90% is not 100%. and we know that every vaccine counts. additionally, as we kind of think forward about, you know, when 5 to 11-year-olds get eligible for vaccine, all these sites will help inform our strategies at that point in time too. >> reporter: here in california, there clearly has not been some of the debates, sometimes very raucous debate that you've seen in school districts elsewhere in the country, which might explain why the numbers are so high. san francisco has kind of been that way throughout all categories of the pandemic. it's one of the reasons that state officials here say that california is now looking at the lowest covid transmission rate in the nation. alex? >> that's a good thing. thank you so much, nbc's scott cohn. a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports."

we begin with breaking news on the southern border where a new surge of migrants, most of them from haiti, has grown to nearly 15,000. right now dhs is ramping up deportation flights as thousands of migrants are overwhelming del rio, texas, many of them living under a bridge to try to escape the brutal heat. we'll have an update from the scene in just minutes. meanwhile on capitol hill the clock is ticking as democrats work to get a $3.5 trillion spending bill and a bipartisan infrastructure bill to president biden's desk. earlier today i spoke with house budget committee chair john yarmouth who had a message for his colleagues who are at odds over what that final bill should look like. >> you can posture all you want and say what you want, what you will and won't vote for. in the final analysis, you're going to vote for it because you're not going to vote against childcare and paid family leave and early childhood education and community college and all these top priorities which, by

the way, the country desperately needs and the country overwhelmingly supports. a new warning for republicans from one of their own today as donald trump remains the de facto leader of the party. senator bill cassidy reacting earlier today to news that congressman anthony gonzalez, a republican who voted to impeach trump, will not run for reelection. >> the broader question, frankly, is do republicans continue to relitigate to 2020 or do we look forward with a positive agenda. if we relitigate 2020 over and over again, it won't change the result in 2020 but we're sure to lose in 2024. earlier today president biden took a bike ride in rehoboth beach, delaware. the president will speak at the u.n. general assembly and will host the first summed of the quad, meaning leaders from india, japan, and australia. nbc's mike memoli is frequently with president biden. mike, welcome again on this

sunday. it's been a tough week for the president. how is the white house reacting to some of the perceived setbacks? >> reporter: alex, job one since day one for president biden has been trying to contain the pandemic and of course its resurgence with the delta variant. recently we saw the president take a number of steps over the past month starting with those vaccine mandates but also the administration repeatedly laying our their plan to make booster shots available should the fda approve it tomorrow, september 20. we saw the fda panel meet friday and reject the recommendation for booster shots for the general public. today you saw not members of the west wing staff but some of the career health officials on all the sunday shows trying to clear up the confusion. here is dr. anthony fauci trying to speak to what the fda panel did on friday and what it might mean moving forward. take a listen. >> that's the reason we have qualified groups of people who

together as a committee examine all the data and make a decision. i have no problem at all with their decision. the thing that i'm saying is that data will continue to come in, and i believe you're going to see an evolution of this process as we go on in the next several weeks to months. >> reporter: now, dealing with the pandemic is also going to be a part of the president's agenda this week and a very busy week on the world stage heading to the u.n. to deliver his first address to the u.n. general assembly as president on tuesday, convening a virtual meeting of the world powers to discuss vaccines, especially in the developing world. and then it's about in-person meetings with some of our closest allies with regard to circumventing china's rise on the world stage. that in-person meeting on friday with members of the quad. boris johnson is coming to washington this week. but it's a phone call with emanuel macron that we expect to come this week that will get a

lot of attention given the french flap, as we've been calling it, over the nuclear submarine deal with australia. >> i just said zut alors about the whole thing. a surge brought 15,000 men, women, and children from haiti to the southern border in del rio, texas. they're gathered in an area half the size of the city of del rio itself. nbc's morgan chesky is in del rio. >> reporter: alex, we're yards away from the bridge that's been shut down from del rio into mexico in the past 24 hours or so. this is a day where we may finally start to see serious traction from a resource standpoint. last night we saw hundreds of state trooper cruisers roll in with the addition of law enforcement agents sent down to

the border to alleviate this surge in migrants that's tripled since wednesday. at last count 14,000 people, mostly haitian migrants, currently living underneath the bridge behind me, and there could be more coming this way. the concern from authorities, how many more are coming, and also how quickly can they get these people to either processing centers that are not having to deal with the overcrowding like del rio is, or potentially fly them back to haiti. and what makes that interesting is that dhs has said for thousands of the people here, they have not been living necessarily in that island nation now for years, choosing to live in south america but only coming north within the past several months here. and haiti of course struck by that massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake back on august 14. the country is still reeling from that. and yet there are conversations ongoing, according to the federal government, that would facilitate the deportation

