with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. . this morning my question, is scott walker fooling anybody in wisconsin? plus, president obama's stealth campaign and jeff chang on the colors of america. but first, it's the first saturday of november. happy sadie hawkins day! good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. tonight in high schools across the country, teenagers will be dancing and socializing around the punch bowl in the beautifully awkward way they do at that age. so many things in high school culture have changed over the years. but not the idea behind sadie

hawkins dances. whether at hunter high school in salt lake city, utah. or michigan city high school in michigan city, indiana. or raleigh, north carolina. the the young men at these dances will be the invited dates of the young women in attendance. the popular american tradition has evolved some over the decades. the clever and inventive new ways girls ask their dates are documented and shared on pinterest boards. it all started with a comic strip. remember lil abner? he was the naive son of mami and papi in the fictional town of doll patch, usa. the strip is a long running satire also included a character named sidney hawkins. one day in november, 1937, sadie's father rounded up all

the bachelors for a foot race. whoever sadie caught had to marry her. soon after the comic was publisheded the tradition took route. college campuses started holding sadie hawkins dances as early as 1939, in which loroles were reversed. girls were able to choose their dates. it would reach a fever pitch before she caught up with him in the comic and married him in 1952. fast forward to tuesday where the importance of a woman's choice will translate at the polls. we could just as well call it the sadie hawkins election, because women will be key, and not just in deciding who wins and loses. in kentucky, alison lundergan-grimes is trying to unseat republican leader mitch mcconnell in an incredibly tight race. equal pay for equal women has been a rally cry for grimes. >> when it comes to a senator that after 30 years hasn't learned the women of the this state, of this nation, deserve equal pay for equal work.

he says that preferential treatment. are we ready to deliver a knockout? let me hear you say yes? >> in iowa, poll data show republican joni ernst is widening her lead over democratic opponent bruce braley. ballot measures in tennessee, colorado and north dakota, could, if approved, jeopardize a woman's constitutionally protected right to choose. and just four days before voters head to the polls, president obama gave a speech friday on the economy. and administration policies directed at, you guessed it, women. >> while many women are working hard to support themselves and their families, they're still facing unfair choices. outdated workplace policies. that holds them back. it holds us all back. we have to do better because women deserve better. by the way, when women do well, everybody does well.

>> those remarks were delivered in rhode island. one of the country's bluest states. but where the gubernatorial race is quite close. the democratic candidate is a woman, and it's no secret the women's vote is key. but it is, of course, a little more complicated than that. let me take you back to the last time we talked about the gender gap here on mhp. it involved virginia last year when terry mc -- was elected. and women came out strong voting against his policies against reproductive rights. here's the important takeaway. he didn't win among all women. he won among black women. take a look. in 2013 mcauliffe captured 51% of the overall women's vote. he received only 38% of white women's votes. and an overwhelming 91% of african-american women's votes.

let's underline that. nearly every black woman in the state of virginia who voted voted for mcauliffe. that's exactly what happened in president obama's re-election of 2012. he won the votes of women of color. and now a new report. this one right here, reveals just how much of a growing force women of color are in the american electorate. according to the center for american progress, in the last two years, more than 2 million women of color have joined the vote eligible population, and since 2000, there are more than 12 million new eligible women of color voters and these eligible voters are exercising their right at very high rates. research shows in the last section cycle, black women registered and voted at the high rate of any group across race, gender and ethnicity. a turnout rate of 70%. this report shows women of color have increasingly the potential to sway electoral results, influence which candidates run and when and play a greater role

in shaping the policy agenda. joining me now, maya harris, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. i want to start with this. it's not quite a myth of the gender gap. but it's a misunderstanding of the gender gap. is it really a gender gap, or is it a race gap? >> it's race and gender. that's why i wanted to do this research and this report. what we uncovered is not that simple. which is that women of color are the fastest growing segment of america's largest voting bloc, which is women. they are also the most active segment of the people of color vote. you know, in terms of their turnout rates. and so, what we have seen in terms of the participation that we have, it's really, really dramatic. you need to actually dig deep into the numbers to see what that really means. so you highlighted at the top of the show the fact that over the last, you know, period of time, women of color have grown, you know, 12 million. that is the growth of voting

eligible women, women of color. just in the last two years since 2012 t voting eligible population growth of women has been 90% women of color. so what's important is actually to look at the intersection of these two things, because what we do in the gender gap is talk about women. we talk about people of color. so our conversation tends to be all gender, no race. all race no gender. >> all the women are white. all the blacks are men. and they're all brave. >> and the women at the intersection are invisible. the report was designed to make the numbers visible to really illustrate the power inherent in women of color. >> so allow me to understand that. because if you kind of take the back and say typically when we look at what ought to predict voter turnout. it should be education, it should be income. a variety of things where african-american women, like dena's other women of color actually end up low on the

scale. and yet overwhelmingly outperforming. what is it that is bringing women of color to the polls that is clearly different than sort of what our typical models of what should bring people to turnout are? >> well, i think women of color have a lot at stake in what happens in our elections. and the fact is that the, you know, the issues at the center of the lives of women of color don't often make it to the center of our political agenda. so they have a lot of stake in participating. it's sort of if you're unseen, unheard, people are unaccountable to you. and so i think that women of color understand the importance of government. they understand the importance of who is selected to represent us in government. and i think that that helps to drive their participation. they really do have a deep stake? what happens in these elections. >> i wonder if given how the importance of women of color in these key elections, putting everyone from the election to the governor of virginia in their office, if nonetheless there still seems to be a lack of accountability. i mean, when i think about can i arctticulate a black woman's

agenda. can i articulate a la tee na agenda? i would still have a harold time showing these candidates who are now office holders have been actively pursuing that agenda. >> i think it speaks to a couple of different things. one is, it's not just about casting your vote on election day. you have to stay engaged with your political representatives, with the political process in between elections. to hold people accountable. so i think that the mobilization, the organization of women of color between elections is really important in order to seek that kind of accountability. but it also points to the point about being engaged in every election cycle. not just in presidential elections. also in midterm elections. which is where women and women of color tend to fall off. >> so why within the african-american communities are african-american women so much a greater proportion of the voters. is it about fellow disenfranchisement? is it about black men being

forced out or about black women being more active than white counterparts? the men in the community. >> i have to look more deeply into that to give a definitive answer. i would suspect it's both. black women are really leaders in their communities, leaders in the family. they get other people to the polls. they get other people to vote. they talk about the issues in the their families. they talk about the importance of going out and voting. i think in the the example that you gave, black women tend to be active in terms of their civic engagement and participation. there's no doubt issues around disenfranchisement have had an extraordinary impact on the the black vote and the vote of black men. >> thanks. stay with us, maya. i'm going to bring in additional voices to the discussion, as we take a look at specific races in everything from women and their guns to threats of castration to the weird thing about having two last names. what do i know about that? we are three days out from the election and there's a lot to get to. we're going to be right back. i'm going to clean my glasses so i can see some. growing. growing. getting in a groove.

