dancing. and we expect the free brittney movement will be out here in full force. but right now, it's just a waiting game. >> did you say she wasn't allow to vote? >> i think i lost you there. what'd you say? >> did you say she wasn't allowed to vote. >> yeah, that's one of the freedoms, the rights that she would get if they do terminate the conservatorship of her person. >> that is next-level. emilie, we are going to be watching that hearing all day. that wraps up this hour, though. i am stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. and good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. president biden is putting the focus on infrastructure, as prices for food, fuel, and other items continue to go up. we'll talk about the importance of all of this with florida democratic congresswoman, debbie wasserman schultz. meanwhile, in cuba, they're

preparing for another round of anti-government protests on monday. we'll get a firsthand look at the situation on the ground, from a journalist who just returned from the island. we'll also take a closer look at the fight over who should be getting booster shots of the covid vaccine, as out west, some schools are being forced to cancel class because of staffing shortages. and she was the first african-american women to be held as a prisoner of war, beher story was often overlooked. we'll hear from her later this hour. >> and we begin in washington, where president biden is going all-in on infrastructure, as rising prices keep taking a toll on american's wallets. later today, the president will hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he will sign on monday. after he signs the bill, the president will visit new

hampshire and michigan to promote it. all of this coming as americans continue to pay more for gas, food, and housing, with the federal reserve bank of new york estimating that rent could rise an average of 10% over the next year. meanwhile, a federal appeals court granted former president trump's request to temporarily block the national archives from handing over his white house records to the house committee investigating the january 6th insurrection. with me now to talk about all of this, nbc news capitol hill correspondent, leigh ann caldwell, and eugene daniels, politico white house reporter and playbook co-author. he's also an nbc msnbc contributor. thanks for being with me. eugene, the national employment rate is at 4.6%. the unemployment rate for african-americans is 7.9%. almost 8%. for hispanics, 5.9%, 6%. a potential 10% rent increase along with a 60% increase in gas prices will hit these groups

really hard. is the white house looking at the entire country when trying to figure out how to deal with these uses? >> no, they are. they are constantly talking about equity, as an important aspect of every single thing that they do, right? but when you talk to black voters, black activists, and latino voters, latino activists, they're saying they don't feel that. and that is at the core of a lot of what's happening with this administration right now, is that they have a lot that they could be running on and talking about. they have this higher, the overall unemployment going down, unemployment going down, you have this infrastructure bill that they say is going to provide a lot of jobs. numbers going up on jobs overall in this country. but people aren't feeling that, because what they're seeing is inflation going up, prices going up, the gas and their milk costing more. and i think that is huge, because this administration came in and they had a lot to cover,

right? you come in on the pandemic, there's a recession going on. but they made big, lofty promises. so you raise expectations with everyone, especially key voting blocs like black and brown folks. those are the people who are saying, wait, don't forget about us when you are talking about and doing infrastructure. when you are talking about and doing increasing social spending, and so the administration has to work harder at that. their messaging is -- it looks like as the president is going on the road, that's going to change a little bit. but the focus and the change of urgency has to be felt by voters and people in this country, or they're not going to get any kind of credit for it and people will continue to feel like this white house and this administration isn't hearing them, therefore president biden's poll numbers are going to continue to slide. >> and eugene, it's important to remember that there's a lot of talk about how much money and cash has been infused into the economy. but a lot of that cash and that

excess money hasn't really trickled down into our communities. >> now, exactly. president biden himself says trickle-down economics doesn't work. so that's not a thing that they are even hoping to push, but they have to be -- and we're going the see president biden talk about the implementation of this. it's been reported that he is going to have someone that heads up the infrastructure rollout, how these programs start to work, because they have to make sure that it does go into all of these different communities. that they're not waiting on it to trickle down. that they're going in and out of the different areas in which they are saying that they're going to be increasing spending and helping people. and one of the things that bishop barber, a civil rights icon talk to me about, he said that this administration has to make regular people feel like part of the conversation. that every time they do a speech, that every time

president biden or vice president harris visits somewhere, talks about these things, they should be bringing and talking to regular people about whether or not they're feeling those impacts. and more importantly, for a messaging for a white house is making sure that everyone sees them and those people feel heard. and that's something that we haven't seen yet, and that is a large part of making sure that this implementation works, is making sure that the hearing from the folks that you say you're going to help. that is something that advocates are hoping to see over the next few weeks and months. >> and meanwhile, leigh ann, former white house chief of staff mark meadows is scheduled to appear before the january 6th committee at this hour for a deposition. do we know if he's shown up? >> he's scheduled to appear, jose, but we do not think he has shown up yet. or we know he hasn't shown up. we don't know if there's -- perhaps he's dialing in via zoom or joining virtually, but he is not physically in the room. we do know that there are committee investigators and committee staff and even the committee stenographer who is there waiting for mark meadows

to show up. but all indications point to the fact that he won't. the reason is because his letter has released letters to the committee saying that mark meadow's communications with the former president are privileged. he was a top adviser to the president and he does not need to come comply with these subpoenas. obviously, the committee disagrees with that assessment, saying that mark meadows has noter cooperated at all, has not provided any documents, and that he is not, in fact, protected under this claim of privilege. so what the committee is doing is they are society up as if he's going to show up, in case he does, but they have also threatened a referral of criminal contempt if he does not comply. that's the same thing that happened with steve bannon. that case is now at the department of justice. the department of justice hasn't