planes being able to arrive in haiti and take some of these people back to the country that they said goodbye to, in some cases, years ago. as it stands right now, the city of del rio with the closure of this bridge is more or less cut off. they get millions of dollars in cross-border trade. that's more or less come to a standstill. there is a concern about that. but in the meantime, all eyes really go to the humanitarian situation playing out underneath this bridge. we do know that food and water has been brought in in large amounts. yet there are still people, we're told, choosing to go back into mexico and get whatever food, water they can, then come back across the river to hand it out to those in need here. so we're keeping a very close eye on this situation as it develops. we know those deportation planes will be hopefully taking off, according to dhs here, within the next 48 hours or so, alex. >> okay, morgan chesky, thank you so much for that. staying in texas, everyone, more on this breaking news, an

update on the story we told you about just moments ago. here is new video just in of the military plane crash. we're getting our first up-close look at the aftermath. this is in the city of lake worth. reporter scott gordon from nbc station kxas reports the crew that have plane ejected. one was burned by power lines. the second landed in a tree. we're also told that two homes are heavily damaged. you see the smoke right there. more could be impacted. this is a photo of what is believed to be part of the plane in a woman's backyard. she is reportedly okay. lake worth police are set to hold a news conference any moment. you've got the podium there in the backdrop, we're keeping an eye on that and we'll bring you updates. that's an extraordinary story and video we're just showing you. more breaking news, police, fbi agents, other law enforcement officers as well are right now combing the thick woods of the carlton reserve in sarasota county, florida,

searching for brian laundrie, the 23-year-old man who returned home alone after a cross-country trip with his fiance, 22-year-old gabby petito. my colleague, nbc's emily achetta, joins us from l.a. there's a search going on as well for gabby. >> reporter: a lot going on today, alex. we're watching two searches play out thousands of miles across the country. the fbi zeroing in on the outskirts of grand teton national park, they're looking for gabby petito. her family says the last time they spoke to her on facetime, she was headed to that area. more than a thousand tips have come in to police hoping to solve the disappearance of gabby petito. now, as of a few days ago, brian laundrie, he returned from the company's vacation earlier this summer, on september 1 to florida by himself.

gabby's family saying that with each passing day, the desperation just continues to grow. some of these tips coming in the form of social media videos from tiktok to youtube. the whole country gripped by this complicated case. happening today in florida, police are searching for brian laundrie, as you mentioned, in the thick woods of a nature reserve there. 25,000 acres. they've described it as swampy, wet, alligator-infested, treacherous terrain they're dealing with. an extensive search launched on friday, officers, dogs, drones, trying to pinpoint where brian laundrie is. his family says they last saw him on tuesday but they didn't report it and bring it to the attention of police until friday. and they say that, police say, he frequented this area, he's family familiar with that park in florida, but they aren't

ruled out him being possibly in danger. >> thank you, emily. we'll bring in katie phang, msnbc legal contributor. katie, where do things stand right now, behaviorally, legally, the advice that laundrie is apparently getting, talk about that. >> obviously we're all praying for the safe return and the basic finding of gabby petito. but in the meantime, what an extraordinary twist that brian laundrie himself has now, quote unquote, disappeared. let's be frank, alex, we don't know if he's really disappeared, right? we have his family who took him back in on september 1, never reported that gabby was missing. remember, gabby was living with brian in his parents' house in northport, florida. so then we have a lawyer on behalf of brian laundrie who says his client is refusing to cooperate with authorities. well, brian laundrie always had

the constitutional right under the fifth amendment not to speak to law enforcement, and in fact his lawyer has indicated and the cops have confirmed that he did invoke that fifth amendment right. but you know what we're all asking, including me, if you don't have anything to hide, why would you not be cooperating with law enforcement? then suddenly brian laundrie has, quote unquote, disappeared. and the reason they're looking in that particular location in the carlton reserve is because that's where his parents said he was heading or at least they thought that that's where he's heading. it's a lot of man-hours, it's a lot of manpower that's being brought to finding brian laundrie. as you noted, there is a parallel investigation going on in utah. frankly, alex, if something happened to gabby petito, her body could be anywhere from utah to florida. and it's chilling to think about it. there's a lot of scrutiny that's also going to come to the laundrie family itself. did they know something, do they know something? and their failure to cooperate could actually create criminal

