good evening and welcome to "politicsnation" on this easter sunday evening. tonight's lead, a sermon. georgia and minnesota may be separated by hundreds of miles, but right now they are the epicenters of americans' race relations. in georgia, republican lawmakers have embraced their pariah

status even as their voter suppression law has already cost the state some very big business. corporations face a deadline from black leaders to cut ties or face a boycott. in minnesota, the eyes of the nation are on derek chauvin's murder trial. the court reconvenes tomorrow, and chauvin's defenders will continue to tell the jury and america's conscience to look away. the thought line from georgia to minnesota goes through tennessee. it was there in memphis, 53 years ago today, that the foremost symbol of nonviolent resistance met with the most violent of ends.

it has been consistently asked of black people to tolerate the appropriation of his legacy by those who inflict political violence on us from the top while excusing physical violence against us in the street. and to them i say, as his son did on this show yesterday, that reverend martin luther king jr. would not endorse what has been done and what was done last month in georgia, just a few miles from where he was born and is now buried. that is "politicsnation" tonight. but first, minnesota and quite possibly the perfect guest. joining me now is democratic minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar. congresswoman, thank you for joining us tonight. let me start by saying the most scrutinize police conduct trial in a generation or more is going into its second week in your

district. how concerned are you about what the reaction will be either way? some are saying will there be unrest, reverend al. i'm saying we should be talking about police practices. but comparable to what we saw last summer, how concerned are we, whatever happens in the verdict with derek chauvin and how concerned are we about whether or not this will lead with dealing with police reform and police repair? >> reverend, it's great to be here with you, happy easter to you and to your viewers. our city, like much of the country, is on edge. we have seen cries for justice go unanswered for a long time. for many of us, it is retraumatizing, watching the footage of george floyd getting the life taken out of him over and over again. it's enraging to hear the former

police officer who is charged with his murder, his defense attorneys deflect blame and try to put george floyd on trial for his own murder at the hands of the police. and today, as you've just stated, is the 53rd anniversary of martin luther king's assassination. it's another reminder of the price he paid for his advocacy on behalf of black lives and how far we still having to as a nation. >> you know, i certainly under no circumstances condone or encourage violence. i'm concerned any time people raise that. but i'm also concerned that even if there are convictions, that we don't go to sleep and not

pursue the legislative ends, that we not take a conviction as a way to relax from making sure this doesn't happen again. >> right. certainly. i mean, we have to respect people's right to protest and prioritize safety of all people. it's really important for us to actually give time and space to healing and justice for black minnesotans and black people across this country who have felt the sting of injustice for far too long. you know, about a month and a half ago, we were able to pass the george floyd justice and policing act. it's a bill that i helped lead in the house. it's a step forward. but there is a long way before, you know, our country is going to be able to deal with the

injustices that black people have been living with for a long time. >> and we need to pass this in the senate, that's my point, if the verdict goes the way everyone wants it, we need to make sure the senate passes the bill. if it doesn't, we need to keep pursuing it in a nonviolent way but not become discouraged. now let's go to voting rights. what can we do to combat what we're seeing in statehouses? nearly 400 voter suppression bills produced in the last three months. about a third of those introduced in the last six weeks. i told martin luther king iii yesterday on this show that this is every bit the insurrection that you witnessed firsthand in january, but where effective voter protections are concerned, that always been a federal fight. your thoughts, congresswoman, what comfortable do about this on a federal level? >> so we already started steps

with hr 1, the for the people act, which we passed in the house. it is our democratic piece of legislation that enhances people's ability to participate in our democracy, that gets rid of corporate corruption within our democracy. what we are seeing across this country in so many state legislatures is a state of emergency for our democracy. it's really appalling to see republicans who have now decided that they can't win an election because they are offering something better to the american people, that they now have to stifle people's ability to access the ballot box. and we are going to continue to stand up. we are going to continue to speak truth. and we're going to continue to push for that piece of legislation to get through the

