stay safe and healthy on this flag day. we'll be back next sunday, because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." good evening, and welcome to our special, american crisis: poverty and the pandemic. at this moment, we are a nation in turmoil with protests against police violence sweeping across major cities and a rising death toll due to covid-19. we'll focus on another element of this turmoil. the pandemic's devastating impact on americans in poverty. 38 million people lived below the poverty line in 2018. a number that has surely grown with unemployment skyrocketing to almost 15%.

job losses are concentrated at the lower end of the income scale. in april, 40% of low-wage workers had been laid off or furloughed. the poor are more likely to live in close quarters where the disease could easily spread. as thomas freedan had said, the pandemic is like a guided missile, attacking the poor. joining me now is bishop william barber, author of the book, "we are called to be a movement." bishop barber, this issue of poverty predates the covid-19 pandemic. but how has it made it worse?

>> well, the fact of the matter is pandemics live in the fissures and wounds of society and we have certainly great wounds when it comes to systematic racism and systematic poverty. two things you can't separate even though we have to look at it across the board and how it impacts everybody. before the pandemic we had 140 million people who were poor and low income. poverty under the census, are less than 30 million. the actual number is 140 million people, that's 43% of this nation. 700 people a day were dying from poverty and low income according to a study in columbia and then the pandemic hits. now we may end up with 13 million more people added to the 80 million who are either uninsured or underinsured. poverty is going to rise.

maybe get as high as 50% or plus in this society. what had made it worse in the pandemic is we had three major rescue bills and none of them focused specifically on poverty and low income of 140 million people who are already in problems before before this pandemic ever hit. >> as you know, one group which has been especially hit hard is small farmers. many of whom were already struggling before the pandemic hit. now we are facing plummeting demands from products with schools and restaurants and hotels and schools. >> as a fourth-generation farmer in kansas, mark pringle raises cattle alongside his wife and his 90-year-old father, lawrence. >> my husband is working away. >> pringle had been farming full-time since 2015.

he came home to the family business to help care for his parents. it is just the three of them and the pringle family like many small farmers already deal with the challenges and significant financial hardships that often come with running a small farm. >> we face a number of challenges including poverty and long-term survival and those are due to the low prices we receive for our products. >> even more alarming, kansas farmers die by suicide at a rate much higher. something pringle's wife testifi testified about at a forum back in 2018. >> why? because they are stressed out. they are usually in debt up to their eyeballs because they can't pay for all the equipment that it takes to run a farm. >> now the pandemic is hitting

the already vulnerable farming industry that's particularly hard. and farmers like the pringle family is facing even more economic uncertainty. >> the outbreak of covid-19 only exacerbates the issues we are facing. >> fallout from the outbreak has significantly impacted the family's overall income. prices are down and covid-19 has changed the demand for the farm products they produce. the cattle industry that the pringle family is a part of is expected to see losses of more than $13.6 billion due to the pandemic. as the demand for beef has dropped. and beyond the economic strain that comes with running a small farm, for the pringles, the pandemic exposed the barriers to getting adequate health care in a small rural town. mary jane is also a retired registered nurse, she says the nearest hospital is more than 30 minutes away. >> we have one clinic and doctor in our county.

>> the trump administration announced plans to spend up to $19 billion to help farmers. but the white house's failure to coordinate the national food supply has left farmers with millions of pounds of wasted food they can no longer sell to closed restaurants and hotels. when it comes to getting relief for farmers, the family says government help addressing the mounting debt so many farmers face would take off a huge load. they hope bailouts will not focus on bigger farm operations like they have in the past. ranchers and farmers who are hurting and who are only struggling more now. >> mary jane and mark pringle are joining us now. mary jane and mark, thank you so much for not only being here but for sharing your story with us. i will start with you, mary jane. the thing that's most striking

