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tv   Politics Nation  MSNBC  February 6, 2021 2:00pm-3:01pm PST

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good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, a nation divided, struggling to stand. today marks one month since an angry insurrectionist mob stormed the u.s. capitol. the broken glass and busted doors is been repaired. the political fractures remain. a few republicans voted to revogs the committee assignments of georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, a freshman lawmaker who has traffics in the same conspiracy theories and racist tropes that drove the january 6th rioters. greene has shown support for executing speaker nancy pelosi and has behaved so towards her
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co-workers that one asked to have her office moved away from greene. when given the chance to deal with greene privately ended up giving her a standing ovation. neck week senate republicans will get their own chance to show they learned something from the events of january 6th when they begin the second impeachment trial for former president donald trump. i'll keep my expectations low. president joe biden to his credit remains focused on the one issue that could possibly bring this country together, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. biden and vice president kamala harris this week met with moderate republicans concerned about the size of his proposed $1.9 trillion relief bill. and they met with democrats, some of whom no doubt would like to see him go even bigger. the one thing everyone agrees on
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is that the challenge this new administration faces is urgent and immense, particularly when it comes to rolling out vaccines that could end this crisis once and for all. and nowhere is that more evident than when you look at communities of color hit hardest by covid-19 so far. just 5% of vaccinations have gone to black america. joining me now is simone sanders, senior adviser and chief spokesperson for vice president kamala harris. let me start there, simone. we mentioned this statistic at the top of the show, but it bears repeating, just 5% of vaccinations so far have gone to black americans. does the administration have a sense of why so few of the shots are going to black people and what role can your boss play in
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solving the problem as she being vice president and being the first african-american vice president at that? >> thank you for having me today, rev. it is a startling statistic and one of the administration, the president and vice president especially, they are paying very close attention to. look, equity is key here and the vaccine, the effort to deliver vaccines to communities across this country, the focus for our task force is ensuring those vaccine distributions are equitable, that equitable is underlined if i was writing this on paper. so the administration is focused on putting a plan together, getting the data is extremely important, rev. in that study that you cited, out of that study there was gender data for 97% of the entries. so we knew out of the study and that was a cdc study, we knew of
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the folks who were men or who were women or nongender conforming and designed to answer in the study. that means that 5% is 5% of 51%. what about the other half of the folks that are being vaccinated? it's something that jeff zients is taking a look at. the president and vice president have dug into this. they believe equitable vaks -- vaccinations are important. more than a week ago, it's all running together, the president instituted new directives and memorandums to ensure the administration is being both transparent and accountable with states and territories and localities across the country on
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what their distribution levels for vaccines will be. his team has been briefing them so that they is a three-week head start, if you will, knowing the vaccinations that they're going to get. but the second thing is that the federal government is also going to jump in here and help out. just this week we announced there will be a federally run partnership with states and localities and vaccination centers and the first two are opening in oakland and l.a. those will be fully operational, ready to receive folks around february 16th. folks in california will be able to sign up for those through a portal called my turn, i believe it is around there will be information and that's an example of what the federal government will be doing. >> so there's an aggressive move to try and deal with this inequity that we've had to go through for the last almost year now. president biden following on
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that, he's gone out of his way to listen to republicans about their concerns with the coronavirus relief bill, but yesterday he also made his own priorities clear. listen to this. >> we can't do too much here. we can do too little. we can do too little and sputter. but again, the end result is it not just the macro economic impact on the economy and our ability to compete internationally, it's people's lives, real live people are hurting and we can fix it. >> now, is this administration willing to give up on getting republican votes if that's the only way to get a covid package that will actually be effective in easing this crisis? i understand and respect the need to reach out but at some point as the president said, people are dying. will they give up on the republicans if it comes down to there's no other way to get this
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relief bill that we'll finance a lot of the cities and states and outreach that you spoke about? >> well, rev, i think the president has actually been very clear on this. he has said that it is his want, his goal to work with republicans to do this because this pandemic that we are living through, it doesn't care if one is a democrat, a republican or an independent or green party or if they didn't vote in the last election. the pandemic is affecting us all, be it all not equitably across the board, hence our previous conversation. and the president believes and the vice president believes that this mechanism that is currently started in congress, reconciliation, is a mechanism that can happen with bipartisanship. there is a precedent for this. to pass the children's health insurance program, it happened through reconciliation and it happened in a bipartisan way. so the administration is committed to getting this done and the president wants to be able to work with republicans. i think you've seen very public
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displays of him doing that, bringing folks to the white house, listening to them, hearing that exchange of views, but the president has also been very clear this is an urgent crisis, that he will not budge on splitting this package, that he will not budge on $1,400 checks, meaning that the package won't be split. the urgency of this task is too huge. and as the president said in the oval office, we -- it's not that are we going to do too much, it's will too little happen? we can do too little and sputter. the size of the package was created with the need in mind, not necessarily a number. the president looks forward to continuing to have conversations with members of congress across the aisle in both chambers -- >> but he will not budge on the basic commitment to really deal with facing and trying to deal with the challenges of the need. let me ask you this.
