"politicsnation." tonight's lead, united we stand. it has been a heartbreaking week for those of us in the civil rights community, but in tragedy we've been given a valuable reminder about the true nature of our movement. we aren't just fighting for black rights. the fighting for justice extends to everyone, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. the city of atlanta is still in tremendous pain this evening after tuesday's senseless

tragedy, a shooting spree at three local spas that left eight people dead, six of them women of asian descent. at least three of the victims were mothers. yesterday president joe biden and vice president kamala harris visited atlanta on a trip initially planned to highlight progress made in combatting the coronavirus pandemic. they took time to meet with members of the asian-american community to express their condolences and call for solidarity. >> hate can have no safe harbor in america. it must stop. >> racism is real in america. and it has always been. >> in a moment, we'll talk with atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms about the mood in her city and the latest on the investigation into what motivated the perpetrator of this horrific event. while a george county

sheriff's captain is under fire for suggesting the shooter was having a "bad day." but we here at "politicsnation" a far more concerned about the many bad days being experienced by our asian-american brothers and sisters who are living in a state of fear. there have been nearly 3,800 bias incidents reported by asian-americans between march 19th, 2020, and february 28 this year, according to stop aapi hate. the congress on thursday held prescheduled hearings on the rising rate of anti-asian violence. the results were both stirring and predictively partisan. an outpouring of emotion in righteous anger from asian-american lawmakers and their allies, and countless disregard the outright hostility

from some republicans, many of whom have spent the past year joining former president trump in his shameful effort to scapegoat china for the coronavirus pandemic. let's get started. joining me now, congresswoman judy chu of california, the chairwoman of the asian pacific american caucus. congresswoman, i want to start with the hearing of anti-asian violence you presided overon thursday. let's listen to this back and forth between republican congressman chip roy of texas and democratic congresswoman grace meng of new york. >> so now we're talking about whether talking about china, the chinese communist party, whatever phrasing we want to use, if some people are saying, hey, we think those guys are the bad guys, for whatever reason, and let me just state clearly, i

do. >> i want to go back to something that mr. roy said earlier. your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country that you want. but you don't have to do it by putting a bull's-eye on the back of asian-americans across this country on our grandparents, on our kids. this hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community and to find solutions and we will not let you take your voice away from us. >> madam chair lady, what do you make of that change? >> well, how offensive was congress member chip roy. let me count the ways. first of all, we have said that asian-americans are suffering from anti-asian hate crimes because of the ugly rhetoric that trump used this whole past year, the china virus, wuhan virus, and and even kung flu.

what does roy do? he doubles down and uses that rhetoric even more. not only that, he then says, well, we should have prosecutions by doing lynchings. lynchings, show that is acceptable? and then he dismisses the seriousness of these horrific hate crimes by just saying you are impinging on my freedom of speech. this follows along a very callous attitude that republicans have been taking as they follow donald trump in his rhetoric, as they've done this entire past year. in fact, when we had an anti-hate crime resolution on the floor in the fall, 164 republicans voted against it. it was unbelievable. in fact, kevin mccarthy, the minority leader, called it a

waste of time. >> congresswoman, we're still not fully sure about the atlanta killer's motive, we know that probably he is not as -- as isis -- he's not isis. he's not black lives matter. he's not antifa. he is not an immigrant. we do know that he is a home-grown killer inspired by something to commit a deadly crime. but whatever it is, the fact is the asian community is feeling terrorsed. he went to asian spas and he killed mostly asian people. how can we fix this problem in your judgment? >> well, first of all, let us be utterly clear. this was a hate crime. this is a 21-year-old white male who went to his first victim, a

business called young's asian massage, and then he drove 27 miles to another location where he hit two other asian spas. now, if his main problem was sex addiction, couldn't he have chosen many other places to go to? >> in 27 miles, in a 27-mile distance, yes. >> yes. in 27 miles he had lots of choices, but no, he went to the establishments where it was clear there would be so many asian women present for him to shoot. and so in my mind, it's utterly clear it's a hate crime, but i tell you, you know, law enforcement is going to equivocate because they may not find a person who will have heard him uttering an actual anti-asian slur at the time.