senate and get it to president biden's desk so that it can be signed into law. for so many people around the world, we are still seen as a beacon of hope when it comes to democracy and, you know, participation in voting for people. and it's quite an embarrassment to see just what the republican party is willing to do to put shame on our democracy and on our republic. >> now, lastly, congresswoman, you tweeted on friday that, quote, the death toll would have been worse if the assailant had an ar-15 instead of a knife, end of quote, referring to the incident at the u.s. capitol on friday in which a capitol police officer was tragically killed by an assailant with a knife. now, critics claim that you were politicizing that death to make a point. i disagree. but i also wonder if your own

experience at the capitol nearly three months ago this week, that you talked to me about on this show, is that also what informed what you wrote. >> so first of all, you know, my condolences to the police officer who was senselessly murdered. it is really quite shameful to see, you know, the seat of democracy again become a place where there are violent attacks taking place. it is a fact that d.c. has one of the most strictest gun laws and gun safety policy, is political. we have made a political choice in this country to not have sensible gun laws. we've passed hr 8 in the house, our sensible gun law

legislation. the republicans blocked it in the last session. we now passed it again. we're hoping that the senate will take it up. it's really important for us to have an honest conversation. you know, people will say cars kill, knives kill, but there is a difference between allowing people to have a weapon that has the ability to take multiple lives in seconds, as we have seen, as mass murders have taken place around our country. i don't want people to be confused about what is political and what is not. gun violence in this country is political. we can make the political choice to end gun violence in our country as many countries have done around the world. >> all right, thank you for being with us, congresswoman omar. and as always, covering issues right to the point. now back to georgia.

on friday, major league baseball moved this year's all-star game out of the state amid a new oppressive voting law that is nothing but blatant suppression. joining me to discuss this is georgia congressman hank johnson and former citigroup executive and now a new york city mayoral candidate, ray maguire. ray, you were among executives who asked companies to fight voter suppression bills like the one that just became law in georgia, in an ad in "the new york times" this week. why do you and your colleagues feel strongly that this is the right way to address this? >> reverend al, thank you for having me. you're right, we did come together, we came together as a group of black and ground leaders on whose shoulders we

stood. we came together as leading, outstanding leaders in the corporate world. we came together as americans who have respected and upheld the values of -- the fundamental values of this country. and yes, we come together to say to other corporate leaders, and those who believe in getting involved in social justice, now is the time. now is the time. so it is a clarion call that we've come together to make to the corporate world, to get involved. if there's a moment to get involved, it is now, as democracy is under siege. >> and you're talking about executives like you, like the former ceo of american express. we've never seen this level of blacks in the corporate world challenge the corporate world. so congressman johnson, this reminds me of similar boycotts in the past like the one you might recall in 1991 when the nfl voted to remove the 1993 super bowl in arizona after the state failed to recognize martin

luther king holiday in that state. several musicians also refused to perform in the state, leading arizona to eventually recognize mlk day. do you think this tactic will work in georgia? >> thanks, reverend al, for having me on. yes, i do believe this will have an impact. it's already got the governor howling like a hit animal. i mean, he's hurting, because georgia is going to lose millions of dollars as a result of his stroke of the pen. and he knows that the people who support him and his policies are the ones whose pocketbooks are going to get hurt by this withdrawal of the all-star game by major league baseball. and so he's hurt, he's howling. those who support him are doing the same thing.

and what it's going to do, reverend al, is cause them to recognize that there is a price that they will pay for suppressing the votes of black and brown people as a result of the elections of january 5 this year and november 3 last year. it was people of color who turned out in georgia, turned georgia blue for joe biden, turned george blue and elected two united states senators. and the end result of that is a backlash or a black-lash with these new voter suppression laws that brian kemp signed into law last week. and now they're going to have to pay a price. >> now, congressman, president biden said he strongly supports major league baseball moving the all-star game from georgia, although georgia went blue for the election, their governor and statehouse are red. is the political danger for