charges for them as well. >> interesting, i was going to ask that question, it could put them in legal hot water as well. with regard to this area, the carlton reserve, it's a place that brian laundrie allegedly knows quite well. and to listen to gabby's family, they are saying it's the wrong verbiage here, it's not that he's missing, it's that he's in hiding. would that stand to reason, can you see why they would say that? >> well, we can only go off what law enforcement does in stages. right now brian laundrie is not a suspect, he is a, quote, person of interest. that's why the petito family, gabby's family is saying that he's hiding from authorities. but you know what, that's kind of true to some extent, right? we know when he arrived back in florida he refused to meet with law enforcement authorities, he refused to cooperate. so at this point in time, is he trying to hide to save himself from possible incrimination if he were to meet with law enforcement? we always want to hear from a suspect. we always want to get information from a suspect.

he hasn't achieved that status yet, so right now, ironically, there is now a brian laundrie missing persons investigation that is running at the same time as the gabby petito missing person investigation. >> okay. so yes, there's no crime at this point on that end. at what point can that change? the fact is he could stay in this reserve, given its description, for a long time, for weeks into months, if he has survivalist skills. >> even if he were to be located right now, alex, while we're speaking, if there are no charges that he's facing, if he continues to not voluntarily cooperate and speak to law enforcement, he's free to go anywhere. we know forensic evidence so far including cellphone tracking of those particular records of gabby petito and of brian laundrie. we know investigators are trying to figure it out. they do have the white van. i do know that forensic investigation is occurring on the white van itself.

law enforcement went to the laundrie house on friday evening once he was reported missing by his family, they got some stuff from there. i think we have to take it on a day by day basis. >> the point you raised earlier, that the family could be in some legal peril if things develop and they are proven to have withheld information pertinent to the case, would that be the kind of thing the lawyer advising brian would also be advising the family, or does that potentially pit family members against one another and you have to get different lawyers for different family members? >> that's a really difficult question. there's a lot of scrutiny that's being put on the lawyer himself, steve bertolino, a new york lawyer, alex. brian laundrie is a florida represent, not sure what a new york lawyer is doing representing a guy in florida, not that there's anything that prohibits that. there's a lot of scrutiny on bertolino. as a lawyer we can't facilitate a crime, we can't participate in that. but you're right, there could be a conflict if mr. bertolino is

representing the laundrie family members as well, what advice is he giving. we know he advised the family members as well as brian laundrie not to speak to law enforcement. >> okay, katie phang, glad you're always talking to me when we reach out, though. thank you so much. we're awaiting that news conference on the breaking news in texas, a military plane crash. we'll bring that to you as soon as it gets under way. will ahead, they're two bills that total more than $4 trillion in new spending. do the plans to pay for them make sense? next we'll do the math with austan goolsbee.

at usaa, we've been called too exclusive. because we were created for officers. but as we've evolved with the military, we've grown to serve all who've honorably served. no matter their rank, or when they were in. a marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from '73. and even his kids. and their kids. usaa is made for all who've honorably served and their families. are we still exclusive? absolutely. and that's exactly why you should join. - oh...oh. - what's going on? are - oh, darn!clusive? - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them with downy wrinkleguard. feel the difference with downy. you know how some carriers give you so little for your old or busted phone, you just end up living with it!? i don't think so. verizon lets you trade in your broken phone for a shiny new one. you break it, we upgrade it. you dunk it? doggy-bone it? ha-ha! slam it, wham it, strawberry jam it? we upgrade it!

get a 5g phone on us with select plans. every customer. current, new or business. because everyone deserves better. and with plans starting at just $35, better costs less than you think. another day, another chance. make the most of it with the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses. and get the advanced cybersecurity solutions you need with comcast business securityedge. ask how to get comcast business securityedge to help protect all your connected devices. and get started with a great offer on fast and reliable internet and voice for just $64.99 a month. plus, ask how to get a prepaid card up to $500. call or go online today to learn more. comcast business. powering possibilities.