and then they're going to say, oh, it wasn't a hate crime. but i would have to ask this. do they actually have the personnel that will talk to people in different languages because, after all, these were all businesses that have many asian immigrants. if he shouted something at the time, would they have understood if they mainly spoke another language? there are lots of issues here that complicate the question of whether it would legally be called a hate crime. but in my mind, it's clearly a hate crime. >> now, congresswoman, let's go back. we know that racist anti-asian hashtags spiked after trump first tweeted the term "chinese virus." listen to president biden yesterday talking about asians being scapegoated. >> too many asian-americans have been walking up and down the

streets and worrying, waking up each morning the past year feeling their safety and the safety of their loved ones are at stake. they've been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, and harassed. they've been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed. >> many of the perpetrators of anti-asian violence are sadly more likely to listen to the former guy than the current president, and that's why you're saying former president trump could still help solve the problem if he could find in his heart to do so. tell us about that. >> well, for goodness sake, it's been a whole year in which president trump used those ugly terms despite the fact that the cdc and the world health organization said not to use such terms because of the stigma it causes those from different geographic locations and ethnicities. what did he do?

he doubled down and started using it more and more at his rallies, in vire hyperbolic way, so that he was able to recruit republican followers who then repeated it. what we're seeing now is the aftermath of all of that. in fact, a spike of anti-asian hate crimes in this past month against the elderly and the most vulnerable, including an 84-year-old who was assaulted, pushed to the ground so that he actually died. and a 91-year-old who was also shoved to the ground. but let me say that it's all changed so dramatically with president biden issuing that executive memorandum within the first week of his taking office. now we have a chance to heal this country. now we have somebody who actually is paying attention to us. in fact, he immediately said

that the justice department needs to meet with the aapi community. we took him up on that immediately and had a meeting last week. but i have to tell you that this whole past year we've been trying to do that and under president trump we were totally ignored. >> now, before we leave, i want to reiterate, you are saying that you're calling for specific hate crime tracking legislation. quickly tell us about that. >> yes. there is the covid-19 hate crimes act and the no hate act. these two bills will go a long way in helping us be better able to handle hate crimes in this country. the covid-19 hate crimes act will have somebody in the justice department tracking these hate crimes and ensuring that they are prosecuted as well as issuing guidance. the no hate act would vastly improve our hate crime reporting system and also get law

enforcement agencies to actually have a hate crimes program in place. >> all right. thank you, chairwoman of the asian pacific caucus congresswoman judy which you. joining me is atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms. she met with president biden and vice president harris yesterday during their visit. thank you for being on, as always, madam mayor. let me say, first, what can you share about the latest in the investigation? especially -- you just heard congresswoman chu calling it a hate crime. can we call this a hate crime yet? >> thank you for having me, reverend al. by all appearances, it appears to be a hate crime as i look at the legal definition of a hate crime in georgia. a hate crime can be charged based on race, it can be based upon sex and national origin. now, we know that the murder charges and the aggravated

assault charges will carry the stiffer penalties, but i think for purposes of recognizing what happened in metro atlanta this week, i think it's important that hate crime charges be brought. and i do hope that prosecutors will consider that. although the penalty will only be two years for a hate crime, you have to remember, reverend al, i know that you know this, but the audience may not know, this hate crime law was just passed in georgia last year after the murder of ahmaud arbery. we were one of the last states in the nation to put in place a hate crime law. if this is not the situation in which this penalty and this crime is made for, i don't know what is. >> now, much has been made this week about how certain members of law enforcement have tried to characterize the motivations of the suspect in these shootings

before a full investigation has been conducted. are you satisfied how the local state and federal agencies involved handling the case thus far? >> so there are different investigations going on. there's the cherokee county investigation. that was for the shooting that happened in woodstock, the first shooting. atlanta police has a separate investigation for those that happened in our city. and the fbi and the gbi are assisting. the congresswoman asked a question about the language barrier. the fbi specifically is helping us with that to make sure that we have the most well-trained people in place and translators in place so we can thoroughly conduct this investigation. what i know -- you know, reverend al, i was there at the press conference when that statement was made. we were in a room prior to coming out. it was a very somber room, very respectful towards the victims. my impression of that officer --