democrats in calling for boycotts in a state where they are just starting to win statewide elections? is there danger in that? >> well, i think boycotts -- and you know this more than anyone, reverend al -- have had their place and have played a tremendous part in us as a people being able to advance this far. and we can't take boycotts off the table. and so, you know, folks like ray mcguire and all those corporate executives, black and brown, who signed that letter to america at large, they were basically to go their colleagues in the business community, that we have to take a stand on the rights of black and brown people to vote. we cannot cross the line and allow politicians like brian kemp to interfere or suppress

the rights of people to vote. and so, you know, the boycott is always on the table, reverend al. some have called for a boycott against delta and coke. i myself, and others, feel that because delta air lines has 33,000 jobs in georgia, coca-cola has 9,000 jobs in georgia, 4,000 of which -- or 5,000, actually, are in the atlanta metropolitan area. so when it comes to boycotting those entities, you're talking about people's jobs. but at the same time, when you talk about withdrawing major league baseball and the all-star game from georgia, that sends a very powerful message to the supporters of the people who voted on the laws that brian

kemp signed. so i'm hopeful. >> that's the point, it started with these laws. ray, picking up on the congressman's point, for those calling to boycott, there is some concern that these boycotts might actually hurt some of the same people that democrats want to help in georgia. for those who think boycotting is not the best move, then what should be done to protest this, if we can't boycott? do we have to choose between jobs and our right to vote? is there another way? because i clearly think boycotting is appropriating. >> listen, we got here by all means necessary, reverend al. and if we look at what's taking place across the country, according to the brennan center, 47 states are now entertaining 300 plus pieces of legislation to suppress voting rights. this is not partisan. this is not something -- there's

no middle ground here. and so unless we stand up today, we may be laying down tomorrow, without a vote. and so i would say i understand the implications of boycotting, which are not insignificant. i also understand the hard-fought battles that we have had. we need corporate america to stand up proudly yet define i defiantly in support of us having voting justice and economic justice. they go hand in hand. >> congressman, briefly, i want to turn to another southern state, virginia, which has become a bastion of voting rights. governor ralph northam signed sweeping legislation to make voting easier, like making election day a state holiday, repealing the state's voter i.d. law and enacting automatic voter registration for those who get a driver's license.

is this a sign of changing times for how voters are treated in the south? >> i believe so, reverend al. i think georgia will do the same thing that virginia's citizens have done, because the demographics are there. and they're going to continue to get stronger in terms of black and brown voters. those voters are going to continue to come out. and it may be -- in 2022, it may well be ushering in the end of the voter suppression of the old south. with these two new democratic senators from georgia, the new south is here. we just need to bring it home to the state legislature. and i think that can be done in 2022. and then we will begin to treat our citizens the way that virginia is now treating its

citizens insofar as voting rights. >> ray, i know you were part of the marches last year around george floyd and i understand you promised the family you would be going to the trial and you'll be going to the trial this week, and we'll talk about that at another time. congressman hank johnson, and ray mcguire, my thanks to both of you tonight. coming up, america's athletes aren't just sticking to sports anymore. they're rising up and calling for social justice. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's other top news stories. richard? >> rev, good sunday to you. some stories we're watching this hour, the biden administration is putting johnson & johnson in charge of a baltimore vaccine manufacturing plant. that facility recently had to dispose of 15 million doses due to an ingredient mixup. the plant had previously been

producing both the johnson & johnson and astrazeneca vaccines. pope francis held a scaled-down version of the traditional easter mass at st. peter's basilica in rome. he called for free distribution of vaccines to the poor and condemning of violence in myanmar. ncaa women's basketball tournament final is tonight. arizona and stanford face off at 6:00 p.m. eastern. men's championship game is tomorrow, gonzaga faces indianapolis. more al sharpton after the break. k. mio... water tastes like, well...water. so we fixed it. mio.