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when you run for office part of the deal is getting to know the people you represent. and vice versa. yes, you can craft quirky and memorable campaign ads. one of the best ways is to sit down with the people who know the local issues at stake, local reporters. that's why national media takes notice when candidates sit down with the editorial boards. it's a chance for them to really dig deep on the issues that matter to their readers. these are often newsworthy, and that's not surprising.

just ask the democratic candidate for the u.s. senate seat in kentucky. during last month she was asked who she voted for in the the last presidential election. >> did you vote for president obama, 2008, 2012? >> this election isn't about the president. it's about making sure we put kentuckians back to work. >> did you vote for him? >> i respect the sanctity of the ballot box. i know the members of this board do as well. >> so you're not going to answer? >> thanks in part to a 2010 interview, we know how wisconsin's republican scott walker really feels about reproductive rights. you may be confused by his recent campaign ad that seems to suggest he considers abortion an issue between a woman and her doctor. it is so far from his real record that i had to send him a letter about it recently. thest a far cry from the hard line he took in the 120 interview with the editorial board of the milwaukee journal

sental. >> it's the same issue. you aoppose abortion in cases of rape and incest. tell me if i got that right? >> that's correct. >> from scott walker's moment of truth to another moment of bizarreness for another candidate. mark callahan was asked to leave a meeting with the editorial board of the local paper after testy exchanges like this one. >> climate change, do you believe it's a myth or real the i? >> it's a myth. yes. >> where are you on the easter bun bunny? >> what's that? >> where are you on the easter bunny? >> are these really the questions i was called here to answer? i called you out for putting blah blah blah on your notepad and you're asking me questions like this? >> maybe iowa's republican candidate for the u.s. senate joni ernst was hoping to avoid a

scene like that when she skippeded meetings with the boards of the three newspapers. or maybe she hoped her now famous hog castration ad will be enough to have voters squealing with delight. ernst says she skipped the meeting with the des moines register because she knew the board would back her opponent. she was right. maybe ernst didn't want to risk her slim lead over her opponent. the last poll shows her with a four-point advantage heading into the final weekend of the campaign. or maybe, just maybe ernst didn't want to face the editorial boards because she knew she would have to face tough questions on everything from her position on guns to the role of gender in the race. and why a woman poised to make history in iowa is not winning iowa women. that story when we come back.

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republican senate candidate joni ernst is looking to make history by becoming the first woman ever to represent iowa in the house of congress. she isn't running as a breaker of glass ceilings, but she's skillfully created her own unconventional brand of femininity. >> mom, farm girl and lieutenant who carries more than just lipstick in her purse. joni ernst will take aim at wasteful spending, and once she sets her sights on obamacare, joni is going to unload. >> let's not forget the ad that rocketed her to the top of a crowded primary field, where she defeated four opponents, all of them men. >> i grew up castrating hogs on an iowa farm, so when i get to washington, i'll know how to cut pork. washington's full of big spenders. let's make them squeal.

>> oh, you got to love it. her strategy looks like it's working in the general election. it's still a tight race, but according to the latest poll, ernst is up four points over her opponent, democrat bruce braley. but it's not because ernst is raking in the votes of her fellow iowa women. the republican gender gap is still in play as much as ever. according to the poll, ernst is trailing braley when it comes to women voters, 50% back braley. only 42% back ernst. but she's handedly beating braley among male voters. 17 points. and this is all part of ernst's strategy. she was never trying to overcome the gender gap, to end women's voters by her too being a woman. as she told "the new york times," i'm not running on my gender. back with me is maya harris, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. joining us now also is keaton dawson, a former south carolina gop chair and kristina beltron,

associate professor of culture analysis at nyu. so katon, is it that republican women just make more sense as midterm candidates because they're running on a kind of like being a woman that defies sort of narrowly defined femininity? and after all, more men are going to show up to vote in this election. >> i think joni is probably one of the most authentic candidates you have in the country. what you see is what you get. the big point about men is joni hit the entire target when she was shooting the gun pretty good. she was on target, on message. i tell you what i did find out about republican primaries especially, melissa. in south carolina, very disappointing early on about electing women. better candidates, more articulate. in the early 2000s we couldn't get anybody elected. we did a big sur va on the universities. i did and found out the reason why our women weren't winning was the female voters. they were asking three more questions of women than they

were men. and i thought it would have been the male vote was holding us back from electing women in the republican party. that wasn't the case. it was female voters asking, are you qualified? what are you going to do with your children? can you do the job? the male voters weren't asking that. did you hit the target? are you talking about taxes? >> can you castrate a hog? >> can you cut a hog so he's bigger in the offseason? i understand that. >> but that's interesting to me. this idea that in this case, as we're thinking about a gender gap, it's in the other direction, and i'm wondering if we see something here, we typically see women candidates as having trouble getting male voters, but if instead the issue is that women are less likely to cross the partisan divide in order to just vote for a woman because of an identity politics connection. >> right, right. it seems like clearly women in some way are generally populations like african-americans, latinos, are a little more pragmatic. they look at policy and take that seriously. that's something that matters to them. i think the other thing interesting here is we have

often talked about the republican war on women. we've talked about the republican party's anxieties about race. but we don't talk enough about are the pleasures of multicultural conservatism and the male voters enjoy supporting women candidates. they agree with ideologically. so there's a certain kind of pleasure that conservatives take in voting white voters take in voting for candidates of color, and male voters take in supporting a woman. what it makes them feel like, the pleasure they take in her changing up traditional gender norms. there's something else going on there we don't tend to notice. >> this is a fascinating race. i think, you know, she's made her appeal to men. quite successfully so. but she has some appeal to women. but i think at the end of the day, for, you know, women voters the question is not really so much, you know, what she looks like and more, you know, what she stands for. and this is where when women voters actually care about the issues when they show up to the polls, and they want to know where you stand, this is where you know she runs into trouble.