and he can speak for himself -- was that he was describing what the suspect has shared with him. but obviously not knowing about his facebook posts, that's very concerning in and of itself. what's most concerning, reverend al, is that we now have a distraction from what happened on that day. eight people lost their lives. one man is in the hospital recovering in critical condition. our energy should be there and the -- it's unfortunate that there are so many layers to what we're dealing with, with discrimination and with hatred in this country, but i do hope that in all of this conversation, the lives of these victims won't be forgotten. >> absolutely. you met with president biden and vice president harris yesterday during their visit to your city of atlanta. other than meeting with leaders

of the asian community, they also paid a visit to the cdc, the centers for disease control, that monitors the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. what is done in atlanta to make sure the vaccine distribution is fair and accessible to all? >> president biden and vice president harris are two people of their word. so when we met in the white house close to a month ago, we talked about equity in vaccine distribution. there was a commitment then that additional vaccines would be sent to community health centers and sites. in atlanta we're opening up a site at the mercedes-benz stadium. there will be a distribution of up to 23,000 vaccines a day at this site in the heart of the west side of atlanta, one of our underserved communities. so in atlanta we're going to make sure those go directly to

the people. we're going to knock done doors. we're going to make sure people are aware and make sure they have an opportunity to get these vaccines to communities that need them the most. we hear a lot about vaccine hesitancy. i don't know if there's hesitancy or not in atlanta yet because all i know is that there are hundreds and thousands of people in our city asking when they can get the vaccine, and now that this site will be open, it's my hope that they will receive it. >> madam mayor, i have to ask you this. republicans in our state are pushing forward some of the most restrictive voting laws since jim crow, aimed at making it harder for black and brown folks to make our voices heard, as well as asian americans who turned out in record numbers in 2020. listen to what senator warnock had to say on the senate floor this week. >> as we stood up as americans in the 1960s and passed federal

legislation to say that we're one country and that this is the foundation upon which this country is built, we are a democratic republic, we have to do that right now. and there is a path to do it, and to do otherwise would be a terrible dereliction of our duty. if we don't protect our democracy in the united states senate for what is the body of the senate for? >> what happens, madam mayor, if voting rights can't be addressed nationally? >> well, what happens is that you have states like georgia that will attempt to turn back the clock. but a great firewall that we have in this state, and i'm so grateful for the representation of senator warnock and senator ossoff in the senate, but we also have a very big and vibrant corporate community.

we attract a lot of big events to our state, super bowl, final 4, the all-star game. i think that's going to be a huge influence in this because we do know that there are already calls for boycotts if these are put into place. our corporate community has stepped up previously and has been our firewall when there were attempts to pass discriminatory laws against the lgbt community. that's in play. the senate and house in georgia, we're watching the sausage be made. we'll see what the final outcome of this bill is, but it's my hope that these corporations will continue to stand up and speak out. and if this passes, it is my hope that the governor will not sign it. >> all right. thank you for being with us, atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms. coming up, senator ron johnson dropped some racist

comments about blm protesters. now i'm going to drop knowledge on him and his rhetoric. first, richard lui with the top news stories. >> a very good saturday to you. some of the stories we're watching this hour. the good news of 100 million vaccinations has not ban cause for comfort. total cases now in the united states over 29 million, more than 543,000 americans have died. florida is now the third state today to report more than 2 million cases. miami beach announcing a state of emergency just a short time ago, and new restrictions as it deals with spring break season. donald trump's mar-a-lago is closed after staff tested positive. trump's former personal lawyer, michael cohen, had his eighth meeting with the manhattan district attorney's office on friday. the d.a. is conducting a wide

ranging criminal probe into the former president, his organization, and associates. another woman is accusing new york governor andrew cuomo of sexual harassment. ellis is a mcgraph is the first current employee to publicly could you see the governor of inappropriate comments and ogling. cuomo denies all accusations and remains defiant amid bipartisan calls for his resignation. more "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton right after the break. g-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. are you packed yet?

