with sprinkl? sprinkles are for winners. i understand. this morning my question who's denying texas babies their birth certificates? plus, the first sitting president to go to prison. and, misty copeland and stella are live in nerd land. but first, it's the fourth quarter, and president obama is running up the score. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry, and we begin with breaking news out of chattanooga, tennessee. a fifth serviceman naval petty officer randall smith, died this morning less than two days after being shot in an attack on two military bases. the four marines who died

thursday have also been identified. they are sergeant carson holmquist, lance corporal squire wells, gunnery sergeant thomas sullivan and david wyatt. their bodies were take tone andrews air force base. they say the killer mohammed youssuf abdulazeez had a handgun when he sprayed a station, then drove about seven miles to a navy and marines reserve center. joining me now from chattanooga, sara? >> reporter: another hard-breaking developing. petty officer randall smith was in his mid-20s, was hit several times during that shooting rampage. he was critically injured, succumbed to those injuries just after 2:00 a.m. this morning. the community reacting with shock and grief, many coming out here to the scene to continue to

add flags and flowers to this growing memorial behind me. meanwhile, the investigation into the shooter and his background continues. officials say this is being conducted as a terror investigation, although so far they have not uncovered anything, anything on his phone or any social media postings videos manifestos that would indicate he was involved with isis. they are looking at a trip from april to november of last year. they know he was in jordan. they're looking whether he went into any other countries, places like yemen, for example. he had two passports, one jordanian passport, one american passport passport, that is complicating matters here. meanwhile, those who knew him continue to express surprise. they describe him as a friendly guy, a kind guy who was outside going in school graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. it is a description, melissa, that is very much at odds with the man police say pulled the trigger killing now five people in a shooting rampage on

thursday. back to you. >> very very sad to have lost yet another soldier -- i mean sailor to this. thank you to sarah dallof in chattanooga, tennessee. we turn now to the story how this week president obama day after day, news cycle after news cycle, made history and in so doing redefined what the fourth quarter of a two-term presidency can be. on almost every one of the last five days, there he was, dominating headlines and checking off items on that list that he joked about during the white house correspondents dinner. >> after the midterm elections my advisers asked me mr. president, do you have a bucket list? and i said well i have something that rhymes with bucket list. >> take executive action on immigration. bucket. [ applause ] environmental regulations. bucket. that's the right thing to do. >> he got the week started with this announcement on monday.

>> i'm commuting the sentences of 46 prisoners who were convicted many years, or in some cases, decades ago. these men and women were not hardened criminals, but the overwhelming majority had been sentenced to at least 20 years. 14 of them had been sentenced to life for nonviolent drug offenses. so their punishments didn't fit the crime. >> liberating nonviolent offenders? bucket. then on tuesday he followed up with this. >> today i want to focus on one aspect of american life that remains particularly skewed by race and by wealth a source of inequity that has ripple effects on families on and communities and ultimately on our nation. and that is our criminal justice

system. >> a sweeping plan to reform criminal justice policy bucket. and that wasn't the only headline the president made on tuesday, because he also made time for this. >> today, after two years of negotiations the united states together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not -- a comprehensive long-term deal with iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. >> history making agreement that validates the president's approach to foreign policy. bucket. and he was still just getting started because, by wednesday, he was fisacing the media in a press conference where he was ready to go hard in the paint in defense of that same deal. >> the notion that i am content as i celebrate with american citizens languishing in iranian jails

jails. major, that's nonsense and you should know better. i've met with the families of some of those folks. nobody is content. >> he wasn't done that day. he still managed on wednesday to make a stop at the choctaw nation in oklahoma to get internet access to low income families. tackle the divide. bucket. then, as if one historic moment wasn't enough for one week he made history again on thursday when he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. bucket. now, what may be more surprising than how much the president has been able to fit into his bucket lately is the point during his presidency in which he's managed to do it because traditionally we take the measure of our presidents by the reach of their first 100 days in office. of course there's no actual ticking time clock that runs out on day 100 of a new president's term, but using the 100-day milestone to forecast a

president's legacy has been the tradition ever since 1933 when president franklin d. roosevelt assumed command of a country still in the midst of the darkest hours of the great depression. fdr made the most of his first 100 days in office by getting to work immediately to deliver on campaign promises to give americans a new deal. during that time fdr's administration oversaw the passage of a whopping 15 bills, congress' most productive period of law making ever up to that point. and now the early days of fdr's term didn't define his legacy some of his greatest achievements wouldn't come until later, but they did set into motion momentum for all his policy accomplishments that followed. and then fairly or unfairly set the milestone by which all of those who followed him have been measured. fdr was a tough act to follow. the president, who came closest, was ronald reagan who used his first 100 days to push congress to pass tax cuts new spending initiatives and a massive increase in u.s. defense capabilities. other presidents have chased against the idea of a 100-day

deadline. president john f. kennedy tried to manage expectations during his inaugural address cautioning americans that what they ask eded of him could not be finished in 100 days or even in 1,000. as president obama neared the 100-day point during his first term, the white house was taking the same approach tammping down hopes. in april 2009 a white house staffer said of the 100-day evaluation, it's an arbitrary demarcation of time created by some conglomeration of reporters, anything more than make a down payment on change that the president promised in 100 days is unrealistic. ultimately the president did bow to tradition with a press conference that was scheduled to coincide with his 100th day in office. although the signature achievement, signing the affordable care act into law, would not happen for another year, he'd already be done laying the groundwork during

those initial days of his presidency. given the power moves the president has been making as his presidency nears its end, it seems his last 100 days in office might be at least as consequential as his first. joining me now kenneth mack professor of law at harvard law school richard, found erer of the log cabin republicans, and president of public squared. ron christie the man had a nerd land loves to hate on the twitter. he is a columnist at the daily beast. and maria, host of npr. nice to have you all with us. how big is this week for president obama? >> i mean huge right? what i'm hearing people saying okay why did he have to wait so long in order to make bold moves? as i was thinking back to 2008

and that whole sentiment of people voted for change. that was the mandate for change and then soon afterwards people are saying well where is the change? so in some ways i'm looking at it from a place of what do you say when you're campaigning? what do you promise? what do you run on? and then how long does it take to you deliver? i think given the context of 2016 something those candidates need to be looking at. >> so you know i don't buy the narrative of imperial presidency that is sometimes leveled against this president. on the other hand what we have seen in these days and part of the reason we're using the bucket language to talk about it is a president who is saying look, i feel frustrated about the promises about change that i made and now i'm in this position where i'm not facing another election and, yes, my party is but i've got some power here and i'm going to use it. >> i think there's a certain liberation effect that's going on with president obama. he's in the last stretches of his administration. i've tried to work with the congress. they won't work with me for

