ask your doctor about lyrica. this morning, my question -- should we consider growing up in compton a disability? is. plus, the marco rubio moment. a and nerd land. but first, how california has become the place for progressives. good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. today nerd land is coming to you from the west side. i'm here on the nbc universal lot in warm, sunny los angeles, california, so we are going to begin today with a closer look at how the golden state's push on progressive policy sets a shining example for the nation. last weekend from friday to

monday more than 6,000 inmates were released from federal prison. now the prisoners were mostly african-american and latino men, all convicted on drug charges and more than half of them convicted in the south. many had already begun transitioning back to their communities by living first at half-way houses or under home confinement. the release comes a year after the u.s. sentencing commission reduced federal sentences for drug trafficking, then decided to applile new guidelines retroactively for people already incarcerated. according to the "washington post," it is the first time a group of federal prisoners this large has been released all at once. but it is not the first time that broad prison reforms led to freedom for people with lengthy sentences because california had already been there and done that. california prisons have for years been so packed with people that in 2011 the supreme court ruled the state in violation of the constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. it ordered the reduction of its prison population. further litigation in the

federal courts gave the state a february 2016 deadline to get numbers down. last year california made inroads to unpacking its prisons thanks to an assist from voters. in 2014 california voters approved proposition 47, a measure that reclassified low-level drug and theft offenses as misdemeanors rather than felonies, and allowed low-level offenders to apply to be resentenced. the proposition has since been a driving force behind the reduction in california's prison population to levels unseen since 1994. what's more, as people have continued to be released from california's prisons and jails, according to the brennan center, there's been little significant change in the overall crime rate in the state. so sentencing reform isn't the only issue on which california has taken lead on pushing progressive policy. during the democratic debate, secretary hillary clinton praised the state for making moves on another policy where the federal government is still dragging its feet.

>> carly fiorina, the first female ceo of a fortune 50 company argues if the government requires paid leave it will force small businesses to "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." >> well, i'm surprised she says that because california's had a paid leave program for a number of years and on a state level, a state as big and many countries in the world. and it has not had the ill effects from the republicans are always saying it will have. >> in fact, over the summer, clinton added to her presidential agenda a plan that would go where california has already gone when she called for federal legislation that would automatically register americans to vote when they turn 18. a few weeks ago, california showed everyone how the automatic voter deed is done. when governor jerry brown signed a new law that will, unless you opt out, add your name to the voter rolls when you go to the dmv for a california license. that was just one of the latest in a series of "ws" that brown

put on the board progressives in the state. the first state in the country to provide sex roo assignment survey. one of the nation's toughest policies on addressing gender gap in salaries. a racial profiling law requiring police to collect pub lake data on reason, results and race of people when they make stops, a highly controversial right to die law, and an act on climate change that would require half the state's electricity to come from renewable resoources by 2030. with a record like that you might be able to quibble with what some parts of california claim -- that the west side is the best side. joining me now is republican strategist leslie sanchez. also former los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa, and angie

marie hancock. thanks to all of you for being here for my l.a. debut of "nerd land." talk to me a little bit, what is it about california that allows it to be kind of a laboratory for these kinds of policies, not always progressive but recently quite progressive? >> well, first of all, it is not a new if he none that. this has been happening for a long time, and particularly in the '90s when we had a democratic majority and a democratic governor. toughest assault weapons ban. i was the author. healthy families. health care for children. 750,000 children had health care. we were focused on many issues -- poverty, women's rights, civil rights. these are issues that california's been grappling with and leading the way on for a very, very long time. now clearly with an even greater

majority, you're seeing that we're starting to lead the nation again across the board as was mentioned just a few minutes ago. >> even as i was talking and doing my little progressive chant over here, i could kind of see leslie out of the corner of my eye, she's like writing notes down. i thought, yeah, that's right. the way that one will read where this state is when standing on the left may feel quite different. i'm interested in what you take away from that narrative i just told about california. >> i'm going to have a different perspective only because a recent transplant to this part. i've had the opportunity to see -- one, you cannot deny the culture, the climate, the innovation here in california, especially southern california. it just remarkable. the diversity is extremely rich. these are all the very robust positives. the problem is if you want to have a business in california you are in for a lot of headaches. it is still very antibusiness because of high regulation, high taxes, bloated public sector

that makes it really difficult to spur this entrepreneurship that so much wants to grow in this state. i think there is some policies when you are talking about the jail release program, innovative, by bipartisan support. a lot of republicans, faith-based leaders very much getting involved in that. there is a lot of area for compromise. the bottom line comes to what is it going to cost. i do think some of these other policies are actually very interesting and other states can look at them, but what are the long-term ramifications, the devil in the details. even when you look at things like education reform in this state that's still ranking very much in the -- number 42 out of all 50 states, there needs to be a better record on those kinds of reforms. >> when you start talking about bipartisanship in the prisoner release discussion because now that's part what's going on nationally, and yet to me what's interesting is that it is not bipartisanship in the way that we typically would think of it where people who are elected to office who represent those

parties are therefore hashing out in terms of legislation y'all vote on everything. there is a sort of proposition culture. when i say this made this happen and this made this happen, it was actually a ballot measure. i wonder how that then influences the way politics is done here. >> i think it is a really interesting kind of thing to think of the way that california actually operates. we do have a robust direct democracy. our proposition system. our proposition system doesn't always work in the progressive direction. >> prop 8. 187. >> we've certainly had our fair share. but what we do have as a result of that direct democracy setup is a set of organizations around the state of california who really engage voters. one of the areas of can innovation that we've had great success with here in california is called integrated voter engagement where we talk about engaging with voters, not just in the six months before every single election, but really working on the ground, both to

kind of talk about the issues they care about, which is why something like prison reform, why reforming school dislynn so that out of school suspensions for young black and latino males have dropped by 50%, 60% in some of the largest districts here in california. why that's happened is because that integrated voter engagement really is a different strategy. >> i love that. i love the idea that that's how you engage voters in this kind of deeper way. i love the idea of the automatic voter registration. but the reality is when you look at your voter turnout, it was appallingly low in -- i mean it was a low across the country, but surprisingly low given this. so given how directly people can influence -- like if there is one place you feel like your vote would make a difference seems like it would be in california. and yet folks not turning out in recent mid-term elections. >> well, disproportionately those folks are latino. i mean -- well, first of all, we're 36th in the oecd rankings

in terms of participation in voting as a country. so all of us aren't voting in the numbers we should. but disproportionate. young people don't vote. poor people don't vote and undereducated people don't vote. what you've seen is latinos are voting sometimes 30% and 40% less than whites and african-americans. so we're going to have to focus on the kind of voter engagement and voter education and not just for elections but in between as well because i've often said that this issue of education which you spoke to and the issue of education equity is critical because people not voting is connected to people being -- not being educated. >> when we come back we'll talk a little bit more about some of what you are suggesting to us about what the make-up of california is. one thing that california has right now that the rest of the country can know for sure it's getting soon. the cold truth is...