and she has run into trouble when she, you know, in her talking about the the personhood amendment, in the segment that you talked about her not showing up if r the editorial boards. you know, staying away from having to talk about the issues, and in particular the issues that affect women. in some ways her record is not going to help her with women voters if they turn up to the polls. >> so it's interesting to me. part of it is the substantive issue question. the other part is the ill style. we have ernst projecting a certain style. the other interesting style question comes up literally in just women's names. so if you're going to run like a man, one of the questions becomes, which man? should you run like your daddy or husband? nu nunn is getting pushback for using the name nunn, which is her father's name. and hillary clinton when she was hillary rodham clinton, all kinds of grief for keeping her father and her husband's name. >> right. there was a lot going on. she was hillary rodham in the '92 primary. and so then rodham clinton and

now we have lost the rodham. speaks to the fact that though east an incredibly popular women, it's what it means to be a feminist and perform femininity. it's interesting conservatives can perform complicated gender roles in ways that people feel more comfortable with or, i don't know, just sort of attend to in different ways than -- if a democratic woman talked about castration, it would come across differently to the media. they wouldn't be nearly as enam orred as having a conservative woman do it. >> we first saw this in the ways in which sarah palin changed what a national candidate looked like immediately on the heels on hillary clinton's run for the presidential nomination. that was meant to have launched ka t katon, in 2010, the year of the republican women. there was all these republican women who ran for the first time. we saw a regression in the number elected. if this year ends up being the year of republican women, can these women make it into office,

and if they do, are they good for women more broadly? is. >> i think, look at nikki haley, the republican party is doing okay. we have a long way to go. tim scott, african-american republican senator is going to win on tuesday. so we have come a lot further than we have. we have a lot of things to do. but when you watch joni ernst. it's going to be how they perform when they get into office. again, the female voters watch policy more careful than the old voters. i know that it canically. >> i want to take a listen here for a moment to hillary rodham clinton campaigning for alison grimes. >> it's unbelievable in this day and time someone would be telling the women of kentucky they don't deserve equal pay for equal work. if there is only one reason that will motivate you to go vote in 20 days, put that at the top of

the list. >> is equal pay for equal work the kind of thing that will motivate you to vote in 20 days? >> it will motivate me to vote? thises an issue that resonates overwhelmingly. not just with women, but also across the political sprek trum with men, too. the question of whether or not women are getting equal pay for equal work is a salient issue and they're hitting the women's issues hard. in this race the turnout is going to be really key on election day of women and you know, these economic issues are what women are talking about. what they're concerned about in terms of needing their families and being able to take care of themselves. so those issues do resonate. >> next, sk scott walker tries woo wisconsin women by trying to be very unscott walkerrish. at legalzoom you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier

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in 2012, republicans here in wisconsin repealed a statewide fair pay law. now think about that. just like i don't understand why somebody would be against somebody having health insurance, i don't understand why would you want to repeal a law to make sure women are treated fairly on the job. that's your platform? that's your agenda? earlier this year, it don't make no sense. >> that was president obama as we only ever see him on the campaign trail. this week he was campaigning for wisconsin gubernatorial candidate mary burke. a year ago burke seemed to have little chance against conservative darling and incumbent scott walker. now poll after poll shows her within the margin of error. and the clear polling has walker up by two points. now she has been able to close the gap in part by attacking

walker's record on women's issues. especially reproductive rights and equal pay. that leaves walker on the defense. after he was criticized for signing a law that could shut down one of the four abortion clinics in the state, walker released an ad painting him as reasonable on reproductive rights. >> the bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor. >> okay. for real? he is not reasonable on reproductive rights. just this week, walker released an ad starring a woman to respond to political attacks over walker's repeal of a law that has allowed women to sue for pay discrimination in state court. >> mary burke wants to create more opportunities to sue. we want to create more opportunities for women to succeed. >> so i'm not convinced, maya of equal pay -- that goes back to the first conversation.

whenever someone says the women's vote, you have to say "which women?" i'm not convinced equal pay becomes the issue that really motivates you in the last homes to get out to the polls. i think individual women of a certain class don't see equal pay as their concern. right? and ultimately it becomes the same intersectional issue of poor women. spouse-free women. women of color in circumstances of economic inequality, who might otherwise have also in a way voted if r the democrats. >> well, some of the people they are trying to turn out are black volters in the race. >> milwaukee. >> many milwaukee, right? and so that is going to be important. it will be interesting to see what happens with minimum wage on the ballot with how that helps to drive turnout. but i think the issueses are also being raised so you can begin to look at who the the candidates really are. talking about equal pay in wisconsin also means talking about walker taking a position, publicly in terms of his

rhetoric. in reality of his politics and policy having a different decision. it allows you to unpack who this person is. same thing about being reasonable on choice issues when he has the most extreme position on abortion, defunded planned parenthood. when you really peel back the curtain and dive into the issues like equal pay, like, you know, women's health, it gives you an opportunity to see who the candidate really is. >> so this is an interesting idea. and i'm wondering about this from a pure strategic point, katon, about men running against women for office. you know, i'm in north carolina. i'm watching tom tillis running against kay hagan, it has been brutal. on some of the nastiest, most vicious attacking. but in his closer, tillis has decided to play nice guy. i want to play this for a second. >> it's been a long campaign, and a rough one. if you blamed all you see on tv, you would conclude senator haigen is a bad person, and that i am, too. it's a shame. >> i mean, that's just a shame

if you believe my ad, you would just hate her. but i mean, it's like -- part of me is like, are you serious? but i wonder, is this a strategy when running against women? in the the end, do you have to pull the punch in order to look like the nice guy? >> you better. you better. this suspect a peel back the curtain election. this is an election on the big issues. the president is six years later on the wage issue. he's coming in as a value day tor this year. that's almost up. but he hasn't gotten anything for it yet. he's there. this is a bigger issue election. tillis needed to do that in north carolina. mitt romney won by a point and a half. he just slimmed through. so north carolina is still ebbing and flowing. tillis went in and did heavy lifting on a state controlled by the democrats for a long time. that's the bag gaj he's been tagged with. that is true there. it has been one of the most

volatile races there. the three political machines we've talked about here. and that's skathd walker that im invis you of is mitch mcconnell, mary landrieu and scott walker. those are the finest well tuned political machine in history. >> and you means in terms of the the capacity. >> the mechanics of it. the mechanics of moving the vote. those three right there are on the goal standard. >> and so i wonder then. if that's the gold standard for moving the vote. but women and particularly women of color are increasingly becoming sort of the decideers, even in base elections, whether or not these sort of old machines, right or establish machines is the way to think about it can still move these kinds of voters. >> right. too often we talk about what women want and what women believe. democrats participate in this. they say these things. it's unhelpful. it doesn't help voters and

citizens understand there's a difference between identity and ideology. and what you are is not what you believe. right? that there's actually complicated relationships between what you are and what you believe. and you are many things. you are working class. you are african-american. you are latino. rather than helping people understand that, you know, the republican party, i'm always sort of impressed by, i can't decide if it's pure cynicism to go from i was saying this, but now it's quite -- now it's the opposite. >> what a shame to think that kay hagan was a bad person. quite the opposite! but it's just kind of impressive. you're like, how did he do that? but i think the idea is if you talk about this in terms of women, of course scott walker is going to say i'm woman adjacent. i'm fine. you can get a proxy to speak for you. ultimately that doesn't help us think about the real complicated issues of what different women need politically and how you organize for that. >> up next, midterms are about a lot more than just candidates. there are three state ballot initiatives to put women's

reproductive rights at risk. in tennessee some lawmakers are just waiting if r the chance. ♪

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olay. your best beautiful. one way or the other, 2014 may go down as another infamous politics year. candidates like joni ernst and alison lundergan grimes have made strong impressions if their bid for the u.s. senate. or 2014 may mark the year of the woman in a far more ominous way. it may prove to be the year millions of american women lose access to their reproductive choices. it's been 41 years since the supreme court guaranteed all women a safe and legal abortion access with the landmashlg ruling, a roe versus wade. in a 7-2 decision, they violated the constitutional rights to privacy by denying her access to abortion and forcing her to carry an unwanted pregnancy to

term. little by little, opponents have found places where law is vulnerable and have managed to chip away at women's rights. between 2011 and 2013, individual states passed more than 200 abortion restrictions. more than the entire previous decade. in texas, abortion providers are waging a legal battle in a law that would shut down all but eight clinics in the state. meantime, votes will vote on personhood measures to effectively block abortions in those states. and then, there is this. >> 911. >> we need an balance asap. >> you're listening to an actual 911 call. >> is her breathing completely normal? >> no. >> and is she changing color? >> yes. >> tennessee has compromised the health and safety of certain women? >> does she have abdominal pains? >> i'm sure she does. she's in the middle of getting an abortion. >> that's a campaign ad from

tennessee. an antiabortion measure that critics have called deceptive and plain crazy. we'll explain why next. from fashion retailers to healthcare providers, jewelers to sporting good stores, we provide financing solutions for all sorts of businesses.

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the truth is amendment one simply returns our constitution to the way it was before. neither for abortion nor against it. >> that's actually not true at all. what the tennessee supreme court actually did in 2000 was to say, hey, we have a crappy law in the books. >> tennessee is an abortion destination. out of state women now account for one out of every four aborkss. >> when i was in my 20s, i was raped. by a neighbor. if i had gotten pregnant from the rape, i would definitely have wanted an abortion to be one of my options. >> amendment one makes no exceptions for the awful things that can happen during pregnancy. amendment one is just government interference.

>> what you just saw are some of the jaw dropping dueling campaign spots inundating voters in tennessee. in just about 72 hours they will decide whether to overhaul the state's constitution by radically changing the established legal understanding that women have a right to choose. tennessee's amendment one would essentially give legislators in nashville power to restrict, regular la regulate or repeal any abortion law in the state. including those of rape, incest or when pa woman's life is at risk. the measure reads in part, nothing in the constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. conservatives in the tennessee legislature have been trying to get amendment one on the ballot since the controversial 2000 ruling, but the state supreme court struck down the measures. the ruling also declared that tennessee's constitution contained a fundamental right to privacy, including the right to terminate a pregnancy. now supporters of reproductive

rights fear amendment one could change all of that. headlines like this one and the ambiguous wording of the measure itself have convinced some that what lies ahead is an onslot of restrictive regulations. joining our panel from nashville is the executive director of the aclu of tennessee. nice to see you this morning. >> good to see you. thank you, melissa. >> so the the latest polls show the amendments are slightly behind, but the race is simply too close to call. what are you hearing from folks on the ground this weekend? >> that's what the poll numbers are showing. we are confident that voters will go to the ballot box on tuesday and vote no. this is an issue that has been discussed and debated. it is true. it's confusing and misleading because the proponents are putting out messages that are not true. but vinlsindividuals across thee

know and believe politicians should not be involved in the personal health care decisions and in fact, that's a decision that should be left to women, their families, their health care providers, their faith leaders, and government should have no role in determining what is best for a woman's health. >> so both sides of this debate have called the other side deceptive. >> right. >> in this campaign. help me to understand what the nature of that claim is. that there's -- that it's not just sort of a hard fought battle but the people are lying. >> sure. you know, i think you have to start with the text of the actual language. the text of the amendment, where it appears to say there are exceptions for victims of rape and incest. that's not true. theyed aeded the language to make it appear as those there were exceptions. but in fact, the language is very clear, and the intent of the proponents of the amendment is very clear, that in the long term, they want to outlaw

abortion. in the short term, they want to be able to remove the right to privacy that the tennessee constitution found. and they want to put in place medically irrelevant and cumbersome laws to affect women's ability to access safe abortions. >> so hang with me for just one second. i actually think there's a reasonable space within public discourse for a conversation about the issues of pregnancy termination. i actually think there's space for that. but i am legitimately surprised by a conservative movement to amend the constitution in order to provide more government oversight for something. does that make sense? even within the context of space for discourse, this seems counter to what republicans say is central to their ideology. >> there's room for conversation. but there's not room for the conversation in a republican

primary. when you jump into the southern states especially and look at the platforms of the primaries in south carolina and tennessee and north carolina, you look at the primaries. there's pro-life advocates at the table. rightly so. they won their place. this is the only thing going on in tp. there's very little else going on in tennessee but this race and it's hard hitting. you can see operatives on both sides have been hired. when you watch commercials on both sides, it's uncomfortable. when you can make me uncomfortable with commercials you've done a lot. so the issue is personal. it's getting waved over. the conversation is going to be had in the 2016 race again. it's not over. but tennessee is who matters and who in the state house matters. >> i totally agree. i think in the state house this is a very partisan political issue. i have confidence across the state in homes, churches, synagogues, mosques, on the street, tennesseans believe in their right to privacy.

and they do not want government or politicians interfering in women's personal, private, health care decisions. so from our perspective, there's an understanding in the communities across the state that no is the right way to vote to ensure the women's privacy rights are protected. it's difficult, though, because as you point out, there's very misleading ads. and there's really the intent is so clear. the intent is to outlaw abortion or make it so difficult to access. these laws they say they want to pass are not common sense. it's very clear they're medically irrelevant. they make it very difficult for women who have to travel from rural communities, women of rural communities and women of color. there are seven clinics in this state. women have to travel. sometimes up to three, four hours. and if they have work

responsibilities, family responsibilities, to require them to stay for 48 hours, 72 hours, which is what some of the politicians and those organizations backing this amendment, want to create these waiting periods. making the assumption that women don't think about these very difficult decisions beforehand. >> yeah, you know. it is personal. and i think bun of the votes to watch in tennessee is going to be black women. black women are impacted by the issues profoundly. they actually overwhelmingly favor safe and legal access to abortion. >> this is the key. what one can believe that you would never make the choice for yourself. but still believe there's a fundamental right to privacy that the government should not be at the core of that. >> that's exactly right. and i think it's going to be interesting.