whatever reason. i'm going to do it on my own. now whether i agree on the substance of it or not, of course that's another matter. but the politics the optics this week looked good for him. i think this gives him, also another opportunity to work with the congress to work with republicans on criminal justice reform. i think that's something we all agree needs to be done and looking at what he did and commuting some of the sentences earlier in the week people are saying he still has some juice left. >> it's an interesting point. in part this was the strength of george w. bush's presidency often. again, even for those of us who didn't often agree with the policies themselves, he did play a kind of politics swagger. i understood the president initially to be saying not only that he had policy differences but that he was a process democrat in a different way, that part of what the whole sort of long arduous process of the affordable care act was, was trying to get bipartisan support. so i guess i'm wondering on the one hand for supporters it's enjoyable to watch him checking the buckets. on the other hand it worries me that maybe he's abandoned a

little bit of that kind of process aspect. >> well i think in 2009 when you asked yourself why didn't he do those things? one of those things he had a democratic congress. if you remember when he reached out for republicans, bonnie frank and reid and pelosi criticized him for reaching out to republicans. he had a democratic congressional agenda he had to operate under during that period, and it's ironic he has flipped the narrative. he has a republican house and senate and he's doing what they said they couldn't accomplish back then. he has flipped the narrative. i think he will be remembered as a process oriented president who is prudent very much like eisenhower. very cautious and i would say, dare i say, conservative he thinks things out and doesn't act on his passions. >> it's worth pointing out as we were thinking about the 100 days that fdr and reagan are kind of these presidents that stand in the early presidencies but i wonder if president obama is making something new with this

fourth quarter or second term presidential surge. >> not exactly new. ronald reagan, of course had some pretty big wins in the fourth quarter. essentially detant with the soviet union, the end of the cold war immigration, the first-round of immigration reform. >> surprisingly like the obama agenda in certain ways. >> obama has said openly he disagreed with many of reagan's policies but there are many things he does admire. he and his advisers think long term and they've clearly thought about this. >> the other thing i keep hearing, use the language of liberation some folks are talking about this as a racial liberation, this idea of sort of the black president were you waiting for has finally arrived. interestingly enough like after the surrogate that many folks thought, for example, attorney general holder was, we're starting to hear more clear racial discourse as well from

this president for example, in the context of the shootings in south carolina. >> well again, get ready, twitter. i don't look at him as the black president. i want him to be the president of the united states. >> he said that. >> again, i want him to look at justice, at the scales of justice, with an equal eye on doing the right thing for all people. i think if you start racializing him saying he's the black guy, now he's doing the black thing, that takes us back as opposed to moving us forward. >> stick with us. there is no denying that this week was a historic one for president obama. believe it or not, there was another one in there, it was smallinger news but big news. this week president obama did something very very big to make a difference in the lives of four americans and that story is next. ging the roll. it really started to add up. so we switched to charmin. with more go's in every roll charmin ultra mega roll equals mega value. each sheet is 75% more absorbent so you can use less with every go.

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president obama has been on a roll this week making good on this claim from his 2011 state of the union address. >> we do big things. >> oh, i'm sorry. i thought he was going to say more about how we do big things. he was at that time talking about the united states doing big things but in this case his administration doing those big things and one of those things got overshadowed but it could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of families. the connect home initiative a pilot program that would bring broad band connectivity to 275,000 households in 27 cities and the choctaw nation in oklahoma. joining me now from washington, d.c., is someone who has been an addvocate for equality commissioner of the federal communications commission.

thank you for joining us. it seems like every baby is born with a digital device. who does it affect? >> there are millions of working people who cannot afford to be connected, that affordability is a gap. there are 5 million people without phone service period. so there are millions of people in this nation that do not have the ability to have full access to the information and services that millions more of us take advantage each and every day. >> when i think how important this information technology world is in which we now live i know that you lead an independent agency but that said knowing what you know about this connect home initiative how big could it be? how far reaching and important? >> it is huge because you mention it is a pilot program so it is a first step to connect almost 200,000 children in that

mix. affordability is a factor. it's a compliment to what we do with our now life line program that if we do not address the affordability gap then millions will be left behind and trapped in the digital darkness. that is unacceptable in the 21st century. >> don't go away but, rich i want to ask you a question. early on in the president's first 100 days a lot of conversation about infrastructure, the one place everybody could agree. this is infrastructure of a different kind that seems critically important to me. >> if you think about railroads, what they did for this country and, in fact, technology, these cable lines going to people's homes are a lot like that and they're very powerful people. if you're off the railroad if you're off the internet you're not part of the society, so that's a place where infrastructure can bring people and it's very inexpensive and companies are making huge

profits off monopolies could certainly share some of the profit with those folks who are not on the internet. >> i wonder maria, how important it is even symbolically the president made this announcement in oklahoma on tribal lands and with indigenous people to talk about this divide. >> and i kind of wish that he would have said, and the next thing i'm going to do on my bucket list is to say everyone who is a part of this country should spend at least one week giving service on a native american reservation. to live on a reservation and see what that is like because most of us don't, so i'm very happy that he did it in this context, and i think bringing up the notion of not being connected. the bigger picture in terms of being on a native american reservation, we don't know what happens, it seems so foreign for journalists to be there. this helps bring attention to that issue. i'm happy he's doing it and i'm very concerned about the digital divide. we did a piece on this. do you know how some teens are

writing homework essays? on their phones. >> oh, man. don't i know it. >> no computers at home because they can't afford it. they're doing it on their phones. >> how big of a difference can this make for young people living in these communities to finally have access? >> well what it will mean is when the schools and libraries close, learning will not stop. it is important that they have access in the home that they get off of that small screen and on to a wider screen, that they're able to do their homework, that their families are able to connect and improve their lives. if they do not have a broad band connection. if they can't afford a broad band connection then they will be trapped in this technology bad lands and that is unacceptable in the 21st century. >> thank you commissioner in washington, d.c. so sorry about that bad word i said on tv last week. >> no problem. that will cost you $10,000. >> i don't have it.

i don't have it. still to come this morning, the newest dancers at the american ballet theater. misty copeland and stella live in nerd land. the remaining items on president obama's bucket list. fire it up! ♪ am i the only one with a meeting? i've got two. yeah we've gotta go. i gotta say it man this is a nice set-up. too soon. just kidding. nissan sentra. j.d. power's "highest ranked compact car in initial quality." now get 0% financing or a great lease on the nissan sentra. ♪ when you're not confident your company's data is secure the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't.