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for this week's "rise up," i want to talk about the return of america's favorite pastime. and while it's true that this was opening weekend, major league baseball, i'm talking about america's other pastime, conservatives complaining about athletes who take a stand, because telling athletes to,

quote, stick to sports and stay out of politics is an inherently political stance in favor of the status quo. this week was a big one for athletic protests, headlined by the announcement of major league baseball that it will be moving its annual all-star game and amateur draft events atlanta in protest of georgia's extensive new voting restrictions laws. and republicans are furious, whining and yelling about so-called, quote, cancel culture, which is a rich claim, really, from the same people who are actively trying to cancel black votes in georgia and around the country. not to mention these are the same people who literally canceled colin kaepernick's entire football career just because he engaged in peaceful protest against police

brutality. but kaepernick is no longer kneeling alone. and it isn't just major league baseball taking a stand this week. the u.s. olympic and paralympic committee announced it will not sanction athletes who choose to use their platforms to, quote, advance racial and social justice. this includes actions like raising a fist, taking a knee, or wearing masks or hats with slogans like "black lives matter" or "justice." the change has been a long time coming. it's been over a half century since american sprinters tommy smith and john carlos raised their fists at the 1968 olympic games. they were expelled from the games and shunned at home. but the photo of their protest is one of the most enduring images of sports activism of all time. and its legacy of american

athletes carries on to this day. just last month, ncaa women's basketball players raised their voices to point out the uneven treatment they were getting compared to their male counterparts. and the public outcry about this kind of discrimination from so-called nonprofit was enough to get the ncaa to take the first steps toward rectifying the situation starting with the training facilities. meantime superstar megan rapinoe took time away from her team's lawsuit against the u.s. soccer federation to pen an op-ed standing up for the rights of transgender girls in sports. and they have come under attack in multiple states, because like baseball, basketball, and soccer, social justice is a team

sport. and who would understand the dynamics of teamwork better than professional athletes? sometimes rising up means raising a fist. sometimes it means taking a knee. and sometimes it's a simple tweet or photo on instagram. american athletes have a long, proud history of refusing to stick to sports. for rising up and fighting for equality and justice for all, and we are in a better nation because of their generations of standing up and of activism. (mom) it sure is. (mom vo) over the years, we trusted it to carry and protect the things that were most important to us. (mom) good boy. (mom vo) we always knew we had a lot of life ahead of us. (mom) remember this? (mom vo) that's why we chose a car that we knew would be there for us through it all. (male vo) welcome to the subaru forester.

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welcome back to "politicsnation." while the biden administration has received high marks for its historic diversity, our federal court system remains largely devoid of black judges, specifically black women. judges at the highest levels, as you might imagine, for the past

four years, did not help as donald trump appointed judges from the least diverse pool in modern presidential history. only 16% of his appointees were of color. half that of his predecessor, barack obama. since taking office, president biden has been working to reverse that course and keep a campaign promise. with former obama supreme court pick merrick garland now confirmed as attorney general, the president's reported top contenders for a supreme court vacancy on his watch are all black women, a first. joining me now is the law and policy senior editor at rewire newsgroup. thank you for being with me. i want our audience to understand, before we get to

names, while the supreme court may be the most visible, it's in fact our lower federal courts, district and appeals, that do most of the work of our judicial system. and we're talking about lifetime appointments to the bench, when ties into why the trump years were so dangerous and why the biden administration is working hard to counter that legacy. is that correct? >> yes, it's absolutely correct. right now we are in a place where we only have 18 black judges who are federal circuit court judges and only two of those are women. so the fact that biden came charging out of the gates with three black women nominees for circuit courts and the only nominees for circuit courts were black women, as a big deal and something that should be celebrated. >> president biden produced his first slate of nominees this week, the big story being his

nomination of judge brown jackson to fill merrick garland's old seat. that would keep the president's campaign promise to put a sister on the nation's highest court. jackson also joins two other women tapped for appointments, along with the first asian-american woman for washington's federal district court. so overall, this new slate has nine women tapped for top judicial posts. your thoughts on these picks. >> i think it's really important that we restore some semblance of -- not restore, but impose some semblance of diversity on the courts, because, you know, we're at a time where we just got finished with the other guy. he appointed mostly white men to the courts.