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for this week's gotcha, i want to address wisconsin republican senator ron johnson who recently regalled us with this revisionist history of the january 6th insurrection. >> i knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do a thing to break a law. and so i wasn't concerned.

now, had the tables been turned, this could get me in trouble, had the tables been turned and president trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of black lives matter and anti-fa protesters, i might have been concerned. >> aside from senator johnson's racist implication that the mostly white mob of made up of overexcited patriots, but that mostly black protesters for racial justice are somehow threatening, he's just factually incorrect about the events of january 6th. the insurrectionist were hardly respectful of law enforcement. as at least 140 officers were injured in this assault on our democracy, it is hard to imagine that senator johnson doesn't know that since one of those officers, brian sicknick, died in the attacks. in the aftermath, he was laid in state at johnson's own

workplace, a rare and well-deserved honor. and the senator doubled down on his comments just a few days ago. >> there was nothing racial about my comments, nothing whatsoever. this isn't about race, it's about riots. >> it's good to know that even as some republicans get more overt with their racism, senator johnson hasn't lost the art of dog whistling. here he's enforcing the false narrative that the protests devolved in the riots despite the fact that multiple investigations has shown much of the violence at these marches were instigated by white supremacists, even the department of homeland security agreed that the greatest terrorist threat comes from these organized white nationalists. perhaps when remembering the insurrection on january 6th senator johnson has blocked out

the chants of "hang mike pence" and the gallows that were set up on the national mall. luckily, senator johnson's constituents see through his racist misrememberings and are ready to hold him accountable. one madison woman was so incensed by his conduct around the insurrection investigation that her obituary asked for donations for johnson's 2022 opponent instead of flowers. but sadly, senator johnson has never had the courage of his convictions and the courage of conviction that his 81-year-old constituent had, and he doesn't have the integrity to stand by his mealy mouthed statements. he's been hinting helmeted retire rather than face the music in a re-election campaign. as you know, senator johnson, that's probably for the best.

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over the last year as former president trump refused to temper his racist language surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, incidents of anti-asian hate increased into the thousands, with other two-thirds of reported incidents targeting asian and asian-american women. those numbers don't include the killings in georgia this week where eight people were gunned down.

to discuss this topic in much, much more, joining me now is my panel, britney cunningham, black lives matter activist and msnbc contributor, and kurt bardella, former spokesman for the house oversight committee and an "l.a. times" and "usa today" contributor. i want to cover a lot of topics, but, kurt, let me start. as an asian-american and a former republican, you have been tweeting about this incident and we hear about hate and terrorism all the time, even the director of the fbi, chris wray considers it to be a former domestic terrorism. now as we have the families and communities mourning their loss, how did we get here, and what can be done about it? >> rev, we got here, in my

opinion, in part because of the republican party. this is a party -- this is well before donald trump ever arrived on the scene. you can go back to what used to be their standard bearer, ronald reagan. reagan, who in my opinion was a racist, who used policies such as the war on drugs, the term welfare queens pandering to the kren right to cater to the extreme elements of the republican party base and cloaked racism in public policy. it's no coincidence that when you look at where the republican party is today, now the races are the face of the party. what donald trump acid was he gave license and permission to those group of people that reagan and others pandered to for so long to come out in the open with their racism and rhetoric. it's manifested itself now into violence. it's no surprised we've gone from extreme rhetoric to extreme acts of violence. they are linked and connected, and part of the solution is to

start calling it for what it is and remind us of the context of how we got here, and it's been going on for a long time. >> britney, let me ask you this on another issue. the latest vaccination numbers are a little closer to flecking the actual demographics in america. but black and latino communities are still underrepresented, given how the covid has been disproportionately impacting us. shouldn't we be aiming to be overrepresented in the vaccine data as it's distributed? >> of course we should, rev, but unfortunately medical apartheid hits all parts of the system. we know from data that black and latinx communities were some of the last to be tested. that led to disproportionate treatment or lack thereof, should i say, for those same communities. the fatalities in our communities outweighed and outpaced the numbers in our