is this idea farmers are dying by suicide at high rates because of the depression that's associated with the struggle. talk a little bit more about that. >> farmers are here for generations. and they don't want to be the one that loses the family's farm. they don't want to be known, it's a big stigma, to even have to sell land to get out of debt. everybody knows everybody's business. they don't want to be the one that loses the family farm. there is immense pressure to hold on to the land for the next generations and they see that slipping away everyday. my father-in-law says it took him 70 years to get for where he is right now. and he's 90. so a lot of farmers don't have the good luck that he's had, or,

you know, there's been certain things that he doesn't have grandchildren. we don't have children. there is reasons that we are semi-okay right now but there are others that are not okay. that is why the suicide rates, there are a lot of stress on these guys. they don't talk much, they internalize. >> yeah. mark, can you talk to us about how has things changed for you and your family's farm since the pandemic has struck. >> it has been an impact as far as demand and obviously the prices are down across the board for our commoditys, grain, and cattle and the grain in

particular is very far down price-wise in relation to where it had been years ago so you got that whole problem with the food supply chain being affected. so it is like a domino effect. especially given the fact that there is a dominance of the large agribusiness in this country. it ripples down i would say from the point of impact and so that means you have to find a way to farm another day. and there is a myriad of different options you try to exercise in order to do that. >> mary jane, what do you need? what would help your community the most? >> better insurance. people need insurance. a lot of these farmers don't

have insurance. if they do, it is a junk insurance. kansas is one of the 14 states that does not have medicaid expansion and we have been trying six years to get it passed and it has been thrown back in our faces. we need insurance so we can go to the doctor to get help. mental health, the state started up a new hotline that they had quit for farmers, for suicide. they recently started up and there is a reason they did that. >> yeah. indeed. mark and mary jane, thank you so much for talking with us. before we let you go, we have a very special message to share with you. here it is. >> hey, mark and mary jane. this is willie. i want to thank all of y'all, for all of the work you're

doing. y'all are essential and as important as health care workers and store workers, you mean everything during this pandemic. so please keep doing what you are doing. >> willie nelson sending you some love. mary jane and mark -- >> thank you. >> which you seem to have enjoyed. thank you very much. i appreciate you both. >> thank you, joy. >> bishop barber is sticking around. coming up, we'll introduce you to two women who are risking their lives at work just to survive at home. e.ults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection.

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the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 for more than a decade. and many workers are struggling who make more than that, especially fast food employees. one of largest employers being

accused of neglecting the safety of workers during this pandemic is mcdonald's. some workers have been walking off the job to demand better pay and safer working conditions. >> i've been working for mcdonald's three or four years. i demand paid time off and i am afraid of my life and for my kids as well. >> this woman is a manager for mcdonald's. she lives in a one-bedroom apartment in ft. lauderdale with her four children and 9-month-old grandson. after participating in a strike, she went back to work in order to provide for them and avoid becoming homeless again. the family lived in a car for more than six months at one point. >> i demand respect. >> on average, mcdonald's workers make $8.96 an hour. managers make a little more, $11.43 an hour.

while the company reported a 17% drop in earnings for the first quarter this year due to store closures, mcdonald's cfo reported more than $5 billion in cash on the company's balance sheet as of march. she also works at wendy's and papa john's. even with these three jobs, she still does not make enough to pay her rent and bills. and she felt she was retaliated against when a close family member passed away from covid-19. >> so yes, my hours was taken and my days was taken only because i asked for two weeks to get quarantined because of the situation. >> in maine, wendy bergeron has been working at mcdonald's for eight years.

she makes 30 cents more than the minimum wage in maine. mindy rents an apartment and she walks 40 minutes to and from work each day because she can't afford a car. >> i don't have a vehicle, i can't afford one. so when i'm able, when the weather is all right in the summer, and whatnot, i walk or i ride my bike. >> reporter: she considers herself among the lucky ones. she says the franchise owner provided four hours to the paychecks of workers who continued to work during the pandemic. but she says the fact that there is no sick pay is a major issue. when mindy experienced symptoms of covid-19, she was not able to work for a week.

