ring ring!... progresso! it's ok that your soup 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 this morning, what's next for marissa alexander? she joins us live from her home in florida. and churches making their way into public schools. plus the rise of an empire. and olivia pope. first, the measles are back in the united states of america.

good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. everybody is getting ready for the super bowl. tomorrow. but we're going to begin this morning with a different part in the story about super bowl xlix. not the air pressure in the balls or the spread of the game. we begin this morning with america's most watched sporting event and the measles. the centers for disease control declared in 2000 that measles has been eliminated in the united states joining the likes of other infectious diseases like malaria. and yet here we are 15 years later with all the headlines about the latest measles outbreak. this one traced to the disneyland amusement park in anaheim, california. 100 people in 14 states have been sickened in connection with this outbreak. these are headlines from another time. a time when getting the measles in the u.s. was a near universal

experience. before the measles vaccine, more than 90% of americans had had the measles by the time they were 15 years old. measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. if you have measles, 90% of the people who aren't inoculated around you are also going to get it. it is for real and it is miserable. measles is marked by a high fever, rash, coughing, red and watery eyes and it just sucks. most people make it through okay but some develop serious complications like pneumonia or ear infections that can cause deaf ness deafness. one or two in every thousand children get the measles will die from it. in the years right before the vaccine became available measle was so widespread the relatively low death rate translated to 450 deaths a year. then the vaccine came along and

was eventually made mandatory for school children. the annual number of cases was averaging about 60. nearly all of them cases of people bringing the measles home from another country. because in the rest of the world, measles is still a real threat with 20 million cases a year. in 2013 more than 145,000 people around the world died from the measles. in the u.s. it's still rare. but recent outbreaks have alarmed public health officials. 2014 was the worst year for measles since the disease was officially eliminated in 2000. there were 644 cases last year. the majority of the cases occurred in ohio after a missionary returned from the philippines to his community where many children had not been vaccinated. luckily, no one died and health officials were able to give vaccines to 12,000 people in the area and keep the joudoutbreak under

control. now in 2015 there are more than 100 cases of measles associated with the disneyland outbreak. more than cases in a month than the u.s. was seeing over an entire year on average. it's important to know that no deaths have been associated with this outbreak. in fact there have been no measles deaths in the united states since 2003. most of people who have gotten the measles were not vaccinated against it. the outbreak is not contained o to california, but has in fact spread to 13 other states. arizona, where hundreds of thousands of people are converging for the super bowl in phoenix is one of them. joining us now from the site of the super bowl in phoenix is nbc news craig melvin. how are they containing this disease disease? >> reporter: typically security is the big story here. how officials are gearing up to protect people at the super bowl, but this year as you indicated, the measles outbreak

just as big of a story. in the past few days in california alone, we have seen at least 12 new cases. 7 confirmed cases so far in the state of arizona. so seven cases in arizona. two confirmed cases in this county. arizona health officials are also looking at roughly a thousand people a thousand people who have been identified, monitored right now because health officials say they have or they believe. these folks have come in contact with the measles. so officials here are doing a number of things. three things we want to highlight for you this morning. there are several first aid stations inside the university of phoenix stadium behind me. health officials are going to be monitoring those stations and will be reporting if they see anyone that's demonstrating signs that they may have the measles. they will be sharing that information. they will also be monitoring

drugstore purchases as well. they are tracking purchases at drugstores not just in maricopa county but all over arizona and the surrounding area. they will also be communicating with hotels and hospitals. so public health officials on high alert as you indicated, but they also want to make sure folks realize they are not in crisis mode just yet, but they are taking additional precautions. precautions far and above what they normally do at an event like this. >> thank you to craig melvin in glendale, arizona. we'll talk to you again tomorrow on super bowl sunday. >> joining me now is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at mount sinai. so doctor, we were wrestling with this as a team. . this seems like an important

outbreak. it's in the state where the super bowl is, but we want to talk about preparation without creating public panic. so help me as a physician towho understands infectious diseases to understand where we are with this current outbreak. how worried should we be? >> you gave a great summary at the beginning of the show. right now, nobody has died from the measles. over 100 people have been infected, and we don't know who will go on to become very very sick. it's something to be concerned about. it's not something where erbe should stay home and lock their doors, but people who haven't been vaccinated should get vaccinated. it's the best protection against measles. >> if you are an adult, can you be vaccinated? this is part of the panel of pediatric vaccinations, but if i'm 30 and never been vaccinated, can i get vaccinated now and how long until i will be protected? >> you absolutely can. it does take a few weeks until the effects from the immune system would start to happen.

>> so help me to understand then why this happens. if 15 years ago we're sort of saying, you know what, this is as over as polio. how is it that you go to disneyland and more than 100 people end up with measles. >> chances are the initial case came in from another country. then there are now pockets of certain communities in our country who are not vaccinating their children. through vaccination people are dependent on herd immunity. it's okay i'm not vaccinated because everybody else around me is vaccinated. you need a certain percentage of the population to be vaxccinated around 90 or 95%. with more people choose inging or unable to get the vaccine, that percentage is going down so somebody comes to disneyland they have the measles and not realize it yet. they expose people who are unimmunized and those people get it and pass it on to other

people. if you're exposed to somebody with the measles and you are not immunized against it, you have a 90% chance of getting the measles. it's very contagious sblp it's just coming into contact. it's not that you have to handle bodily fluids. it really is casual contact? >> it's through respiratory, so somebody sneezes or coughs but it can also last on surfaces up to two hours. so if somebody coughed on this table and touched this table. >> or your schoolyard or a public reform. obviously those are the kinds of places we see it happening. one more thing here. we heard from craig melvin they are going to be monitoring drugstore purchases. i heard you say you might be contagious before you even know you have it. what are the early symptoms? when should i be worried about

it? >> the problem i guess in terms of transmission is from four days before you have the rash until about four days after you have the rash, you're infectious infectious. you might not know you even have the measles. the beginning stages of it are more. like flu-like symptoms or a bad cold like a cough or stuffy nose. so in this environment now, we should be thinking with those things could be the measles and then you get that classic rash that usually starts on the head and travels down the body. >> i know a lot of people choose not to get vaccinated because they are worried that there are negative impacts, particularly autism. does the medical community think that is true? >> the scientific evidence has shown there is no link between autism and vaccines. it's important for the medical community to provide good information for people because there's a lot of not so great information out there, particularly on the internet and