in all of those races, they are a key vote. it can be a pivotal vote. >> i got to get us out of here. thank you in nashville, tennessee. we are going to be watching what happens. thank you to maya harrison. kristina is going to be back with us in the next hour. and up next, race, the midterms and president obama's stealth campaign. there's more nerdland at the top of the hour. tastes like my homemade. it's our slow simmered vegetables and tender white meat chicken. apology accepted. i'm watching you soup people. make it progresso or make it yourself

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transamerica. for most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase. but there's a new card in town. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. that's cash back twice. it's cash back with a side of cash back. the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay . with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry. the election of president barack obama on november 4th, 2008, was not the only watershed political moment that day. the election of the first african-american president in 2008 was made possible in part by african-american voters who, for the first time in a presidential election, overperformed at the polls.

accounting for a greater share of votes than the percentage of eligible voters. then, in 2012, those voters made history again. not only did they increase their numbers from 2008, but for the first time on record, black voter turnout surpassed the race for white voters. in the outcome of those two elections, we saw what happens when america's increasingly diverse electorate expresses its policy preferences by flexing its electoral political power. between the two presidential cycles, testimonies also received a lesson in what happens when those voters decide to stay home. the during the 2010 midterms the share of the black vote dipped from 134% to 11% and republicans secured landslide victories and majority control of the house. that midterm dip is a trend that has been consistent for african-american voters during offyear elections. and with election day 2014 just three days away, it's a trend is

foremost in the minds of democrats who know they need those voters to turnout, if they're to fend off a republican takeover in the senate. as "the new york times" analysis of voter data shows, as democrats try to defend their majority, african-americans can help swing elections in races in georgia, louisiana, and maybe arkansas. but only if they turn out at higher than forecasted rates. so it sounds like a simple enough strategy for democrats. go get the black vote. but it's certainly a strategy where democrats have one undeniable advantage. the fact that one of african-american's most consistently favorite politicians also happens to be the number one democrat in the country, but here's where democrats find themselves in a spot. he's deeply unpopular among the share of the national electorate whose votes they also need. so how to get the voters who

tend to stay at home without ill yen nating the ones who are most likely to show up? the democratic party solution to that quandary has become apparent in the final push to get black voters to the polls. activate stealth mode. in recent weeks, national and state democrats have been making exples s explicit appeals to black voters on a wavelength they're tuned into. if you don't know where, it's on the dial of your black radio station. if you don't know where that dial is, you likely missed president obama using it to reach an influence of popular african-american radio hosts to warn their audiences against sitting out this election. here he is, two weeks ago, on the steve harvey morning show. >> back in 2010, folks didn't vote, as a consequence, the tea party took over the republican party. we lost the house. if people voted at the same rates during midterms as they did during presidential elections w woe would maintain democratic control of the senate, would have a good chance

of actually winning back the house potentially. >> two days later, ricky smiley morning show. >> less than half of us vote during midterm elections. we actually now vote at very high rates during presidential elections. during midterms we fall asleep. >> right. >> and i just can't afford that. if you want me and michelle to do what we need to do the last two years to really make a difference then everybody has to have our backs. >> later the same week while making the rounds, stumping in maryland and illinois, president obama had black audiences applauding with recognition when he asked for help in motivating their favorite politically -- relative. >> don't just get the folks you know are going to vote. you have to find cousin. he's sitting on the couch right now watching football. hadn't voted in the last five elections. you got to grab him and hill him

to go vote! >> president obama has also been the centerpiece of a seven-figure campaign by the democratic national committee to target black voters. the campaign includes this ad that has run in black newspapers during the final weeks. urging those voters to get his back, and this clip that's been airing on black radio. >> no democratic president in u.s. history has faced the level of obstruction from the republicans that barack obama has. it's critical that we continue to fight for change and vote on november 4th. >> but as "the new york times"s reported this week, president obama isn't the only subject of that stealth campaign to reach black voters. in the south, it's also included explicit appeals that link them with the movement for racial injustice, invoking the past history of the fight for civil rights and the present day calls out of ferguson, missouri, for an end to police violence. joining me now, kai wright,

editor in large at color lines.com. and ian lopez, a professor at uc berkeley and author of "dog whistle politics." and kristina belle tron, associate professor of social and cultural analysis at nyu and author of the the trouble with unity. and i don't know whether i should be happy about the campaign or appalled with the campaign. >> don't be appalled. >> i'm a little appalled with the cousin pookie of ate ul. >> he has the tendency to play to the culture stereotypes that play well with whites. he brought that there. >> i don't know if white people know who cousin pooky is. >> i do think they have a sense of african-americans staying on the couch and not getting up off the couch and getting to vote and obama has traded on that a couple of times when he's talking about the need for african-americans to take more

responsibility. that's the message he gives to white folks. it's unfortunate to see that creeping in. listen, bottom line, he's saying we need to vote. people of color need to vote. and more important than that. and this is what the other ad campaigns are doing. they are saying, when you vote, keep in mind the state of race in the united states. keep in mind stand your ground laws or violence in ferguson. vote with a sense that there is racial stratification in our society, and we can deal with it through the democratic process. i think that's just a key important message, and i would love to see more people saying it. >> so i'm down. and yet, kai, i feel like so, so north carolina where i live, if i have to keep in mind the the question of police violence while voting for kay hagan, i don't know. it's not like she ever said anything about it. i guess part pof what i wonder is just how effective an obama sur gasy is for candidates who have worked so hard to be like, i don't know, i never seen or

been around anybody named obama. >> or anybody named pookie. i mean -- >> and by the way, he did not sit out the last five elections. he's the reason president obama is president. so i just want to redeem president -- i mean cousin pookie. >> yes, and by the way, looking at those numbers. pookie voted pretty well relative to history in 2010 also. honestly. the midterm election results are turn out is still higher than it was for presidential turnout in 2004. but your poin is exactly right. therest a lot of stuff the democrats and these specific candidates have known done for black people. people are excited about the candidates. and bringing out the president to say, hey, help me, that's something. and it's -- and it will motivate some folks. but i think people need to keep in mind, people vote -- people support the president not because -- black people support the president. not because, oh, i love barack obama.

but what he represents. and senator hagan doesn't represent that. >> i want to play for you a moment the run from which i just moved, and in which senator landrieu is making a historic point. let's take a listen to her. >> be very, very honest with you. the south has not always been the friendliest place for african-americans. it's been a difficult times for the president to present himself in a positive light as a leader. >> so there's landrieu acknowledging the south has not always been the friendliest place. she's also someone while being blue dogged and conservative in a lot of ways was at the forefront of the apology of the u.s. senate. for never passing the dire anti-lynching bill. she's at least tried. she's sort of negotiating this dynamic. what i appreciate that in the machine is sort of capable of talking about the historic issues. and obviously in these elections people are going to deal with targeting constituencies.