we're going to go back to that breaking news we told you about moments ago. a military plane has crashed in the stay of lake worth, texas. witnesses are telling nbc station kxas that two people appear to have ejected from the aircraft. one of them was seriously hurt after becoming tangled in power lines. at least two homes have been heavily damaged. up to six may be damaged. a local nbc reporter shared this

photo of part of the plane in the woman's backyard, she is reportedly okay. lake worth police are set to hold this news conference any moment. we'll bring you any updates as we get them. meantime, new today democrats stress the urgency to pass a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. they're also working out how to pay for it. >> as we move toward what i believe is the most consequential piece of legislation for the working class of this country as we demand that the wealthiest people and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. >> these are long standing democratic priorities, they're things the country desperately needs, and they're overwhelmingly popular with the american people. >> democrats' current plan starts with raising the top marginal tax rate for individuals and couples from 37 to 39.6%. then it takes the flat corporate tax, currently at 21%, and changes that to a graduated structure, putting the top rate at 26.5.

it also raises the top rate for capital gains from 20 that 25% and adds a 3% surtax for individual incomes over $5 million. but the joint committee on taxation looked at all of this and said all together that would only raise about $2 trillion over the next ten years. so joining me now, a great mathematician, austan goolsbee, former chairman of the council of economic advisers for the obama administration. i know you are, austan, that's why we brought you on here. according to the jct estimate, democrats have like a trillion and a half unpaid for. the biden administration has said the cost of the build back better plan will be zero. how do they get from there to here? >> well, a, they've got to go talk to the undecided senators and house members. but either they've got to get more revenue and include some of the things that biden himself

proposed that have not been in their negotiations yet, like the step-up basis of capital gains so people can't go their whole lives, pass it to their children, and pay zero tax on their income for their whole life. or else they've got to go scale down the package. or else they've got to break their promise. those are the simple maths about it. >> i'm going to get to the super wealthy in just a second, but we know they want to pay for the whole bill. do they need to do that, austan? is there any scenario in which we can borrow more money and pay for the bill that way? or is that just a bust? >> of course we could. i mean, look, the previous republican president, donald trump, over $2 trillion tax cut that's not paid for. we've fought numerous wars at multitrillion dollars that were

unpaid for. we passed the c.a.r.e.s. act which was not paid for. and the bush administration both fought wars and had multitrillion dollar tax cuts that were not paid for. so i don't think that there is some accounting sense in which it has to be paid for. you could increase the debt to do it. it's just that people on the margin for voting, they're not willing to do that. and the president has outlined he doesn't want to do that. >> okay. "the new york times" is pointing this out, and in fact echoing the sentiments you expressed, that house democrats' plan to tax the rich least vast fortunes unscathed. "the times" says the proposal is going after the merely rich more than thefabulously rich. do you agree with that? >> a bit. that's an accurate description, and the main reason that's true is because the mega wealthy,

billionaires, they have most of their money in stocks, and the tax rate on capital gains income, you only pay it when you sell. and if you pass it to your children, you never pay it. and the rate is lower. so all of those things mean that those vast fortunes largely go with very low tax rates. the biden administration proposed to try to go at that by eliminating some of those loopholes. but so far in congress the debate is kind of going away, going in the opposite direction, of more to the very rich rather than the super mega ultimately rich. >> okay. so we've gone over some of the main points of this tax plan. but deeper in it, as yahoo! finance points out, here is something.

house tax writers want to double the $1.01 federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes with similar hikes on tobacco taxes. it would tax e-cigarettes for the first time. would that go against the president's pledge not to raise taxes on any household earning less than $400,000 a year? and if they do put a tax on tobacco products, would nonsmokers care? >> yeah, i don't know, on the first one. the issues that are -- taxes that are about health, there's always been kind of a gray area of were we thinking about income taxes or if something is totally voluntary like that, should that be counted. it might. in which case, this isn't a proposal of the biden administration, this is coming from congress, biden might insist that they not do that,

that they come up with revenue somewhere else. regardless, i do think it's important to recognize. let's say there is some cigarette tax component in that. it's still going to be the case that 99.9% of the revenue is coming from people making more than $400,000 a year. so we can argue about whether health-imposed taxes should be considered income taxes on middle class people, but it's totally obvious that most of the money is coming from that same group that he intended. >> so here is a question on the broader scale. will democrats' proposed tax hikes eventually impact the middle class? can the administration guarantee there will not be any kind of trickle-down effect? >> well, all i know about that is that the trickle-downers have been promising these massive benefits that would trickle down to the middle class each time they've cut taxes for high