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california is not only an example of what a future of national progressive politics can be, but is also a state where the future of national demographics has already arrived. take a look at this graph from the "los angeles times." it is based on data released this summer from the census bureau confirming demographic predictions that the number of latinos would surpass the number of white people as the largest group in the state of california. it is the same demographic shift the census bureau has said we can expect to see nationwide by the year 2016 wh60 when the lat will be about double what it is today according to their predictions. this for me is one of the critical aspects of what california might be able to

teach particularly around the question of coalition politics. when there's no longer one majority racial or ethnic -- you have to form a coalition. what's that look like here? >> i think it is interesting, people say what is the united states going to look at in ten or 15 years. i'm like you have to look at california, and southern california and the challenges it's faced. there are a lot of opportunities. there is a lot of cross pollination when it comes to identity. it is no longer latino. it is a blending of what the new america looks like. we are missing the boat if you are not looking at the with a i coalitions are forming, of the way they think of themselves as independents. they don't like party labels. millennials have a big part of that. add the could be vergence of technology and it is a different conversation that i think many of us on the east coast having been there forever we miss that conversation and we will miss that wave. this even presidential election has a lot to do with what's happening in the mountainous

west and in the west and it is important to note. >> so i hear you. right? and that feels like sort of the ideal even of what we would want to imagine to happen that kind of racial lines fall away. yet, andre, your research suggests that the other possibility is that they actually become more salient, people become more desirous of protecting their authentic identities, protecting their spaces and their kind of political power spaces. >> i think what we have in california and what many states are facing is the cultural generation gap. voters turn out who are older and whiter, then the younger demographics millennials, and some gen-xers. seriously, in talking about that you really have this kind of anxiety about some of these racial dem traffographic change.

what some places, places like fresno, is to build these cross racial coalitions of young people who are coming together to talk about the issues that matter most to them and then getting the training and the leadership development, that's the other part of that ive strategy that then allow them to talk to sacramento, talk to their mayors and even their federal government. >> that stack i read at the beginning literally freaks some people out. this is meant has california has led on immigration. in-state tuition, driver's licenses. new rules that limit deportations. a gesture of symbolism by removing that kind of alien language in order to talk about people who are undocumented. i mean california is way ahead of most of the country but right now the national discourse is about a lot of anxiety about those demographic shifts. >> it is about walls and -- >> yes!

>> -- deportation of 11 million people and -- >> that's right. >> -- birthers -- >> anchor babies. 14th amendments. >> it is about all of that. but i want to get back to that graphic you had. what does it mean if latinos today, 39% of the population, about 80% of them graduating from high school. about 12% going on to four-year colleges. 2025 we're going to be down a million college graduates and another million people with specialized skills. what it should mean to all of us is that we've go the to make investments in their education. we've got to make investments in training them. you talked about the innovation economy in silicon beach which i helped to bring to los angeles. let's be clear, there won't be an innovation economy if people can't read and write, an economy that's predicated on knowledge. >> this feels so important, this idea that the racial inequality gaps, ethnic inequality gaps are

inequality gaps around those who are in the country without documentation. once those populations become who we are, then our underinvestment also becomes who we are. i want to thank my panel that's going to actually be back in the next hour. still to come this morning, suing the school system as a way to try to make it better. diabetes, steady is exciting. only glucerna has carbsteady, clinically proven to help minimize blood sugar spikes.

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we are thrilled to be able to bring you this show live from los angeles, california this morning. special thanks to the folks right here at nbc's l.a. bureau for helping to make that happen. now it is going to be 74 degrees and sunny here today making clear there's just something about l.a. in november. but my excitement this morning isn't just about the weather. coming up i'll be joined live by three of the biggest names in film and television, true artists who are pushing boundaries and rewriting the rules for african-american entertainers. actor amanda stenberg has starred in blockbuster films and is already one of hollywood's

hottest young stars. but her passions extend far beyond film and tv. she'll be here to talk with us about her social media activism, her new comic book series, "niobi, she is life." kenya barriss will be here to talk about the second season of his emmy-nominated nbc sitcom, "blackish." returning to nerd land, director of the oscar nominated "selma" and one of the most revolutionary independent filmmakers today. all that and more when we return. because "nerd land" has come to hollywood. you gellin'?

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legislation born out of the civil rights movement expanded employment, housing and transportation protections for people with "mental and physical disabilities." in 1973, section 504 of the rehabilitation act prohibited federally funded services from discriminating against people with disabilities, and in 1990 the americans with disability act went even further mandating that people with disabilities have access to all public services. together these laws provide the foundation for equal access to education, for children with disabilities, requiring schools to remove any barriers to learning. now, a new lawsuit could expand these protections even further fundamentally changing the way the system deals with common behavior and academic issues. in compton, california a class action suit was filed against the city's school district insisting complex trauma be recognized under federal law as a disability that the district provide the necessary

accommodations for. complex trama for the lawsuit is the repeated or prolonged exposure to violence, abuse or neglect and research shows that it does not only have the capacity to affect a child's emotional well being, but also their ability to learn. according to one national institute of health study, youth exposure to violence have decreased iq and reading ability, lower grade point average, more days of school absence and decreased rates of high school graduation. and complex trauma which disproportionately could be very common among compton's student population. the plaintiffs claim that one-quarter of all students in come ton's school district that experienced two or more instanced of severe trauma in their life times. while the case has not been deciding the federal judge presiding over it acknowledges that the it could cognizable as

disability under the rehabilitation act or ada. if the plaintiffs win, the complex trauma is classified as a disability under federal law. we could see sweeping changes in how schools address student behavior. in compton and beyond. in a few moments we're going to hear from the president of the compton unified school district board. but first joining me now, the staff attorney for the pro bono firm public counsel. and also a distinguished professor of education at ucla. the president and ceo of the california endowment. should we think of growing up in compton as pro tensiotentially disabling? >> certainly science and data on this issue have become pretty clear. one, time does not heal all wounds. that adage is not true, science does not support that. secondly, exposure to trauma and toxic stress, adversity is bad

for your health. not just in the immediate but in the long term as well. so one of the things that we need to do is make sure that this issue, whether the lawsuit wins or not, it is an important policy conversation within the school setting with about making sure we put our arms around these young people, not suspending them out of school for their behavior, their willful defiance, missing school, their academic failure may be the very first symptom that they've been trauma exposed and trauma injured. >> my husband is a civil rights lawyer. mostly does housing work but he came in and saw sitting on my desk just the sitele should growing up in compton be a disability. as soon as he saw that, he goes, man, that's brilliant. from the legal strategy that the ada is a powerful potential tool here. talk a little bit about what it would mean to make accommodations if it is understood as potentially disabling? >> we know trauma affects the brain and affects the ability to learn and schools have been

successfully starting to implement strategies to address this trauma. what experts have found are that whole school trauma sensitive strategies training all sool si school site staff, providing adequate mental health support have been fantastically successful in assisting students in restoring the ability to learn and also in addressing behavior and attendance problems. >> pedro, i have to say, this suit coming on the back end of that viral video that we saw of the young girl being flipped out by the school resource officer and then the very first thing that i learned about that young woman was that her mother had recently died and that she was in foster care. insaid, oh, wait a minute. how in the world did the school not know that and not -- that this student is someone who we shouldn't at all points recognize that there is likely trauma. is this litigation kind of a way to start moving us towards

