, with developments all across the country. in new york, the family of eric gardner has hired civil rights attorney jonathan moore to represent them in their lawsuit

against the city in the police chokehold together of mr. gardner. a grand jury is meeting to decide whether to bring criminal charges against police officers in this case. >> and in california, prosecutors are still waiting to charge a chp officer in that brutal beating incident caught on tape. case by case, america is moving towards a more just society. this is a painful conversation, but one we must have. you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. centurylink your link to what's next. (receptionist) gunderman group is growing. getting in a groove.

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elections. it's called duck and run. they'll do anything to avoid answering questions. just listen to iowa senate candidate joni ernst address questions about obamacare at a debate this weekend. >> charles collins is a new enrollee under obamacare. he's heard joni ernst say she would work to repeal it. he asks, have you given any thoughts to how individuals in my situation won't lose coverage? randy asks, what can you tell the people who lost their health insurance because of obamacare? >> every iowan and every american has the right to affordable, quality health care, but obamacare is not the answer to that. it's a job killer here in the state, and it's taking our personal health care decisions out of our hands and placing them in nameless, faceless,

bureaucrats in washington, d.c. >> job killer? she's got the talking points down, but what she doesn't have is an answer. and there was another republican trying to duck and run, just one state over in the wisconsin governor's debate. >> please tell us if you believe a wisconsin worker can live on our minimum wage, if you believe the state has any obligation to make sure the workers are paid some sort of minimum wage, and if so, what that minimum wage should be. >> i want jobs that pay two or three times the minimum wage. >> do you believe a wisconsin worker can live on a minimum wage? do you believe the state has an obligation to make sure workers are paid some sort of obligation and if so, what that should be? i need an answer. >> my point is, i believe the state should be focused on helping people create jobs that are much greater than the minimum wage.

i earned minimum wage at mcdonald's when i was a kid. i used that to save up for college. i didn't expect it to be my lifetime's work. >> he didn't expect it to be his lifetime's work. good for you, governor walker, but one in four walkers in your state earns a wage that puts them at or below the poverty line. and that wage is still higher than your state's minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. these republicans will say anything to dance around the issues. why? because the races are very close and they don't want to admit their real positions. joining me now, jess mcintosh and karen finney, thank you both for being here this evening. karen, won't voters see through these non-answers? >> absolutely. and i think, you know, i give credit to reporters asking the questions and the individuals asking the questions, because this is what we've been talking about all along, rev, that these

races are going to come down to local issues and people asking, how does what you propose impact me and my life? in both examples that you presented, that's the question people were asking. whether it was health care or the minimum wage, and they didn't have answers. that's a real problem for the republican party. whether it's a governor's race or some of these house and senate races where it's just not enough to say, well, it's obama's fault, or we hate obama. no, you've got to offer a proposal and you've got to be able to say more than just, you know, obamacare's not the way, or i want people to make more than the minimum wage. you've got to answer some basic questions so people really understand where you are. >> you know, you heard governor scott walker avoiding questions on the minimum wage, but he's going even further to skew his image with voters. watch his latest tv ad. >> i'm pro-life. there's no doubt in my mind, the decision of whether or not to

end a pregnancy is an agonizing one. that's why i support legislation to increase safety and provide more information for a woman considering her optionoptions. >> help me here, is he really trying to convince women that he's just trying to get them more information? >> women are going to understand, especially women in wisconsin, that when scott walker says "more information," he means medically unnecessary forced transvaginal ultrasounds. that's obviously not a winning position with wisconsin women voters, and so he's trying to obfuscate it. i think the end of the cycle has been incredibly telling, as we start to see what the final ads they're running are, or the debate season. just how bereft of ideas the republican party is this cycle. 2014 is supposed to be the best map possible for them. they're supposed to do well this cycle. and instead, they're running essentially on our issues. they're saying, i'm kinda

pro-choice, and i'm certainly for people making the minimum wage and i believe in universal health care, they just won't back it up with points on how to get there. they can't hide they have actively spent the last few seasons working against all of those seasons. only 22 days left, they can't fix themselves now. >> the reports today that the gop is losing the culture war thanks to hard right stances on abortion and gay rights marriage. they write, it was not preordained for republicans to use the culture war so completely. bad strategic choices of their own making boxed them in a corner, leaving them no choice but to surrender at the courthouse steps. are they stuck with these positio positions? >> they are. take north carolina, where you have moderates and independents