social media. it's part of our responsibility o to help spread the word and say vaccines are important, they work and are safe. >> thank you, doctor. i want to bring you good news. at least one aspectover the dale lie routine is returning for children living in one of the african countries ravaged by ebola. they have decided to reopen schools attended by u 1 million children. this development follows the encouraging news that there were 99 confirmed new cases last week. that's the lowest number since june. the classrooms closed last july and there are plans to reopen slowly to prevent a flare up of the disease. up next how expanding medicaid looks for a republican governor with dreams of 2016. don't go anywhere because later a report on the growing

movement to get churches especially christian evangelical churches into every school nationwide. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ you're only young once. unless you have a subaru. (announcer) the subaru xv crosstrek. symmetrical all-wheel drive plus 34 mpg. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. listen up... i'm reworking the menu. veggies you're cool...

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governor mike pence learned that state-run media not such a good phrase. days after he reported he was launching a state-run news organization called just in not to be confused with chris hayes's great show "all in", he was forced to back pedal and hard. he said thursday he was spiking his plans for what some were calling his pravda on the plains referring to the soviet paper that was a mouthpiece for the ruling communist party. before it even got a chance to live just in is just dead.

now here's another phrase that just a little while ago would have been political kryptonite for a republican governor like pence. i am expanding medicaid, just like president obama wants me to. and yet mr. pence found himself saying just that maybe not those exact words, but on tuesday when he announced that he and the o obama administration had struck a deal on obamacare. indiana will expand medicaid up to 350,000 people who are either under the poverty line or just above it. but it will do it pence's way by charging premiums to some medicaid beneficiaries and suspending coverage if they don't pay. joining me from washington, d.c. is egor volsky. am i supposed to be happy we're expanding or unhappy of how it's

happening? good or bad? >> it's a mixed bag. for a lot of people they will get care they wouldn't have gotten, and that's good news. the question is for low-income hoosiers, those benefitting from the program, is this contribution he's asking to pay towards a health savings account, co-payments for certain services, will that keep them away from essential care. from other states and studies, it has in the past. >> so pause so folks at home can really understand what we're talking about here. when you say premiums, what kind of expense are you talking about, how much is the government asking for in this case to pay for the medicaid and what happens if you don't pay it? >> pence has this theory that if people have more skin in the game, if they contribute something to the system they will use their health care dollars more wisely. so under his program people pay $1 to $27 in a sliding scale based on income towards a health savings account that's tax free.

they can then later use. if they can't afford that, they go into a different layer where they pay co-payments on different kinds of benefits and limits on certain kinds of benefits. if they can't do that they are locked out of the program for about six months. so he's saying we can't just give people free care. there's unnecessary care they spend, spend spend. . we have to make sure they use the health care dollars wisely. let's make sure they put in some money into the program. >> so that strikes me as a more id logical than budgetary issue. there's been angst from the republican governors about this idea of medicaid expansion because the idea that at some point it's going to be too expensive for the states to manage on their own. the amount of money you're talking about might make a big difference for the households, but not for the state. this isn't closing the

medication expanse. this is about making more people pay. >> the numbers don't work out. if you're right about the budget because 5% of beneficiaries use about 50% of the health care dollars. these are people who are really sick. that's where all of our spending is. for them putting a couple dollars into health savings account, they'll blow through those dollars. that's not how you manage all the cost. maybe for some healthier people who don't use the care, maybe they will use health care dollars more wisely but that's a drop in the bucket if you're talking about really controlling health care spending. and yes, if you're a low income person and weighing health care or food or other essentials, you will say let me put off the medication or procedure to get the food or something else. then you become sick or go back into the system and cost the system even more. >> i want to listen to one thing that governor pence said.

>> healthy indiana plan is a victory for the working poor in indiana. hard working hoosiers who currently who don't have access to coverage they can afford. it's a victory for medicaid reform. it could become a model for states across the country. >> do we want it to become a model for states across the country? >> other states are saying -- they have a lot of advantages saying can i put my stamp on it accept these dollars and still have credibility with the republican voters. but yes, should the federal government be entering into these partnerships? we'll see how this works in indiana. other experiences say it actually again, makes people not. use the care they need. >> igor in washington thank you for joining us this morning. coming up the revolt on sorority row. but up next, a wrong finally made right.

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arrest of a group of college students at a lunch counter marked a critical turning point in the civil rights movement. the students mostly from the friendship junior college in south carolina were part of the wave of young african activists across the country who tested the segregation laws at restaurants and other public facilities. the men set out to integrate the lunch counter at a five and dimestore in rock hill south carolina. >>. in 1961 downtown we were not looking for any hero worship. we were simply ten students who were tired of the status quo. tired of being treated like second-class citizens. we got tired of that. >> for their bravery, the men were promptly dragged out of the

store and arrested. but instead of paying their $100 bail, they chose to serve their 30-day sentence of hard labor, shoveling sand at a county prison camp. the friendship nine, as they were called, were the first of the sit-in participants to insist on doing jail time. they felt it better to serve their time than to pay money into a system that supposed inequality. it became known as the jail no bail strategy. it was quickly adopted by other about viss and it became an effective tool because it eased the burden of high court fees while also embarrassing local southern officials. for decades the friendship nine's place in history was merely forgotten. even though their arrest record was not. that is until this week. more than a half century after their arrest the eight surviving members of the friendship nine were back in a packed south carolina courtroom wednesday, but this time it was to hear a judge overturn their convictions and a prosecutor

offer an apology. >> today as solicitor for york county, i represent the state. so allow me to take this opportunity to extend to each of you my heartfelt apologies for what happened to you in 1961. it was wrong. >> this morning for the first time since their sentences were vacated, the friendship nine had breakfast at same location they took a standby taking a seat and changing the course of a movement. on this day, january 31st, 1961. you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come.