there are a lot of people from marginalized communities who feel like they don't have a chance to get justice at the federal court level because a lot of the justices don't look like them. and in fact it is really important that there is that sort of diversity because it leads to different outcomes, right? so a black woman judge is going to perhaps recognize some improprieties with respect to the way police treat black people in way that a white male judge may not. and there are studies that bear this out. there is a study, a 20-year-old study but i think still applicable, where they asked white and black judges, do you think black defendants are treated fairly under the system. 83% of white judges said they do think that black defendants are treated fairly, and only 13% of black judges did. and so if you think about that 13% and then you figure out how many women are among that 13%, think about the ways in which their thought processes with respect to gender issues is

going to differ or may differ from their male counterparts. so it's really quite critical, and it's really quite important that biden has made this extremely diverse pick of judges. >> i have to ask you quickly before we run out of time, what do you expect to see in this next week of derek chauvin's murder trial for the death of george floyd, based on what you've seen thus far? i trust your judgment. what do you expect to see this week? >> well, i mean, if you trust my judgment, my judgment has been to not follow the case too carefully, actually, because i find following the trial very painful, after the george zimmerman trial in 2012. i was really devastated by that outcome. so i haven't been paying close attention to derek chauvin's trial because i'm not really -- i just don't have faith in the system. i don't have faith that the courts are going to hold -- or that this jury is going to hold him accountable. >> it's a lot of trepidation.

i'm there in my capacity as the head of national action network, trying to be there to give comfort to the family a couple of days a week. you just don't know. it looks too lay people one way but you never know what a jury is going to do until it's done. i'll never forget the night zimmerman was acquitted. that may be why i'm cautiously watching even though i'm there with the family. thank you for being with us. coming up, the biden administration's next challenge, rebuilding america's infrastructure while making sure communities of color aren't left behind. we'll be talking about it with my next panel. try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. boost glucose control products contain high quality protein and key nutrients to support immune health. try boost. antibacterial or moisturizing body wash?

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or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. in a recent clinical study, patients using salonpas patch reported reductions in pain severity, using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. and improved quality of life. that's why we recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. welcome back. wow. welcome back to "politicsnation." a lot of topics in the news this week. joining me is my panel, the

president of amara strategies group, and elise jordan, msnbc political analyst. let me start with infrastructure. it seemed to choke me up, because we're going to this heavy topic. after what seemed like a hundred so-called infrastructure weeks over the last four years, it's finally infrastructure week for real this time. the biden administration has laid out the most ambitious infrastructure plan in generations with billions of affordable and sustainable housing, bridges, elder care, water and electric upgrades, much, much more. what do you think of the proposed package and can it pass the senate? >> yes, reverend, i think it's amazing that finally after four

years of talking about infrastructure, we're finally getting to it. it is, as biden promised, a big, ambitious package but one that we need. it has not just money in there for roads, highways, and repairs [ inaudible ], but we actually have funding in there for lead pipes in communities of color. it will expand on broadband infrastructure which is needed to make it more possible, especially if we have further pandemics, for people to work and be at school, expand mass transportation, especially for communities of color, in larger cities, and may even make it more possible for rural people to get to more places for jobs and other things that they need in their community including just having [ inaudible ] to

really moving our [ inaudible ] overall. so it's very ambitious. >> very ambitious, and very sweeping. the former president isn't taking his new role very well, sending out ranting press releases, since he's banned from twitter, like the one this morning that said "happy easter to all including the radical left crazies who rigged our presidential election and want to destroy our country." he even crashed a wedding at mar-a-lago. listen to this. >> the border's not good. the border's the worst anybody's ever seen it and what you see now, multiply it times ten, jim. what's happening to the kids? they're living in squalor. they said, get 66 million votes, sir, and the election is over. i got 75 million. a lot of things happening right now. i just want to say it's an honor to be here. >> at least this is the man that

republicans can't stop bowing and scraping to. i mean, crashing weddings, making political speeches, what does that say about the party's future? >> you know, rev, i don't have that much sympathy for getting your wedding trashed when you're choosing to patronize mar-a-lago and putting money in donald trump's coffers. >> good point. >> but that easter statement is repulsive, literally the day that millions of americans are giving thanks for jesus christ dying for their sins, for easter, for redemption, and donald trump gives that profane, sacrilegious statement that is so self-absorbed. it's really a continuation of his grip on sanity is not there. the narcissism that i'm so glad doesn't have a hold on the oval office anymore. what i am worried about, though, is that donald trump's ideas