thinking about students in a different way? >> i hope so. i hope so. we know that trauma can be assessed. there's no need to worry that some of this has become an excuse for any kind of acting out behavior. you can identify it, assess it, the science behind it is very strong. we know that many communities have higher rates of trauma even than our returning veterans. we recognize trauma amongst veterans for a long time as a disabling condition. so the idea that schools should do more than simply punish these children i think is really important. >> here's my worry. it's part of what i've always seen in your work and research, and that is if -- we, for example, interviewed the young woman mayor of compton. she talked about compton. this is quite some time ago. compton from an asset-based model. i guess part of what i worry about is that it becomes stigmatizing. we already know that zip codes determine life outcomes in all of these ways. does this kind of discourse then further stigmatize young people? >> i don't think it is to blame

compton for compton's problems. it is an american problem. it is an american problem that we have so many communities. there are so many communities just like it across the country where you see the same kinds of issues and concerns. we focus on poverty but we ignore the social effects of poverty. the violence that accompanies it. hunger. the instability in children's lives. those are the larger issues. simple truth is schools can't solve those by themselves. >> why not join together with the school system and sue some other entity rather than suing the school system? >> civil rights litigation is a tool that's a catalyst for change and has been successful in these very types of problems where there have been long standing intractable problems and change has been slow to come. the practices in schools have not caught up with the science behind what we know, the reason that we know are affecting the children. we hope that this lawsuit can be part of the national movement for change and changing how we address trauma in schools. >> on one hand i hear you about sort of rethinking the young people but i also want to think

a little bit about the realities of the classrooms themselves and how an imposition of addressing this in our public schools that are underresourced trying to race to the top or not leave any kids behind or test them all in five minutes. what are the realistic possibilities of a wrap-around strategy in what public schools like like today? >> two points to make. one, there are school districts who are on top of this. there are principals in schools that are beginning to implement restorative dresses practices, social emotional health and well being, being assessed and supported. even a district school in san francisco that's use iing transindental medication. >> is that a well resourced school or is it a school operating in poverty? >> it is a public school district in sfraepan francisco. it is not beverly hills, may not be compton. but back to pedro's point, this is profoundly structural.

this is not an accident and it is not just about compton. you talked about justice reform. we had the crack cocaine epidemic. we had three strikes and your out. we had zero tolerance in schools. zero tolerance in schools which was allegedly zero tolerance for the behavior has fundamentally turned out to be for black and brown kids and especially boys as pedro knows. zero tolerance for the child, and these are -- this is where the track record begins. the portal to the school to prison pipeline. when schools suspend these kids, when they push these kids away, when kids gets disengaged, black boy in california who drops out of high school has an 80% chance of going to jail. we've got to stop it with a prevention strategy, not a punishment strategy. we think that's what the lawsuit will at least raise the conversation level about. >> i'm down with the boys. i also don't want us to miss the girls on this because i think sometimes the trauma questions that we ask, we recognize them in boys, we talk about the violence they might see but don't often for example talk

about sexual assault and violence that young girls may experience and now we have the new data about the sexual assault in the prison pipeline. >> not just the boys. thank you to my guests. up next we'll bring in the other side of this. the president of the compton school board of trustees. first ingredient, it is always number one. we leave out poultry by-product meal, corn, wheat and soy. and, we own where our dry food is made - 100%. can other brands say all that? for grain-free nutrition you can trust, does your food go beyond? learn more at beyondpetfood.com

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incurred by the case. that's a very strong mandate and it needs to be funded, the district's attorney david huff told npr. joining me now is president of the compton unified school district, board of trustees mcchi ali. nice have have you here. >> pleasure. pleasure. >> so what is the school district's perspective on this case? >> so the school district's perspective is very clear. we believe that the lawsuit is moot because we have been working diligently providing many of these services. let's talk about the wraparound services. school-based health centers which has -- or which afford mental health capacity. let's talk about the investment with respect to early childhood education. talk about the audits and ways in which we've worked to overhaul a special education. this lawsuit is a billion dollar claim. a billion dollar claim. how did we find out about the lawsuit? by way of a press release. fact of the matter is why

compton. why not sue the federal government? why not look at ways in which to fully fund the i.d.e.a. act in 1975. >> that's the question i asked the plaintiffs and i'll ask you as well, why not actually join up with the plaintiffs. i presume you are not saying we got a handle in the schools, we have plenty of resourceses, no worries. i guess part of what you wonder is why not join with plaintiffs, i don't know, sue the gun manufacturers, young people are seeing trauma because of gun violence or the federal government for sufficient resources. why not think of another defendant out there? >> well, perhaps you're absolutely correct. why not look at suing the state of california. again back to the federal government. the individuals with disabilities act. if in fact we're going to classify trauma as a disability, then would it fall within the i.d.e.a. act of 1975. another interesting point is that at a time when school districts throughout the country are trying to reduce young african-american and latino

plae males' participation in sped case by what we call disproportion alt, we want to put more children of color into the education system. what are we really trying to accomplish here. >> this goes back a little bit to the stigma question i was asking for, though it is a little more structural institutional than that. for a long time the behavioral responses to trauma of young people living in difficult circumstances have been labeled as learning disabilities as opposed to reasonable human responses to trauma. and yet the ada does provide very real protections that make the strategy a smart one legally. >> i think it is a smart one. i think to me it is a little bit like targeting topeka, kansas for the brown decision. topeka wasn't the only one discriminating on the basis of race but set the precedent ending racial discrimination throughout ot country.

compton's been picked on but they could have picked on many, many other issues with the same issues. >> new orleans. >> why pick on compton. at the same time compton has the issues. i don't think it is a stigma to address the needs of children. respond to the needs appropriately is not to stigmatize. >> talk to me about how all of this -- compton, new orleans -- all of them are existing in a federal space. what has the past decade of education policy done to either improve or worsen these circumstances? >> well, it hasn't helped. we focus so narrowly on achievement. we've completely ignored the inequities outside of school. we've pretended children of come ton can do as well on the same test as the children in beverly hills. we know the children in beverly hills have so much more invested in them by their families and by their schools. this inequity has perpetuated the gap in achievement that we claim to be so concerned about. i blame this administration and most state governments for

pretending that by focusing on achievement you can get better outcomes when in fact you are ignoring the very needs of the children. >> so what then does work? if you could wave the wand to address your students and other across the country, what would it look like? >> it would look like what compton is currently doing. we're infusing positive behavior and eventually slougolutions throughout. response to intervention. support services throughout the school district. we've appropriating for counselors and specialists. >> are you still out of school suspending? >> we have reduced expulsions and suspensions, you would not believe the amount of reductions. >> i know miami-dade, one of the things they are doing to try to address this is to end -- say there's never any time when it makes sense, unless the child's a threat to other children. right? that just doesn't make sense to throw children out of school.

right? we know again that that expulsion piece is so connected to the school to prison pipeline. >> no, it is a huge problem and it is a problem that we've not paid sufficient attention to because we always target the most disadvantaged children. that's who's being suspended. but i would say, california has underresourced schools and that's the bottom line. compton should be say something, yeah, bring us some more psychologists. >> we'll take some more. >> so we can respond. because california has gone to being one of the states with the lowest per people spending in the country. and districts like compton suffer because of this. >> it is going to be fascinating to much with a how this plays out and undoubtedly the impact it will have all across the country. thank you to my guests. many know her best as "roo" from "the hunger games." that's not even half of it. she joins me live -- next. moves the world forward. invest with those who see the world as unstoppable.