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february 22nd 1992. that's the name i became a member of a sorority. i was and am proud to be part of a sorority because our founding is rooted in economic engagement in black communities. so when i saw this photograph go. viral, i felt proud. it's a picture from a dallas newspaper of one of my members wearing a letters while being detained of a protest of grand jury decisions not to indict officers involved in the deaths of michael brown or eric garner. they were standing up to say black life matters seems consistent with our legacy to me. i was outraged when in the

aftermath of this photograph delta's national leadership along with that of other black sororities issue edd a warning to members not to wear their greek letters while protesting. they later reversed the decision. sororities are not perfect. but it seems to me they are at their best when they empower women through young sisterhood not when they seek to silence them. which is why recent actions by national council president of sororities with chapters at the university of virginia is troubling. on january 20th they sent a letter to the 16 sorority chapters urging them not to participate in boys night, when they welcome new members. a uva this has been a night women visit friends to celebrate. no, a frat party is not the same thing as a rally to question police tactics and assert the value of o black lives, but stay with me for a moment.

following the "rolling stone" magazine cover about assault in november uva suspended all sorority and fraternity activities and that ban just ended earlier this month. and while a frat party may not be the same thing as protest, there is something strange about national sororities telling chapter members not to socialize with the men on their campus. is it supposed to be a message about personal safety? is the answer to the threat of sexual assault that young women should stay inside? vor sorority members responded with anger and outrage. in a letter of action, the sorority members said, quote, our concerns lie in the way women are being used as leverage to change the actions and behaviors of fraternity men. a petition started by a sorority member against the ban says it's degrading to women and sends the

message message they are weak. we have an interest of speaking to one of the members. most decline to appear on the program, but we did confirm in an interview with one young woman yesterday afternoon. she informed us this this morning she would no longer be able to appear due to a scheduling conflict. had however, i'm pleased to be joined by uva student and representative body chair abraham abraham axler, nice to see you. >> it's great to be here. >> do you know if the sororities or fraternities actually issued statements to the men about issues of either sexual assault or alcohol abuse in advance of this weekend? >> to the men, there's been no communication. my understanding is there's been informal communication through the chapter presidents to the membership. but i'm been appalled by the lack of transparency by the national organizations.

>> to be clear, are you in a fraternity at the university of virginia? >> no, i u don't have that pleasure but i'm a great admirer of the greek system. >> in the role you're in within the context of student leadership, what have you seen in the past week in terms of cam campus reactions about the letter? >> well, i think what we have seen is a gross affront of student self-government. this is a value dear to us at university of virginia. when you insult the ability of young women as responsible to make their decision, you'll see people quite upset. >> tell me about that. the university of virginia is a place i have deep history, my dad taught at the university for several decades. so i think it was a painful moment when the "rolling stone" article came out and then all of the controversy on the back end of it. talk to me a little bit about how this moment compares to that kind of broader thing that's been going on for months now on

campus. >> it's without a doubt a chaotic time. the difference is the actor that is acting inappropriately is the national organizations. i think what makes such a big distinction is many women are afraid to speak out. it's disturbing. they do empower women and provide a safe environment, a social environment in housing, but it's a little bit troubling to me that how restricted their voices are. that's where student council could advocate for these women. i had a lot of women come to me with concerns and that's what led us to pass the resolution on the self-governance. >> tell me about that bill you did co-sponsor. >> well, it was a special session of student. council. it really had two goals. the first was to invite the national organizations to come and have a conversation. few sorority leaders would disagree that they needed some element of moderation. but everybody agrees there

needed to be dialogue before that happened. what we wanted to do is codify that student concern. all of our meetings of the public record of the state of virginia and it was important that that public testimony was heard and really heard loudly. >> so i appreciate so much this idea of being in dialogue. i want to read another statement that came from the national conference saying, while we value the input our chapter leaders have to offer on this important dialogue our members' safety and well-being must be the top priority. the president. s support the policy that our organizations will not participate in activities on any campus. we will engage to address concerns and move forward from here. sounds to me that at the core here is a need to have conversation and dialogue and do the work of as you said student self-governance. thank you, appreciate you

joining us this morning. up next a new nation report is saying that evangelical christians are taking advantage of publicly-funded spaces. and one of the first interviews since her release from prison. i'm so happy she's going to talk with us. tting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ ♪ we're in seattle to see which 100 calorie black cherry greek yogurt tastes best. definitely that one. that one's delicious. it's yoplait! what? i love yoplait! the other one is chobani. really. i like this one better. yoplait wins again! take the taste-off for yourself.

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brighter denture everyday. america's public schools have been dealing with budget short falls, financial crises, sequestration is and all american of economic hard times. in the 2012 report more than 80% of school administrators described their district as being inadequately funded. so what do schools in need do? maybe have a bake sale for band costumes or get local businesses to donate for a fundraising raffle. car wash, anyone? how about turning your school build ing building into a church on weekends. that's what an increasing number of schools across the country are doing according to a new report for the nation.

the movement to put a church in every school is growing. in her report on florida's high school, the fusion of church and school comes at a time not coincidentally when public schools are under severe financial pressure. the cuts have been filled deeply by students who complain of overcrowded classrooms insufficient textbooks and supplies and lack of funding for extras. in 2012 facing steep budget cuts, orange county school superintendent barbara jenkins announced an outreach to faith organizations. faith organizations is a nice broad, nonsectarian term but the stark reality is this. public schools are nearly exclusively partnered with evangelical christian churches and this is a growing national effort by some christian groups and churches to tie public schools closely to churches through shared space, funded organizational activities and

religious practices that end up infusing school culture. the question for all of us is this harmless and wholesome pairing of school and community or does planting a church establish a state-sponsored religion that runs afoul? joining me now is the co-president of the religious foundation. katherine stewart is author of "the good news club." this is your reporting. tell me what you see as the the fundamental major issue here. >> there are three major issue here's here's. the first is that once the churches enter the public school, they often find a way to involve themselves with the lives of the school in inappropriate ways. i'll tell you a story how when we sent our children to a public school that had angel call church in it they would hand out candy and invite the

children to attend the church at their school. so i decided to attend the church. our children had put their pictures and names and made posters of themselves and those posters were all around the school. so i went to the service and the pastor said notice the names of the children on the pieces of paper. pray for them, pray that the families of this school and those children will come to know jesus and say this is a house of god. so there i am mandated by law to send children to to a public school in this district where their images and names get mixed up in a religion and the rituals and this to me is an inappropriate mixing of religion and government. so there are other ways they do that. for instance the church in question left their signage all of the auditorium. mcdonald's can't leave their signage. so it conflates authority of a