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and stay ready for everything that is still to come. my presidency is entering the fourth quarter. i'm looking forward to it. >> see, he said it and that was president obama speaking in december at his year-end press. there are a few items waiting to be crossed off. in his 2014 state of the union address the president called for an increase in the national minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. that's still on his list. as much as he's tried to use his executive powers to move the needle on immigration, reforming the immigration system is really still on the list. and despite his use of those same powers to do what he could to enact safety measures around

guns stricter gun control legislation remains on his list too. they require action by congress. which leads me to wonder as much as president obama has been able to accomplish by going it on his own, how much more could he have done with a cooperative congress backing him up? >> i'm interested in has he reached the limit? is there more he can do? >> minimum wage is a nonstarter. >> why? it's actually popular and there are republican governors. >> if the state of california wants to raise the minimum wage they should do so. what happens if you raise the minimum wage? it could lead to a decrease in the number of people. my greater point is this. i worked for president george w.

bush and looked at the way he reached out to democrats. this president still has an opportunity if he wants to extend an olive branch and say there are some areas and things we can do together. >> let me pause on that. the olive branch extension. he's in the fourth quarter but their tournament is just getting started if we're going to continue with the basketball metaphor. they're trying to get in their brackets, their politics is very much part of how they are likely to win primary votes. it does feel like it's a very different incentive not just whether or not we like each other, there are different political incentives happening. >> i'm wondering if the president would consider doing something as equally historic in terms of visiting a federal prison. would he invite some of these republican colleagues to go for the first time into an immigrant detention center and be the first president -- actually, you

know who he really wanted to see there was michelle obama when you see what's happening with children and mothers who, again, are not criminals. this is a question of human rights in the context of the world. it would be even better if he was able to walk in with his republican colleagues and say this is a priority for us as a nation to understand this and, my god, we're going to close one down on his bucket list which i didn't hear that it was. >> so john boehner flew i think for the first time for this administration on air force one to charleston south carolina suggesting there are these spaces and we think of how swiftly the discourse shifted. the human harm the toll the cost that was enacted there. >> we have more on this. still to come president obama

pushes for crippleminal justice reform and president bill clinton's stunning admission on that subject. why babies in texas are being denied their birth certificates. ♪ ♪ ♪ (vo) making the most out of every mile. that's why i got a subaru impreza. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. thank you so much. did you say honey? hey, try some? you know i'm always looking for real honey for honey nut cheerios. well you've come to the right place. mind if i have another taste? not at all mmm part of a complete breakfast why are you deleting these photos? because my teeth are yellow.

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of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? i was talking to somebody the other day about why i actually think i'm a better president and would be a better candidate if i were running again than i ever had been and it's sort of like an athlete, you might slow down a little bit. you might not jump as high as you used to, but i know what i'm doing and i'm fearless. >> that was president obama speaking with comedian mark mar maron. he's still the leader of a party

that is about to run for election and it seems a fearless obama draws the ire of the other side, which it has a robust primary going on. >> yeah it draws the ire, but he has to get energy about his policies. the affordable care act for the second time. there is a tragedy of charleston but the charleston eulogy he really was an african-american president. so sometimes it comes from the circumstances and right now he has a lot of good news in back of him and that's what's pushing him. >> i think when he came into office people criticized him for not having enough background. when you watched him sing

"amazing grace" or when he's in a prison and says but by the grace of god, those are human moments. i think he could take that a step further and go back to the speech about a red america, a blue america, a united states of america. it isn't healthy and it is leaving to an imperial president. >> it's an interesting question that not only do we have a president in his second term and in his fourth quarter, we have a man who is going to be very young when he is no longer president and an extraordinary first lady who will be quite young and sort of watching the obamas in not just the fourth quarter but the postgame show might impact some opportunities that even the remaining constraints provide. they're not policymaking.

they are as you suggest here kind of setting the framework. >> i think that's right and you look at he's my brother's keeper initiative and that gives him an excellent opportunity to continue his work to try to deal with folks who are not as fortunate, folks who are in difficult circumstances. >> i'm not mad at the brothers we can't come up separately from one another. >> i'm being positive. >> then you went to the one thing i'm -- on when it comes to the president. >> as a young president it gives him something to do something to burnish his legacy not unlike what president bush is doing, president clinton is doing, using their institutes to do good in the world. i think he's going to do that. >> before we go to break an update on this week's deadly attacks on two military centers. a sailor wounded thursday died overnight, randall smith. the fifth serviceman to die as a result of the attack.

four marines why also killed. fbi agents say the shooter died in a shoot-out with police. we'll have more on this story coming up at the top of the hour. up next nothing less than the constitution says that they are u.s. citizens. so why in texas are babies being denied a birth certificate? ♪ ♪ ♪

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all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the united states. ratified in the aftermath of the civil war in 1868 meant that formerly enslaved persons were now citizens. this unambiguous in america's ongoing immigration battles. some of this country's youngest citizens are being denied the documents that in fact prove

their citizenship. more than a dozen undocumented parents sued the texas department of state health services saying they were denied birth certificates for their texas-born babies. the reason? because of insufficient proof of the parents' identities. they are citizens of mexico and nations in central america. according to the complaint texas officials recently have refused to recognize official photo identification cards provided by the mexican or some of the central american consulates these i.d. cards are known as metriculas. the press officer of the texas state of health -- excuse me, texas department of state health services commented on the lawsuit in an e-mail to us saying that the agency quote, provide certified birth certificates without regard to the requester's immigration status but identity to protect personal information contained on a birth certificate. he continued that texas does not

accept the matricula consular as valid identification. joining me from alamo, texas is efron. one of the attorneys representing the parents in this case. is it legal to withhold birth certificates? >> absolutely not. these parents are providing a valid i.d. to obtain the birth certificates and they're being denied. >> so does the refusal of a birth certificate amount to refusing citizenship? >> well the birth certificate is a primary form of proof you are a u.s. citizen and all these children cannot have it. they cannot obtain proof that they are u.s. citizens when it's undisputed that they are. >> as a law professor on this the 14th amendment is clearly --

it's rooted in the post civil war moment and this does seem to potentially challenge that fundamental right. >> yeah there's been actually a push in recent years to enact another constitution amendment to deny citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. so there's been a pushback against the 14th amendment. it was proposed and ratified was about saying that everyone who was born here and under the jurisdiction of the united states, diplomats, are excluded was a united states citizen. that was to undo the undoing of dred scott. >> i want to get maria in. what does this sound like to you, this refusal at least