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when joe biden agreed to be barack obama's vice president, he famously asked to be the last person in the room when president obama made key decisions. and i've noticed that in every major announcement and meeting that he's had, i've seen vice president harris right there. what kind of relationship does vice president kamala harris envision having with the new president, and what are her top priorities while in office? >> well, rev, such a great question. the president has spoken about this often. he said when he asked now vice president harris to join him on the ticket and be his running mate, his future governing partner, he said he wanted her to be the last voice in the room. he wanted her feedback. he wanted a partnership, if you will, like the one he had with
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then-president obama. what we have seen over the last ten days is there's a lot of work to do. we have talked through many administration officials have been on this network and others talking about the size of the urgent task before us, the converging crises, and the president has talked about the need for a whole of government approach, that it is not just on one person to ensure that vaccine distribution is equitiable, it's not on one person to address the climate crisis, not on one person to address the crisis of racial injustice. the viepd has been committed to supporting the administration's priorities, leaning in and meeting with real people. she held a roundtable just this last week with secretary yellen and members of the black chambers to talk about the rescue plans, what it does for black people in this country but also to get their feedback.
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next week i think this has already been previewed but the president and vice president will be virtually visiting a vaccination distribution center and they're going to continue to build support for the rescue plan all across this country. vice president harris often says there is a lot of work to do and she has been clear that this a priority for her team and she's instructed us to make surewe are in lock step with our counterparts in the west wing and that's exactly what's happening. >> it's an historic moment. thank you for being with us. i've had you down for the last few times but first time in this capacity. very happy to see you with us tonight, simone. >> happy to be here. >> now joining, melanie campbell and ceo and president of the national coalition of black
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participation and former republican senator from florida and msnbc contributor. melanie, let me go to you first. during the first month of vaccination, the racial disparity is clear. what can the white house be doing to ensure a more equitable distribution? >> thank you, rev. one of the key things -- first let me say that i think that elections sure do matter. it is such a night-and-day experience that we're going through. i think with the hearing and to hear them lay out what they're doing a great. the critical component is making sure this vaccine gets to the people. i think that's the most critical thing. access to getting it done, places that folks have a safe space, a safe community, rev. it's okay to do pharmacies and
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things like that but taking it to the people, community centers, where our people are, making it so that it's not something where transportation becomes an issue. i think that's the most critical thing. i know here in washington, d.c. mayor bowser is doing a great job expanding where the vaccine access is. so anyone who knows washington, d.c., it's in southeast, i going to be in community centers. i know others who are getting involved and they are engaging folks inside of the community who are trusted voices. i think about national action network and where you all are all over the country and how important it is that we use every avenue for it to be not -- for the access to not be a barrier. and i think it's a big one right now. >> now, david, according to the cdc, the majority of early vaccinations have gone to very -- to a very specific group, white women over the age of 50. now, women generally are
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overrepresented in the kind of health care nursing home demographics prioritized for early vaccination. that doesn't explain the racial disparity. what's going on here and how can we fix it? >> that's right. i think epidemiologists would say it's good that it skewing towards older americans that would present more vulnerable health conditions. we know the narrative of our nation back to the beginning as one of disenfranchisement of communities of color, of black and brown people. that is true through public policies with disparate impacts through generations upon generations. what we are seeing is a contemporary disparate impact in our public health policy as we're seeing fewer people of color vaccinated compared to white america. and i think the important thing, though, and the tone and the tenor that is different that