income people and big corporations by trillions of dollars. the last time was in 2017, where they promised that it was going to raise wages by $5,000, that it was going to pay for itself and was going to lead to a massive increase in the growth rate and investment rate in the country. none of those things happened. not even close. so i find it a little weird that we're still having to argue with the trickle-downers about the question of, well, what are going to be the trickle-down negatives of increasing taxes on high income people and big corporations back to the levels that they were before, when cutting the taxes didn't generate any of the benefits that they promised. >> okay, austan goolsbee, thank you so much. i was glad to ask you all those questions, really good to see you and thanks for clarifying a lot of questions, appreciate it. so for all of you, if you look there at the corner of your screen, which we're now making larger, let's take a listen to

the police and the report on that breaking news out of texas on that plane crash in lake worth. >> the crash that occurred in our city earlier this morning, our office, our communications center, received a call at 10:53 this morning in reference to a downed military aircraft, between the 4,000 block of tejas and dakota. our police units responded. initial units reported that one pilot had ejected and was caught in some power lines. and another pilot had ejected and was found in the neighborhood nearby. as you can imagine, the officers summoned additional emergency responders. the fire department responded, along with our partners at medstar. we've also relied heavily on our neighboring agencies for assistance throughout this ordeal, and that includes medstar ems, the ft. worth fire

department, the ft. worth police department, the tarrant county constables' office, tarrant county emergency management is on scene assisting us as well along with the texas emergency management office. regarding the specifics of the incident and what's taking place at the scene, i'll turn you over to chief arthur to address that. then we'll stick around for a few minutes to address any questions that you may have. chief arthur. >> thank you very much. like the chief said, i am chief ryan arthur, fire chief here in lake worth. to bring you up to speed on a little bit of what's transpired since we were notified of the incident, there are three homes involved. fortunately nobody was injured. no resident was injured. the two pilots have been transported to the hospital. we do have tremendous amount of support from our local fire department organizations and

police department organizations from ft. working, saginaw, navy air station, lockheed martin, including tarrant county emergency management. great support from them. this incident could have been much worse, knowing this plane went down in a residential area here in lake worth. so as i mentioned, we're still on scene with our partners, ft. worth basically going through the scene, working with ncis and the navy air station and lockheed martin to ensure that all the items are photographed and then move it on from there. as i had mentioned, the three residents, three homes that were involved, we do have red cross on scene for them. so we are getting assistance to those residents impacted. is there any questions that i can answer?

i'll pretty much open it up to any type of questions that the media may have for the fire department. >> reporter: the police chief told us a moment ago about identifying potential [ inaudible ]. is this something you practice for? >> we do, yes, sir. it is a drill and a training exercise we do on a very regular basis. in fact through our office of emergency management, that is one of our highest priorities. other cities in texas could see natural disaster such as tornadoes or ice storm, but for us it is a downed military aircraft, since we are in such a unique position. >> reporter: were you able to talk to the pilots at the scene, were they able to say anything about how the accident happened, how they were able to eject, what went wrong with the plane? >> not at this time, no, sir. >> reporter: have there been other aircraft crashes, accidents?

>> i can't be specific. i may ask the chief to come up and answer that. in my time here, no, this has not happened before. >> reporter: when you say the pilots ejected, did they remove themselves from the plane? >> correct. >> reporter: or was it as a result of the crash? >> correct. >> reporter: they removed themselves? >> that's right, they did, uh-huh. >> reporter: i understand power is out, any idea how long that will remain? >> i would speculate, and this is strictly speculation, it may be a few days. the biggest thing will be to get the wreckage and the items out of the area before they can resecure power and really utilities to any of those homes. >> reporter: outside of the three homes, how much of the community is impacted by this, whether it's power outages or [ inaudible ]? >> i would say roughly a two- to three-block area will be impacted surrounding that immediate location.