initially. >> there are a couple of things that go on. why didn't we know about this until now? why? because the people who this is happening to are so afraid to come forward so we don't even know. the culture of fear actually causes fear which then has an impact on things like due process and constitutional amendments. the context of the 14th amendment being tied to ending slavery and the rights for former slaves, and so at the same time that we can be talking about those issues and lowering the confederate banner in south carolina, at the same time we can be talking about but for mexicans and central americans we can deny them their citizenship. we've made progress huge progress but it's two steps forward and three steps back. in terms of african-american and

anglo-white relationship but again, in terms of latinos, in terms of immigrants in terms of people from mexico and central america, well we're figuring out how exactly we feel about you and that is the future of our country, by the way, demographically. efron, i want to come to you on this because undoubtedly part of what we will hear is this question of so are these parents, the parents who you represent and others are they basically planning these strategic births for the children in order to ensure u.s. citizenship, this kind of tension that maria is pointing to here? >> absolutely not. some of our clients have been living in the u.s. since the mid-'90s. they have older children for whom they were able to obtain birth certificates with the same matricula and was not a problem at all. recently they're being turned away with children born late last year or earlier this year. it's a new phenomenon. >> it has only been in the last eight to nine months the state

has begun to reject these matriculas. it's not as though this is the long-standing policy of the state of texas. >> right. and we don't know why that is. there was the influx of immigrants through the south texas border last summer the announcement in november of last year. the timing might be a coincidence. we don't know. especially this spring when the strict enforcement of not accepting the mexican consular i.d. really ramped up. >> thank you to efron in alamo, texas, who is joining us via skype. i appreciate it. here in new york thank you to kenneth mack and to rich as well as to ron christie who is apparently trending nationally. love you for that. maria will be back in our next hour. coming up, the infamous stanford prison experience comes to the big screen. the man behind the real-life prison drama.

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this week president obama spoke clearly about the moral imperative of prison reform. we'll talk more about that in the next hour. what about the ethical impact of prison itself? how does one maintain a moral compass with power over others particularly those that society has judged to be deserving of punishment? in august 1971 stanford university professor sought to study the psychology of prison by simulating it in a makeshift jail on the university campus. the subjects were randomly divided into groups of guards and prisoners and made to follow a strict regime. very early on many of the guards became overzealous, some might even say sadistic degrading punishments that included beatings psychological torture and solitary confinement. traumatized volunteers sought to drop out of the study and

although it was slated to go for two weeks, dr. z had to terminate it in just six days. the chilling and timely story a landmark in how institutions can make ordinary people horrible has now been dramatized in a new movie "the stanford prison experiment." >> this experiment will be an extension of my research into the effects prisons can have on human behavior. under no circumstances whatsoever are you to physically assault the prisoners in any way. >> what was? >> you just hit him. >> you're not supposed to hit him. >> those are not subjects. those are boys and you are harming them. >> please let me out of here! i want out! i want out! >> joining me now from los angeles is the man behind the original 1971 experiment dr. philip z. this is a high nerd moment for

me. i know all of your work very well and i'm just so interested in how this experiment remains one of the most powerful insights into how swiftly institutions can shape human behavior. what do you think it taught us? >> i think it taught us that message that we like to believe we as individuals determine our fate that it's our personality, our character, our moral conscience. these are ultimately fixed. the study says no that our -- the situation we're in the roles we play the costumes we wear the settings we're in the rules around us determine no some cases our behavior and we don't like to believe that. we like to believe everything that's internally generated and so the study has a special impact because most research lasts one hour. this study, a look at the character transformations over time because prisoners live there 24/7 guards work

eight-hour shifts. as you said in the introduction we planned to go for two weeks but we had to end it after only six days. the reason we ended, boys selected because they were normal and healthy on all psychological dimensions were having emotional breakdowns one a day for five days. and the guards selected also because they were normal and healthy and, remember, it's 1971. nobody wants to be a guard. the police -- remember this was anti-vietnam war time and police use edd to go on college campuses to break up sfunt riots. so no one wanted to be a prison guard. no one wanted to be a guard. but within one day they became guards meaning they had power over the prisoners and they began to use that power, as you said,sadistic, brutal ways. >> i watched the film very closely and i understand you were consulted on it. again, i went to college, saw all of the pbs series and all of that kind of thing, but you were not a very nice guy as

represented in the film there's a sort of ethical impact on you even as a researcher over the course of those six days and i wonder about what that also tells all of us who observe in the world these -- this kind of misuse or abuse of power, and yet we continue to watch it. we are often bystanders. >> that's the problem. we are passive bystanders when we see this kind of stuff. we're focused on bullying in high school and middle school. there are bullies now in business. those high school kids who are not stopped now have power in businesses. but also the abuse in mental hospitals, the abuse in many cases even in schools. craig haney and i, my graduate student who worked with me we wrote an article a long time ago, the high school as prison. and so essentially the basic message is not only about prisons but, of course we hope that's going to underscore

president obama's new focus on prison reform which is desperately needed. it really tells us something about hughman nature and something about how individuals relate to their institutions and, again, if you want to change individual behavior, you have to not just do therapy, not just put people in prison you have to begin to change the situations and also the systems which have the power to modify human behavior. >> why this film as you talk about 1971 the kind of sort of moment in which this study happened, so why is this film about the study from 1971 important for right now, for this moment? >> see, the amazing thing, it has enduring value. 2004 we put -- we did the study, we put it to sleep and then 2004 we see this horrific image of american soldiers in iraq brutalizing iraqi prisoners. it's on steroids putting prisoners with bags over their heads, stripping them naked, and

so something about this study has universal enduring value which is revealed in this brilliant film. i mean, the film i've seen it a few times. the ensemble acting is stunning. the directing and editing by kyle alvarez is remarkable. the person who plays me is a little -- he's a little more negative than i was. and, also, the problem is being an american not sicilian like me, he doesn't use his hands. in the earlier segment i watched, you were doing this -- which i have never seen a news anchor do. >> it's because i'm actually a college professor although not a sicilian one. i hope that you get a chance to come and hang out in nerd land with us. you are right that film is fabulous. it is currently in theaters. be sure to check out your local

listings. also a programming note tomorrow here on mhp, we will cover the case of sandra bland, the young woman found dead in a texas jail cell last friday just three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop. the medical examiner has ruled her death a suicide but bland's family questions that finding. sandra bland's sister will join us live tomorrow to talk about the latest in the case. we will get to that important story. but coming up next for us today, president obama goes where no president has gone before. the groundbreaking ballerinas are here in the studio.