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we've heard from simone and from the biden administration, the disparate has been a great injury and the great injury has opinion a failure to recognize the disparate impact. the last administration largely ignored it. at least with the biden administration, we have a team in place that recognizes the problem and is committed to addressing it. >> now, melanie, you wrote an op-ed for essence magazine this week laying out what black women, a key voting bloc who helped this president to victory, what black women are looking for in the first 100 days. april side from covid and health care concerns, you're asking the biden administration for, quote, a comprehensive approach to hold police accountable, end racial profiling and institute sweeping we forms of the criminal justice system. what are the concrete steps toward that goal you'll be watching and looking out for? >> thanks, rev.
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one of those things is to make sure they advocate strongly for the george floyd justice and policing act to be passed, to make sure that the john lewis voting rights acts are passed. when we're talking about the number one women for black women and black people period, also our election exit polls with black men and women young and seasoned show that racial disparities and systemic racism is number one. number two is criminal justice and policing reform and third of course covid. so there are things that started in the last congress that sat in mitch mcconnell's graveyard. we need to make sure that that is part of that 100 days push. weep know covid is critical. also, as you always say, they're still killing us. they're still killing blacks. there's still police unjust killing. those who are doing the damage, that has not stopped. there is a need for it to be
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just as vital to address the systemic issues like to change what's going on in police departments across this country and the killing of black and brown folks unjustly by the police. >> david, what do you feel must happen in the first 100 days for this administration to really show we're turning the curve from the four years that we had under donald trump? >> you know, i think it will be judged not just by what is accomplished but buy joe biden's leadership with the entire nation. the call for unity. and, frankly, putting those ten republican senators that were invited to the white house on the spot. are they going to join in the call for unity or not? because to the point of melanie's op-ed, it was black women who gave the white house to joe biden.
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it was not the white moderates who handed joe biden the keys to the white house. it was voters of color and particularly black women. so they should rightly expect that the policies that joe biden puts forward honors their vote. and in the first 100 days, i think communities of color need to see that leadership from joe biden. to those who maybe have been disaffected republicans or the white moderates, all joe biden can do is reach across the aisle and ask them to reach back. we need to look at those ten moderates that met in the senate and ask them are you reaching back with president biden? >> and reaching goals both way. s. >> thank you, melanie campbell and david jolly. coming up, why we must rise up and teach our children civics. and a new movie explains ou the sublime voice and tumultuous voice of billie holiday still
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resonates today. richard? >> some stories we're watching this hour, the u.s. is closing in now on 27 million cases of covid-19 as the death toll now over 462,000. "the new york times" reporting alaska and west virginia, though, have the highest vaccine -- vaccination rates today. and scientists got the green light to study mixing and matching vaccines. they'll get one shot of the astrazeneca v vaccine and then a shot of the pfizer vaccine. and over 100 inmates took over a portion of the downtown st. louis jail. and super bowl weekend kicks off. the nfl announced last night it offered president biden the use of all 30 of their stadiums as mask vaccination centers.
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major league baseball also pitching in on this. thousands of shots given friday at yang y atankee stadium. more "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton right after the break. reverend al sharpton right after the break. fo r colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll get on it! that's a step in the right direction.