communities, and we saw a disproportionate amount of deaths due to covid and co-ed-related things, again, in black and latinx communities. now the vaccination numbers, unfortunately, are no different. we spent a lot of time in social conversations and medical conversations discussing the justified weariness, but we didn't remember our communities are smart and when given the information, the demand was there. and so they weren't prepared for that demand. we should be bringing this vaccine to the most in need and most vulnerable communities, and making sure that we prevent privileged folks from jumping the line so that the vaccinations go to the place where it's needed most. >> now, kurt, we hear about stories of voter suppression all over the country. for example, arizona has been voting by mail for 30 years, but now state republicans are trying to dismantle their mail voting system. arizona gop has introduced at least 22 restrictive voting

bills and several major mail voting changes are progressing through the legislature. now as we pointed out on this show, this is a national trend that's happening in texas, georgia, and florida, with big implications in future presidential races. how do democrats combat republican weaponization of trump's big election lie? >> i think it starts with passing h.r. 1, it starts with moving forward with the reforms that john lewis spent his entire life fighting for and codifying them. listen, we have control of the house, a majority in the senate, and the white house. as democrats, if we aren't able to successfully use the instruments of government to protect and expand the fundamental right to vote, something at the very core of our democracy, i don't know what the heck we're doing, honestly. it's clear that republicans have

realized that when the playing field is level and all things are equal, they can't win. their message doesn't work. so what are they trying to do? they're trying to pick their voters. they're the only political party in america who was built on the idea it's better for them if there's less participation in our democratic process. they're the only political party in america making apologies and trying to whitewash the events of january 6th. we need to call it out for what it is and use instruments of power that we have. the voters gave democrats the levers of power for a reason. they have to use them. >> now, staying on this topic, republicans are willing to do anything to stop voting rights. here's what lindsey graham had to say on wednesday. >> here's what biden needs to understand. if you go to the talking filibuster, we will take the floor to stop h.r. 1. i will talk until i fell over to make sure we don't go to ballot harvesting and voting by mail without voter i.d.

i would until i fell over to make sure the equality act doesn't become law, destroying the difference between a man and woman in our law. >> is this the new republican brand, britney? i mean, will this devotion to obstruction at any cost move the last democratic holdouts to reform the jim crow filibuster? >> i mean, rev, it's not the new republican brand. it's the consistent republican brand. i know we talk about what led to january 6th as the big lie, but the gop has continued to lie over generations. one of the consistent lies is about voter fraud and voter security. i'm here to tell you what you already know, that voter fraud is not real. the data bears that out. and bills about voter security, well, that's all based on a scam. not only is our vote deeply secure, it is so secure that many people who should've access to their right to vote are not actually let through to do so. what is real in this case and in

so many others is voter suppression, and the 250 plus bills that have been proposed in state houses all across this country as well as the attempts at the federal level gop to make sure that black, brown, indigenous, poor, young, and lgbtq folks can't get to the polls is part and parcel with who this party is. they want to make sure as kurt already said that more folks don't vote because they know that if all of us who are eligible to vote do vote, they will never win another election in their lifetime. they want to prevent them losing their power. that's all this is no matter how many lies they tell us. >> last question. two immigration bills passed the house this week with bipartisan support, but both face deeply uncertain futures in the senate because far-right republicans continue to insist any path to citizenship for any of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in this country amounts to amnesty.

kurt, amnesty has been a dirty word in the republican circles for decades, even though their hero, ronald reagan, gave amnesty to nearly 3 million people. isn't this language a way to avoid any compromise whatsoever on the immigration issue? >> republicans have shown for decades now that they have no desire, no interest, no will to take any meaningful action on immigration. they just see the issue of immigration as another frontier in their race war they've perpetrated on the rest of us. that's all that this is for them. the code words, border security, national security, amnesty, those are code words for more racist policies that we've seen from them time and time again. it's ironic that the last time there was an amnesty in this country, it was from their so-called hero, ronald reagan. if all the times you hear them quote reagan racing, ronald reagan couldn't get elected dog catcher in today's republican

party. there's no place for someone like that in "n" today's republican party. it shows how fringeworthy they are, they indicator to the bottom dwellers of their party. as britney just said, they know if we all show up, they will lose, we will win. that is driving every single decision they're making right now, and that's why they're leading this race war on america. >> all right. britney cunningham and kurt bardella, thanks for being with us. the white house touts success in meeting an ambitious vaccine goal, but some communities of color are feeling left behind. that conversation is next. d ♪ ♪ cold beer on a friday night ♪ ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. here you go, let me help you.