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series when we first were introduced to the courageous and vulnerable child named roo. it is a story dominate thatted by the death of young people but the tragic dekt of the lovely and loving roo is especially heart wrenching. it is the definitive turning point for the protagonist, for the story line and indeed for the entire trilogy. >> did you blow up the food? >> every bit of it. >> good. you have to win. >> some moviegoers who apparently skipped the part of the "hunger games" novel where roo's described with thick brown hair, they were confused, they were distressed to find and african-american actress had been cast to play the fragile

but fearless character. fast toward to 2015, now a teenager on the rise in hollywood has become a model of social media activism speaking out on behalf of young people of color on topics ranging from police brutality to diversifying stem fields to black girl magic. her advocacy has some calling her the voice of a generation and just last month she was named one of "time" magazine's most influential teens of 2015 four days after her 17th birthday. she continues to forge new paths and working with los angeles-based stranger comets debuted the comic series last week. along with being the physical model for the series heroin, she co-wrote the series about a warrior tasked with saving her world. about the series she said, "i was drawn to give voice to niobe and co-write her story because her journey is my journey. i connect to her mixed racial background and quest to discover her innate powers and strengths, to learn who she truly is.

and we need nor bad ass girls. joining me now, actor, activist and all-around bad ass. ammandla stenberg. talk to me about this project. >> niobe first appeared in a series called "the untamed" by sebastian jones. i thought she was really awesome initially because she's this black girl elf. i'm a huge nerd and a fan of fantasy. to see a character that represented me was really amazing. and so i met sebastian actually at a festival and we started talking it more and more and we realized it would be a really great idea to expand her story more and make her the lead. >> there is something about that rendering in the super hero comic format that is kind of extraordinary. it is like you have this little thing inside of yourself that becomes real on the page. >> yeah, exactly. when i was always growing up i

always wanted more black female super heroes, black female super role models. you know? so i hopefully can kind of provide that for younger black girls through niobe. >> one of the spaces where we find you, where we hear your voice so frequently is on social media. yet social media can also be a really fraught location for women especially women and girls of color. just this past week an australian teen who had hundreds of thousands of followers opted out because she said you constant will i have to present this self that's not who you are. >> i think that side of social media does exist but i do think it is also a really powerful tool for social activism and a powerful tool for people who feel like they don't have enough representation. it used to be you could only find your role models through celebrities, through the people who are the top singers and the top actors. and now it is like you can log

on to instagram and see someone who looks like you and feel like you're represented and feel like your identity is validated. i think that even though that really gross surface level part of social media does exist, it is also a really awesome way to connect to people and spread messages. >> you talk about representation a lot and the ways in which race representation connect. you were voting a friend and you reflected saying it is revolutionary in itself to be a young african-american person, to just be yourself. >> yeah. >> what are the challenges to being an authentic self when you are a young woman of color? had. >> yeah. i mean i think that there are a lot of subliminal messages that you receive that tell you that it's not necessarily okay to be yourself. i mean i remember being younger and feeling like i was embarrassed of my hair or i didn't want to be too loud or too in the way. and through n i.t. oiobe we're

to share the message black girls shouldn't be afraid to be too strong or have an opinion. i recently went natural with my hair. >> yay! >> yay! it's been this process, this journey of self-love. >> in that there's also not just one authentic way to be a black girl. there are all of these many different ways. you just met my 13-year-old daughter who -- both of them, 13-year-old black girls. even though they express black girlhood differently. i wonder how many role models and images and representations we need. >> yeah. that's why i'm so excited about social media in a lot of ways because you can find those nuanced ways. i think we're kind of opening up to what the definition of blackness can be and it's not just this one mentality, this one way of being. there are so many different kinds of awesome black girl

nerds and black girls who don't maybe wear their hair natural, black girls who have their hair in braids. black girls who likes a certain kind of music. i think we're really seeing how beautiful the spectrum that there is and that's really exciting. >> listen from comicon to become what an awesome model of all this you are. >> niobe's first book "she is life" i wrote with amandla stenberg. she's now become this wonderful cultural activist blossoming into an amazing young lady. i'm very honored and lucky just to be part of her squad. when i met amandla, i fell like i'd hit the jackpot. i was very, very blessed to write with her and she's such a great, positive force. >> very nice to hear someone you work with say nice things. >> yes! yes. that's so nice.

oh, my heart is so full. >> you're more than a cultural activist. being a black girl nerd, i'm sure black girl nerds is tweeting their hearts out just using that term. is in part about the cultural piece but you are also a s.t.e.m.ed ed advocate. >> i did this event to basically support girls and s.t.e.m. i think that along with a lot of other subliminal messages girls get told that they aren't good at math and science. that's just not true. there's no innate thing in us that prohibits us from being good in those fields. it is just that they're dominated by men a lot of the time. so i did this event that was just to empower girls by actually building race cars out of fridges. it was really cool. just empower them to follow their dreams and their passions. >> this was my dad who used -- there's four daughters. everybody had to learn to change the oil. right? just because there's nothing innate in you that makes it

impossible for you to do so. i want to say thank you for joining me and thank you just for all of the work that you've been doing. >> thank you so much. still to come this morning, creative of the hit sitcom "blackish." kenya barriss. also, writer, producer and director ava duvernier. more news at the top of the hour. 7 let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] .

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i mean, our running back is a beast. once he hits the hole and breaks through the secondary, oh he's gone. and our linebackers and dbs dish out punishment, and never quit. ♪ you didn't expect this did you? no i didn't. the nissan altima. there's a fun side to every drive. nissan. innovation that excites. in panama, which is a city of roughly 2 million people, we are having 5,000 new cars being sold every month. this is a very big problem for us with respect to fast and efficient transportation. it's kind of a losing proposition to keep going this way. we are trying to tackle the problem with several different modes. one of them is the brand new metro. we had a modest forecast: 110,000 passengers per day in the first line. we are already over 200,000. our collaboration with citi has been very important from the very beginning.