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for this week's "rise up," i want to talk about education in america and specifically the lack of formal civics education in this countrycountry's school. you wouldn't expect high school seniors to perform well in calculus if you never taught them their times tables. and yet we send 18-year-olds off to vote in this country with little to no instruction about the rights and responsibility of civic life, and that approach
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has real consequences. a 2020 poll found that just 51% of americans could name all three branches of government, and that's the highest number ever recorded. so how did we get here? in the spirit of education, here's a short history lesson. in the late 50s, we were in a space race with the soviet union, so the government encouraged schools to emphasize, math, science and engineering at the expense of civics and social studies. this laser focus lasted into the 21st century when george w. bush's landmark no child left behind act was signed into law. but despite its aspirational name, no child left behind forced schools to primarily be centered on math and language arts topics that would show up on standardized tests and so civics continued to be an after
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thought at best. to make matters worse, now the small amount of history and civics that is taught in some areas has become politicized with multiple states considering laws to limit resources used to teach about slavery and systemic racism. textbooks in different versions put out to difference states, a california version of a high school history textbooks discusses redlines and restrictive deeds, while in texas, the same textbook doesn't mention racially motivated housing discrimination at all. it's no coincidence i bring this up on the first weekend of black history month, as these failures in civics and social studies education are proof that the promise of this month has fallen short. black history is american history, and a foundation in american history is required for
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a full understanding of contemporary civic life. black history should be taught more than one month out of every school year and fully integrated into every day history lessons taught in our schools. so what can you do to ensure today's students have the educational foundation to grow into informed and civically engaged voters? start local. attend your district school board meetings and pay attention to the homework your kid bring home. make sure your district is fully funding its teachers and scholastics programs so children can get the fair and inclusive education they deserve. because while millions of american adults live their whole lives never using the quad drattic formula, we have the opportunity and responsibility to vote in every election. and if you're dissatisfied with the direction of your local
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schools and where they're headed, run for the school board yourself. make your voice heard because the future of your children and this country depends on it. we'll be right back. washed your hands a lot today? probably like 40 times. hands feel dry? like sandpaper. introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. at visionworks, we want you to feel safe and we want you to see yourself in your new glasses and think, "ooh!"
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(snap) fine jewelry for every day. minus the traditional markups. one month after the attack on the capitol, members of congress are grappling with what to do about what speaker nancy pelosi calls the enemies within. lawmakers embrace many of the same conspiracy theories that fueled the deadly insurrection. this week members of both political parties stripped freshman gop congresswoman marjorie taylor greene of all committee assignments because of her social media activity supporting violence against her fellow members. joining me now is democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, who introduced the resolution that led to that
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vote. let me go straight to it, congresswoman. your resolution to strip representative green of her committee assignments passed by 230-199 vote. in a statement about the resolution passing you write, quote, a member cannot represent and respect this institution while also calling for violence against those who serve inside it. so now she has no committee assignments but is still a member of the house and a colleague of yours. what are the personal concerns you yet have? >> well, i'm thankful that the majority of the members of the house of representatives recognized that it was absolutely unsearchable for marjorie taylor greene to be a member of any committee in the house of representatives but particularly of the education committee. just to recap for your viewers, reverend al, marjorie taylor
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greene advocated for a bullet to be the quickest end to speaker nancy pelosi. >> right. >> she suggested that both sandy hook and the modern mass shootings were a hoax. so you just can't have a members of congress who advocates violence against our own members and violence in general be anything other than a toxic addition to a committee. and so she disqualified herself. going forward, you know, what was important was making sure that we rendered her as powerless as possible because having a member who is in a position to make policy and to really poison the well of a collegial body like the house of representatives or one that's supposed to function in a collegial way was really a nonstarter. >> you know, some say the irony of her having been on the education committee while she