particular religion -- inflates authority of the public school, which has a cloak of authority in the mind of a children with a particular religion. >> so this idea that the mandate that we have a responsibility to educate our children and that we have a right to free public education at this point. so talk to me then there's a part of me that thinks, okay, i grew up in the south where southern identity and religious christian identity is constituent of each other in important ways culturally. is there a way for churches to be volunteering. hopefully handing out bananas and apples before school without generating anxiety or is there no way? >> i don't think they should be volunteering on behalf of a church. there's nothing wrong with members of a church volunteering and mentoring if they are vetted and can contribute but it shouldn't be for the all tier your motive of having the church

name on their name badge. there should be no mixing of church and public schools. and for more than almost 40 years one of the most common complaints that we handle at the freedom of religion foundation is the youth of public school buildings by churches. it's a constant problem. people are shocked to discover that there are worship services going on in their schools. they think it adds the appearance of endorsement. they think even the public school system might be putting it on but what we are now seeing in that article, we're seeing this actual kre dags planting churches in every school. the goal to really turn the school into a faith machine. >> this idea as you write about in the piece, this idea that there is an effort. one that we can see. we're looking at the venue

website. parting with schools and community communities to serve communities and 235e78s to share the love of jesus for impact. i think it is that last piece, the privilege of sharing the love of jesus, which is certainly that people have a free and full right to believe but in this country, we have not believed that our country should be establishing as a matter of public tax dollars that kind of mission. >> this is the problem. a lot of times the churches in question are not paying any kind of substantial money to be operating in those public schools. they might be paying $100 a week. this doesn't begin to approximate the amount of money it would cost if they were funding their own buildings or renting in places like movie theaters. >> i suggested this is a financial boom for the schools, but you're seeing it as a boom for the churches. >> i think it's a religious subsidy. if you go to some of the

conferences that are advocating for churches being planted in school they really talk about it being if you want to get the best value for your mission money, operate in the public schools. >> so stick with this. we're going to continue on this more. i want to bring in another voice on this. i also want to ask what did president obama have to say about all of this. also a live interview with melissa alexander, stay with us. welcome to the most social car we've ever designed. the all-new nissan murano. nissan. innovation that excites.

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to see if it could monitor the front yard. why don't you switch to xfinity home? i get live video monitoring and 24/7 professional monitoring that i can arm and disarm from anywhere. hear ye! the awkward teenage one has arrived!!!! don't be old fashioned. xfinity customers add xfinity home for $29.95 a month for 12 months. plus for a limited time, get a free security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast.com/xfinityhome. i know there's some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square, but leaders have recognized the partnership. it opened the door for groups to play a role in a number of areas including helping people move

from welfare to work. president bush had had a rally the army of compassion establishing a new office of faith-based and community initiatives. >> so that was senator obama back in 2008 on the campaign trail. he points out faith-based groups have a history of partnering with government to help those in need. recent statistics insist that they need some help according to the southern education foundation 51% of public school students are now living in poverty. should they turn away a helping hend extended from a church? joining us is the minister of administration for norcross method methodist church. it's so nice to have you. so the saying earlier, i'm from the south, i live in the south now. it's a place where church

volunteerism is wub ofone of the central ways that civic life occurs. but my guests here at the table have some real concerns. . so talk to me about how we do the work of civic engagement without planting churches in tax-paying public spaces. >> thank you for letting me come this morning to speak on this topic. i will begin by saying that i can only give you the context of how we operate here in our community. i understand that there's situations where maybe they step over the line in other communities, but i cannot speak for that. what i can tell you is what has occurred in our community. the statement that ms. stewart made in her article was kind of taken out of context of what i said at the panel discussion. i have been on staff at the church for 25 years and in that 25 years i have seen a lot of

change in our community. at one time we were in one of the fastest growing communities in the nation. we had folks moving from the city out into the suburbs. we were thriving. our schools were doing well. and then we started to see where the community was moving further north and our community started to change. and now our community is a 90% tax-free lunch, we're a title 1 school, we have had funding that has deteriorated from the state. when the economy crashed, the teachers were given furlough days without any pay. >> so i get what you're saying. there's a huge transition. so i'll come back to you. let me get in on a response to this. she's saying she feels like she's misrepresented in what she said in what her organization does. >> the thing about a lot of the

organizations that are partnering with the public school is that they are also representing a fairly politicized form of religion especially on l culture war issues. they are supporting these tea party and government officials seeking to defund public school not just by slashing their budgets but also through the voucher programs that basically deflate public education and siphon money off. a lot of which have textbooks filled with bigotry about other faith groups. >> hold for me a second. >> let me just share how we partner with our schools. some of our middle school is right across the street from us. they have low test scores. the principal implemented success saturdays. the county was able to fund for the teachers, the staffing to

come in and to enhance the teaching environment to help these students that were having difficulty in school. however, the county was not able to provide breakfast. for many of these children they don't eat on the weekends. so the churches were asked if we could come in and if we could provide a breakfast for these students. >> that's super helpful to see. here's a saturday program happening, you're bringing in the breakfast, which is an important part of it. but can you address this question of whether or not as part of that there's also a kind of missionary piece that's not just about the service. is there also a political or religious set? is it breakfast and i would like to tell you about my lord and savior or simply a breakfast? i'm wondering as part of that. >> and i will just tell you from our perspective and for what we do. i cannot answer churches throughout the united states. as far as the churches in our community that partner with our

schools, there's no underlying reason why we're there. we're called to go in and to love people and to serve. we do not ask the children to pray. we do not give them any information about the church. for all the students know we are just individuals that want to help them succeed. we go in we serve breakfast, we clean up and we go. >> so talk to me about that. that sounds like precisely what we want. >> in florida the head of the venue church that wants to plant a church in every school was named team chaplain of the football team and chaplain of the bowling team and holding a religious rally for which he did not pay rent for students there. a team goes to mission news and claiming it's all free speech

rights. we're seeing them move in on our schools. it isn't helping taxpayers when their church is going on in our schools because it's really taxpayer subsidy. it's below market value rent. she said no citizen should be compelled to attend or support any place of worship. this is a fundamental principle in america. >> so there there's no question that this is a fundamental principle. i am out of time. i have to thank the panel here. i would love to have all three of you back and hopefully at the table together because this is clearly a big and important issue. coming up next melissa alexander is going to join us live days after her release from prison to tell us what's next for her. also the ratings of empire and olivia pope. there's more at the top of the hour. you'll need the right it infrastructure.