citi was our biggest supporter and our only private bank. we are not only being efficient in the way we are moving people now, we are also more amicable to the environment. people have more time for the family and it's been one of the most rewarding experiences to hear people saying: "the metro has really changed my life." welcome back. i'm melissa harris-perry live this morning in los angeles, california. coming up this hour, creator of the hit abc sitcom "blackish" and ava duvernier, director of "selma." it is something of a "nerdland" goes to hollywood edition for us. we begin with florida senator marco rubio. following his strong performance in the most recent republican debate shutting down jeb bush,

giving a jab at hillary clinton, marco rubio has emerged from the crowded field as one of the most serious contenders for his party's nomination. polls have senator rubio in third place nationally and in iowa and in new hampshire. but increasingly the freshman senator is being seen as number one by the establishment and political conventional wisdom. the blog fivethirtyeight has kept a handy leaderboard of republican endorsements. they point out while jeb bush still sits at the top the majority of his endorsements came months ago. rubio, on the other hand, has surged since september. in the past nine days mr. rubio gained endorsements from three u.s. senators, two members of the house, and billionaire gop fund-raiser paul singer. so yes, when it comes to the gop establishment, rallying around a consensus candidate, you could say there is and undeniable amount of marcomentum. at the same time senator rubio

is showering up his right flank making sure his conservative bona fides on all the important campaign issues, particularly the issue of immigration. born to cuban immigrants, rubio has long split with his party on immigration. in 2013 he was one of the gang of eight, the bipartisan group of senators who wrote the comprehensive immigration reform bill. he's since moved away from his own bill and here's what he had to say when asked about deferred action for childhood arrivals or daca on this past wednesday. >> daca is going to end. the ideal way for it to end is that it is replaced by a reform system that creates an alternative. but if it doesn't it will end. it cannot be the permanent policy of the united states. >> so, the obvious question is, from a crowded field of 15, are we now seeing the one voice that might emerge to unite them all! here to help me answer that question, republican strategist leslie sanchez, author of "you've come a long way maybe." and former los angeles mayor

antonio villaraigosa. also ange-marie hancock, associate professor of political science at the university of southern california and author of "solidarity poll six for millennials." leslie, it is going to be rubio, huh? >> lot of people hope so. there's a lot of excitement about him, you can't deny it. we're still early in the process. there's so many exciting things about him as a candidate. he's charismatic, kind of an engagement of the base which a lot of people were being looing for, an energy that we desperately need. i think you point to some really interesting things. this flip-flop on immigration is going to be a challenge. it doesn't matter who you are, republicans have faced difficulty. anybody -- eric cantor. anybody that flip-flops on that immigration reform is going to have a problem. hillary clinton, too. >> it's not just immigration reform. that's part of it, but the other piece of it is, we were talking about the demographics that are going to change in the country. it certainly makes sense to me that we're going to see increasing latino candidates in

both parties increasingly taking this kind of leadership role. on the other hand, there are meaningful differences between cuban and chicano or mexican-american populations in terms of how they understand issues around immigration, partisan politics, all of that. i wonder how you think rubio might play in the broader population. >> well, it remains to be seen how he's going to play in the broader population but if you're -- >> broader population of latinos. >> in the latino population, i don't think he's going to play nearly as well as some might think. they're not just going to vote for him because his last name is rubio, any more than african-americans are going to vote for carson because he's african-american. the fact is they're going to vote for him based on the issues, based on his experience. this is a guy who spends a lot of time criticizing president obama for his lack of experience, and he's had four years in the united states

senate. he was a part-time legislator before that. the fact that at the's flip-flopped on immigration i think will hurt him with latinos particularly because initially he was for comprehensive immigration reform. now he's just for closing the borders. obviously we all agree that the system is broken. he's no longer -- he's also said with respect to daca that he would immediately end daca. >> that feels like a way to organize your opposition. >> pretty much. not only is it a way to organize your opposition, what we have to know about the undocumented population in the country is 80% of them are latino. and so it alienates latino voters because these are members of their families. so we're not just talking about this in kind of the abstract. we're talking actually about people's mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers. the other thing that's really

important is the most organized segment of the undocumented population are the dreamers. who have already -- are willing to occupy their own party candidates' office. occupy the obama campaign offices. what's to say they're not going to do the same thing on the other side if he's even more hostile than obama is. >> i get primary politics. this is true, you move to the right, you move to the left to win that primary. but that said, the like clarity of daca is going to end? it feels like, people are organizing right now. >> it's never been a permanent solution. it was always something that needed a permanent reform solution. it takes leadership to come up and say we need to address this, there pea a sense of urgency around it. . i don't think a lot of republicans certainly supported what the president was doing but a lot in the latino and immigrant community did and that gave a lot of momentum. and now looking forward, what is the long-term real solution for this? i think rubio will address that.

that's the distinct difference. though you see this evolving of a position on immigration i think that will eventually evolve back to comprehensive immigration reform as we get to a general. truth is, it is tough to get out of this republican primary but he does have -- he's increasingly with the bona fides, he's increasingly talking about important issues and matters but more importantly he is relatable. that's the distinct difference. a lot of people don't see that undercurrent. >> it is a fascinating moment for me. in part because you and i used to do a lot of tbd together. but that said, like this notion about him as he's going to stand next to hillary clinton and seem like a child in comparison to her expertise. the idea that he is exciting and energizing, a person of color -- i mean it really does sound like we're talking about president obama 2007. i don't mean to make comparisons about them substantively but like the media discourse around it. it's -- i don't know -- it makes me feel like i can't quite get

my fingers on whether i think he is a serious contender here. >> i think he's definitely serious. that election was a generational election, people divided on that age over 44 years old, before and after that. i don't think people want to see a repeat of the clintons. that's very much a challenge. before having with the bushes. it is like bush fatigue is still there. it will have to shake out in policy. >> i want to talk about my bush fatigue -- not mine, just other people's. when we come back the gop front-runner making their case and pushing back. soriasis... ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring.

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marco rubio is climbing in the polls but he is still lagging behind the two surprisingly durable gop leaders. ben carson and donald trump. rubio may have his struggles with messy finances and his past

support for immigration reform, but the lead candidates are not without their own issues. donald trump has defied conventional wisdom by remaining a consistent front-runner but trump still has a serious challenge when it comes to attracting crucial latino votes. just by hosting nbc's saturd"sa night live" last night mr. donald trump inspired a sizable protest outside 30 rockefeller plaza in new york city which is where my show normally is. dr. ben carson had quite a week with many questions being raised about his past culminating in headlines like this one. "ben carson defends himself against allegations that he never attempted to murder a child." okay. what's that? as a political scientist, this is a fascinating moment for me. we saw carson and trump early on, i thought this is the silly season. but it isn't. actually there does seem to be

something somewhat different happening here. when you attach it also to the bit of a crisis around the house speaker that occurred it does feel like the party is not quite sure what kind of party it is right at this moment. >> i think there is very much a crisis in the republican party about which direction they want to go in and how they're really going to grapple with throws demographic changes that we see coming down the pike. i think the other thing that's going on is there is this kind of rampant populism in the country that's on both sides. i am a populist but the thing that populism does is it opens up these spaces for kind of what would you like to call it? the crazy town? crazy house folks to come in. that's actually one reason why it is good to have a long vetting primary season. all states have so vote and weigh in we get the right two candidates. >> i'm not sure that there is a crisis in the party in the sense that they don't know which way

they want to go. virtually all of the candidates have gone farther to the right than the last election or the election before that. none of them would fit in to reagan's party when you look at the positions they're taking. from my vantage point, the party's going clearly to the right. so whoever the nominee is, they're going to have a really tough time with the center of the country. what's absolutely clear is the country's evenly divided. and so big swath of votes are in the middle. i don't know how they go back from deporting 11 million people, how they go back from so many of the issues that they've just gone so far to the right on. >> so the country's evenly divided in some ways -- except that the republican party has basically run the board in terms of actual governors offices and state legislatures. it is evenly divided among this population that will choose a president, but like it is