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go. this, is why we travel. and why we continue to create new technology to connect you to the people and places that matter. new york state is reinventing how we do business by leading the way on tax cuts. we cut the rates on personal income taxes. we enacted the lowest corporate tax rate since 1968. we eliminated the income tax on manufacturers altogether. with startup-ny, qualified businesses that start, expand or relocate to new york state pay no taxes for 10 years. all to grow our economy and create jobs. see how new york can give your business the opportunity to grow at ny.gov/business welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry. we follow breaking news out of

chattanooga chattanooga, tennessee. a sailor has become the fifth to die as a result of this week's attack on two military centers. abc news has confirmed naval petty officer randall smith died early this morning. the four marines who died thursday have also been identified. they are gunnery sergeant thomas sullivan lance corporal squire wells, staff sergeant david wyatt, and sergeant carson holmquist holmquist. their bodies were take tonen to dover air force base. they say mohammed youssuf abdulazeez had at least two long guns and a handgun when he sprayed a military recruitment station, drove seven miles to a navy and marines reserve center. joining me now is nbc news correspondent sarah dallof. sarah, what else do we know about the sailor who died this morning? >> reporter: well, good morning, melissa. this is just another heartbreaking chapter in this tragedy. petty officer randall smith was

in his mid-20s. we knew he had been hit multiple times during the rampage on thursday. he was critically injured and this morning just after 2:00 a.m. we're told he succumbed to those injuries. the community reacting with shock and grief. you can see just a steady stream of visitors here behind me dropping off flowers and american flags. we've been able to talk to some who were just in disbelief, more shock now this rampage has claimed a fifth victim. meanwhile, the investigation into the shooter and his background continues. it is being conducted as a terror investigation although authorities say so far they have combed through all the suspect's electronics devices, computer phone, they haven't found any collusion of social media postings, messages or videos that would indicate he was inspired by or directed by isis to commit these terrible crimes. they are looking closely at his mideast travel. he took a trip from april to november. they know he was in jordan but they want to know where else he

went specifically to yemen. dehave two passports, one jordanian and one american passport that is complicating matters. those who knew him express surprise that he is the suspect in this case. they say they knew him as a kind and friendly person a description that is very much at odds with someone who would open fire on two military recruiting centers killing four marines and one navy sailor. melissa, back to you. >> thank you to nbc's sarah dallof in chattanooga, tennessee. the story of how president obama marked off a major milestone this week becoming the first sitting u.s. president to ever visit a federal prison. he toured the medium security prison in oklahoma and met with six inmates serving time for nonviolent drug offenses. speaking to reporters at the prison he said the nation's approach to criminal justice, incarceration for drug offenders, must change. >> that we can start making a

change, save taxpayers' money, keep our streets safe and perhaps, most importantly, keep families intact and break this cycle in which young people particularly young people of color, are so prone to end up in the criminal justice system that makes it harder for them to ever get a job, to ever be effective, full citizens of this country. >> the president made his visit just a few days after shortening the sentences of 46 inmates, most of them serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses. 14 have been sevenntenced to life. >> i believe that at its heart america is a nation of second chances, and i believe these folks deserve their second chance. >> president obama's now commuted the sentences of 89 people convicted of crimes most of them drug offenses. one of those people is jason hernandez.

now jason went to prison in 1998 at the age of 21 for dealing crack cocaine. he'd been selling since he was 15, but this was his first conviction on drug charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. jason, we're going to show you here pictures of him take nen prison over the years on these family visits he kept his head down. after ten years in a maximum security prison with no spots on his record he's able to transfer to a medium security prison the same prison president obama visited this week. but jason wasn't there because in december 2013 he was one of eight inmates whose sentences were commuted. his was cut down from life without parole to 20 years. now he's out of prison and serving the rest of his sentence under house arrest in mckinney, texas. his sentence will be over this a few days. joining me now is managing editor of msnbc.com, poet

prison activist and author reverend vivian nixon, executive director of the college and community fellowship and co-found erer of the education inside-out coalition, and award winning journalist and executive producer and anchor of npr's latino usa. and joining us from skype is jason hernandez, one of the 89 people who received commutations from president obama. beyond the obvious, what does it mean to you to have had your sentence commuted? >> it basically means that i've been born again. i was supposed to die in prison and it's a miracle, and i realize that. i'm just making the most of it and trying to do everything that i can to try to make the president proud of me. >> so jason, still you served 20 years and you were only

about 20 when you began your sentence. so a whole other lifetime that you spent. what are the challenges you still expect to face now that your sentence is coming to an end? >> well jobs, of course but the jobs i apply for, no one is holding my conviction against me. everyone goes to jail nowadays is how they look at it. the stigma of being in prison almost 20 years, two decades, people are alarmed about that. they just can't believe that you can go to prison for that long of time. whatever problems i encounter, they're nothing compared to living 17 years knowing that i was going to die in prison. so if i can make it through that, i can make it through anything in life. >> so i know jason, that for you this idea of dying in

presidentprison was not just a matter of a theory, you actually lost a brother who was killed while he was in prison. what does that tell all of us about how necessary it is to make this prison reform happen now? >> i think it's very necessary. i mean we have thousands of inmates released from prison every week and everybody is concerned about inmates that president obama is releasing, but that's just a little blip on the radar. they say you can judge a country by its judicial system and if you walk into its prisons, if you walk into our prisons, i think you would be alarmed what goes on in there. not necessarily el reno. use the opportunity to better yourself and take college programs. yeah, something needs to be done and president obama has taken the right approach. how can you suggest there should be some type of prison reform if you've never been in one?

you don't know what's going on in there. how can you suggest change? president obama has been in one. he's taken the right path. >> jason hernandez, thank you so much for joining us via skype. thank you for your continued work and we'll all be keeping an eye on you as you move forward in your opportunity for a second life. thank you, jason. let me come out here to the table a little bit. reverend nixon, what do you think about that? the president went to a prison. i know that you were both impressed/not so impressed. >> i think it's great that the president took the step of going into a prison. it makes a huge statement about what we should care about as a nation. however, i don't think he went far enough. first, i was actually shocked that i saw him walking through an empty cellblock and, for me removing the human beings out of the cell so the president could tour the prison symbolizes how we just dehumanize people when

they're convicted of an offense. there was no danger to the president had the cellblock been full of the people normally there. the other thing i was not so impressed with was his choice to meet with only six nonviolent offenders. to under the entire complexity of our criminal justice system you really cannot pull out a very specific segment of the population and say, well these are the people who deserve our forgiveness. either we believe in second chances or we don't. and second chances should not apply to some and not others. the criminal justice system is very complex. what we think is a violent offense is really not violent and from state to state it varies. i think he needs to go a step further. >> i appreciate people in nerd land, that's good but it's not do enough do some more! but it's meaningful i think, for us to think about this question because part of what the president is asking us to do, i think all of us and we heard from jason there, to