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welcome back, i'm melissa harris-perry. it's been nearly five years since marissa alexander was arrested after firing a warning shot to stop an abusive estranged husband threatening to end her life. no one was injured in the shooting, but alexander's actions that it day in august of 2010 just more than a week after she gave birth to her daughter led to her immediate arrest conviction and a 20-year prison sentence. her story drew national attention and amplified an ongoing debate over the inequities of florida's stand your ground law which failed to protect her from conviction after the law received so much attention with george zimmerman's shooting of trayvon martin. why zimmerman did not use the defense in his case can, marissa

alexander did attempt to argue self-defense under the law but her claim was rejected in a pretrial hearing after the prosecutor argued that alexander could have left the house instead of firing the shot. during the trial alexander testified to having been repeatedly the victim of physical abuse at the hands of her estranged husband. while he admitted in a 2010 deposition to hitting several women, including alexander, he later reversed his admission saying his prior statements were an attempt to protect her. a jury took 12 minutes to convict her of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. that was overturned in 2013 when a court ordered a retrial after an error in the instructions to the jury. but the stakes only got higher for alexander. when the prosecution sought to convict her again on the same charges only seeking a 20-year sentence for each count to be served consecutively instead of

concurrently which would have put marissa alexander behind bars for 60 years. three times the original sentence instead of facing trial again, she agreed to a plea bargain which this week finally brought her long ordeal closer to an end. tuesday marissa walked out of jail under an agreement that will subject her to two years of house arrest and electronic surveillance. while the sentence means she will remain for now in the supervision of the criminal justice system with a felony conviction on her record it also means for the first time in five years a future as a free woman is finally within her reach. marissa alexander is joining me now from her home. also joining us is her attorney. marissa marissa, i'm so thrill ued you have joined us. can you talk to me now that you can expect soft some sort of

future with a level of freedom. what are you plan ingning for your years to come? >> what am i planning to do with my time? >> what are you plan ingning in the coming years? >> well, right now it's just to really focus on the development of my kid. i have a 4-year-old and teenagers. this is a crucial time for them as teens to try to identify their individuality. they have peer pressure and getting ready for college so i really have planned to be available to them work with their teachers that's something i have always believed in continue with the development of my baby. then i would like to attend school to probably to obtain my paralegal certificate. just continue to grow in knowledge. i would like to be able to explore different opportunities in the legal community as far as helping other victims in

criminal law. the heart of my is service. i like to help people. that's what i want to continue to do moving forward. that's what i did when i was at the company i worked for. >> it was interesting when you bring up the idea of service and helping others. in our darkest hours, we find surprising allies people on our side who we wouldn't have thought would be in our corner. over the course of the past four years, are there any folks standing on your side who you were surprised to find there? >> you know, actually to be honest with you, a lot of law enforcement. i found that they were on my side. and also people from overseas, individuals who felt strongly about gun violence were on my side. so i was just grateful that anybody could look at it and say, you know this is a tragedy

for at least a sentence was entirely egregious. people that were in the arena that said you never know until you have the experience the situation that's eminent threat but for them to say i haven't, but i still support you. >> hold on for a second. i want to introduce you to joy reid. i'm not sure you had an opportunity to to talk with her before. she's been one of the people on your side here at the network. you have been reporting on the case. >> it's wonderful to talk to you, to meet you, marissa. your case was one of the cases that was the one people were being most passionate about. i was wondering if you were fully aware of just how much passion people invested in you? were you able to see that and did it surprise you? >> particularly around the issue

of domestic violence. >> right, right, when you're incarcerated, you don't have a connection with the outside that you'd normally have if you were at home. so i wasn't really aware of just how passionate or how big this particular case had gotten. and sometimes i could tell from the amount of mail i would receive so that gave me some type of perspective. once i was able to get home and i was out on bond, then i realized just how big it was. and it was very overwhelming in a great way to see people say, it might not have happened to me, but i care about somebody else that we're connected. all of humanity's sake was there for me. i was extremely grateful, that helped me through a lot of days. >> i want to ask about this.

we're kind of doing -- i need to ask you, is it over? as a legal matter, is it finally over? is marissa home with her children free to pursue her education, her life? >> she has two years of community control. that means there are limited numbers of things she can do. she can take her kids to school, pursue education, go to church, she can do things that are necessary with the court's permission, but it is limited freedom and she has to abide by the court's rules there. >> i need to ask you, marissa, because on this question of domestic violence. part of what struck so many of us so closely is how young your daughter was. i have a baby who is just a year old, but. the vulnerability in those first days and that first week there's nothing like how you

feel as like a mother tiger almost in those first days. what do people need to know and understand about fear about domestic violence, about the way that having a new infant can make that worse? the human part of how you were reacting in that moment. >> well, i can just tell you this without getting into the details of what happened that day. fear is subjective so to tell someone what their level of fear is that's kind of hard to do. for myself being that you have a newborn that is an infant who is in the nicu and to come into contact or the realization that it's a possibility that this life that i'm breast-feeding and trying to make sure i get to the hospital two and three times a day, i need to be there for her and for anything or to try to

separate that is -- it's kind of indescribable. you go into survival mode. so for me beyond a shadow of a doubt, i needed to be there for her that day. and so that's kind of the train of thought goes as a mother. >> i understand that i feel that many my fingertip when is you say that. up next we're going to continue this conversation with marissa and talk to her about her reunion with this 4-year-old girl. still to come, the show that shonda rhimes watches. the dynasty "empire" and tv now in color.