bizarre to me, leslie. so 35 states and governors and now even majority in the senate and you look at it and say, well, these are the people who we would normally elect to be president, our governors, senators, vice presidents. and instead it is like a business guy and a doctor who have never held elected office before. >> right. but you could argue that both parties are very much lacking a back bench. there should be more governors running. more bona fides like hillary clinton. >> there should be more democrats of any kind. >> i don't buy the argument that we've rub n so far to the right- kennedy wouldn't even recognize his own party now. it all looks like a novella. a lot of tears. we need to reel it back in. i like the long vetting process. we've seen -- go to latin america if you want to know what big populist exciting candidates look like and what a disaster it

turns out to be. >> one might argue jeb bush is the most dialed back candidate that one could imagine. that also doesn't sort of -- >> and governor kasich as well. very strong, sensible leadership. people want an establishment candidate who can come in from the outside and shake things up in washington. people are disgusted with washington. but the type of tone that you've seen from donald trump and dr. carson -- dr. carson's vulnerability now was he was always this truthful candidate, called it like it was, even tempered. now he's -- it's all into question. >> you got kasich and jeb bush both very conservative governors on their track records, and they're not to the right enough. >> when john kasich is too liberal for you, you are on the right indeed. up next, speaker paul ryan says he's all about getting things done. so why is there one thing he's already told us he is not even going to try to do for the in ex14 months? oals,

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you'll see. i think my boys have a shot this year. yeah, especially with this new offense we're running... i mean, our running back is a beast. once he hits the hole and breaks through the secondary, oh he's gone. and our linebackers and dbs dish out punishment, and never quit. ♪ you didn't expect this did you? no i didn't. the nissan altima. there's a fun side to every drive. nissan. innovation that excites. (we are so excited to hear youre mergbig ideasableworld, on how we're going to take on directv. so over to you. (newhart) thank you. full disclosure. we forgot to come up with ideas. (cw exec) yeah, we got messed up last night. you're lucky we're even here. (newhart) but, we did bring breakfast. (jmh) bagels? (newhart) nope. (woman) oh my goodness. (newhart) peel and eat shrimp. (cole) not how i would have gone but it's good, it's innovative. and that's what we want here. (vo) get rid of cable and switch to directv. call 1-800-directv.

new house speaker paul ryan won -- or took -- hard to say exactly what happened there -- but he won his leadership position by promising to make changes and get things done. >> we need to move from on opposition party to being a proposition party. because we think the nation is on the wrong path, we have a duty to show the right one. our next speaker has to be a visionary one. >> in his first order of business, speaker ryan declared that he will not allow a vote on comprehensive immigration reform bill as long as president barack obama is in office. i'm not exaggerating or extrapolating or inferring. in his own words in an op-ed last week for "usa today" speaker ryan said, "the house of representatives will not vote on comprehensive immigration legislation as long as president obama's in office." so speaker ryan has shut down any movement on immigration reform simply because of who is

president. this is quite a shift from the paul ryan who when he was first sworn in to his new position talked in grand terms about vision, democracy, taking on tough issues. >> we will not duck the tough issues. we will take them head-on. >> or the paul ryan who called out his own party saying that they'd lost their vision. >> we are not going to have a house that looked like it looked the last two years. we are going to move forward. we are going to unify. our party has lost its vision an we're going to replace it with a vision. >> or even the paul ryan of ten days ago who talked about wiping the legislate clean. >> the house is broken. we're not solving problems. we're adding to them. and i am not interested in laying blame. we are not settling scores. we are wiping the legislate

clean. >> yep, yep, he's going to get right on that just as soon as barack obama's no longer president. come on. >> this goes to my point. boehner is a conservative republican. he's a conservative republican. and yet the freedom caucus is going to constrain them and not allow them to kind of lead. i used to be speaker of the california state assembly. i tell you, your job is to protect the institution, too. you're the speaker for everyone with be not just your own party. obviously you're in the majority and so you're going to push your issues but you have to work across the aisle. i just don't see this freedom caucus giving him the predom to be the leader that he needs to be if they're going to be a proposition party not an opposition party. >> i so appreciate that framework, because there will be disagreements in a big diverse democracy, but it does feel like the institutions of how we work

together matter. i worry the problem isn't how left or right but just the idea that government shouldn't exist, that it shouldn't be doing this work, that government is itself inherently a problem. you have 40 members of the freedom caucus, not even necessarily the party at large, who can hold hostage the process itself. >> you have a set of ideologues who sit lliterally want to shrie government to the size of a bathtub. they are holding the rest of the country hostage. because they come from districts that are completely safe so they aren't going to be turned out by any kind of popular election we really have this struggle and this crisis. one of the questions that's worth asking is whether or not paul ryan will be able to hold on to this all the way through the election if somebody like rubio becomes the candidate because part of how he gets latino voters is to say daca might go away but daca goes away

and we have comprehensive immigration reform in place. so is it day one of that presidency or is it before that because rub io needs to be on te clinton/julian castro ticket. >> i think he is a bit of a realist, he has a fractured caucus. every major immigration reform that's happened is because of a republican president. barack obama talked about this for a long time, didn't puppet the political chops around his own coalition to make this happen and i think he realizes the police cal reality, republican president comes in, removes these reforms, come up with something and build a broader bipartisan coalition and get this done. it is foolish to move forward on this right now with the political issues -- >> it is an interesting point. >> what is he going to move forward on? >> it is an interesting point because it is empirically accurate that the big immigration reform policies,

many came out of republican presidents, but it is in part because of exactly this sort of massive resistance strategy. it is not because democratic presidents haven't put them forward. it's a bit like the aca, for example president obama actually put forward for a long time what had been a republican health care reform plan then got massive resistance to a think that had initially been introduced by republicans. >> it's not just that. they'd like to shut down the government and planned parenthood. i'm not trying to be partisan right now. i was mayor of a big city. you have to lead oftentimes working with everyone. but at the end of the day they've gone so far to the right on so many things, i just don't see how they're going to let ryan be the speaker of, as he said, the proposition party. because that means that they're going to have to be compromise on some of these issues and i just don't see them doing that right now.

>> interesting to watch what happens in the context of the presidential election year and with this new speaker. thank you to leslie sanchez, antonio villaraigosa and ange-marie hancock. coming up, the director of "blackish" joins us live. (vo) what does the world run on? it runs on optimism. it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward. invest with those who see the world as unstoppable. who have the curiosity to look beyond the expected and the conviction to be in it for the long term. oppenheimerfunds believes that's the right way to invest... ...in this big, bold, beautiful world.

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can a a subconscious. mind? a knack for predicting the future.

reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive? the emmy nominated and naacp image award winning hit sitcom "blackish" is now in its second season on nbc. the show is about an accomplished, wealthy african-american family living in an affluent california neighborhood with a fan favorite with anthony anderson and tracy ellis ross leading the talented cast. "blackish" started this season with a bang. the season premier was all about the "n" word. ♪ i ain't saying she a gold

digger ♪ ♪ but she ain't missing with the [ bleep ] ♪ i ain't saying she a gold digger ♪ ♪ she ain't messing with no [ bleep ] -- >> okay. >> told you it was a doozy. >> the episode revolved around the question of who exactly can or should use the word. brought not only complexity and nuance but had me dying cracking up the entire show. the brains behind this phenomenal sitcom is our next guest, show writer and executive producer kenya barriss. >> i'm excited. >> this show, we are a little obsessed with it in my household in part because i find myself raising children in circumstances that are much more privileged than i was raised in, much more integrated circumstances that i was raised in. this feels like it is going right to the heart of those questions. >> i fell like that was so many

people that i knew when we talked that was our experience. now it is like this new generation and it is like how -- the question came in, you are taught to give your kids more than you had but in doing that what do they lose? that was sort of the balancing act between andre and his kids and lawrence fishburn who is the father added noerd layer to that generational aspect. in some aspects every generation has that question. i think now more than ever it is a different question with things like barack and you. there's a different look for us and it is -- what is the -- how do you sort of navigate that as a parent? >> the first human ever to make a sentence, it was like president obama -- and you. so i appreciate that! i am down for that! let me say the "n" word episode and the gun episode which i'm pretty sure might have actually happened in my own house, they

were a little edgy. you don't come to some easy conclusion at the end of those episodes. it feels a little different than the first season. are you getting braver in this space? >> i think that we're kind of seeing what the show is differently. i can only feel like in a lot of ways i'm derivative of what norman leer was, some of those things he would do shows -- my agent was telling me they just screened the "all in the family" pilot. they were like that show would never come on today. to me that's counterintuitive when we live in a supposedly move evolved society, why aren't we talking about issues and talking about things and using comedy to do it? >> and that part, the comedy. i can remember my father who is an activist and deeply concerned with questions of racial equity, i can remember him just like -- you pull up his chair and watch "all in the family" with such intensity and find it till

layerous. i wonder if there is ways that comedy allows us to do work around race that a drama wouldn't allow us to do? >> that was the challenge on us. normally dramas were the things that people were allowed to sort of have issues with. at least in contrary society. norman leer dealt with it with comedy. i personally believe comedy is one of the better things to sort of talk about issues because you can laugh and not realize you're talking about something and letting your kids take it in. for us that's the challenge. norman has this thing where he says it's -- it's hard to do my boss is coming over and my wife burned the pot roast. but when you are doing comedy about issues, that's our challenge and what we continue to try to do. >> i with a pt to play a little conference room scene from the "n" word episode. let's play that. >> you know what word i miss? colored. >> what!

>> oh, my god! >> what's up? what's up? >> no, i just -- >> mr. stevens, that word is offensivereminiscent of a not-so-great time in history. >> in that case maybe someone should tell that to the naacp. >> you know, that group been sending mixed messages for a long time. >> it is a great -- nothing is more fraught in this moment than the question of black male violence, anger, threat. that is the thing that we are discussing in the world. and yet you can take it and play with it and invert it in that way that just makes it feel like, aw, man, yeah. >> i really credit, like we have an amazing group of writers. it is a very mixed group. we have like a crazy mixed group

of people. one of my favorite episodes was about spanking. that sort of became the platform. we polled the room and said how many were spanked as kids. literal i think 12 of the 13 writers raised a hand. we said how many of us spank. none of us raised our hand and we couldn't answer why. so that became the request he. we didn't think we became bad people. what was the thing going on? that's how we sort of felt like that's an interesting story. >> abc just seems to be doing the damn thing around this question can. what is it? what has made space to allow "bla "black-ish" to be happening on that network on thursday nights? >> i do really think that it is having people who sort of speak to everyone without not speaking to who they are. like that's some of the things i love about your show. it was one of the things i always credit barack about is that he's a black man and he does not run from that. but at the same time he speaks to everyone. and i think that that was a

different look for most of america to say that was something that -- you had to sort of seem like you were leaning to one side to appeal to everyone. in previous pilots what i had done, that was the big difference between what we wanted to do on ""the cosby show."" "the cosby show" was about a family that happened to be black. just incidental. that was amazing at the time. but we want to do a show about a family that was absolutely black. the specificity of that spoke more universally to the audience. >> it is the lesson tony morrison teaches us that we will say over and over again, you tell that story to tell the big story. when you see tracy ellis ross, please tell her we worship her. thank you to kenya barriss. >> thank you. up next, ava's here. beyond natural grain free pet food

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gold tn globe nominated filmmaker ava duvernier made an indelible impact after "selma." it was a heady assignment, "selma" is an iconic water-shed of the civil rights movement meaning there are a lot of opinions of how the story should be told. when she took on the rafk of hollywood's first big screen film about dr. martin luther king, she knew that she would be making history literally interpreting and representing who we are as a nation. she made history in another way, by stepping boldly into the role of america's foremost black woman filmmaker in an industry that is notoriously difficult for women and people of color. but she was ready. no newcomer to hollywood, in 2012 she became the first african-american woman to win the dramatic directing award at sundance for her acclaimed feature "middle of nowhere" and

her first narrative feature "i will follow" which she wrote, financed, produced and directed was hailed by critic roger ebert as "one of the best films i've seen about the loss of a loved one." now she is the first black woman ever nominated for best director golden globe, and now is one of the most influential voices in all of hollywood. ava's lending her voice and credibility to a new project quarterback the african-american film festival releasing movement which she founded in 2010. i's b it's been relaunched as array focusing on filmmakers of color. i am just so pleased to be joined now by a have p last time we talked was right after the release of "selma. ". >> last time we talked golden

globes were the next day because you were asking me about my dress. >> that's right! what are you going to wear! >> like don't ask me! no, it was a good time. >> what has changed? how different is the human that's ava in this space now? >> it be hasn't even been a year. it hasn't even been a year. a lot more to see, a lot more people to talk to, a lot more to think about. it's just kind of expanded my world personally. when i think about what's changed i don't think about professional. i think about i just got back from mumbai two days ago. that's an opportunity that wouldn't have come to me without "selma" that put my film making on a worldwide platform. when i was there i couldn't help but think of all the will of color that don't get the opportunity. >> i want you to talk to me about array and what array is going to be doing starting november 13th. but this very idea that in a

moment when there is an opening for you to walk through because of your art, because of your work, that your first impulse is come on, everybody and let's go, the door is open. why that? why in this moment decide to be pushing, amplifying so many other voices? >> who wants to be in the room by their sself? >> the answer is -- some people. but i'm with you, yes. >> i think for me, i was trained as a publicist. i was a publicist for 12 years. part of my job every day was thinking about how to amplify other people. i also got to see a lot of mistakes that people made when they had a small opening or it was their moment or it was their 15 minutes how they just shrunk instead of enlarged. it was because it was just trying to hang on to everything that they had. so ferociously and so fiercely that they forgot to open up and, a, experience what was going on with them and, b, to know that no party's fun alone.