change what it is we think that the insight is in some ways. to take that step to go into that space, what might happen for all of us if we were willing to take a breath walk into the space and get a sense of, in fact, what our prison system really does to people. >> i think folks would be transformed. i've been teaching performing in adult prisons most of my life. the brothers at rikers that i've talked to in the last couple of days have actually said similar thing. it's good but not good enough you know. specifically because you're the first black president. it took you seven years. having said that i'm glad he went in. >> man. cannot win. i'm down. i understand. i understand. >> but we have to hold his feet to the fire. i do think violent/nonviolent is one we need to examine closely but some of our most brilliant

minds are actually locked up mind bars and that's a piece of the conversation that this might help move forward and so in that sense i applaud the gesture. >> this is a tough table. >> it is a tough table. >> so i have pushed very hard. i would love to see the president pardoning and commuting the sentence of hundreds of people quarterly if not more often. there's certainly enough candidates he could do it. i feel like obama has been on this journey and a lot of the baby steps are symbolic for him. one of the things to me was remarkable in the commutations he did something no president has ever done. he issued this video statement in which he explained his decisions to the public. this is something that clemency advocates have been pushing for for a long time. in the state of virginia when governors pardon they issue a letter to the public explaining why they're doing this. they make something out of the lives people have made for themselves to promote that as an

important part of the narrative. >> as opposed to a signature late at night on the way out the door on the last day. >> it's a friday afternoon, out with the trash pardons initiative, which a lot of presidents do. so i was really glad to see that. it was a monday. he issued this video, it was produced, and it meant something to him. i think going to the prison was the same thing, a symbolic move for the president. i agree, should there have been people there? of course there should have been. would that have been different? could the press have had more access to him, frankly, actually while he was there? the access was limited and restrictive. that bothered me too. i like reporters to interview prisoners. it was to me as a reporter to meet with people in prisons. >> stick with us. more on this and more on this question. there is a difference between violence and nonviolence. we'll dig into that when we get back. will seal the deal. sure! i offer multi-car, safe driver, and so many other discounts

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there are people who need to be in prison and i don't have tolerance for violent criminals. on the other hand when we're looking at nonviolent offenders we have to reconsider whether 20-year, 30-year life sentences for nonviolent crimes is the best way for us to solve these problems. >> that was the president making a common distinction about criminal justice reform only tore nonviolent offenders. where is the line between nonviolent and violent? khalif accused of stealing a backpack and held in rikers island jail for three years without a trial starting at the age of 16. he was held partly because his

family could not pay his $3,000 bail. the charges were eventually dismissed. his story caused widespread outrage. senator rand paul has told this story. so has new york mayor bill de blasio. it was the story that led new york city to announce reforms to its bail rules last week. now some low-level defendants will be able to go home to await trial without posting bail but the rule change would not have applied to brower. the reforms make the same distinction president obama and others make. it only aemployspplies to nonviolent crime. he was charged with second-degree assault, a violent felony. he was accused of roughing up and punching the man who claimed he stole his backpack. everyone agrees that what happened was wrong. he spent two of his three years at rikers in solitary

confinement. he was allegedly beaten by guards and fellow inmates even after his charges were dismissed he was released he struggled with depression paranoia and in june he committed suicide at the age of 22. to remind us of that story because this idea that -- i get -- i feel like what president boehm is saying there are people who commit acts of rape or commit acts that i don't know i like the language we have no tolerance but i think he's trying to make a distinction there. that's not what law is. law makes the extinction at the space of being a teenager accuse accused of stealing a backpack and i think we have to be careful about that violent versus nonviolent language. >> to me the fact he was so young. so we know the supreme court has already made it unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life in prison without the possibility of parole. that is now what our greatest court has said.

and yet right now we have 2,500 juveniles who were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. these are kids and i'm a mother of two teenagers. this is -- and the way i put it together toddlers are very similar to teenagers. toddlers, you know are throwing fits and making maybe not the best decision. and teenagers just because of hormonal, we know about their brain development, so i go back to the bucket list if i may, something for the president, as you say, could be easy peasy. 2,500 juveniles sentenced without parole your sentence is commuted. that doesn't mean you're free. let's follow up and make sure that you're going to be able to follow and develop in society. >> what is the president doing when he says when he goes to the nonviolent offender bucket. nonviolent offender you're a violent offender if any part of any aspect of the crime, even if you're a nobody in a conspiracy somebody in the conspiracy had a gun that was never used it's a

violent crime. so what is he doing here? he's mitigating risk for himself and mitigating risk for his legacy, and all presidents do that. the white house counsel and the justice department and everyone who brings the president -- people like jason, their cases and others who are good candidates to either have their sentences commuted or to be pardoned are people that -- the people around the president believe he is not at risk for. and you heard jason say every person i've ever -- it's false for sure. for sure. >> research shows -- >> of course it's false. >> actually the people with the most serious offenses are least likely to recidovate. keeping them locked up for decades at a time. as you age, the risk reduces. old people are languishing away

in our prisons sick and dying. >> just want to go home to die. >> no risk to society whatsoever. >> we talked repeatedly about the angola case and the language out of louisiana about just a refusal to have the space of pardon or forgiveness or even reasonable policymaking. >> the language is important. the language even around dehumanizes us right? switching from ex-con ex-offender, criminal prisoner to incarcerated people using language that emphasizes our personhood, changes the policy and changes the conversation. >> i've just been watching the president do this all week and then watching that stanford prison experiment movie. and you see in a matter of two days people who were classmates in the classroom who were chosen for guard or prisoner by the flip of a coin but because of how they're forced to dress, the

extent to which they are fully dehumanizes. the saidism thatdism that arises. it is the prison it is the thing that is actually offending and creating violence in our system. >> there are legally binding standards for people who are held in the bureau of prisons for the b.o.p. it is very important because if you have standards and you have legal recourse in terms of recreation, the amount of food et cetera. it may not be easy. and i hate to bring it back again to immigrants -- >> please don't hate to. it's critically important. >> because i've been inside the centers, immigrants held in immigrant detention centers, in fact there are no legally binding standards for their detention.

so we're investigating a case, there have been several immigrant deaths inside detention centers, getting access to them. many of them are being run by private companies that make a profit and that essentially we have 34,000 beds legislated by congress that must be filled with immigrants every single night in order for there to be profit. that is the city council of new york telling the nypd you have to have 3,000 beds filled tonight, every night. what does that do to us as a democracy? and that's what we want to talk about. when i was visiting one of my sources he said we're incarcerated citizens is what he called it. >> stick with us. up next why bill clinton says that he helped make the problem worse. (glasses clinking) ♪