>> reporter: how many residents are we talking about? >> probably roughly 60 to 70 residents. >> reporter: any advisory to the community who may be in that immediate zone right now? >> the big thing for us is safety, making sure that everybody stays out of that location. we do have barriers up throughout the area. please stay out of that area. it's going to be hazardous for now, until we get the debris cleaned out. that would be the biggest thing i can provide to the residents here in lake worth. >> reporter: are any schools or hospitals affected? >> not at this time. >> reporter: can you tell us what type of plane it was? >> i can't comment. >> reporter: with respect to what emergency teams are dealing with in that area right now, the plane crashed in a residential area. >> correct. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] the homes? >> fortunately it wasn't the actual home. it was a little bit of damage that has occurred to all three

residences. actually it's in a backyard. fortunately, again, that is one of those that we can say that it's very fortunate that it could have been a lot worse if it would have been a direct contact into a residence. fortunately that's not the case. we did have some damage that occurred from, i would speculate, maybe wings or other debris that caused the damage to the homes. but as i mentioned, it could have been a lot worse for sure. >> okay, everyone, we're going to continue monitoring this. again, you're hearing the chief of police, the chief of the fire department in lake worth, texas saying it could have been a lot worse. what we know is the two pilots did eject from that plane which crashed and damaged three homes. fortunately, the good news, no residents there in lake worth were injured in this disaster there. we look at the top screen, in the corner, you're looking at part of the fire that erupted when that plane crashed among those three houses. those two military members that were piloting that plane, one

landed in power lines. we're told he's been severely injured and taken to the hospital. the other one landed in a tree. we were told earlier, that was not confirmed just now. we'll keep monitoring this and see if we can get more information. when we do, we'll bring it to you. meantime, with 42 million coronavirus cases in the u.s., the u.s. continues to grapple with the surging delta variant. actor and comedian chris rock tweeted earlier that he has contracted covid. he says in part, trust me, you don't want this, get vaccinated. meanwhile, cases in south carolina soared from 150 a day to more than 5,000 per day. schools in the state have seen the brunt of those infections. classes, schools, even entire school districts have gone virtual within just a month of returning to in-person learning. and in alabama, more people died last year during the onset

of the pandemic than were born, marking the first time the state's population declined. to the alarming numbers out of georgia now, covid deaths have risen nearly a thousand percent since august 1. on average, 94 georgians are dying every day, according to the state's department of health. my colleague nbc's stephanie stanton joins us from atlanta. pretty shocking numbers, that escalation is remarkable, stephanie. what are you hearing on this? >> reporter: indeed. good afternoon to you, alex. health care officials here in georgia are struggling. resources are being stretched dangerously thin as those health care workers struggle to deal with the influx of covid-19 patients. in fact icu capacity here in the state of georgia stands at 96%. some hospitals actually had to pause some surgeries to free up bed space for covid patients. now, here in the state of georgia, they track their covid cases on a daily basis. and on friday, there were

roughly just over 5,000 people in the hospital, across the state. there was a slight decrease in that number, though, of 147 from the day before. as for the case counts on friday, there were just above 4,000 cases and there were 92 confirmed deaths. a big part of the issue here, of course, are those vaccination rates. vaccination rates here in georgia have definitely lagged behind the rest of the country. the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated here stands at just 46%. now, dr. anthony fauci this morning was on cnn, and he was asked a question, if he thought this country would reach 1 million deaths. here is what he had to say. >> i certainly hope not. i hope not. i don't believe at all that that is something that is an inevitability by any means. we have the capability within our own power, with our vaccines, which are highly

efficacious and effective in the real world, and safe, that if we get the overwhelming proportion of our population vaccinated, we're not going to see that at all. >> reporter: now, there could be a small silver lining in all of this. we understand that georgia is starting to see a slight decrease in case counts. but officials say it's just too early to tell if that trend is going to continue, because they are keeping an eye on the case numbers post the labor day holiday weekend. >> we'll see what those numbers show. thank you so much, nbc's stephanie stanton in atlanta. one business owner calls this trend a tsunami. next, what's behind the rush to buy books about race and racism. are the things america makes out here. the history she writes in her clear blue skies. the legends she births on home town fields.

and the future she promises. when we made grand wagoneer, proudly assembled in america, we knew no object would ever rank with the best things in this country. but we believed we could make something worthy of their spirit. ♪♪ - water?! - hey you! catch! mio. thank you! water tastes like, well...water. so we fixed it. mio. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can. downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load. and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. shop online for downy unstopables,

including our new, lighter scent. psst! psst! allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! flonase all good. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ what makes new salonpas arthritis gel so good for arthritis pain? salonpas contains the most prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. it's clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription strength. salonpas. it's good medicine. now to a new trend, a growing interest in books that focus on race, especially ones