"the wall street journal" obtained a memo sent to franchisees. to protect the health of its workers, mcdonald's says employees should undergo wellness and temperature checks. one of the biggest concerns is how easily germs could spread near the soda fountains, which are difficult to clean. mcdonald's suggests to turn it off or having an employee operate them. surfaces should be wiped down every 30 minutes. but are the guidelines enough for workers like these, who worry that returning to business as usual could mean risking their health? joining me now< mcdonald's employees, mindy bergeron and deatrice eddy. along with massachusetts

congressman joe kennedy iii. we reached out to the mcdonald's locations. we have paid any employee required to self-quarantine their full wages until they are able to return to work. no employees should be required to come to work if they are not feeling well. no hours and wages should be cut when an employees should decide to come back to work. we're paying employees bonuses and providing them with supplies to take home. i had to read that. but deatrice, talk a little bit about the experience of working multiple jobs, and living with

the kind of economic insecurity that you are despite working for such a major corporation. >> it is very hard, i have to maintain three jobs and also maintain coming home to the kids. it is very hard. it is not enough money. in all three jobs, i'm a manager and making $8. it is hard because when you ask for time off, it is a problem. or if you don't come to work, you are suspended for two weeks or you are fired. i think that's very sad on us. we work generally hard and they don't recognize our work, even with the pandemic going on right now. >> go on. >> oh, my mcdonald's never shut their doors. my mcdonald's stays open 24 hours.

whether the pandemic was going on, whether it was supposed to be shut down, it never shut down. definitely i was afraid of my life. people were walking in with no gloves and people sitting in the lobby and they didn't care at all. >> the question is to both of you, but mindy, what happens if you feel sick? do you feel pressure that if you're not feeling well, if you feel like maybe i have a temperature or a cough, some of the things that indicate potential covid, do you still feel pressure to go to work? >> well, from, like -- sorry. they are stressing the idea that if we don't feel well, we should not go to work. but when you don't get paid sick leave, that, you know, it doesn't feel like a choice. you know, if you don't go to work, you don't get paid.

so there is a lot of pressure on that end to go to work. >> yeah. congressman kennedy, it is really great that we have you here and of course robert f. kennedy, the attorney general at the time was one of the people who inspired the idea to do this. what can and should be done to change this? the idea that this many decades later, we are having the same conversation about working poor. what can be done about it? >> everything, joy. everything needs to be done. and i am honored to be here with two workers here. i think a piece to this is understanding not only, yes, clearly, mcdonald's and franchises have to provide paid sick time and ppe and sanitizing the stores and all the rest of it. that should happen.

but let's also understand just as they articulated, you are getting paid 30 cents over minimum wage and can't afford a roof over your head, that is a choice of the government not to raise the minimum wage. when you are talking about paid sick leave, that's a choice our government not to require sick leave. that's a choice of our government to allow jobs that do not provide enough resources for as parent to raise a family. when we talk about the fact that, as you remember, there are still people that are working full-time and are qualified for food stamps. that's a choice for our government. corporate welfare to actually pay employees so little that they have to rely on benefits in order to make ends meet. that's a choice and we do not have to choose it. >> yeah, indeed. i thank you for being here to address these issues and especially thank you mindy

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the covid-19 pandemic has not only devastated millions of americans, in our country, it's also eroded part of president obama's economic legacy, too. levels of unemployment not seen since the great depression. before the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. the rate tripled in april and currently sits at 13.3% in may. unfortunately, that's not the whole story. the bureau of labor statistics said without data collection error, the may rate would be a whopping 16.3%. >> this is the biggest economic

shock in the u.s. and in the world in living memory. we went from the lowest level of unemployment in 50 years to the highest level in close to 90 years and we did it in two months. >> in donald trump's alternate reality, this is all a fluke in a perfect economy for which he's solely responsible. >> i built the greatest economy in history and one day, we had to close our country. we had to close our economy. i built it. >> in fact, trump merely continued the trajectory that began under his predecessor. when president obama moved into the white house in january, 2009, he inherited the economy under a great recession. a recession in which the bureau of labor statistics says 8.8 million americans lost their jobs. to bring the economy back, president obama signed the american recovery and