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talking about a law signed 21 years ago. the 1994 crime bill. among many other things the $30 billion package of legislation lengtheninged sentences for drugs, violent crime and gave states powerful financial incentives to follow suit. this week president bill clinton said the law he signed and lobbied for exacerbated the problem of over incarceration. >> i signed a bill that made the problem worse. and i want to admit it. in that bill there were longer sentences. and most of these people are in under state law but the federal law set a trend and that was overdone. we were wrong about that. that percentage we were wrong about. what do you make about that? >> it's far too late. >> i'm not sure i heard an

apology. i heard an admission. >> not only did it have a huge impact on the prison it cut opportunity across the country and denied folks the opportunity to access the basic skills to survive in this 21st century global economy. the idea reform needs to happen because the system is broken is the system is working as it was designed to. more radical change to keep this from happening in the future. >> first of all, this idea that prison is punishment and how long that punishment is meant to last. those that commit felonies are never -- you live in public housing or have food assistance.

we talk about wanting people to go back into their lives, but how is that possible when we make the punishment a lifelong punishment? >> it's not possible. it's not possible on a large scale and i think this is -- we need to make a decision as americans. either we believe in second chances or we don't. historical context shows we have in our minds the undeserving and deserving. some people deserve our help and some people don't. and when it comes to educational opportunities, rehabilitative opportunities, and opportunities for life chances, americans have felt that a certain group of people does not deserve those things. >> i want to give you an opportunity to respond to what i know the push is. the push is what about the families and the victims of -- so let's take broward, people

who commit things all of us would believe constitutes violence. to the hardest cases we have in society, the charleston shooter, mr. roof. i think many of my viewers will say you are pie in the sky liberaling around that bright blue table. we want to know how do you get justice when an actual injustice has been done. >> the mr. roof ss of this world are a very small minority of the people in the system. the majority of people in prison have never done anything so egregious. i agree we need systems in place to deal with that type of violence. even that needs to be examined on a case-by-case basis. i'm reminded of the sniper shooters where this older man groomed this young kid to follow him around the country and commit horrible acts of violence but did this kid really have a

chance or was he coerced or manipulated? every case should be treated as an individual case. when we take a whole of people and throw them under the bus, humans can think and humans can change who they are over time. >> our form of justice, what kind is it retribution, an eye for an eye, or acknowledge if you have victim and perpetrator, the victim is a perpetrator as well. what is the structural violence? budgets that we get. what is that broader picture of violence? >> i think there's a laziness that we don't actually get to the things that are justice that allows us not to have a conversation about what would look like restoration for those

who are the victims. thank you, reverend vivian nix. ♪ ♪ ♪ it took serena williams years to master the two handed backhand. but only one shot to master the chase mobile app.

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found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. many child rearing habits hinge on parents' desire to ensure the children's safety and success. we'll drive them to school rather than letting them walk alone, advise them on extra contributing lars, proof read and edit papers. we'll do and do for our children sometimes performing tasks they can accomplish on their own all because we want them to be safe and accomplished. but parenting author julie says this can step on our kids' toes. "how to raise an adult: break free of the parenting trap." the source of helicopter parenting habits and uses studies and stories to

illustrate the developmental, emotional and psychological toll that over parenting can take on children. she gives parents some constructive tips for stepping back and allowing the next generation of leaders to become fully formed adults. joining the table now is former stanford university and author of "how to raise an adult" julie haynes. julie, thinking about this in the context of in the '80s and early '90s everyone was afraid of crime and signing on to the crime bill parents were also flipping out and no longer allowing kids to walk to school to play alone, and it has real consequences 20 and 30 years later. >> it does. what's happened parents are involved in overprotecting their kids from a mythological sense there are strangers on every corner waiting to abduct them constructing play through a play date applauding kids at every turn, for showing up instead of really accomplish something. i think 20 30 years later when kids have been raised that way it's not a surprised they're till looking for parents'

approval and direction and protection this college and the world of work. >> just earlier maria was saying the brains of toddlers and of teens are not unalike, and when you say that we looked at each other because both of us are living the life of having toddlers and teens and both my 18-month-old and my 13-year-old are like get off me. i can do it myself. right? it's tough as a parent to nurture that instead of saying, no, no no let me tie that for you. let me get that for you. >> melissa, when i was a freshman in stanford too many students weren't trying to get their parents off their backs. that's what made me write this book. wait a minute these seemingly best and brightest young adults are quite grateful to have mom and dad making decisions, solving problems soothing their feelings. in my day we rebelled against our parents. i hope my kids will do the same. too many young adults are relieved to have mom and dad do

the hard work. >> what are the negative consequences of that? >> well there are three. number one, kids today -- and let me back up and say -- >> kids today. >> kids today in communities of affluence, let's acknowledge right from the get-go this is happening in middle and upper class families where parents have disposable time and income to spend on cultivating their kids' every existence. and i've forgotten your question. >> what the effects are. >> and i'm also a parent so this book says you should raise your child as if they are to be limitless, which resonates with the book incredibly well. my challenge for me my 13-year-old, i wanted to meet melissa's 13-year-old, actually is technology right, because there's a whole other terrain that parents have to think about. so how do you negotiate some of the questions? >> i think a lot of people think technology caused this

frequent -- this hovering behavior in parents. i know technology didn't cause it because i was writing about this before kids were writing and texting all the time. we have to put limits on technology. we're still the parent. we still get to set rules and expectations about how often and to what extent they can be in front of the screen. back to your question about the harms. they lack life skills. kids today that have been over parented often in furtherance of go to the right school all the activities, all the sports the leadership, the community service, they're not learning to do for themselves in the home. we're absolving them of chores. they don't learn to do for themselves. as 18-year-olds, they can't do the basics pump gas in their car, fill out their own forms. that's seemingly benign. the much more acute problem is psychologists are saying they end up more depressed and more anxious. why? their parents have done the thinking and the doing and the being for them. they're on a path of someone else's making. they're actually under constructed in their own

psychological self. they're sort of as i say in the book existentially impotent. they've never been allowed to think outside the box. they don't know how to be creative. >> my very favorite chapter is called normalized struggle. i have told the story many times with my dad always signed our birthday cards even at 4, 5, 6 years old, the struggle continues. we all turned out okay as it turn out. i think everybody is going to hang out because up next breaking ground while up on your toes. we're calling this one dance, dance revolution. these guests are staying.