dominate the republican party and they're going to for the near future. and so you see as the republican party has embraced donald trump's vision of culture wars, of nastiness, the racial division, and they're going to continue down that track. it's not going to be any return to country club republicanism anytime soon. >> a team of florida congressman, matt gaetz is currently under investigation for among other things the alleged sex trafficking of a minor, allegations he has denied. he also reportedly made a habit of showing nude photos of women he said he had slept with on the house floor. aside from the legal process playing out against gaetz, should there be a congressional investigation? at any other workplace, that behavior would constitute a hostile work environment. what kind of consequences should there be for members who knew about gaetz's actions and did nothing?

>> well, i mean, surprise, surprise, reverend, that matt gaetz, who has made a living playing a troll on television, might actually [ inaudible ]. so one of the things that i think has to be taken seriously is a lot of members of congress are either silent or [ inaudible ] behavior. there should be [ inaudible ] on both sides of the aisle. that includes suspension from committees and other perks they get from being members of congress. expulsion is the highest [ inaudible ] overall. >> matt gaetz appears to have few friends, though, in the republican party willing to stand up for him. but even fewer are willing to on

the record and demand his resignation or even a full investigation. elise, what would it take to expel gaetz, how long can they keep him on the judiciary committee? >> i can see matt gaetz hanging in there for a while longer. they'll try to ignore him, that's what they would have liked to have done for a long time. it's not as if matt gaetz has endeared himself to republicans. but look what it took for steve king to be shunned by the republican party. in statutory rape charges aren't enough, i don't know what will be enough. this is a republican party that fully embraced roy moore who was accused of being a predator. now they're trying to ignore

this matt gaetz scandal as long as they can so they don't have to be forced to do anything on his behalf. >> i have to leave it there, thank you both, happy easter to you. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us. ♪ ♪ we know it's going to take many forms of energy to meet the world's needs while creating a cleaner future for all. at chevron, we're lowering the carbon emissions intensity of our operations, investing in lower-carbon technologies, and exploring renewable fuels of the future. we work hard to care for the homes we love. but it's only human... to protect the one we share.

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as i was awakened this morning on easter sunday, as a baptist minister i of course celebrated my personal beliefs in the resurrection of jesus christ. but i also thought about how this year was ironic, that it was the day that martin luther king jr. was killed in memphis, tennessee, on easter sunday, april 4, 1968. i was 13 years old. i had already become youth director of his chapter in new

york, of operation bread basket. i got to see him twice, maybe, in life. i got to work very closely with his son martin iii and know his daughter reverend bernice and son dexter and got to know well his widow, coretta scott king. i thought about the sacrifice dr. king made, finally giving his life. he never lived to see a lot of what he planted the seeds to happen. he did not know we had a black president, that we elected and reelected. that wouldn't have happened without what he did in selma. he did not know we would have a black woman vice president. he marched because he believed in it. we must continue the fight. that's why i'm asking everyone to log on to national action network's convention, week after next, april 14 through 17, where

members of the biden administration and civil rights leaders and youth activists will be on virtually so we can plan to protect voting rights and protect the rights of people in policing and the police reform movement and economic justice. and i'm reminded, as i look at the difficulties and i see the weeping in the courtroom, in the family room, as they watch the tape of george floyd. dr. king's last speech, he said we'll have some difficult days ahead but we will get to the promised land. that's why some of us keep going, because we believe dr. king was right. we'll get there. it may be difficult but we'll get there. we can't stop. we'll be right back.

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that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next weekend at 5:00 p.m. eastern. my colleague alicia menendez picks up the coverage right now. thanks, reverend sharpton. i'm alicia menendez. the battle lines are being drawn on capitol hill over president biden's $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs bill. this morning transportation secretary pete buttigieg said now is the time to put this plan into motion. >> once in a lifetime.