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the end of marissa's end in

prison meant this mother of three a time of new beginnings. most mundane of moments was so much sweeter for her because it was the first time she's been able to do this. going to school to pick up her 4-year-old daughter who was just a baby when she went to jail. allowed under the conditions of her plea agreement which permitted her to leave home for approved appointments and employment. it was a family reunion of sorts that brought her together with all of her children including her teenage twin boys. you talk about wanting to do something that might be in the field of law, helping folks. i'm wondering what kind of parenting you've been able to do during your years that you have been inprisoned and advocate for parents to keep that relationship. >> well you have to spend the extra time and effort to really

connect with the kids. and for one thing, my kids were in a transition of going to teenage years, so it was a little difficult because that's the time when they are into their electronics and your parents are not as cool. so when i left we were in the bed together and sleeping together and when i came back, when everybody was on their cell phones and laptops. one of the things that i continue to write them i did call them. i didn't push them to come and visit. i wanted to make sure they had some normalcy. but when i got back home i realized just how much they missed me. my teenage daughter had all of my clothes that she was wearing when i was gone. because she wanted to feel some type of closeness to me. . so those are the things that i did make sure i wrote, i called and allowed for them to have a life and not be tied down because i was. >> hold on. for a second. i need to ask a question that i don't want to ask, but joy i

want to ask to you. to hear her talk in that way about her children i keep thinking and no one was shot or injured. can you please for a moment on the prosecutor who thought that the most just thing was to take this woman who clearly cares about the welfare of her children in such a mature -- you want every parent to do away from her children for these years. >> this was truly one of the strangest cases that i have ever covered, because i know my share of prosecutors personally that i have dealt with in florida. i have never seen a prosecutor more passionate about a single case or more passionate about wanting you and me people in the media to change the narrative to make marissa alexander the villain. angry that the media was not

accepting the notion that -- and there were two children in the house. she was charged with three counts because two of his children were in the home at the time. so those are minor children but that rico gray was the victim here. that's the state's case. that's the case that they were out and charged to make. but the prosecutor was passionate that he was the victim and really not necessarily accepting even his own admission of having battered multiple women as evidence that he might be the villain in the case. it did surprise me in the conversations i had had with her just how passionately she believed in him as the victim. and i think that colored the passion with which she pursued the case and in a way that i have not seen before. >> so help us out for folk who is are advocates, it got wrapped

up because she was the prosecutor on the george zimmerman case. the thing we should be pressing against is stand your ground. the mandatory minimums? what's the thing? >> i think what changed the narrative really in the case was the helpful ruling that the judge made under a lot of stress here to let in the domestic violence of rico against all his prior partners. whether marissa knew about the violence or not, that kind of evidentiary law is helpful to have in the future. but in terms of your question i think the real issue is mandatory minimums. this kind of alleged crime should not be met for a first time offenders with a 20-year minimum. much more important than stand your ground. >> marissa, i want to give you the final word here. what do we need to know now that you're home? what can we do as a people to be most supportive of you going

forward? >> you know just continue to be educated support other people. all the way around when you have an incident where people's lives change and sometimes, people are still hurting. so they are impacted in some kind of way. we can all u rally around supporting those people and trying to identify ways that we can prevent it and stop being so reactive to the things after the fact. it's going to be more work put into the things in the forefront that we could be doing prior to such tragic end. that's everyone, domestic violence or any type of criminal activity. as a community, we can educate ourselves on the laws because we can e get out there and vote and we can decide at that point what they know about the things we need and educate ourselves and

vote in the way that supports the views we have as a community. those things are going to be huge going forward in the future because there's a lot of changes i think can take place. we as a community have the power to influence that. >> marissa alexander, in your own voice, i know you can't see yourself, but just you being here this morning means so much. thank you so much for having a conversation with us. and here in new york thank you to faith gay. joy is going to stick around. up next, a political trial balloon pops. plus tv now in color from the rise of empire to the return of "scandal", you know we're going to talk about that. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ ♪

how many times have you heard in recent months, probably a lot here on this network, the words the invisible primary? it's the presidential primary that isn't really a presidential

primary. you just zoned out, stay focused on these balloons. just watch the balloons. right now, no one is technically run ing running for president yet. no one has officially declared a candidacy. what's happening is more fun, more than a dozen contenders are floating their trial balloons. they are testing out campaign messages, they are reaching out to big money donors. they are traveling overseas to polish up their foreign policy credentials. they are doing all this before they actually run for president, before they say i'm getting in. that's the invisible primary. yesterday, whoa, one of those trial balloons popped. a former massachusetts governor and 2012 republican nominee mitt romney told a group of supporters he is not going to run in 2016. and that leaves a lot of balloons still up in the air. which brings me to our new

segment we're going to call "stumble and tumbles" to tell you about when a little bit of the air seems to be leaking out of one of those trial balloons being floated by the presidential class of 2016. who better to kick off our inaugural edition than bobby jindal jindal. when republicans started to look for the next crop of candidates governor jindal worked hard to brand himself as the gop's policy wong. the beltway press did its part by helping to establish that reputation with headline after headline describing governor jindal as a new kind of policy oriented republican. sounded like governor jindal was on to something when he said -- >> we have to stop being the stupid party. i'm serious. it's time for a new republican party that talks like adults. it's time for us to articulate

our plans and visions for america in real terms. >>. that sound advice. why is the governor talking about a roundly debunked no go zone in europe? in a recent speech he gave at a bri british think tank, he offered, in the west as they establish carry out as much sharia law as they can without regard for the laws in the democratic countries have provided them a new home. you might think why haven't i heard about this? if you watch fox news you probably have. recently that network's resident terrorism expert lamented the proliferation of no-go zones all over europe and in great britain. that prompted this response from none other than british prime minister david cameron. >> what i have is frankly i thought it must be april fool's day. this guy is a complete idiot. >> now to fox news's credit, both the network and steve

emerson issued an apology for his comments and the coverage of no-go zones. you know who didn't apologize? governor stop being the stupid party, bobby jindal. he's using the state's website for the governor's office to offer a defense there are pockets of western society governed by islamic law. in a recent interview, he said western leaders must insist on integration from those who want to come into our country and warned that the dreaded no-go zones might come to america. so as he considers an official campaign for president, governor jindal's preliminary moves are insulting our european allies fear mongering here at home and a step behind fox news. is his the next balloon to go pop? you'll need the right it infrastructure.