yeah, i think that's just the way i think. >> so what's array up to? >> it was something i started in 2010 simply as a selfish function of i am making this film and no one's going to want it, so in order for it to reach an audience i have to create that pipeline. in doing that i said if i have's created, other filmmakers like me, black filmmakers who are having the same challenge can come to array. we've released ten films. in a way i think it was because of "selma." traveling the world. we think black filmmakers have it bad? when was the last time you saw a native american filmmaker, native american man? latina. asian-pacific islanders. it is rough out there for everyone. so the idea is together we are strong. why not put all of the folks that are having difficulty being kind of shut out of a system

that really only thinks and looks a certain way. why not create an alternative or allow other kinds of folk to be in our alternative. so in august we relaunched from african-american film festival releasing movement to array. on november 13th we put out our first two films. a white woman filmmaker out of south africa, a beautiful film. this young black woman who inherits and takes over her father's car mechanic shop in south africa and they just got this hair and these colors and she's falling in love and grappling with loss and life. it is really gorgeous. you're not going to see it in theaters except through our collective that's powered by regular people who just love film. the other one is "out of my hand." a really interesting film by this japanese-important filmmaker who lives in either brooklyn or harlem right now.

somewhere in new york. it is all the same to me. >> somewhere over there on the other side. >> it is this gorgeous film about this liberian immigrant. you see him in liberia working on a rubber plantation all the way to him being a cab driver. it is kind of like i'm always in a cab or even an uber, you wonder what's his story? this is that story. takes you all the way back. these are stories that are completely out of the box in terms of what hollywood wants. we say hollywood doesn't determine what we want, we determine what we want. after the break, i have a pitch for you. i have a story i want you to make.

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ever since her 2014 film "selma" was nominated for a best picture oscar, ava duvernay has become one of the most sought after directors in hollywood.

she's in post production on one project casting another and writing another. and that new work soon. her rebranded company array has two films set for releaseweek. ayanda becoming of age story about a woman struggling to save her father's car repair shop. and "out of my hand," a film about a liberian rubber plantation worker's new life as a cab driver in new york. she's also courted by marvel to direct a black panther movie but declined stating we had different ideas about what the story would be. her conference in july said, what my name is on means something to me. really wasn't going to be an ava film. still with me is ava duvernay. i want to talk about an idea i had because it randamly occurred to me. i was looking at -- "essence" had this spread of all the african-american women working in the obama white house.

somebody has to tell that story. i was thinking about how part of what you did with "selma" was bring forward all those historical women that got lost behind king. we can't let them get lost. maybe not this week or next week, but some day, i want a story of those women. since you have a lot of projects. >> okay. good idea. good idea. >> that's my pitch for you. in thinking about king, which undoubtedly you did in the context of "selma." he talks about creative maladjustment. that also means we have to have tools of creativity. i guess part of what i'm wondering is where you think kind of next generation of young women of color filmmakers, where that will be for them, what we're doing to nurture their capacity to make art. >> the interesting thing is it's access, really. that's the unfortunately, you know, when we're talking about black people making film, our

conversation is not as mature as it should be because -- and not because the work isn't mature or the filmmakers are not. but in terms of when you talk about tools. very much been a limited amount of people who have had access to the tools up until now. the tools used to be, 35 millimeter film, which was hard to get and expensive. a 35 millimeter camera. when you shot it, you had to take it to a lab and get out of the lab and project it in a certain -- all these bear yiarro creativity existed. now if we went to make a film right now with your iphone and mine. i could swing down on this swivel chair, we could do this and put it up on youtube tonight and tell a story. everything has changed, and that is sparking and trigger new creativity, new way of storytelling that's tremendously exciting. i feel blessed to be alive right now. >> you've become quite

promiscuous in the places your work will appear. not just personal work but the work you're pushing out. netflix and television and like it just -- it's different now. it doesn't have to necessarily be on that big screen in the movie theater. >> a lot of talk in hollywood about what is a film now. a film called beasts of no nation. a filmmaker that people really like. he previously made feature films in television and now this film that's on netflix but it's not really television, but is it? it's also in theaters? all the lines are blurred in terms of what is a film. it's not about the forum anymore and it's not about the destination anymore. it's really truly about the story. we're watching stories on web series. we're watching a story for apple in 30 seconds with kerry, tiraji and mary. we're binge watching stories. eight hours people are sitting down. it's all new. >> my favorite thing is watching you watch stories.

i love watching you tweet abo about -- in realtime reviewing that was going on. one of my favorites being, you being a woman who loved hip hop at that time. was being in love with your abuser because it was ours and also against us in these important ways. that's always this challenge we exist in as women of color. particularly as black women. both loving this blackness that is ours but also recognizing the violence it can sometimes do to our very femininity and womanhood. >> absolutely. that's everywhere. i think it's so important when we think about all of this to not think about this problem, the challenge in the present moment. that was part of what "selma" got me thinking about. the continuum we're on. this is an age-old issue. this is something that sisters before us have had to grapple with and deal with successfully. part of the remedy and solution is to look back. what did they do? what did everybody else do?

what did harriet do? what is michelle doing? what is melissa doing? what is the next generation doing as well? it's exciting. it's all here for the taking. i feel positive about it. maybe not just today. >> do black lives matter to hollywood? >> you're making me laugh. >> that's an interesting reaction. >> sometimes. sometimes. but not often enough. very sporadically. but there are black lives who live here 24/7, and we have to matter to ourselves more than what the outside world thinks of us. and i think in hollywood, that is a problem. it speaks to your first question about being perfectly fine to be the only person in the room. not even fine to have two in a room. it's not enough. you have to -- hopefully that idea infects us out here a little bit more. >> thank you to ava duvurnay.

"ayanda and out of my hand" released this weekend. before we go, we have an announcement. a wedding announcement that is. msnbc's own and nerd land favorite and occasional guest host of this program, janet mock, was married friday to photographer and filmmaker aaron treadwell. the couple wed in janet's hometown in hawaii looking both ridiculously spectacular and happy. our most heartfelt congratulations to janet and aaron. everyone in nerdland, we wish you much joy and love and adventure in your lives ahead. that's our show for today. thanks for watching. i'll see you next saturday, 10:00 a.m. eastern. right now preview of "weekends with alex witt." >> so fun watching you from hollywood. >> could janet look more beautiful than she did in that wedding picture? >> and check your e-mail. you have recommendations for dinner and restaurants. let's get to the news. have a good one, melissa.

new information in the crash of that russian airliner. why one lawmaker is calling the disaster a wake-up call to both the u.s. and russia. the outrage in colorado after nude photos on the phones of at leaflthe least 100 studen. plus, everything you wanted to know about the white house rejection of the keystone pipeline but were afraid to ask. don't go anywhere. i'll be right back. on prescriptions. we found lower co-pays... ...and a free wellness visit. new plan...same doctor. i'm happy. it's medicare open enrollment. have you compared plans yet? it's easy at medicare.gov. or you can call 1-800-medicare. medicare open enrollment. you'll never know unless you go. i did it. you can too. ♪ working on my feet all day gave min my knees. but now, i step on this machine and get my number

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