that focus on the experiences of black americans. according to a recent article in "the new york times," books on race filled bestseller lists last year. now there's a wave of similar works on the way in the coming months. joining me now is the writer of that article, "new york times" reporter elizabeth harris and professor of african-american studies in georgetown university, marsha chatman. elizabeth, you first. tell me why you think the topic of race is becoming increasingly popular amongst a broad swath of readers. >> so last summer, when social justice, racial justice, excuse me, protests were seeping across the country after george floyd was murdered, people turned to books and bestseller lists were filled with titles about race. as consumers were rushing to buy these books and booksellers had a lot of trouble keeping them in

stock, publishers were rushing to buy more of these books so they could publish them. now it's been about a year and a lot of these books are just starting to come out along with a bunch of others that were already in the pipeline. so this fall is going to be busy. there's books like "the 1619 project" that's expected to be big, a lot of books will take on these topics in different ways. one thing that's sort of important to keep in mind in these conversations is that there are a lot of people in publishing who really bristle at the idea that just because there are a lot of these books relative to what there used to be, the suggestion that the market might reach some sort of saturation point is frustrating to people, because if you think about, you know, there are endless diet books, right? and consumers and publishers keep buying diet books. nobody says there are too many books about lincoln, so why is

there this suggestion out there that there is a ceiling for books that deal with race and racism? but, you know, these books deal with -- can deal with these topics, but they're very different books. if you just think about the books that are coming this fall. there are ones that look at different periods in the country, there are memoirs, there are parenting books, fiction, short stories, "my monticello" is a book coming this fall that's a short story collection, children's books, poetry. these books are not at all in the same category. >> absolutely. what is the aspect, marsha, of the political and social climate that you think is contributing right now to this phenomenon? it's front and center, something we have had to bear witness to or see. or is it more than that? >> i think what we're seeing right now is the response to a cycle. i think we could have had this conversation in 1970. we could have had these conversations in the early 1990s. so on the one hand, there's call

for accountability and greater inclusion within the publishing industry. but i think that there's a bitter irony that a lot of these books will come out in a context where we've seen ridiculous and hyperbolic campaigns against critical race theory, incredible backlash against thinking about the principles of antiracism in k-12 education. i think what it illustrates is these types of books have always been available. perhaps publishing is spending a little more time on them, but it shows there really is a shifting climate, a willingness to be accountable and engage deeply about the continuing problem of race and racism in our society. and in the middle of this we have this incredible body of literature that i hope people not only read but are also compelled to real action. >> i'm curious, do you have a sense of who it is that is buying the books, the people that are gravitating to these books? elizabeth, this would go to you, the kinds of books that are getting the most attention.

yes, you gave us a litany of the different kinds of books relative to race that are out there, children's books on up. but do you get a sensitive who sense of who is buying them? >> it's hard to know who buys book, it's a difficult business to track in that way. you know, there are some books -- i was talking to roxanne gay, she has a new imprint starting this year focusing on voices that don't get enough attention, that could be race, that could be sexuality, all different kind of things. she was saying that some of the books about antiracism don't feel to her to be directed towards black people. she said something along the lines like, we understand racism is a thing, we're good. some of these books, people feel, are directed at white people. but not all of them, certainly. again, this goes back to the

fact that these books are all different. >> can you respond to that, marcia? what are your thoughts on what she just said there? >> i think the concern is that in order to get the attention and the platform to have books that talk about race, that they have to be didactic or they have to be instructive about how to exist in the world. those books may have an audience that may be unfamiliar or unpracticed on grappling with race. it lends itself to a larger conversation about what is the goal of engagement with communities that are different than we are and the power of books to unlock the ability to be empathetic and to be more productive in society. so i think that what we really should celebrate at this point is the opportunity for people to come closer to a set of ideas so that we can realize the world that we all desire. >> let me ask you about how you interpret, though, the timing of all this, marcia, the growing interest in race relations.

we're in a time where parts of this country, they're trying to ban the topic from public schools. >> i think what happens is that there are different parts of the country that have the power to kind of open up platforms. and i think one of the consequences of the george floyd summer is that institutions felt indicted for the calls for racial justice that they had been ignoring. and we were in the middle of the trump presidency which highlighted to people the real danger of letting noxious ideas about race fade to the background. these issues are still topics of contention. i think there can be a growing awareness of the importance of engaging with this type of work, and at the same time we always have to remain vigilant that there will be a force that tries to create a backlash. i think that unfortunately, history sometimes helps us provide more context to these battles, but i think as long as

there are creative and dynamic writers who are committed to helping the broadest perspectives, that will have good work to engage with when people are ready to do so. >> as well as professors like who you are able to help spark good conversation in classrooms and on television, as well as you, elizabeth harris. ladies, thank you so much. we've heard the spanish phrase, si se puede, where did that come from? we'll hear from the extraordinary woman who coined that phrase, next. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. [♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost today. instantly clear everyday congestion

with vicks sinex saline. for fast drug free relief vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. and try vicks sinex children's saline. safe and gentle relief for children's noses. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with.