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said that parkland where students in school were kill was a hoax i think is an insult, not an irony. let me go to this part of it. you were the state of florida's first jewish congresswoman, had congressmen but not a jewish congresswoman. the number of anti-semitic hate crimes has been on the ride. representative griep has peddled many ant semitic theories. as the make-up of congress becomes increasingly diverse, how will members of color and those who are jewish feel safe working with colleagues who are bigoted? >> we certainly weren't going to stand idly by and just let that poison infect the house of representatives. and so congresswoman brenda lawrence, my dear friend and i formed the black jewish caucus because we wanted to make sure that in the face of bigotry, in
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the face of racism and anti-semitism that we united the african-american and jewish members together and we have non-jewish and non-. members in the caucus as well so that we could promote unity and tolerance and understanding and stand together as blacks jews have for generations and making sure we stood up against that anti-semitism and racism and bigotry. so standing up and uniting with two historic allies is so essential. it's bipartisan as well, and we're going to uses that platform to stand in the face of hate. >> what do you expect to use from president biden to hope dispel the rise of these extremist groups. >> first we need to pass the george floyd justice and
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policing act. we do need really serious effort, particularly i think to police socialmedia platforms. that sounds intrusive but the toxicity online has gone so far beyond the first amendment and has amounted in so many cases to shouting fire in a crowded theater. we need to make sure we strike the right balance that allows free speech but also prevents violence from being propagated online. >> thank you for being with us congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. coming up, we're kicking off black history month and what better way to do so than talk about the legendary bily holiday. i'll talk about the biopic of the great black actress and singer after the break. t black singer after the break
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billie holiday. the naacp says billie holliday is the voice of our people. >> blacks and whites together. ♪ that strange fruit ♪ >> they won't let me sing nowhere, no clothes, no money, no nothing. >> she's made something of herself and you can't take it because she's strong, beautiful and black. >> i'm so excited that our first
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"politicsnation" story of this black history month celebrates both past and present because, as you just saw from the trailer, the united states versus billie holidays tells the story from a different lens. it made her both the muse of black america and an enemy of the state. given how big billie holiday's life was, it's only fitting one of america's biggest filmmaker is behind the camera and one of the world ears biggest voices is in front. they both join me,s one and only mr. lee daniels, director of the united states versus billie holiday and what are both of you
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hoping that audiences will take away from this film? because themes are clearly bigger than a standard biopic. i don't have to tell you how contemporary so much of this material is. ms. day, let me start with you. you would think this was about an artist and government repression today. and you would think you were billie holiday. >> well, first of all, thank you so much for that and thank you, lee, because i don't know how he does it but he is able to pull performances out that are -- and feelings and emotions out that, you know, you can't really describe how. but, yeah, it's very relevant. it's painfully relevant and i think we had moments like that on set and that was one. things that i remember most was we'd be filming and we'd be doing these scenes and see segregated audiences and it would affect us so deeply but then we would have moment where we like, wow, we're filming this
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in the 1940s and this feels like we're filming it right now. to us it was a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do and telling the truth about our narrative, or billie holidays's narrative, it's so important for us to tell the truth about these stories, stories that have been oppressed and changed. we have to tell these stories so we can stop feeling this nostalgia when we're doing scenes like this. >> lee, you have been a genius in terms of your career, but i've never seen you and talked to you with any of your projects that you've had more passion than telling this story because most people remember miss holiday's artistry and the overpublicizing of some of her demons, but no one really talked about how she was that civil rights voice and was targeted by the government at that time.