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inequities in distribution stubbornly persist. one birmingham, alabama, health clinic serving the low-income, black population, said they only got their first dose of the vaccine this month, whereas in wealthier white neighborhoods nearby, first doses had already been distributed out. joining me now is commissioner for jefferson county, alabama, sheila tyson. thank you, commissioner, for being with us. so let's go right at it. so up until ten days ago the alabama regional medical services, which is a health clinic that primarily serves a lower income black neighborhood, had not received a single dose of covid-19 vaccine and had to wait till last saturday for its first shipment. meanwhile, the first doses in the state went to nearby mountain brook, an affluent

white suburb of birmingham. why do we see this racial rollout disparity in alabama? >> it's very sad, rev, for this to happen in the middle of a pandemic. they never had a plan for our community, not one plan. they never called any of us to the table to receive a plan. they never did a survey or talked to us, not for the vaccine, not even for the testing. we were never involved in a communication with a state officer about the testing nor the vaccine. so we were totally left out. they were really hoping we would not take the vaccine. we were very offended by that in our community. >> now, a report out this week by the alabama public health department shows that 15.3% of the state's black population has received some form of vaccine so far. meanwhile, over 50% of the

state's white population has gotten vaccinated. now, that is staggering. what can be done right now to get more in the black community in your state vaccinated as soon as possible? >> we have actually had to go to our congresswoman, congresswoman terry sewell. she has brought the federal government into this. that's how less doses in our neighborhood -- that's what happened. so we had to go to the federal government in order for them to fund and to give the vaccines to the people in the clinics within our black and brown communities because if we did not, we were not going to receive any. the arms -- they got them from the jefferson county health department. they still didn't receive any vaccines from the state. so we are still dealing with that problem. so the vaccines that's coming in now, they're actually coming

from the federal government, not the state government, like it should. they're supposed to fund the communities within our state, and we are not receiving them, not only in jefferson county in the black and they have not received no more than 2 percents that they should receive. >> and alabama has been hit hard and governor kay ivey plans to lifts the statewide mask mandates early next month. what is your greatest concern with that? >> my greatest concern is that we will start the cycle all over again along with the infections, along with the deaths, you know, we want to live too. so how can you determine because you get with a group of people and they want to lift the mask

mandate, we have had business owners to call us and ask can you talk to the governor and give a mandate for your county yourself because i feel like if we lift it, no one will actually come and participate within our business and my business will end up closing. we have had several calls from business owners wanting to keep the mask mandate in place so that they can keep their business open. >> all right, i'm out of time, we'll haveyou back to talk about the amazon union dispute. so we'll talk about that, it is a very important issue. thank you for being with us. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us. my final thoughts stay with us

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the trial will continue as scheduled despite concerns at a $27 million settlement reached with floyd's family would affect jurors' impartiality. but i remind everyone that is not a case about money this, is not the case in the court of public opinion, this is a case of injustice that must be dealt fairly within the facts. and well will do that as we stand with the asian-american communities and stand for on police reform. in fact just thursday i convened the candidates for mayor in the city of new york where i live to stand together and put their debates aside and stand with us against the crimes that have happened to asian-americans. until we can fight for everybody, we cannot have the moral authority to fight for

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(naj) at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (naj) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first.

(money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (naj) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. (money manager) but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? (naj) we don't have those. (money manager) so what's in it for you? (naj) our fees are structured so we do better when you do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different.

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 "politics nation." my colleague alicia menendez picks up the news coverage now. >> thank you so much, reverend. thank you for joining us.