who are very concerned about how far right the republicans in the state legislature have swung the state? so you have people saying, wait a second, that's too far. we're seeing the same thing in kansas, where brownback is likely to lose. he wanted to make kansas a model of, you know, these conservative ideals. so absolutely, i think you're seeing it swing back. but again, i think you're seeing people begin to focus on their candidates. this always happens, the closer we get to election day. they focus on who they are, and what they stand for, as jess pointed out, they're coming around as these democratic issues. they're saying, wait a second. republicans, they've gone so far to the right, and we can see through what they're saying. they're not offering, you know, real opportunities -- job opportunities. they're not offering real alternatives for health care. i think that is going to cost them. >> you know, jess, something else that we took note of today, and that's the republican nominee for the senate in north carolina, tom tillis. he has come under fire for

controversial statements in this race. in talking points memo discovered another on his website from 2007, when he slammed de facto reparations for slavery. he said federal and state governments have redistributed trillions of dollars of wealth over the years, by funding programs that are at least in part, driven by the belief that we should provide additional reparations. >> yeah, i mean, for a guy who wants to represent a state with a high african american voter turn-out, he has done absolutely nothing to suggest to that community that he's on their side. this is the first found footage of thom tillis of this race, when he was speaking ats a fund-raiser, talking about how we need to divide and conquer people on public assistance, end quote. we turn the one who is are there

for a good reason, against the ones that thom tillis thinks are there for a bad reason. you can't want to govern in a higher state, and be talking about how to divide and conquer the people in the state at the same time. it doesn't work that way. the second thing he came under fire for was suggesting that minority populations in north carolina were growing faster than, quote, traditional populations. this is a guy that doesn't want to represent the entire state. it's why we've seen kay hagan have consistent leads in this race. she's doing a great job being north carolina's senator for all of north carolina. >> in fact, we'll have some more from kay hagan later in this program, in her talk with chris matthews, my colleague. thank you both for your time this evening. >> thanks, rev. coming up, a new ad from wendy davis, showing a wheelchair, has her under fire. >> a tree fell on greg abbott. he sued and got millions.

since then, he's spent his career working against other victims. >> is it in poor taste, or is it fair? and this might be one of the best photos of all time? yes, jay-z, beyonce, and the mona lisa. "conversation nation" is ahead. stay with us. ah! come on! let's hide in the attic. no. in the basement. why can't we just get in the running car? are you crazy? let's hide behind the chainsaws. smart. yeah. ok. if you're in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. it's what you do. this was a good idea. shhhh. be quiet. i'm being quiet. you're breathing on me! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. head for the cemetery!

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n n now to the hazing scandal that's rocked a new jersey town and has the whole country paying attention. seven members of the high school football team in sayreville, marriage, were arrested this weekend in connection with the sexual assault of four teammates in the locker room. one teen described the assaults to new jersey advanced media. alleges four players would pin a freshman to the ground another would sexually assault him. two other players reportedly acted as lookouts. the arrested players are minors between the ages of 15 and 17, so they've not been identified. the charges came just days after school officials canceled the entire football season. the sayreville superintendent explained that decision this morning. >> we decided to cancel or season based upon the information that was provided to us, that there were acts of

harassment and intimidation and bullying, at a pervasive, wide-scale level, that was generally accepted and tolerated by the student athletes in that program. we're now reading the accounts that are in the papers. and we're seeing the charges and we're as horrified as everyone else is. >> this town is horrified. and last night, hundreds gathered for a vigil to support the victims. >> a lot of hurt. a lot of things going on. we need to come together as a community and support the victims. >> could have been their children. could have been anybody's child. >> so upset about it. >> the football season is a very small issue compared to what happened. i mean, kids were violated. >> that's now. but last week, before the arrests, tensions ran very high over the decision to cancel the football season. >> no one was hurt, no one died, i don't understand why they're being punished.