not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. it can all add up. kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection... that may help you put these rms challenges in their place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions, and slowing disability progression vs aubagio. don't take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. kesimpta can cause serious side effects, including infections. while no cases of pml were reported in rms clinical trials, it could happen. tell your doctor if you had or plan to have vaccines, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. kesimpta may cause a decrease in some types of antibodies. the most common side effects are upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and injection reactions. ready for an at-home treatment with dramatic results? it's time to ask your doctor about kesimpta. ready for an at-home treatment with dramatic results? we did it again. verizon has been named america's most

reliable network by rootmetrics. and our customers rated us #1 for network quality in america according to j.d. power. number one in reliability, 16 times in a row. most awarded for network quality, 27 times in a row. proving once again that nobody builds networks like verizon. that's why we're building 5g right, that's why there's only one best network. with voltaren arthritis pain gel my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pain pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength gel for powerful arthritis pain relief... voltaren the joy of movement

i looked on ancestry and just started digging and found some really cool stuff... it was just a lot of fun. just to talk to my parents about it and to send it to my grandparents and be like, hey this person we're all related to look at this crazy stuff they did in arizona 100 years ago. it actually gives you a picture of their life, so you get to feel like you're walking the same path they did. ♪ ♪

we are celebrating hispanic heritage month with a look at dolores heuerta. >> you still hear this phrase that you coined today. how does that feel whenever you are activists chanting that phrase? >> i love it. it was coined in the '70s. passed a law in arizona that if you said strike you could go to prison. and they said, oh, in arizona you can't do that. my response was -- in arizona. so that's how the chant was really born. ♪♪

>> everything about where your food comes from, be honest, a lot of us probably don't think about it enough. the conditions that yield the, the hands that harvest it and what it takes to get from farm to table but dolores did. >> been so much violence against our people in california it seems like the consumers are really supporting the farm workers and the boycott. >> she made it her life's mission to liberating the workers that fed america. she founded the american food workers union. they didn't just fight for better pay. they gave migrant workers a sense of dignity and ensured the people that food on the table actually have a seat at the

table. she's the mother of an entire movement and 11 children of her own. hi! it is so wonderful to meet you. >> thank you. thank you. nice to meet you also. >> now it is her turn to learn how the lineage influenced the icon she is today. >> i was born in the state of new mexico. my mother and father were born in the same town i was, a coal mining town in northern new mexico. i grew up in stockton, california, which is a very ethically diverse population. >> the farm workers you have spent your life advocating for, do you see your ancestors in their faces? >> my dad. he was a farm worker. we have temperatures over 100 degrees but they're out there every single day picking the fruits and vegetables on the table and not only in the field but the packing sheds, deliver

the food. we have a tendency in our society we do not value working people. >> when would you say you solidified your calling as an organizer? what was that turning point? >> i was invited to this meeting and organizing the community service organization and met fred ross senior and when he told us how to organize, take power and make changes, but then the thing that really you might say hooked me was when mr. ross showed us pictures and news clippings of police they sent to prison for beats an american-mexican that inspired. >> watch that conversation on msnbc.com. yasmin vossoughian continues the coverage in a moment. have a great sunday.

and enjoy the ride a little more. now, get new lower auto rates. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower rate today. the live better u program basically just provides the answer to the question: what if? with live better u, my 'what ifs' were erased. ♪ ♪ why bother mastering something? why hand-tune an audio system? why include the most advanced active safety system in its class...standard? because when you want to create an entirely new feeling, the difference between excellence and mastery is all the difference in the world. the lexus es. every curve, every innovation, every feeling... a product of mastery. get 1.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. (vo) unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most.

that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. did you know some deodorants may not last all day? secret works immediately! and is designed to last for up to 48 hours. with secret, keep it fresh. available in over 10 amazing scents and aluminum free. secret ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein.