article last month alleging a gang rape at the university of virginia in 2012 against a woman named jackie. in the three-paragraph update called a note to our readers, managing editor wrote the following n the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in jackie's account. we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced. we were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault. and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. we are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story. "the washington post" quotes an attorney for the fraternity that's named in the story, saying it will release a statement today rebutting the claims in the original article. joining me now on the phone is katherine valentine, a uva student and reporter with wuva and msnbc's arin car mon carmons

been following this story for a year. katherine, this report was so shocking to so many people when it came out, but you also were doing your own reporting on campus about the incidents of sexual assault. did you hear this specific story and were you at all involved in investigating the details of it? >> i was not. i heard rumors. i was investigating the university's sexual assault policies in september. and i heard around october that a story was going to come out. but i'm -- i'm afraid we're going to lose sight of what's really important here. sexual assault is a very real issue at every college across the nation. and my fear is this is going to trivialalize and "rolling stone" said there were skepcys in jackie's article, i'm afraid that's going to trivialize very real accounts of sexual assault.

>> when you talked to the university leadership, was there any pushback on whether or not the university was properly handling sexual assaults and whether or not there were sexual assaults happening. >> i don't think there is any doubt that sexual assaults have occurred at this campus as well as every campus across the nation. again, this is an issue that is not specific to uva. but i'm also -- i'm very hesitant to blame a victim for any discrepancies in the article. the "rolling stone" reporter should be held accountable for not checking every single fact if there are discrepancies. >> on that point, i want to come to you, irin, because we all work in this business and we know how stringent the requirements are to get comment from anyone who is being named in a story in this matter or things are being alleged against them. "rolling stone" said the following about not making sure that the reporter contacted the alleged attackers or any of them. they said this, because of the sensitive nature of jackie's story, we decided to honor her

request not to contact the man she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her. what do you think the ramifications of that decision are now, not just for this story, but now for this issue that's been brought forward? i mean, shouldn't they have done that? >> this is a devastating abdication of journalistic responsibility. this is pewly, as far as we know, right now on "rolling stone" on their editing process, fact-checking process. they talk about the trust they put in the alleged victim, but people put a trust in journalistic institution to fact check and the fact that does not appear to have been done is very troubling. it's also troubling there's been a lack of transparency in the process. in the last week or so people have raised concerns about the fact that apparently the alleged assay atlantas were not contacted but the "rolling stone" reporter who i reached out to has not specified until now in this statement what exactly was agreed to.

again, agreeing you're not going to contact people who are alleged to have commitmented a major crime is a big deal. and it's not common practice. and if you're going to do it, have you to be transparent. "the washington post" has now shown that just a few extra calls could have put holes -- that doesn't mean the woman is making up her story. that doesn't mean she wasn't raped but it does mean "rolling stone" has not done their job. >> to stick with you for a second because some of the other things that weren't done was so check some of the basic facts in the story. there was one piece of the story that was really gripping where it was said that jackie then runs the young man who took her to the party at the place where she both worked at the university aquautic fitness center. "the washington post" quoted officials close to the fraternity said no fraternity members were employed at the aquatic fitness center and so that is in question.

so, not even not contacting the alleged attackers, but also not checking to make sure that contemporaneously any of them worked at aquatic center. >> the journalist said i checked everything, even the fact jackie worked as a life guard and talked to her friends. the friends were getting the accounts from jackie. trauma victims often have incomplete memories, often get details wrong. she's a woman who asked the journalist to take her out of the story, according to "the washington post" report. so we don't know what happened to her. what we do know is "rolling stone" didn't do her job. >> i said fraternity activities have been shut down at uva, not fraternities themselves. thank you to both of them. now to new york where new protests are happening again today. over a grand jury's decision not to indict a new york city police officer in the death of eric garner. protesters fanned out across the

city from brooklyn to manhattan last night with many marchers chant, i can't breathe, eric garner's final words as he was taken to the ground by a group of officers. police say 200 people were arrested last night. demonstrations took across across the country as another deft an unarmed african-american man at the hands of a white police officer. mean whishlgs the staten island district attorney's office released a document disclosing limited information about the grand jury proceedings. among the few details provided, the grand jury was given 60 exhibits of evidence and heard from 50 witnesses. 22 were civilians. the rest were police and medical personnel. amanda is in times square. i see protests still going on behind you. >> reporter: there is a small group gathered in union scare, many who are high schoolers staging a sit-in and to read the names of those killed by police officers.

the groups here in no way compare to the numbers we saute the streets of new york last night but there are additional actions scheduled for later tonight. the attempt is to keep the movement alive by staging these actions, having very organized meet-up places on days following the announcement of the grand jury decision in order to keep the message alive, in order to keep the movement alive as well. >> talk a little about how these protests are being organized, amanda. are people literally doing them on social media, through hash tags? how are people converging in all of these places all together on time? >> reporter: yeah, this is in no way spontaneous. many of the organizations that were involved in ferguson are taking to a nationwide scale. many major cities across the country had actions planned way ahead of time, ahead of the indictment decision for eric garner. people knew in seattle, for example, to meet on fourth and pine. people knew where to meet in chicago, in d.c. and so having this organizationed action through

tumblr, twitter, facebook, has been able to gavlvanize many groups who wouldn't ordinarily be able to get the scope this movement has been able to. >> msnbc's amanda sukuma, thank you. to the white house where today president obama officially named ash tton carter to be his nominee for the next defense secretary. >> he knows the department of defense inside and out, which -- all of which means that on day one, he's going to hit the ground running. >> for more, let's go to msnbc's perry bacon live at the white house. this is, i guess, seen as a nominee who can get confirmed. >> reporter: yes, yes. like the a.g. nominee, loretta lynch, republicans on capitol hill so far have been very supportive. they like ashton carter. he's been in washington a long time. he's actually worked or advised 11 defense secretaries in the past. so the key thing will be people know him, john mccain said he'll

voes for him, and likely to be confirmed. the striking thing at today's events, this is built a big policy change. hagel left with some acrimony, but president obama talked about his sitisis, rebalancing russia asia. the feeling at the white house was hagel was not effective at implementing their policy and they think carter will be better. it's more a change in personnel than in policy. >> and are -- there's been a lot of critique of hagel for not taking on the generals enough and not being tough enough and not speaking up enough with the white house. is ashton carter seen as someone who would take on the generals, or as you say, going to be consistent, just slightly different personality? >> reporter: he will take on, i think, both the generals and my sense the white house a little bit, too. the thing he said today that was striking, carter only spoke for a few moments but he said twice, i'm going to give my candid advice. candid strategic advice, candid

administrative advice. i think he's trying say the white house has tried to micromanage the pentagon and carter wants to show he wants to be a force of his own, present his ideas and see how it goes. >> we'll leave it there. msnbc's perry bacon at the white house. thanks very much. now to the latest in the bill cosby controversy. the comedian is fighting back, countersuing a woman who filed a civil suit this week against him. alleging he sexually assaulted her when she was 15 years old. msnbc's craig melvin is following the latest developments. >> good day to you. for weeks we have been hearing about one sexual abuse allegation after another against bill cosby. this week, the first lawsuit since he settled that case back in 2005. yesterday the cosby legal team responded. >> reporter: just two days after judy huth sued bill cosby, the comedian's response came in the

form of legal documents calling the suit against him meritless and unsupported. cosby's motion contains a strong denial of the allegations citing extortion attempts and seeks to dismiss the suit and sanction the plaintiff for failing to include a certification from a health practitioner to support her claims. the motion also states, cosby's name was illegally included as a department in violation of court rules. >> he's throwing down the gauntlet saying, even if what you a is true, you still can't sue me. >> reporter: it's the first time since the most recent wave of sexual assault allegations that we've heard a significant response from cosby's team. >> i think mr. cosby is using a very smart strategy, because he's making the statements he would want to make but it's coming through his lawyer. so, they can't be used against him. >> reporter: huth's lawsuit was filed the next day by three women who also claimed cosby sexually abused them. cosby's court filings were simple standard operating procedure. >> mr. cosby's representatives

have often attacked many of the alleged victims who have come forward. >> reporter: and used the comedian's wealth and power to deter women from making claims. >> scared to death. my family's scared to death that he will end their careers and their lives. they're scared to death of mr. cosby. >> reporter: in the case of huth, legally, experts think mr. cosby may have the advantage. >> i think there's a very serious statute of limitation violation. >> reporter: huth says her psychological injury or illness had been repressed and only discovered within the last three years. something cosby's attorneys claim is not true saying ten years ago she tried to tell her story to the tabloid magazine. >> it's a huge problem, the fact she spoke of her injuries ten years ago. >> reporter: bill cosby has never been charged with the crime, even though more than 20 women have now publicly accused him of sexual misconduct. >> so, the huth case will go to

court march 12th if it does not get dismissed or settled before that date. meanwhile, a short time ago, joy reid, this happened. take a look. that's bill cosby's star on the hollywood walk of fame. it was vandalized overnight, according to officials. someone scribbled the word "rapist" over his name. that's the latest on the cosby case. >> thanks very much. craig melvin, appreciate it. coming up, an update from cleveland. we'll talk about what's next for the city's police after the federal government's scathing diagnosis of rampant civil rights abuse. plus, when we come back, the case for reform as new york officers begin wearing body cameras today. do we also need to rethink the grand jury process. we'll ask a former prosecutor when we come back.

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the pilot program will cover six precincts with an historically high rate of stop and frisk incidents including the 128 in staten island where eric garner was killed in what the coroner later called a homicide. research is not conclusive. previous studies suggest body cameras may contribute to reducing complaints against police officers as well as the incidents of the use of force. it's why president obama this week announced a $75 million program to help states and localities fund purchases. for critics of police tactics, body cameras are one form needed to reform departments nationwide. seema practices as a criminal practice defense attorney. i think probably the best case against body cameras against the cure all, end all, be all is eric garner where this entire incident unfolds on tape and

still no indictment. >> that's correct. but we all crave transparency. we got transparency and where did it get us? nowhere. >> it's interesting because it's broken down the left/right divide. we've seen a lot of libertarians arguing they, too, were shocked by this verdict and something needs to change. one of the things you've heard, this is coming from the cato institute's trevor burress, that not only should special prosecutors replace district attorneys in prominent cases but officers should have to prove there's an imminent threat. when juries don't indict or convict it's because they accept officer's difficult good-faith decisions. i think officers are by definition reluctant to prosecute officers and shouldn't officers have to prove -- >> what if you had to prosecute ari melber. you're laughing. but could you do it? that's what they're asking to you do. they're asking you to prosecute the stage manager here. you can't do that.

i also want to point out that with eric gaerner, that the onl charges presented were criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter. >> no reckless endangerment. >> i also want to point out gang assault in the second degree or gang assault in the first degree would have also been appropriate charges. this is from the new york penal assault, a person is guilty of gang assault in second degree with intent to cause physical injury, two people are present, then they cause that injury to a third person. why wasn't gang assault charged? if is appropriate -- from what i read to you, that sounds correct, right? >> absolutely. >> so, there's -- one degree is with physical injury. the other is serious physical injury. both instances are relevant to eric garner. >> right. so, then why wouldn't -- >> and also strangulation. >> why wouldn't reckless endangerment make it in? >> doint. the only thing i can see is

reckless endangerment in the second degree as a misdemeanor does apply because all it -- it's conscious disregard for risk, engaging in certain conduct. the problem with reckless endangerment in the first degree, which is a felony, that requires invincing a depraved indifference to human life. it is very hard to prove that pantaleo had that depraved indifference. >> another question people have is why only officer pantaleo would have been charged. there were half a dozen people there. >> i agree with you. >> and that's what gang assault is, right? gang assault is you have that two or more persons engaged. now, even if, let's say, a group of people are engaged in a gang assault, you may not be charged and i may be charged but i'm charged under an acting in concert theory that i was acting with others to serve the same purpose. >> i want to ask you because you are a defense attorney.

it seems when i look back over the course of cases of police who have killed a civilian go all the way back to the 1980s, arthur mcduffy, the defense is the same, the person had their hand in a waistband, they went for what i thought was a gun, i thought they were going for my gun, i was in fear of my life. those amounts are always in defense. >> because it works, joy reid! it works! you have the qualified immuniti. every officer has this ability to use deadly force in certain circumstances. number two, you have -- that you were acting under that color of law up. were acting within your job, within your duty. and thirdly, you're allowed to carry a weapon. >> and so one other question. number one, do you as having been in both of these positions as a prosecutor and defense attorney, should the local prosecutor be allowed to be involved? >> no, no. >> they should take them out of this. >> actually, msnbc.com i think they're writing something about this. they asked me this question. and i think this is the only

reform i can see happening, is that special prosecutors should be appointed in all cases of investigating a police officer. >> i think it's almost having the police prosecute themselves because they're so similar bymb >> i appreciate you being here. you can catch seema online tackling legal questions every tuesday at 11 a.m. eastern on msnbc.com. you want to do that. coming up as protesters continue to voice their outrage on the streets, hash tags like i can't breathe and crime involve white are lighting up social media. we'll bring you some sobering online reactions when we come back. they're coming. what do i do? you need to catch the 4:10 huh? the equipment tracking system will get you to the loading dock. ♪ there should be a truck leaving now. i got it.

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that shut down major cities last night. on the #thisendstoday, you also saw confrontations of police and watches as protesters took over the brooklyn bridge and pictures of a chicago die-in marking day two of protests over the grand jury decision not to indict the officer who put eric garner in the cheokehold, contributing to his death. some tweeting, america is an active volcano but others believe the images of the protests happening are beautiful. this movement lives. our voices will be heard. the voices of white people sharing experiences with law enforcement are also trending. the #crimingwhilewhite illustrates stark racial differences in treatment. at 13 i stole a car with my friends and drove it two weeks before getting busted. the only one charged was black. on the competin

competing #alivewhileblack, i was pulled over with friends without probable cause. cops asked if we had weapons or drugs and then asked if we had rockets. amid these pressures police are evaluating high-profile cases of unarmed black men killed by police, but huffington post reporter riley is tweeting what some officers are saying on the private website policeone.com where a user vented on a message board visited only by law enforcement, eric holder to the rescue of his fellow after can american eric garner. to my unborn son, this project tackled how to inspire future generations to overcome racial inequality. the young people at the forefront of demonstrations, both online and off, are making it clear, just like this sign tweeted from new york says, the revolution will be televised and proclaimed on social media. can you join the conversation with fellow reiders on facebook, instagram and twitter at

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today the state of ohio announced a new bipartisan task force on police community relations. it comes one day after eric holder released a highly critical doj report on patterns of excessive use of force by police in cleveland. all of which comes as the city and state confront the high-low file police killing 13 days ago of 12-year-old rice who was shot and killed while holding a pellet gun that police were told by a dispatcher was a real gun. zach reed is a cleveland city councilman. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you for allowing me, joy. appreciate it. >> thank you. i want to start by asking about this officer in the case, in the person who shot tamir rice. have you been able to discern from the city of cleveland how it is he became to be hired given the fact his previous

employer judged him to be emotionally unqualified to be a police officer and not even good in terms of the use of firearms? >> well, i haven't been able to discern it, but i think for what we've seen in the newspapers and heard in the media, that this individual should have never been a police officer. i think this individual falls in the line of what malcolm x said. you have good cops, you have bad cops and you have police officers that don't deserve to even be on the force. i think he falls in the latter, that didn't deserve to be on the force. >> do we know what the status is now in terms of the way this case will play out? is there a grand jury coming? what can you tell us about the investigation into the shooting? >> well, the way they have laid out the cases in the past, they have 90 days in which to investigate the entire case. now the prosecutors, the police officers, the investigators, are going through right now to investigate the case. within that 90 days, they have to bring it back to the mayor's office and the prosecutor to make a decision, will we move forward to take it to the grand jury? so, right now -- right now it's

in the investigate take. >> this case and the shooting inside the walmart, one thing i heard you bring up on "politics nation" is ohio is an open carry state. the fact -- these turned out to be toy guns, the case of the walmart shooting and the rice case, how does it happen you get into a deadly force situation because people are holding what officers think is an open gun in an open carry state? >> i think it comes to the fact that police officers need better training, especially in states like ours where you're allowed to carry a gurn. in this case with the 12-year-old boy, to see a car rush up to that little boy, to see them jump out of that car and immediately shoot that little boy, that all came down to training. it really came down to training. joy, we got to understand that we're open carry state when it comes to firearms. so, therefore, police officers need better training than evidently they're getting now.