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and you really bring that to life in this film. why was that so important to you? >> because -- how you doing, rev, by the way? >> fine. >> i'm happy to be here, we're both happy to be here. the sorry that was out there was "lady sings the blues." that's what they want us to believe is the truth and that's not the truth. this lady kicked off the civil rights movement with that song and the government wanted her to stop. they asked her nicely. she refused. then they came for her. this is history that is our history that is not told to us. so when susan lori parks wrote this incredible script, my spirit said i had to acknowledge her, i had to -- i had to tell the story. >> now, the song you all are talking about is "strange fruits," which is talking about the lynchings. i want to play another clip from the film because it teases up
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not just one of the central conflicts but speaks on how this one song in particular still defines billie holiday's career and this country. folks at home take a listen. >> why don't you ever sing "strange fruit"? >> "strange fruit". i got to be pretty high to sing that one. >> never heard you sing it. >> it's a song about important things, you know. things that are going on in the country. i don't think people know i care about those things. most of my other songs are just about love. >> love is important, too, right? >> you know, miss day, as i said before, you had the daunting task of conjuring billie holiday both as an actor but also a vocalist. having sung the song for the
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film, what made "strange fruit" so powerful for its audience and so dangerous for its best-known performer? >> i think -- i think "strange fruit" was a mirror, you are know. and if you're not willing to face who you are and oftentimes speaking candidly america is not willing to face its legacy of racial terror and the fabric, i think it's also recognizing that this terror of lynching is, it's not a lynch group doing it. but are it was part of the fabric of america. "strange fruit" was a mirror, it was letting people what was going on. when you don't have to face something, it's easy to ignore it's there. but when something is put in your face, especially something
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as horrible as lynching, you have to face it and do something about it and that was dangerous, especially when you're trying to continue a system of oppression or grow a system of oppression. and that's detrimental to that. of course it was dangerous. she's integrating audiences. she can't exist under that kind of microscope. >> my producer put me on to this fun fact that one of leave daniels' first industry jobs was casting assistant on a little film called "purple rain." now saying there's a pattern there but you've done "empire," you've done "star" and you've had the foresight of having mein to do cameos on both of those shows. but what is it about -- andre, you got to look out, you cut me out of this movie but we'll talk about it. >> my gosh. >> what is it about lee daniels and music that stories of music
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and musicians on film grabs you, lee? >> we are seduced not just by the story but we love music. itstorytelling. so a musical will always, music to a story especially a -- a -- a tragic story, eases -- it's a nice -- it's a nice chaser to tragedy, and andra is unbelievable as the singer. i mean, the singing is really god working through her. >> she did a fantastic job. i was awed watching it, and i thank both of you -- >> wait, wait, wait, al. listen, you really were, you could have easily played somebody in this period. put a hat on you and a little feather out the hat, had you in
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a pinstripe. >> yeah. i got the hair-style! >> [ laughter ]. >> don't let them laugh at me, andra. thank you, lee. thank you, andra day. the movie drops on hulu on february 26th. make sure you take a look. you will never be the same. my thanks to both of you. up next, my "final thoughts." stay with us. . art class. it's abstract expressionism. when you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. it's all for the love of hot dogs. ♪ ♪ ♪ smooth driving pays off. ♪ with allstate, the safer you drive the more you save. ♪
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ohio indicted adam coy. the former columbus police officer who shot and killed 4 -year-old andre hill, unarmed black man in the home of a garage where he was a guest. i delivered the eulogy at hill's memorial service just last month. a few days ago police in rochester, new york, were caught on camera handcuffing and pepper spraying a 9-year-old black girl. i repeat that. 9 years old. three office were involved in the incident. one has been suspended, and the other two have been placed on administrative leave. as we deal with commemorating and raising black history month this month, we should learn all we can about the greatness of the past that blacked contributed to this country, and
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contributed to the world, and has been too often removed from regular history. that's why black history month came into existence, but we must not stop there. we must continue to make black history. make laws that protect 9-year-old girls, and protect unarmed men in garages. we should learn from the past to execute a better present, and create a better future. black history. let's make some. we'll be right back. back. t-mobile is upgrading its network at a record pace. we were the first to bring 5g nationwide. and now that sprint is a part of t-mobile we're turning up the speed. upgrading over a thousand towers a month
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that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern for another live hour of "politicsnation." i'll be joined by nfl legend jim brown, the former cleveland browns fullback will weigh in on how black history month, on race relations in the league and shts of course, super bowl sunday. my colleague alicia menendez picks up coverage now. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. a month since the attack on our capitol but the memoies are raw. and amnesia on the heels of trump's second impeachment
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trial.