we know they're going to do that. what is incredibly unfortunate about this. issues of racialized police violence and voter suppression, those are american issues. those are issues that our citizens need to think about, learn about and care about. if you just target it to the population that knows it's a crisis, you're participating in the schism that you're claiming you have to target. tha bad for the politics. and the other thing, even under obama, it's really interesting that black voters are simultaneously like essential and denigrated. black voters are like the democratic party is like the bad boyfriend who wants to sleep with you and never wants you to meet his mother. he loves you, but you can never meet his parents. it's a bad dynamic. >> this is the the thing that makes me feel nervous, ian. ultimately, for example, what the republican party had to do in the dog whistle politics is stop dog whistling, right? so you saw it in the late '90s.

early 2000s. these are our people. we're all coming together. so at what point are the democrats just going to have to say, you know what, we're with the black people. here we go. >> i want to say it differently. so christine shad something great. people have to talk to constituencies. we need to look at how they're talking to the constituencies. what a lot of people are saying, overwhelmingly republican. they're saying be afraid of minorities. be afraid of black crime. be afraid of welfare abuse. worry about the fact that the border is not secured, despite that we're deporting more people than in history. and that is qualitatively different pay attention to

what's happening in ferguson. stereo types, and talk about the art of persuasion rather than targeting. y'all get to do this in the commercial. but then when we come back from the commercial, how president obama's stealth campaign is playing out on urban radio. the black eagle himself is going to explain. copd? it can feel like this. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled... ...copd maintenance treatment... ...that helps open my airways for a full 24 hours. you know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating,

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president obama hasn't been with the democratic candidates that much this election cycle. understandable given that many candidates are moving away from him and his relatively low

approval ratings. those low approval ratings are not across the board. african-americans still overwhelmingly support the president. a recent associated press gfk poll found the president enjoys an 85% approval among black voters compared with only 34% among white voters. and so, if you are looking for the president on the campaign trail, you may not see him much, but you can hear him. a lot. lately on black radio talking about getting all black voters and their cousin pookie out to the polls. most recently with our guest joe madison. >> my cousin pookie wants to thank you for calling his name. >> as long as he's voting. >> he voted early. >> i like that. we all got a cousin pookie, who is a good person, but sometimes

is not quite as attentive to his policies. >> joining us now is joe madison, host of sirius xm the joe madison show. >> nice so to have you. >> i keep saying, i need to get a radio show. you got all the bookings i can't get. >> what can i say? >> i'm serious. it is fascinating part of what is going on is a campaign over radio. why radio? why is it still so critical in the final days? >> radio is very personal. it's in the the mind. it's in your head. working class people are going to work in the morning. you have a variety of different shows. i mean, you listed steve harvey, tom joyner, ricky smiley. yolanda adams. the joe madison show. we all have different audiences.

i think most importantly the way radio plays is we have very dedicated audiences. and i'm old enough to remember how georgey woods in philadelphia, mary mason in philadelphia, butter ball junior in detroit. the black radio is the drum beat of our community. it always has been. and i think it still is. and the administration, and it's not just the the president. it's members of his cabinet. i think we have had every cabinet member on our show at one point in time. >> i can't get none of them. listen, do your listeners still respond to the president. as they did six years ago. when the president shows up, or perhaps maybe when the first lady shows up, do you still hear from your listeners that it is critically important to them that it moves them to his cabinet members.

>> i may get in trouble with the first lady. they respond to her quite a bit. they really like her approach. she speaks -- i think, in ways they can relate to. and let's be honest, you know, cousin pookie is a metaphor. it really says we cannot afford to be cynical. and because when you're cynical about politics or politicians it leads to apathy. and that's what the first lady, who by the way is going to be on my show monday said. it's just a matter of voting. this is what it's really all about. >> let's listen to it for just one second. we have a preview of the first lady on your show on monday. >> we just have to get our people, and young people, minorities and women, in the habit of knowing that elections are forever. this isn't about barack. it's not about me. it's not about who is just on the ballot this time. this is a forever exercise.

and we just can't afford to let somebody else make decisions about our lives for us. that's what we're doing. when you don't vote, you're saying, okay, it's on you. you fix it for me. >> you don't vote. you don't count. >> you don't vote. you don't count. >> in this country, votes still count. >> so, hold for me one second. i want to come out to kai for one second. on one hand i get this. you have to get people to the polls. on the other hand, what about the fact, again, to the redejs of pookie, the metaphor, he has been coming out and voting. she has been coming out and voting. have we managed to count when we do vote? >> and that's again the problem. people do not connect -- so black america is super, duper engaged. we see that in the streets of ferguson. we see it in all kinds of places. not necessarily at the voting booth. we don't see an outcome. when people do not connect, they're voting to changes in

their lives. and some at some point, that has to be addressed if you want massive turnout amongst black people. >> so, joe, let me ask you. on one hand, there's the first lady saying, and i get this, this is partly about the exercise of the franchise. you have to go out and be a durable voter, even if sometimes your choices are not the best. on the other happened, isn't there kind of, well, i would like to see that on my ballot there is a meaningful difference between candidate "a" and "b." >> i think you're absolutely right. you do have to see a ballot. that's why it becomes a three-pronged approach. i've always said this. it's voter registration, voter education, and let's underscore that education. that's very key, and it's also then voter participation. and so your panelist is absolutely 100% right. that's when when they come on, if you notice the conversation is not this -- i'm reading from

q cards the way she might talk to other media outlets. what i heard people say, those who had a chance to preview the discussions, says it sounds conversational. and that's what they're doing. but let me tell you what really i think is turning out this black vote early. this is brought up in the discussion. it's when you tell african-americans and let me tell you, there's something without us. when you try to take something from us, i can't use the word on your show. i can use it on mine. you will tick us off. >> yes. and we'll go out and get lawn chairs and sit in line if we have to. and that's what, i think. driving a lot of people, particularly in these southern states like florida, georgia and north carolina. >> thank you, to joe madison, the black ego of washington, d.c., giving us a perfect

analysis of what lawrence will call the oppositional cultural of black folk around the question. >> that's what it's called? >> voting and oppositional culture, my friend. >> i'll have to remember that. >> thank you, joe. i appreciate having you on. >> god bless. >> up next, can souls to the poles save the democrats? ♪ hi. i'm new ensure active clear protein drink. >>clear huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got 8 grams of protein. new ensure active clear protein. 8 grams protein. zero fat. ensure. take life in. i have a cold. i took nyquil but i'm still stuffed up. nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. really? alka-seltzer plus night rushes relief to eight symptoms of a full blown cold including your stuffy nose. (breath of relief) oh, what a relief it is. thanks. anytime.

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the polls show perdue and nunn locked in a dead heat, and all her gains are attributable to the racial composition of likely voters. black voters hold the keys to unlock democratic senate victories in the south. but will they be interested in voting for candidates who have so publicly distanced themselves from president obama? that may depend on the messages they receive from other communities leaders. as nbc news senior political reporter perry bacon details, if these democrats win they need to thank people like reverend william barber. he started a rally that republican imposed measures like voter i.d. laws were akin to wading through the blood of the marty martyrs. and it's not just the south where democrats are counting on strong black voter democratic turnout. hoping to drive them in the african-american community,

religious leaders will be helping lead souls to the the polls tomorrow. the only sunday allowed by law for early voting in the buckeye state. one of the leaders joins us now from shorehouse baptist church in cleveland. >> it's aaron phillips. >> oh, i am very sleepy. i apologize, pastor phillips. >> some argue it's inappropriate for churches and church leaders to be involved in promoting and assista assisting to voting. what's your response to that? >> they wouldn't know their history. we know it has been a long time. history from the the african-american community that african-american spiritual leaders, male and female, have always come, stepped up to the plate when it came for speaking up for voters rights, civil rights and making positive changes in the community. if somebody says that, they don't know their history. >> and so, in that sense then, why is it that polls -- souls to

the polls matter? is it a moral imperative charge, or physically bodies at the church that moment and you can make the reminder to get voces in the vans and get over there. is it the organizational piece or the theological political argument? >> it's actually both. we're putting our theological beliefs to exercise practicality to make change in what's happening to our community. so we gather every sunday, and we're glad it's the first sunday this year. that's the most well attended service. we know many people will be gathering. and we always feel a responsibility. it's become a sense of community for us as well. where we can be with our brothers and sisters as well.

and it's a celebration for us. it's a great idea that we can strongly support. and we have spiritual leaders all across our country who strongly support this. >> pastor, hold for me one moment. i want to ask you about this. is this a kind of targeted marketing as well? in other words, okay, part of this is harkening back to the moment of the reverend dr. martin luther king and the civil rights moment and the notion of a divinely inspired social political movement. is that different for african-americans than even for latinos in the catholic tradition? >> bringing it back is so important. it reminds o us of something we have forgotten. african-americans used to vote republican and democratic. we now assume they always vote democratic. especially in the age of obama. we think they vote democratic out of racial loyalty.

no. we need to back up. when richard nixon ran against john f. kennedy, he took 26% of the black vote. the republicans decided to try to win white votes by appealing to racial anxiety, and the next year 0% of african-americans voted republican. so what we're living with is a 50-year legacy in which democrats can count on black vot votes precisely because republicans are using fear of blackness to win white votes. when we have dfrgs r conversations, we also ought to be having a conversation about why it is that race is so central. that politics are so polarized. that our parties are racially identifiable. that's not accident. that's strategy. we need to recognize that. >> pastor phillips. let me come to you on that. part pof what we heard in the last blog is part of what people is going on is people feeling

like there's a group trying to suppress their vote. even more than going out to vote for something, it's going out to vote like, i know you didn't tell me i couldn't vote. what are you hearing from folks in ohio about that? >> that's actually an inspiration. i think joe madison hit the nail on the head. that's an inspiration to draw people together to say you're going to try to take something from me. we actually have a radio broadcast. we go on the radio every week inspiring people to vote. we know people listen to the radio on their way home. from 5:00 to 6:00 every thursday on the local black radio station here. so we have many pastors who normally get involveded in these kind of political activity. have been engaged because they know strategy to keep us from voting. when people hear the strategy is to prent this is a big job. it's a very important job. where we have over 50 chunchs from -- and 30 vans tomorrow. and we have charjs from all.

not just baptist but penacostal. we have people all across that will never come to gt. we're not saying vote democrat or vote republican. we're just saying get out to vote. but make sure you vote your interests. that is our point. vote your interests. we want voting against people against voting rights. people who are suppressing union rights. we're voting against people who don't support medicaid expansion. we're in support of our interest. our interest is with most of the times the democratic party. >> thank you to pastor aaron phillips in cleveland, ohio. not only correcting me on the name but also managed to get in the time of his radio show. that's good work. appreciate it, professor phillips. and and christ tee na are sticking around. up next, the the book is called "who we be: can colorization of

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one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. the election of president obama demonstrated political potential of the future american elect ral. it was forecast by the 2010 census. according to census data, by the year 2043, nonhispanic white americans will no longer be a majority group. the people of color will institute a majority of the population. those demographic shifts and the emergence of a browner america have, along with the presidency of barack obama, helped push the big questions about american identity onto fiercely contested terrain. what does it mean to be an american who gets to decide? how does race frame the recognition of themselves and each other. in a new book "who we be: the colorization of america", award

winning author looks for the changes in where the fight over identity has been the most identifiable. we live in an ere rar where it's not between red states and blue states but between those stuck on monoculturism these fearful over the agreement danger of being lost forever. and those hopeful about being made anew. those stuck in black and white and those living in color. jeff chang for the institute of diversity and the arts joins me now. 4r all right. so turn of the 20th century. du bois predicts the question will be the color line. a singular color line. is that still the question? is it multiple color lines?

>> it's multiple color lines. you're talking about the political strategy this morning. and i was interested in talking about what's happened with cultural shifts and looking at the roles artists play in having us move towards new visions of how we see each other and how we can live together. in the 21st century the lines get mixed up. but it's important for us to rep focus on race and racial inequality and resolving that question. we've seen cultural desegregation here today. but at the same time. all indices show we're resegregating at intense rates. the gaps in wealth, income, homeownership, education are growing. and this is under a black president. so this is a paradox of the time we're living through. >> so talk to me about the idea that we can experience a culture desegregation. that all young -- all people of a certain age listen to the same

music. if i run into another 41-year-old, they know the hip-hop lyrics as well as i do. no matter what race they are. how do you end up with culture desegregation that doesn't contribute to a lived policy experience that is an sbre grind one. >> if we were able to hear the stories of underrepresented folks, that empathy would come out. out of everyompathy, we would ra consensus for equity and equality. that hasn't happened so much. it was really interesting to look at the mtv data binder poll that came out this year. they asked mill enyaenials abou their view on race. there was a split. at one hand they said pushing towards color blindness. on the other hand, they said we want to value all differences. now that's what the culture war is about. those are the two different sides at war. and so we're in a place where we

don't have the language to talk about how we are moving towards 2042. >> i wonder about the idea that people can articulate respect for diverseness and color blind or raceless future. is that our fault, as a generation? did we fail to articulate that color blindness might actually make it harder to be in a situation of republican for diversity? >> i think it has been a complicated sort of terrain we've been developing. and i think it goes in a number of levels. one issue is we have a issue of scale. so we have certain segments of people of color populations. latinos, african-americans, live-in conditions of a lot of cross racial contact. a lot of diversity. and we have other segments in primarily segregated communities. first generation immigrants and third generation latinos. the racial communities are all

sharing the same world in many ways. we all live in different kinds of spaces and places based on class, education, region. so we need to get better at talking about the multiple diversities. we can't tell a story of a singular racial experience any longer. and we never could. but the sorlt of sense of opened up opportunities now have required us to think differently about how we understand the idea that the communities have an experience. i think in the '80s we talked about this as if there were a black experience. now it's even more complicated. and so we need scholars and cultural activists and performers to help us understand it. >> when we come back, i want to dig into that. when you see somebody else of your race you give the nod? the exhilaration of a new engine. painstakingly engineered without compromise. to be more powerful... and, miraculously, unleash 46 mpg highway. an extravagance reserved for the privileged few.