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tv is now in color. there are a notable number of pop popular shows featuring actors of color in lead roles. "blackish", "how to get away with murder." not only color casts shs these shows rate. "how to get away with murder" pulled in 14 million viewers when it premiered and the lead viola davis is a fan favorite for her betrayal of powerful, devious defense attorney. this month she earned the screen actors guild award for outstanding performance by a female actor in. a drama series. during her speech last sunday, davis stated how remarkable heroine really is. >> i'd like to thank shonda rhimes and peter norwalk for

thinking that a sexualized messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark-skinned african-american woman who looks like me. >> while davis received a lot of attention for the smash hit, there's another show shonda has become a fan of telling her twitter followers that she is all about "empire." that's right, we can add fox's new drama "empire", a series about a music mogul and his family to our colorful roster. it features a cast of actors that was created by film producer lee daniels. it launched on january 7th. according to the rating agency it earned 9.9 million viewers nits first week and even more for the second episode. the third week 10.9 million

tuning in. week four most shows tend to lose steam. there might be less buzz some viewers start to taper off. not to "empire." this week 11.3 million viewers tuned in. this consistent increase is unprecedented in recent tv history. no drama picked up more viewers in more than two decades. what's behind the rise and what has more viewers tuning in? joining me at the table is jason lynch and founder of tv and not tv. joy reid host of "the reid report", and janet mock. . i finally watched three episodes back to back. here's what it is. you take the threat of "breaking bad" like you know from the

begin ing beginning. you put the musical performances of "glee", the strategic power moves of "house of cards" and mash them up with the together of personal drama of "the real housewives" and everyone will watch it. >> absolutely. fox realized early on this is a show with a little bit of something for everybody. it's coming on the heels of a disastrous fall for them when everything tanked except "gotham." audiences that love dramas would watch this and music audiences would watch this. they managed to come up with a marketing campaign that reached out to all those audiences, got them in. once they were in, they started telling their friends, the shondas of the world started tweeting about it and that's why the ratings have gone up. >> it's not your most favorite show on tv but i don't know what other show could do this.

it's a moment where the lead character gets playful with a fake president obama who he's on the phone with. let's play it for a second. >> mr. president, i'm so so sorry. you know how he feels about you. he loves you. i love you. we all love you. he's just young and stupid and had a little too much to drink. come on you know you don't have to use that kind of language. >> i'm sorry, the idea -- >> why you got to be like that? >> can you imagine if your child did say something ridiculous and offensive and it goes viral? i'm so sorry, mr. president. >> i think sort -- those moments of absurdity, jay-z knows president obama. i doubt they had a conversation like that. i'm a little old school. we were trying to figure out my

reference from the '90s. i think it's like "fame." >> i'm about to produce that. >> maybe because it's hard to suspend that much disbelief for me personally. it feels very campy to me. i understand why it's popular. i understand the elements of it are there for all of these various audiences. i can see why it's popular. i'm three episodes in. i'm not sold yet. >> let me ask. one of the things that happened, if it was just campy and then it tries to do a variety of serious things. i got into it not for what everyone else should but for watching your show and this it really careful conversation that you were having with two of your guests about the representations of a gay black man, one of the sons is gay and out, or at least out to his family.

the in the midst of the madness, there's something that's serious that's supposed to be going on. let's play a clip of that and then talk about it. >> you never take me anywhere. >> your sexuality has a choice. >> so it is the problem a mix to happen to deal with the serious or is it the thing that allows more people to enter in to do the serious with it? >> i think it's the second part. it's the idea of we're going. to have this broom beating, all these other things going on and in the context of that we're going to throw in a black gay man who is unapologetic about his sexuality trying to navigate community and identity at the same time. it forces that 61% of african-american viewers to be confronted with the character they must acknowledge and understand its struggles. >> but then also reproducing a notion of this homophobic black

community. >> it's not that the black community is more homophobic. it's the way in which it shows up. it has lot to do with black masculinity and the way it's policed in our culture. it's hard for a young, black, gay man to be himself in his community. even outside of his community. there's a lot of things to navigate in terms of your community and also your identity struggles. >> we have more tv. we are going to a show next, "scandal."

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make it progresso or make it yourself watch the hair because when tv's shonda rhimes want os to signal a shift in. her lead character, she's going to signal it with the hair. when viola davis removes her wig in episode four it signals a vulnerability we had not yet seen. this thursday the hair to watch was on the head of olivia pope.

this week ms. pope found herself in some pretty dire and disgusting conditions of confinement, but being olivia, the clothes were still fly, the skin was still duey, and the brows were thick. wu the one physical manifestation of her despair and of her resilient strength and determination to be free her hair. back at the table with me is o our panel. did you watch it on thursday? >> did i watch it? of course, i watched it. >> did you watch the hair do the hair thing? >> i also watched those nails. i don't know what kind of manicurist she has on because even in captivity, the manicure is still on point. >> i thought that was important that they didn't have her whole self degrade. clearly someone was coming in and threading every other day in the jail and doing the nails.

keeping it straight. the idea is the hair is representing how long it's been and where she is psychologically. >> there's also an important point too. the way that olivia navigates aesthetics. playing the clip with viola davis, there's a more realness with viola davis's character that she sheds these layers off in a way. it's because kerry and viola have different representations. so one is called less classically beautiful and the other is a doll. one has makeup contracts and the other doesn'ts. >> and. they are performing these different aspects of black womanhood. if we go back o to "empire" my favorite person is cookie. i just find cookie fascinating. i called it "real housewives", but she's way more layered. >> i would watch a spinoff that

was just cookie and her assistant. they are everything. and one of the things that she actually does bring to the table is this narrative of the protective mama cub with her gay son. in so many real lives of gay and hispanic black men, it's the mom that's the protector. she's bringing that to the table and shows a vulnerability and a toughness that are important to represent for black women. i think she does bring that. real quick on the hair thing, olivia pope gets dangerous. >> it goes to show you she had it in her. one of the interesting scenes in that episode was the fact she comes in and still has the primness with the toilet, but as she becomes more shorn of all of these adornments of being olivia pope she becomes more vulnerable too. >> there's no one to see you but

yourself. i'm interested in this because in part i do see "empire" and even some of the tv many color we have been doing as barring a little bit from shonda's representations of complicated, powerful, vulnerable black women in all of these kinds of ways. i see that in "empire." there's also the lewd male character being played by multiple accusations of domestic violence in terrance howard. in other words, there's been complications with the actual actor's relationship with black communities, and particularly with women. at the same time that tv in color is also about these women of color, and then he in that lead gives me these different feelings about it. >> right, and that infuses the role. it's hard to separate the actor from the role because there are similarities in the violence in their past and terrance spoke about it to reporters a few weeks ago and said that's behind