i think that to forfeit a game was punishment enough. >> i hope you thought long and hard about this, because you made these kids the victims. that's what you did, the kids that are innocent, you made them victims. >> it's sad and it's terrible and it's heartbreaking, i hear that, i understand it, but it's not tragic. tragic would be walking in front of the casket of a victim who decided he couldn't take it anymore. again, those comments were made before we had heard details about the alleged assaults. but now, the big questions. will these students be tried as adults? and how much work do we need to do as a country, to make sure nothing like this happens again? joining me now is former child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor, wendy murphy. thanks for being here. >> good to be with you. >> wendy, you have tried cases like this. what are prosecutors doing right

now? >> yeah, i wish i could say this is so shocking, and i haven't heard of it before. in fact, i had a case like this, not long ago, in a very prestigious all boys school outside of boston. here's what prosecutors think about. first and foremost, what are the charges, and who was primarily responsible? sometimes when gangs like this get together and commit these kinds of offenses, there's a leader. and then there's a second in command and maybe a third in command. and prosecutors are interested in figuring out whether there was some of the students who might have been less responsible than others, and for very good reason. number one, they're going to testify as witnesses against the leaders. >> okay. >> when you have people testifying against the guys that are in charge, you got a rock-solid case. the best thing you can hope for as a prosecutor, that you get such a strong case going forward, everybody pleads guilty. >> now, we've seen reports that some of the players might be tried as adults.

what do you think? >> yeah, i mean, i hope that they are tried as adults, even though they are technically juveniles and not yet identified at this point. the reason is very simple, when you commit a horrific offense that we think of as a serious adult crime, you should be prosecuted in adult court -- i'm not going to say lock them up and throw away the key forever, but you should be prosecuted in adult court, so we can know who you are and what you did. the gift of confidentiality when it comes to juvenile prosecutions is for the first offender who committed a not particularly serious offense. you know, borrowed somebody's car without permission, maybe even drunk driving. but listen, when you come down to what we think, and what the supreme court of the united states has called the most serious harm to a human being short of homicide, that's what rape is, that's what is alleged here. you have to, at least let the

public know who these young men are and what they did. because they deserve to be shamed at a minimum, maybe locked up, but at a minimum, shamed. >> three of the players are charged with aggravated sexual assault. if a juvenile was found guilty of that, they'd get no more than five years, an adult could get 20. where do you see it going? >> what you're pointing out is the possibility of the most serious punishment being imposed. the fact of the matter is, in this country, less than 2% of rapists spend even one day behind bars, including juveniles and adults. so i'm not expecting to see long punishments in terms of incarceration, but i am hoping that this case opens our eyes to the reality of not only -- of the problem, not only being males on females, boys versus

girls at the high school level, males on males, and the boys who are victims in this story, boy, good for them for speaking up. and i'll tell you what i would do, and i don't think this is going to happen, but i wish we could find some way to let the victims participate in the rest of the football season and make heroes out of them and cheer for them. maybe if they don't have enough players, borrow some players from their rival teams. make it a really momentous occasion, because you can't just punish the bad guys and expect this behavior to stop. and it's epidemic in this country at the high school and college level. you have to also celebrate the victims, not just make them feel better, make them feel great. >> wendy murphy, i'm going to leave it there on that note. thank you for your time tonight. >> you bet. still ahead, the controversial wheelchair political ad that is sparking controversy. also, big news today on what could be a revolutionary change

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time? money? time and money. awesome. awesome! awesome! awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics. we're back now with "conversation nation," joining us tonight political strategist angula wright, comedian chuck

nice, and msnbc contributor theresa kumar. thank you all for being here tonight. we start with a political ad sparking controversy. democrat wendy davis is running for governor in texas and she's coming under fire for showing a wheelchair, a direct reference to her opponent who is paralyzed from the waist down. >> a tree fell on greg abbott. he sued and got millions. since then he's spent his career working against other victims. abbott argued a woman whose leg was amputated was not disabled because she had an artificial limb. he ruled against a rape victim who sued a corporation for failing to do a background check on a sexual predator. he cited a hospital who failed to stop -- >> critics say it's in poor taste, bringing his disability

into it. the campaign responded saying, quote, this ad is not about greg abbott in a wheelchair. this ad is about greg abbott's behavior and actions with other victims after he had his opportunity and rightly sought justice and received a substantial amount of money. angela, poor taste or fair? >> i think it's in poor taste, actually, rev. i have to say in this particular example, all they had to do to make this better was have greg abbott in his wheelchair, or have some of the folks that he's victimized at this point using the very law that protects him and his disability and his $6 million verdict, from his disability, talk about the different things he's done to make their lives more difficult. they just didn't have to have the empty wheelchair. i think it was a lower blow. if they would have put him in the ad, it would have made it much better. >> chuck? >> it's both.