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two weeks from today ballerinas take on the much coveted rank of principal dancers with the american ballet theater. this is a really big deal. the american ballet theater or

abt is considered the pre-eminent company for classical ballet in the nation. out of its 90 dancers fewer than 20 are principles and they are among the best in the world. ballerinas have now shattered the glass ceiling for the 7 75-year-old theater and are hoping to break color barriers on stage. misty is the first african-american woman principle dancer and stella is the first filipino american principle. congratulations to these two pioneers who have brought new meaning to the phrase dance, dance revolution and hold on to your pointe shoes because they are here. up next. hey terry stop they have a special! so, what did you guys think of the test drive? i love the jetta. but what about a deal? terry, stop! it's quite alright... ok, you know what? we want to make a deal with you. we're twins, so could you give us two for the price of one? come on, give us a deal. look at how old i am. do you come here often?

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you know i'm always looking for real honey for honey nut cheerios. well you've come to the right place. mind if i have another taste? not at all mmm part of a complete breakfast mornings. wonderful, crazy mornings. we figure you probably don't have time to wait on hold.

that's why at xfinity we're hard at work building new apps like this one that lets you choose a time for us to call you. so instead of waiting on hold, we'll call you when things are just as wonderful... [phone rings] but a little less crazy. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. what does a ballerina look like? according to acclaimed dancer misty copeland she doesn't have to be a white woman that's rail thin. she can look like the world. starting next month the american

ballet theater or abt will look a little more like the world that we actually live in because misty will become the first african-american for the theater and stella a long time soloist will be the first filipino. misty copeland and stella abrera. talk to us what this means. what does is designate? >> it's highest rank in a classical ballet company and my belief is that every young dancer that you're watching the lead swan. you're not particularly staring at the last girl at the end of the line on the sides.

i think that's everyone's dream and it's not an easy task. >> when you talk about it not being an easy task part beauty of this particular art is to make it appear effortless. and yet the kind of training, the life that it takes to live and make one's living from this art -- >> definitely i feel like there's a beautiful balance between athleticism and artistry which is unique in our line of work. it's also one of the most enjoyable parts of our career using our bodies to express ourselves and tell these amazing stories and be athletic at the same time is -- >> when you use the language of "athletic," i had quite a bit last week about the "new york times" piece about serena williams. and it felt to me like representation of bodies matter. it matters what we see

athletically, it matters what we see artistically. and i'm wondering in the context of ballet as well why it matters to have a kind of diverse representation within the context of of course, the thing that is classical ballet. >> my -- again, my experience has been that i wanted to see myself and i think so many young people -- you go to see art because you want to feel like you're experiencing something beautiful, like it's a dream that you can be a part of. and that's a hard thing to do when you're entering into a space when there are very few people of color on the stage. and i think it's extremely important for the growth of classical ballet for people to really feel included in it. >> i wonder about what the process is of finding out that you are a principal dancer. so i know how you find out about tenure. i know how you find out about making partner at a law firm.

how did you find out? do you find out quietly at home? what's the process? >> well that was company meeting which our artistic director held just to talk about company business things that are happening in the future the, future performances and tours and then at the end of the meeting that's reserved for the announcements of promotions. and he listed a few people who were promoted from quarter ballet to soloist and then he announced our promotions. >> did you know before that moment? >> no. >> it's different in each situation when i was promoted to the rank of soloist i was told privately in his office before it was announced at the company meeting. but sometimes these things are done in front of the entire company, which i think so so special because these are our peers and our friends and our family and i think that everyone

was rooting for both of us. >> how did you celebrate afterward? hot dogs? lots of beer? [ laughter ] no? >> well, we had rehearsal 15 minutes later. >> of course you celebrated by working more. >> exactly. >> i think the end of the season was our time to celebrate. >> one of the things i loved before we came on air and even as we're talking is what seems to be a real collegiality between you two and i think that part of what we would be led to believe is that women in all fields are hypercompetitive with one another in a way that doesn't allow far kind of collegiality and that this was particularly true in ballet. are you two competitive with one another? with other women in the company? or do you, in fact find yourselves working together? >> i think we're all super supportive of each other. misty and i have basically grown up in the company together. sure we share roles, but it's about helping each other better

ourselves within those roles that we share. >> i think that abt is a very different company than maybe other companies at this level. but we're not a sport so we're not competing and we're not competing for roles. everyone has an opportunity to do these roles so it's not like one person is given a part. and we really are a family. we spend more time with each other than we do our own families. >> we can certainly relate with each other as far as like going through hard times, like injuries and just the pain of everyday rehearsals and -- so we have that bond and it's great. >> the pain the work the working, even at the moment of celebration, for most dancers the performing part of your career, at least at this level, ends when you're still a relatively young person and then you go on to do all kinds of

other things within the field. i'm wondering, given the historic nature of what you have both accomplished what you see 10 and 15 years from where you are now. or maybe it's just time for rehearsal. >> what do you -- what do you see in your future stella? >> i would sure love to help keep our art form alive and help it flourish and help share my knowledge that i have learned over these years at abt. and practicing many i art form so that all people can enjoy it not just a future ballerina, but to come be an audience member and be transported. >> and i think i'll forever stay a part of the ballet world. i'm constantly saying i think i was born to do this. it's hard to completely walk away from something you dedicate your entire life to.

but i think it's important for us to be able to continue to have a voice, even when we're done to continue with the growth of diversity in ballet. >> well i thank you both for the ways you are inspiring. i was telling you as i came on that my niece who is a young latina dancer claudia, is so inspired by you all and it's very exciting to see these changes in a field we love. thank you misty copeland and stella abrera. check out misty's award winning children's book "fire board." that thanks for watching today. on the program tomorrow the sister of sandy bland and an expert panel as we ask the question just what did happen when a traffic stop set off a series of events that led to a young woman's death a few days later. that's tomorrow on "mhp" at 10:00 a.m. eastern. now it's time for a preview of week ends with alex wit.

>> so you know how i'll do with all the omgs from my dancer daughter. i have to thank misty and stella, too for being such a great inspiration for her. so ladies thank you so much for that. on a money different note we'll talk about the apology from h head of planned parenthood after a top staffer caught discussing a practice many find abhorrent on an undercover tape. the organization calls it heavily edited. it's been four days since the release of "go set a watchman." i'll hear from harper lee's biographer and the questions it raises about the kind of man atticus finch was. plus, a new ranking of the most peaceful states in america. somehow i don't think new york is on there but you never know. i'll be right back.

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watch as these magnificent creatures take flight, soaring away from home towards the promise of a better existence. but these birds are suffering. because this better place turned out to have an unreliable cell phone network and the videos on their little bird phones kept buffering. birds hate that. so they came back home.

because they get $300 fr is is. the fire is still burning. it caused harrowing moments on a california highway. but did not technology hurt firefighter efforts in that drought