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poorest americans by nearly one-fifth. the economy kept on growing and growing and from 2010 to 2016, the u.s. economy added 15.8 million jobs. once obama left office, the economy kept humming along. with the tab picked up by middle class taxpayers. but the global pandemic has just been too much for the economy to bear. we now see it collapsing under the weight of trump's incompetence and refusal to be prepared. in just a matter of weeks, all of the gains that president obama helped create, gone. up next, the crisis in one of the biggest covid-19 hot spots, the nation's meat packing plants. finally something more powerful than the funk.

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among the biggest hot spots for covid-19 infections are the nation's meat packing plants. donald trump has declared these to be essential businesses, and industry groups say they are following cdc's guidelines but some workers say enough is not being done to protect them. when throwing some steaks on the grill or ordering those barbecue ribs for take-out, it's easy to forget what it took to get that meat on to your dinner plate.

but since the pandemic, there has been a new spotlight on the workers, as thousands of meat processing workers are pushed to work long hours in cramped conditions, in plants that have become coronavirus hot spots. >> they want to make sure they can do the job they love without putting their health and safety and families and communities at risk. >> at least 20 meat and poultry plant workers have died from covid-19 as of the end of april according to the cdc. and there are thousands of confirmed cases in more than 100 plants in 19 states. other reports put the number even higher. according to the centers for economic and policy research, frontline meat packing workers are disproportionately latino, black, or immigrants. groups already hit hard by covid-19. in april, donald trump signed an

executive order using the defense production act to classify meat plants as an essential structure that must remain opened. >> reports are that they're cleaner than they've ever been. >> forcing people to work in a condition right for an outbreak. this man he and his wife and their 1-year-old live in kansas. working at a beef processing plant in dodge city. it is difficult and physically exhausting work for about $18 an hour. a job that's now putting his life at risk. according to his union, united food and commercial workers, this facility reported three confirmed deaths from covid-19. he says the plant's first reported illness was in march and national beef's response was inadequate.

the company supplied masks and then ran out. he says there is not enough hand sanitizers and little to no opportunity to socially distance at work. some of the country's major meat plants implemented partitions on the food line. national beef uses them when feasible, according to the union. the company provides rapid testing and temperature checks, but he says the employees wait clustered in one area. already more than 20 meat packing plants across the country have closed due to concerns about illness. he wants to see his plant closed temporarily to implement modi modificatio modifications. he says if he does not work, he does not get paid. we did not hear from national beef in time for our broadcast. the company's ceo issued a statement that reads in part, "we operate in areas with high covid-19 case counts but that is due to large part to the ongoing testing of our work force."

"we continue to communicate daily with our employees on the role they, we, and our communities play in keeping them healthy." and the cdc inspected their plants in late april, and issued a series of recommendations. joining me now is andrew zimmern of host of "what's eating america" and bishop barber is back with me. brandon, i want to start with you, it sounds like you don't feel safe at work. is that something you share with your co-workers? >> yes, just due to the fact that we are in a really tight, compact place. there's no social distancing. we are all stressing over that. >> and do you feel pressure to go to work if you don't feel well?