it is in poor taste, but what they are trying to do is point out the hypocrisy here. i think the problem is the optics, and what it does is kind of engender sympathy and compassion for the opponent. i don't care if you started off with a tree fell on the guy that burglarized my home. i'm going to be like, oh, did a tree fall on him? that's terrible. so i don't think that's the best way to go about, you know, trying to take a dig at your opponent. >> maria? >> at the local level, all the reporters are saying, it's not surprising that wendy davis went there, because greg abbott himself had showed himself multiple times in a wheelchair. i think what really goes, this goes to look at not the fact that he's disabled, but talking about, what's his character? why basically did he use the system, take advantage of the system for the laws that protects those folks that are under the hands of injustice, and instead closed the door

behind him when other individuals were trying to seek refuge as well. >> that's what you do, though. in that instance, you point out what you said, the hypocrisy. th that basically, here's the message, this dude got paid and is stopping other people from getting paid. [ all speak at once ] >> but angela, your point is that you could have shown the hypocrisy in a more explicit way. >> no question. >> without using just the empty wheelchair? >> that's right. that's all they had to do. not have the wheelchair, or have him in it, very simple fix. next up, a shift in tone from the catholic church today. a new vatican document released by pope francis is calling for the church to have a more compassionate attitude towards gays. the document says in part, homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the christian community. are we capable of welcoming

these people, guaranteeing to them a further space in our communities? often they wish to encounter a church that offers them a welcoming home. the church stopped short of endorsing same-sex marriage, but some of still calling this a stunning change in tone, and a great sign of hope. maria, is this a bold move, or not far enough? >> reverend, stop the presses. can you believe the catholic church is leapfrogging the republican party? i think it says they have to modernize and welcome all children of god into the church. and this is going to really make a big difference. i think the fact that what we see now with the current pope, he recognizes that we have to modernize. we have to bring it all people, and that we are all people of god. i think the republican party can learn from this playbook today. >> chuck? >> i think it's absolutely shocking that someone in the

christian church is actually mirroring the sentiments of jesus christ. [ laughter ] >> i mean, come on, let's be for real. >> was that a joke or an opinion? [ laughter ] >> you too, rev, you too. >> i'm making a joke. but i think it's wonderful, the fact is, christ said, i didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it. so basically what the pope is saying, is, we can strike a compassionate tone with each things that we don't necessarily agree with, and extend a welcoming arm, an open arm of god, and show the heart of christ to all mankind, because that is who he is appealing to, all mankind, and that includes gays and lesbians, transgender. you name it, jesus loves

everyone. so for those of who are offended by that, don't take it up with me. take it up with jesus. >> angela, you are an old sunday schoolgirl. -- older sunday school young lady. [ laughter ] >> here's what i'll say. i love this pope. i love the fact that he is often about social justice preaching and gospel and doing the right thing. so i agree with reverend chuck there on that point. but i also think it's important to note one thing that they said, and that was that homosexuals have gifts and there's to offer the church, as does every other human being. and i think it's important to note that they have been in the church. it's not like they've not been in the church. they have just been in the shadows of shame because the church has condemned them for so long. it's time to love all christians, regardless if you agree with it or not. >> i'm all for a progressive

movement in the church world, but calling chuck a reverend, might be a little too far. [ laughter ] >> he was pushy, rev. >> finally, tonight the photo. you might have seen this online today. beyonce and jay-z in paris, on a private tour of its famous museum, snapping selfies in front of the priceless art collection. including this iconic one. yes, there they are, with the mona lisa. and the internet had some fun with this one. someone used photoshop to reveal who they thought might be the real superstar in this picture. chuck, is b bigger than the mona lisa? >> she just may be. the thing i like about that picture, when you look at beyonce standing next to jay-z, and you look at the mona lisa like smirk on her face and the unpleasant look on his face, it