we also got to understand, joy, we've got some good cops out there. i'm friends with the police union, i'm friends with commanders here in cleveland. we have good police officers. what we've got to do, joy, we've got to weed out the bad police officers. we have bad police officers that are making the good police officers look bad and then we've got to look at the next step, that we have to figure out after we weed out these bad police officers and we get a good police force that can be trusted, what are we going to do about all these black-on-black crimes? >> the question i want to ask you, though, because you make the point about weeding out a smaller number of officers who are not doing the right thing, but i want to play you what attorney general eric holder had to say about what sure sounds like a more systematic problem in the state of ohio or the city of cleveland. let's take a listen. >> the justice department has closely examined nearly 600 use of force incidents that occurred between 2010 and 2013. >> the unnecessary and excessive

use of deadly force, including shootings and head strikes with impact weapons, the unnecessary excessive or retaliatory use of less lethal force including tasers, chemicals or fists, excessive force against persons mentally ill or in crisis included cases where officers were called exclusively called for a welfare check. >> that doesn't sound like police officers responding to some sort of outburst of black-on-black crime. sounds like a systematic problem with the cleveland police force. >> it's clearly a systematic problem within the police force. one of the cases they looked at that they identify was a person getting shot and he had his underwear on. how can you shoot a guy that has his underwear on? clearly, it's not isolated incidents. it is a pattern of problems within the cleveland police department that we're going to have to clean up. but after we clean up those problems, we also, joy, have to look at, that we've got a problem of blacks killing blacks

and after we -- who's going to do those investigations? that's the reason we got to have a police force that we trust, a police force that is confident and competent, and, therefore, i'm happy that the department of justice has come in here and now going to put a monitor in place, because we've got to build the trust back, because the trust between the police department here in cleveland and the general public is bitterly broken. >> the general public, specifically african-americans, i'm assuming in white parts of cleveland there is also crime. since crime is intraracial, the white citizens being killed are mainly being killed by white assay atlan assailan assailants. >> i have a concern right now, joy, last night a 20-year-old female woman was shot in the head and killed. that makes cleveland right now, while you and i are talking, to have 99 homicides in the city of cleveland right now.

99. where cities much larger than ours like san francisco and austin, texas, combined don't have 99 homicides. so, every life matters, both black and white and hispanic and asian. and we've got a problem here in the city of cleveland when it comes to homicides and, therefore, we've got to have a police department that the people trust, that are going to go out there and do their job. right now the department of justice is saying, they might be doing their job but the people don't trust them and they need better training. they need better equipment. they need better technology to do their job better, so that we can build trust between that police department and the city residents. >> sir, we'll leave it there. thank you very much. city cleveland council member zach reed. three things to know this friday. beginning with a jobs report that's all guaranteed 2014 will be the strongest year of job creation since 1999 in addition to a stunning 321,000 jobs

created in november, hourly earnings also came in higher than expected. president obama says the new numbers show the economy is making real progress. >> over the last four years we put more people back to work than europe, japan and all other industrialized advanced countries combined. it's worth us every once in a while reflecting on the fact that the american economy is making real progress. meanwhile in louisiana tomorrow we'll find out if mary landrieu is, indeed, the last southern democrat. voters head to the polls on saturday to cast their ballots in a runoff between -- runoff election between landrieu and her republican challenger, bill cassidy. nasa has taken the first step in it's long-planned journey to mars. nasa's unmanned orion spacecraft crashed down around 11:30 eastern time, just four hours after orion's roaring lift-off

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and more on the way. minuteclinic. another innovation from cvs health. because health is everything. as you're looking at live pictures from downtown chicago, more protests are expected in new york today over the grand jury's decision over not to indict a police officer over the death of eric garner. those live pictures you're seeing are chicago, but clearly these protests are nationwide. new york police made more than 200 arrests during protests last night throughout the night and into the morning. the demonstrations over eric garner's death and the michael brown shooting in ferguson are raising new concerns, meanwhile, about freedom of speech and when police have a right to interfere with and arrest protesters. more on the interaction between police and protesters, they took part in ferguson and the

community meeting with president obama. basam was responsible for live streaming the ferguson protests in the early days. thank you for being here. one of the things that you've talked about or that people have talked about you on social media is the fact that you really did seem to aggravate police in ferguson by live streaming those protests. and you have talked about the fact that you have had previous run-ins with police on traffic tickets. talk about your capacity as an independent journalist. >> it's an objective view, they can't control what we say but they can go to mainstream media and be able to give the points that they want and to be able to do stuff based on that. we're out there, you're objective and you hear what's going on in the streets which they don't want to hear. >> but you guys have been really effective, to the point you were invited to be on the list of

people who went to the white house to talk to the president. so, do you feel that social media has just disrupted the ability of even people like me to orchestrate the story. this really is you guys' story. >> of course. we're very strategic in what we do. we're not as ignorant as people like to portray. when we put the message out, when they were forcing the local media out, we were going to our marketing and used hashtags and linked out to our people nationally to get the narrative out. >> you are an artist, musical artist as well, so do you feel like that experience of having to move the musical marketing sort of game online and onto social media, is that kind of what's helped you specifically to kind of make this thing work as well? >> of course. spreading this message was nothing but business. took the same tactics from business and applied it and it worked. >> so, i want to just stay with you for a second. when you went to the white house, what did you tell the president that you and other activists want to see and what did he say? >> we to want see the change he talked about in his campaign.

we want the freedom to be able to walk down the street without being harassed by police, without being extorted, without getting shots in my back just because i want a sandwich late at night. he told us he agreed it was a problem. he said he was proud of us, regardless of the media portraying us, he said he was proud of what we were doing and we have his support. >> what changes would you to want specifically see come out of all of this activism? >> the police know they serve us as a community and we don't serve them. and the fact that, you know, all these aggressive policies and extortion they place upon our community has to stop. you know, all that funding they're getting from us, we have no idea where it goes, the traffic tickets all that stuff is money in thin air. it doesn't help our community whatsoever, our education system is in sham bels, drug on the streets. they're not fighting real crime. they're focusing on these little stuff while we have a heroine epidemic and gun problem in st.

louis. almost 150 murders this year in st. louis and they're worried about petty stuff instead of the real stuff. it's getting all of us, innocent civilians, in the way of that. that's what we need to stop. >> let's stay with ferguson for a moment. there is this commission that's been put together. you have the -- you're already laughing -- governor talk about a task force. do you think a commission will help to solve the problems in ferguson? >> not at all. to be honest, ferguson is a wonderful neighborhood. that was the first murder that occurred there all year. and it was a police officer shooting an unarmed kid. it's a good neighborhood. can you leave your doors unlocked and sleep on the street before this situation. so the fact they steered the narrative away from it being a regional problem to separate ferguson from the rest of st. louis and the other 90 municipalities in st. louis is ridiculous. >> what do you say to people who say, well, listen, it's the fall of the people within st. louis county, they voted in bob mccullough, he's been in for 28 years. he keeps getting re-elected. no one runs against him. that people just don't

participate. they're not choosing leaders they would prefer. >> when you have a whole community that feels like they've been disenfranchised and the system doesn't work for them, you don't blame that on the people. you blame that on the system that's been there. the fact people aren't participating in the government goes to show you they have no faith in that government. some stuff has to change. you know, there were -- we're in the 21st century where we've got a lot of enter snet and stuff where people can communicate. we don't have to have old-school ways of voting to make people's voice heard in our community and our government. there needs to be more ways. >> both of you have had negative interactions, we'll call it that, with police. there's a lot of talk now about body cameras being the answer. obviously the eric garner case shows having it on tape doesn't necessarily lead to what the family would want to see as justice. do you think body cameras would be helpful at least? >> it's a gang tape of me being murdered. i think it should already have been standard issue, like mace and a taser. i don't think we should be wasting $263 million of taxpayer money just for 50,000 body

cameras when they can buy locally new charges every time they come out and, plus, i mean, they have the authority to turn them off at will. there was a young man that was murdered in new orleans. and the female officer, she turned the camera off right before the gun went off. >> yeah. and in terms of -- if it's not body cameras, then what would change and make the interactions between civilians, between people of color and police more positive? what would change it? >> well, definitely training. more training on how to effectively deal with the community that's not of your own race, you know what i'm saying? and at the same time, you know, the way i feel, you know, they're working so they need to take more like customer service, you know what i'm saying, like classes, stuff like that, to be able to interact with people with more respect. at the end of the day, we're all human beings and we demand respect. we need that respect as well. that's a big part of this issue right here, the is fact the

police don't respect us at all. it feels like you work for them. has no bearing on whatever about how, you know, like locking us up is not going to fix our community whatsoever. they have to find new ways of being able to punish people for these petty crimes, you know what i'm saying, instead of locking then up with murderers and thieves. >> obviously, you guys are being heard. i really appreciate you being here. keep up what you're doing. if you head back to the white house, we would like you to come back and give us a report on what the president had to say to follow up with you. i really appreciate it. >> thanks. >> thank you. coming up, we will read between the lines on the power of unlimited authority. we used to have so many emptymom!ls! that's why we switched to charmin ultra mega roll. charmin ultra mega roll is 75% more absorbent so you can use less with every go. plus it even lasts longer than the leading thousand sheet brand. charmin ultra mega roll.

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what would you do with nearly unlimited power. if you could wield the awesome power of the state knowing what you do is very likely to be backstopped by the stays. if you misused your state, the

state would most certainly absolve you, even if your abuse left someone dead. it wouldn't be believed by the state or even fellow citizens, that they would be written off as mistaken or worse, as liars, the prosecutors backed by a grand jury steered to the right conclusion. but anyone who believed those who disputed your version of events would be dismissed by their neighbors, their coworkers, on social media, and by some in the traditional media who would insist only those people who back you up could possibly be believed. what would you do with that kind of power? of course, the answer depends on who you are and you're a good person, right? you would use your power for good. but what if your neighbor had that power? would you want your neighbor constrained? history has offered us endless reminders that unchecked power in the hands of human beings rarely ends well. today being mandela day,

apartheid south africa comes to mind. police had the right to unchecked by any means necessary. a november 25th headline read, ferguson burns, south africa simmers. noting that even today there's nothing post-racial about policing in the country nelson mandela helped to free from its ugly past. in the u.s., the exercise of raw power from state and local government -- remember the beating of protesters on the pettis bridge in 1965, the epic civil rights movie depicted in the upcoming movie "selma," the batons that cracked the skulsz of peaceful marchers, putting 60 in the hospital were orchestrated by a county sheriff, the people wielding the batons and tear gas were the police. the murderers of goodman, were

carried out by a posse led by the deputy sheriff, cecil price. often in the south and in states like indiana, illinois and missouri after the great migration, the knight riders, the klu klux klan weren't con strained bit police. often they were the police. it took the federal government to come in and impose restraint. despite that history, most americans don't spend much time worrying if the police are sufficiently policed. which is fine as long as you're not the disfavored group. and the policing isn't directed at your protests against the war or against global financial interests or against wall street. or against a police shooting. as long as they're not telling your boss that they'd better make you say sorry or else maybe your organization won't be so protected anymore. as long as you're not the one deemed insufficiently obedient or nonthreatening or child-like.

that wraps things up for "the reid report." i'll see you back here next week at 2 p.m. eastern. be sure to visit us online at thereidreport.msnbc.com. happy friday. >> powerful ending. i'll quibble with you about some things you said about body cameras. maybe we can do that on text over the weekend as we normally do. we'll have a powerful show today. we'll talk about eric garner. ari will explain grand juries. i'll give you my thoughts on this whole week and talk about the new defense secretary obama is introducing. >> i'll look for those texts. "the cycle" is up next. a ph.d. or an mba. everyone has questions about money. you know, i think about money kind of a lot. -money's freedom. -money's always on my mind. credit cards. -mortgage. -debt. it's complicated. it's not easy. i'm not a good budgeter. unfortunately, i'm a spender. i would love to learn more about finances. so there's questions about the world that all of us have,

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pentagon insider is one senate confirmation away from being one of the most powerful military men in the free world. >> with a record of service that has spanned more than 30 years, as public servant, as an adviser, as a scholar, ash is rightly regarded as one of our nation's foremost national security leaders. >> and i accepted the offer because of the deep respect and abiding love that stephanie and i have for our men and women in uniform. >> carter would have run the u.s. military, but he's never served on the battlefield. he's an academic, a physicist, actually, but he's no stranger to the pentagon. he served in leadership twice, most recently in 2013. most importantly to the president, ashton carter looks to be a team player. it's a different story from outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel who had a contentious relationship with the commander in chief. in a move that surprised many, hagel didn't even show up at the carter announc