>> i do. bills are still coming in. if you don't go to work, you don't get paid. so there is always pressure. >> there's no sick pay? >> no, if you don't go, you don't get paid. >> andrew, if brandon does not feel safe at work, should the people who are consuming the meat that's being produced in places where workers don't feel safe themselves, should the public feel safe with those products? >> no. i don't believe so. i think this is just another extension of what we call the systematic poverty in our food chain. it is also part of the fact that poverty is a symptom here of the larger inequality issue. the original sin of the racism that we have not dealt with in

our multi-tiered classist environment here in america for hundreds of years. this is symptomatic and systematic and it has to be dealt with. congressman kennedy talked about it as a governmental choice. i have called it on this program as a leadership failure for what we are seeing in america right now. we have to finally decide to collectively correct this injustice. >> bishop, we are in a moment where we are rediscovering the incredible power of police unions to protect law enforcement officers even when they have done something to the public that looks blatantly wrong or potentially criminal. but we see the union that represents people like brandon don't seem to be protecting them at all. >> let me make several points, about three of them, looking at

what you've shown. it is important to look at this. we don't have what many of the people we're calling essential really feel like they're expendable. the problem with it is democrats have tended to run from poverty and republicans with all that expansion from a high middle class up. after all that expansion of 140 million people in poverty and 62 million people in living wages. 60 million people have zero wealth. when you look at the case of kansas or maine or florida or now this meat packing. what are they talking about? they don't have sick leave. in two of the states, the states with racist voter suppression states, they let people who vote against health care. what do you need in the midst of a pandemic? health care. you got a mcdonald's worker

talking about we don't have health care and a meat work er talking about we don't have health care. we have to deal with systematic racism and poverty and how deep it is. when you hear from my brother who's a meat packer, look, we are basically being forced and some of them told me they're being forced to their own mass murder. they get a title change from service worker to essential, but they're not getting the essentials. it is a choice but also it is why we need masks and mobilization. why the poor people's campaign on june 20th, 2020, is having a march in washington. and lastly, it's why we cannot locate this as just happening with donald trump. for the last 50 years, we have basically taken poverty and low income out of our political conversations. you don't hear it in debates or on the floor of congress. none of the expansion programs say we are focusing on how we lift and deal with the poor

among us and low income among us. what you have shown today is how broad it is and how deep it is. who would have expected if you have a white farmer on the phone with a black mcdonald's worker and they're both saying they're being failed in the same way. money, wages and health care. all the same thing. very different reality. that's what we have to deal with. >> and i will give the last word to you. brandon, what's the thing that you would need most that would help you and your family most? >> well, they took away our vacation for 2020. i'm about to get a year there. i would like to get my vacation. that's one thing i can take out my family and all that. i would like to get my vacation. >> and i'm sure health care would be good, too, and sick leave.

brandon vasquez, thank you so much. and andrew zimmern and bishop barber is sticking around with us. coming up, other members of the faith community join the conversation. #1 stain and odor fighter, #1 trusted. it's got to be tide. because when you want to create an entirely new feeling, the difference between excellence and mastery is all the difference in the world. the lexus es. a product of mastery. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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but the health crisis is simply exacerbated the inequality crisis that has long plagued this country. it's something faith leaders and social activists have been sounding the alarm about for a while now. back with me for some final thoughts, bishop william barber, reverend dr. liz theoharis, co-chair of the poor people's campaign. and reverend dr. frederick haynes at the friendship west baptist church. for all of you, i want to read three headlines. 40% of low-income americans lost their jobs due to the pandemic. one-fifth of americans fear they can't pay their june rent or mortgage. according to a federal survey. and a study projects homelessness will rise 45% in just one year due to coronavirus unemployment. reverend theoharis, what do we do about that? it's hard to have faith when it feels like everything in this society is failing you. >> i think, indeed, our

institutions of our society are failing us. we have the resources to have universal health care, to raise wages, to put more money into education. we have the resources to ensure that everyone has paid sick leave and has the wherewithal to be able to not just barely survive but to thrive. and so what we need is a movement. and that's what the poor people's campaign is building. the power of poor people across all the lines that divide us in this nation coming together and saying, you know, what's really costing us is inequality. the cost of solving these problems, of enacting decent housing and living wages is all within reach. and that it's a failure of our system to not do so, so we need a moral revolution of values and so we're going to build one. >> and reverend dr. haynes, you