lets me know, i don't care how ch money you have, i don't care if you're the biggest rapper in the world, that is the picture of a man whose wife made him go to a museum. [ laughter ] >> all day long. angela? >> here's the one thing that i wanted to say about this photo. beyonce forecasted some of this for you when she said, of course this goes down when there's a billion dollars in the elevator. shut it down on a tuesday, opened back up for beyonce and jay-z. enough said. >> i think the mona lisa is smirking at jay-z and saying, your wife made you do it, just like chuck said. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you all for your time tonight. have a good night. >> thanks, rev. >> have a good one. coming up, we've seen the

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matthews that the new voting laws this her state have one goal -- to suppress the black vote. >> so is this based on a racial -- racism, or partisanship? why are they trying to screw the black voter? do they not like blacks, or do they not like democrats? >> i think they are trying to suppress democratic turn-out. plain and simple. sundays to the polls, done away. the whole early voting concept, people have busy lives. they want to go and vote early. and to think you took another week of that away, that's wrong. that's really wrong. >> african americans think they're being targeted because twhar african americans, not because they're democrats. >> i tend to agree with them. >> it is wrong, but it may backfire. in 2012, people waited five, six, seven hours after plans to block the vote.

only fired people up to show up and vote. the turn-out in 2012 hit records and that could be seen again. that could see that backlash in north carolina and elsewhere. chris's full report on the senate race and voter suppression there is coming up right after this show. you don't want to miss it. ♪ [ male announcer ] over time, you've come to realize... [ starter ] ready! [ starting gun goes off ] [ male announcer ] it's less of a race... yeah! [ male announcer ] and more of a journey. keep going strong. and as you look for a medicare supplement insurance plan... expect the same kind of commitment you demand of yourself. aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long.

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before, young men of color face a crisis in this country. 52% of black males graduate from high school on time. 49% of young black males have been arrested. and the unemployment rate for black teens is 38%. but there are real solutions. people making a difference in lives all across the country, including in new york city. the eagle academy started ten years ago in the bronx, serving at-risk youth. with this latest graduating class, eagle has become a model

for the rest of the nation. now david banks, the founder of the eagle academy, has written an important new book called "soar: how boys learn, succeed, and develop character," the eagle way. thank you for being here. >> thank you so much, reverend. appreciate it. >> so the book you wrote is really things that you know to be true. this is not some academic ivory tower making recommendations? >> not at all. we have one of your young men at the academy say that a young man without an mentor is like an explorer without a map. finding mentors and getting them involved in the lives of our young men, so many don't have fathers. we show you why that's important and more importantly, we tell you how to do it. >> tell us about that, out of the classroom, how do you keep them on the straight and narrow?

>> first of all, we have an extended school day. the traditional school day does not work for our young men. reduce the amount of idle time. we bring them to school on saturdays. if you allow them all that idle time. idle time is the devil's playground. we keep them involved academically, sports, all the things that young people have the opportunity to have, it makes all the difference in the world. >> president obama, earlier this year, talked very, very personal, in very personal terms about his own challenges growing up. i want you to listen to this. >> when i was their age, i was a lot like them. i didn't have a dad in the house. and i was angry about it, even though i didn't necessarily realize it at the time. i made bad choices. i got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. i didn't always take school as

seriously as i should have. i made excuses. sometimes i sold myself short. >> how did this touch the young men in your school to hear the president of the united states say that? >> what it says to them, here's the most powerful man on the face of the earth, and his story is so similar to my story. not only does he look like me, but his story is the same story that i have. >> well, it's a great story. the book is "soar, how boys learn, succeed, and develop character." wish you luck on the book and all your successes at eagle. >> thanks so much, rev. we appreciate you. this country should be grateful and thankful for people that don't give up on young people that have been marginalized, particularly young minority men, and should find mentors and get those mentors

all the help and resources they need. that's why eagle academy is effective. that's why public schoolteachers that are committed are effective. i grew up in minority youth, in a single-parent home. thank god for mentors, men and women, public schoolteachers that were dedicated, like gert trud cromwell. low expectations will be fulfilled. higher expectations will also be fulfilled and make a better nation. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. think ebola. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris tt