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experience. so maybe two or three episodes ago, there was a moment about the nod and whether or not when you're walking through predominantly white space and you're african-american, you see someone who is african-american, do you do the acknowledgment? do you say we have a thing in common here? and in this moment of a changing america, is it reasonable to nod at the other, you know. whatever, black person, brown person, white person in your space. should you not presume that you know what the the racial identities are, and "b" that, you do in fact have shared experiences? >> well, i think all of us are moving through elite spaces. elite spaces are still overwhelmingly white. the nod is important. and sf someone doesn't nod back, it's telling. right? but i want to say, look at what's happened to the way we talk about race. we talk about race like it's a matter of identity and culture. well, that's a really easy way to integrate. we could engage in one else's culture. we can try it on.

we can take it off. we can move on. >> we can feel like we have it all worked out. >> or buy one book and feel like i'm doing race. i'm doing integration. we stopped talking about race as status and access to resources. and that's what you see at stake. for example, crystallized in segregates spaced or elite spaces. there's still a phenomenon of tokenism. we're welcome as long as we don't rock the vote by talking about the whiteness of the space. that's where you see segregation continuingly in status and access to resources. >> part of what i loved about hip-hop is it did both at the same time. it was consumed right often by a very multiracial audience. but the content of hip-hop was often about explicitly critiquing or being around the question. >> i got a big kick out of

naming the book after a dmx song myself. it's sort of getting into that space of hey, we're here now. the question hads always been, who are we? what are we becoming? may, this is who we be. i'm really interesteded in the way that artists are able to intervene in the culture to be able to offer these different types of ways of understanding how we can live together. so while i agree with you, i want to emphasize it's an important place for us to be in the battle l. you look at the civil rights act, the voting rights ability, the immigration nationality act passing in the 1960s. those began to dismantle the structures of legal segregation. but you still can't legislate how people are going to live together. and i think that's why when we talk about 2042 that it's a political question. the parties are working this

out. they're trying to figure out out right away. it's larger than that. we have to figure out a new political majority. but the main question is how do we figure out what the majority is going to be if we're all minorities? that's how do we create a culture that is inclusive and open and will be allow us to move towards real equality and equity. a fight in equity. >> so on the one hand, like i lof this conversation. but i also wonder if we're overintellectualizing the experience of race in a certain way. especially to the experience that culture is so lived, so embodied that often even the cultural producers themselves wouldn't quite articulate the ways that those of us who read culture read it. how do we get to yes, by doing the intellectual and big things but just making space for i nod because i feel you. i feel this thing we have together. >> right. right. i think there's a couple of things circulating. there's a very effective

imbodied experience of the politics of visibility. and we still experience that. i see you. and i read you. i make assumptions about you. that can be tricky. look at the way they're deploying gender. they're deploying the same kind of visceral poll. she's a woman. susana martinez is latina. she is me. that logic is powerful. it's real. and it's tricky. and it requires a kind of negotiation to understand, but i think we need in politics. what i love about what you're doing is it's really important, i think we are smarter in thes a th realm than we are in politics. in the realm of the arts. the arts allows us to think about the gaps and pauses and the things that make art work. and people just sort of have a way of understanding a song or film and they respond to it in a way that sometimes politics aren't capable of the same subtlety and contradictions and

paradoxes that politics fail at. >> i think we're going to continue this well thank jeff, d christina. up next, do not go away. i want to tell you about our foot soldier of the week. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life.

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according to the philadelphia police department, there have been 219 homicides in philadelphia this year. the city is on pace to have an annual homicide rate of 14.8 per 100,000. for cities with high rates of violence, murder victims may receive only a mention on the news and become a statistic rather than an individual. caught in the crossfire, carjacking victim, they become just a number, one in 219. and rarely do we get more than a fleeting mention of the mourning family, friends and loved ones trying to reconcile the pain of the loss of their beloved or the communities grappling with the fear, stress and pain of

navigating the threat of potential gun violence or seeing community members loss. our foot soldier has made it his mission to remind us of those taken by gun violence. kevin cook is currently pursuing a masters in photojournalism at the university of missouri and working on a thesis of hometown violence in philadelphia. he shines a light on the violence in philadelphia and the lives of those impacted by it. like the cox family who are seen here mourning the loss of their 25-year-old son terence who was shot execution-style near a restaurant on his street. he shows us the family and trends of a man named baruko who made t-shirts in remembrance of his life. also the family and friends of 23-year-old troy k. smith whose mother couldn't imagine the loss of her one and only son. kevin also shows us survivors

like terry who was shot five times during a drug deal. he now does community outreach. and nate uses exercise to battle depression. kevin documents crime scenes like this one of a fatal shoot l in north philadelphia and this one in west philly night days later. his images serve as a reminder that neighborhoods deemed most dangerous are neighborhoods, they're communities where people live and love and aspire and grow and dream and where they mourn and where they work to heal. kevin frequently takes pictures with his phone saying it allows a greater locloseness and intimacy. for him, the photos are about the stories, about those people. for his work documenting the

impact of gun violence in philadelphia and reminding us that each person is just that, a person, not a statistic, kevin cook is our foot soldier of the week. that's our show for today. thanks for watching. i'll be back tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern. right now, it's time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." >> thanks so much. we're going to talk about the correct me if i'm wrong reaction to that viral video aimed at raising awareness aimed at street harassment. that woman right there, all about the threats she's gotten since it was posted. it's only november 1st but it's certainly winter in some places in the south. we'll talk about that and the arctic air mass hitting a lot of the country. and a creepy look at the end of this reality. film versus art intimating life? i'll speak with the screenwriter and director of "night crawler." i'll be right back.

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you might not expect it. nearly a foot falls in a matter of hours in one u.s. state. a tragic end to halloween night. now the search is on for the driver somewhere in and around l.a. who left three teenagers dead. at any moment, we expect a news conference on that space rocket crash in the california desert. we'll bring it to you live. what have investigators already learned? reunion, one of the most heart-warming moments to emerge after weeks and even months of ebola fears. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news at this hour, any moment now, the ntsb officials will be holding a press conference at the scene of yesterday's virgin galactic spaceshiptwo crash in mojave, california. that aircraft broke