me, i'm a different person. but it still fuses what you think of him when you see him in a role. i think shonda speaking to this and tweeting about "empire" was important because she's had to kind of shoulder this entire thing herself. it's really difficult for one person to do. and i think the fact that she can now share that and have "empire", "blackish" it's great for her and tv. >> the idea that it's great for tv that people are tuning in and watching it, i was playing with the "breaking bad" but. have these shows learned something from the netflix ways of watching that creating a new way of thinking so race and gender aside or part of it new ways of thinking how to attract audiences that is different than before those interventions. >> i think also because of the shrinking audience overall, trying to get a hit series is

harder because they have so many choices other than network tv. you're starting to see the networks come back in a big way. abc has been a big leader in creating quality programming that's competing with the netflix and the new mediums because they realize the audience is very heavily black women. we're an oversample in that audience and also on things like twitter. if you can bring that audience to the table, you get both of those two things. >> the social media part was what was happening when i was watching it. not only was everyone watching the show, we were watching each other in a way that doesn't happen with the on demand view ing ing. >> it's also the pressure to show up. it's the idea that when "scandal" is on, i have to show up with my community and thoughts out there. >> don't talk. >> it's the idea what you said.

what's so powerful is an example that 61% is that african-american is watching is that we can make hits on network television alone when we have showing that reflect this. >> it's a new powerful thing for the viewer. >> one other point about when netflix has done if you miss a show, go to vod. they have an agreement with the studio that every episode of that season will be available to go back. even. if before episode 12 you can go back to fox.com and start watching from the beginning. so that's absolutely a lesson they have taken. >> i hadn't caught up with it yet so i binge watched last night. thank you to the panel. please do not forget to tune

into. joy's show here on msnbc. do not miss janet mock's show "so popular" by msnbc fridays at 11:00 a.m. next a designer who mixes style and diversity. we'll explain next. $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ ♪

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hear ye! the awkward teenage one has arrived!!!! don't be old fashioned. xfinity customers add xfinity home for $29.95 a month for 12 months. plus for a limited time, get a free security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast.com/xfinityhome. in 2013 designer courtney smith left the world of finance to fill what she saw as an urgent dual need to create stylish, affordable retail fashion for women of all sizes and, more specifically to emphasize the beauty of women of color. her line is called rum and coke. and its advertising campaign has featured only plus-size models of color, an aesthetic foreign to most runways in high-fashion magazines. in a recent interview, she said no one questions why there are only small women in other

brands' shoots. i put women of color and larger women in my photo shoots for many reasons. one, because i believe in the multiplity of beauty and, two, so many women seldom see women like themselves. joining me is courtney smith, our foot soldier of the week. everyone here loves your stuff. what is the sexiest setting? >> sexy is all about confidence for me. you can wear whatever you want. but as long as you have that confidence, you'll feel sexy. and that can be pretty much anything. if you're going to a gala and you have a gown on you don't want to feel self-conscious about it. you want to fell like, yeah i'm the boss i feel good i have my olivia pope on. >> exactly. so i love this idea that you were in finance. you saw a need and you decided

to sort of enter into the role. what inspires that? at what moment are you like -- is it because you were drinking rum and coke? what inspired this move? >> well i really -- after graduating from williams i really wanted to be in finance -- well, i thought that's what i wanted to do. as i was going to the interviews, i hated what i had on. like, i would go shopping and i hated the pants, i hated the blazers, i hated the dresses. and i was saying to myself i'd made my own suit i'd change this change that. and then one day, i started interning for another designer who's been amazing, been my mentor. and we kind of -- she kind of groomed me on what to do. and then i went out on my own. i was like you know what i can do this i can create my own line created what i wanted to see in the world. >> so this idea of what you want

to see in the world and that the models you're using are in part because there are so many of us who don't see ourselves reflected. do you hear from women about how not only your clothes but even just the advertisements for your clothes make them feel? >> yes, definitely. most of my e-mails are, thank you for acknowledging that i'm beautiful, thank you for seeing me, thank you for acknowledging my presence, my being. and then i get e-mails from husbands like hey, i want this dress for my wife. she's a beautiful woman. and she never sees herself as a beautiful woman. and i want to buy this for her. so that's been the most amazing part about all this. >> if you could pick one or two beautiful women that you would like to see in your clothes, who would be the top picks for you? >> definitely beyonce. >> because? >> love her! >> yes. >> and i love oprah. i love teraji. i love viola.

i scream for these women. i love these women. >> i love it. >> i would love them to wear anything. >> i'd love to see all of them in your clothes and also the first lady in some rum and coke. wouldn't that -- all that would happen and be great. thank you to courtney smith. thank you for your work and for joining us here today. >> thank you for having me. that's our show. see you tomorrow morning. super bowl sunday and dave ziron is going to be here for the annual tradition of all sports talk. we'll chat about roger goodell and this burning question -- >> can you envision any set of circumstances which would lead you to resigning or being fired as your job as commissioner. >> no, i can't. does that surprise you? >> right now, it's time for a preview of "weekends with alex witt." hi, alex.

>> wait, i have a surprise. you were surprisingly muted when courtney talks about beyonce. i'm like please let the choir begin with you two. anyway, thank you so much, melissa. we'll have live reports for you from arizona. a day before the super bowl. we'll talk about how it's a big bun-maker but not for everyone. why some say the game's turned into a big loser for its host cities. katy perry and what she told willie geist about her state of mind ahead of tomorrow's big halftime show. and the love affair between sarah palin and some of her biggest supporters. why it could be over and what happened to make some call it quits. and for a week they showed "american sniper" at a theater in baghdad. did iraqis love it or hate it? the answer ahead. don't go anywhere. r enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure.

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the senate passed a bill okaying the project. i'll talk to one senator who voted for it and whether he expects the president to veto it. round two, another big storm headed for the northeast. but this one could be more widespread. details on where it's going to hit and when. who's next? mitt romney says he's not running for president again and it leaves a wide-open field. who's the new front-runner?