know, when i asked brandon vazquez what does he want, he just wants, you know, a week off to spend time with his family. he wants to be able to come to work and feel safe. we asked, you know, our farmers, what do they want? health care. it's very simple things. what does it mean that our society in 2020 can't provide those very simple things? >> well, it means that we have failed. it means that we have a pandemic that has exposed a deeper sickness in this country and that sickness, of course, is socioeconomic. it reflects the reality that, unfortunately, we don't have the moral imagination to engage in what reverend theoharis calls a revolution of values and it means that someone like brandon who is essential has basically concluded that as reverend barber says, he is, what, expendable, disposable, and as a consequence, he is only asking for the smallest of things. no, he did not ask for health care. he did not ask for something large.

he just wants to be able to get a break because life has broken him, because we have a system that is broken, so this for me, joy, and i appreciate you so much doing this, i appreciate so much bishop barber and reverend theoharis because they're saying we have to visiblize, to make up a word, those who have been rendered invisible. we have to have the moral imagination to engage in radical intervention. this is the same nation that produced a marshall plan to rescue those who were broken in europe, in the aftermath of world war ii. we need a radical intervention. a marshall plan for communities broken by poverty in this nation if we are serious about stopping not just this pandemic but the oncoming pandemic of poverty. >> you know, bishop barber, for those who want to do something and take action, what can they do?

>> well, they can go to www.june2020.com and join us on the 20th of june. they can also understand we have put forward a plan and a budget. we've done an audit and a budget. we should not only give my brother alberto what he asked for but what he needs. what is essential. it is there, it can be done. we have spent nearly $5 trillion, if you add up all the money, to -- in this pandemic, it has gone primarily to the corporate leaders and up. it has not gone down. we should have a plan to lift up the poor and the lower in this country. right now if we paid 62 million people a living wage it would put over $700 billion into the economy. as a preacher, people need to understand, the scriptures say when you do not take care of the poor, when you don't lift up -- pay people what they deserve, the bible says it's wicked, it is evil, it undermines the

very health of a society. we can do better than this. but our leadership politically is going to have to stop ignoring the poor and racializing the poor but also the poor and impacted are saying we are going to start speaking, we're not being silent anymore. and on june 20th, 2020, that's who you're going to hear from. we're going to also pay tribute to george floyd because he was poor and low wealth. how many other people would just be trying to live and they end up being killed by a knee of a police officer, but how many thousands, how many millions, are also dying from the knee and the weight of public policy, the denial of the very human right, basic things, that we need. everything we're asking for, politicians have, joy. everything we're asking for, senators and governors, they have. how in the world can they have those things and not want their constituents to have them? it is because too many people in power are too comfortable with other people's desperation and other people's death. and those who are in those situations are saying, no more. it's time for a moral revival.

>> bishop william barber, reverend dr. liz theoharis, reverend dr. haynes, thank you so much, we so appreciate you speaking out for those whose voices need to be amplified. before we go, we want to remind you of an important event being led by the poor people's campaign, as bishop barber just mentioned. they are launching a digital justice gathering that they're calling a moral march on washington. it's saturday, june 20th. we'll be talking more about that in the days ahead. that's our show for tonight. thank you for watching our special, "american crisis: poverty and the pandemic." keep it right here on msnbc.

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good evening. i'm joshua johnson at nbc news world headquarters in new york. we are continuing to follow a developing story out of atlanta. the georgia bureau of investigation is reviewing the killing of 27-year-old rayshard brooks. he died friday night after a scuffle with police officers, one of whom shot him as he ran away. tonight the medical examiner announced that rayshard brooks died by homicide from organ injuries and blood loss. he was shot twice in the back. according to atlanta pd brooks fell asleep in a w