acted yet, but the committee says there will be repercussions if mark meadows does not comply with this investigation or the subpoenas, jose. >> and meanwhile, we have information about who the president is expected to nominate as fda commissioner? >> we do. we've rortd at politico, my great health care colleagues, that robert califf is going to lead the administration. this will be his second tour. he was an obama-era official. and this is one of the things that folks have been wanting to hear people in the health care community, as reporters have asked a lot about this, whether or not there was going to be a selection. because they've been searching for a really long permanent fda commissioner since the beginning of this administration. and this is annings agency that during the pandemic is helping to make a lot of the most important decisions that people are seeing and feeling when it comes to this job. so this will be a huge, huge announcement when it does come. the white house didn't respond

to comments to politico, but this is something we're expecting to hear today. >> thank you for being with me. joining me now to continue our conversation is florida democratic congresswoman, debbie wasserman schultz who sits on the appropriations committee. congresswoman, it's a pleasure to see you today. let's talk about the bipartisan infrastructure bill. the president will sign it on monday. how significant is this? >> jose, this is historically significant. this is going to be the largest infusion of resources into the backbone of our economy, which is roads, bridges, waterways ports, airports. making sure that in a state like yours and mine, in a tourism-driven economy, making sure that we can move people around easily, that we can get our economy humming again, that we can create the millions of jobs that the investment in this infrastructure and our backbone

will create. it's going to be very significant. and we'll follow that up by passing the build back better act so we can invest in the people and make sure that the people benefit from the investments in the economy. there's a number of things we can talk about that will really make a difference. lowering prescription drug costs for our seniors, making sure that parents don't have to choose between sending a parent to work or having affordable quality child care. that's a very difficult choice that kills families economically. we'll change that with the build back better act, in addition to making universal pre-k available for young children, so we can start them on the path they need in life, we've got so much to do. invest in our back backbone and make sure that we can make the economy work for millions of american families. >> so when we talk about this infrastructure bill, many times they use the word "bipartisan" on it.

anything going forward, the reconciliation bill, for example, they would probably not have bipartisan as part of the name of that bill. can it actually pass? >> we mostly passed the infrastructure bill by ourselves. we did have 13 republicans vote for it. that was good to see. it was developed in a bipartisan way in the senate. we don't expect to have any help with -- from republicans on the build back better act. imagine you have an entire party unwilling to help make sure that we can help people reach the middle class, lower prescription drug costs for our seniors. child care is expensive. oftentimes, jose, it's too expensive for the child care to make it worth a parent going to work, because their child care costs eat up their whole salary. that's a problem that we are going to end and we're going to

make sure that we can help make the economy work for millions of americans who need to be able to make sure that the investments in our infrastructure, which will start to have ship-to-shelves impact on inflationary costs will make a real difference. and we're going to do this almost completely without help from republicans. i don't understand what their priorities are, other than overturning legitimately held elections and having members portray the murder of their own colleagues. >> i know you'll be speaking about a bill you'll actually going today, criticizing congressman gosar and that -- >> outrageous. >> but i want to talk you, congresswoman, about monday. we'll likely see another round of pro-democracy protests in cuba. for months, after cubans took to the streets, the cuban government have been clamping down on people. there are more than a thousand people still missing. you cosponsored a resolution

supporting the protesters. what do you think should be happening. the world should be doing in cuba. >> well, what we need to be doing is helping to amplify and lift up the thousands and thousands of protesters in cuba who are simply swarming with streets, to make sure that they have the ability to speak out for themselves. there are people imprisoned for simply fighting for their rights, to be able to elect their own governments freely. to be able to make sure that economically, they have an open economy that allows them to make investments and take care of their families. that they're not arrested for speaking out and speaking their opinions, particularly about their own government. so my resolution expressed

strong support from the u.s. house of representatives that we stand with the cuban people and urge our allies around the world to expand with them as well. we have to have people come together and give voice to the protestes in the streets from july 11th. we know the travesties they continue to perpetrate against their people. humans have the right to be free on the island. and we need to make sure we have the world community of families stand by them, not work against them. >> congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for being with me this morning. appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. still ahead, the defense rests in the kyle rittenhouse trial. we're next with what's next in the case. plus, the inflammatory comments from the defense in the trial of a white men accused of

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18 past the hour, right now, day six of testimony underway in the trial of three white men accused of killing ahmaud arbery with the prosecution continuing to lay out their case this morning, a comment by one of the defense attorneys is getting a lot of attention. he objected to the presence of reverend al sharpton who works for msnbc and other black pastors. >> the idea that we're going to be serially bringing these people in to set with the

victim's family, one after the other, obviously, there's only so many pastors they can have. and if their pastor is al sharpton right now, that's okay, that's it. we don't want anymore black pastors in here or jesse jackson or whoever was in here last week, trying to influence the jury in this case. >> joining me now from brunswick, georgia, is ron allen. where do things stand in the trial this morning? >> reporter: a couple of things. there's been a lot of harsh criticism of that attorney who made that comment. reverend sharpton released a statement that was very critical of him. arbery's family after court said they didn't understand, they were very negative about it. and just as i was walking over here this morning, one of the activists said they'd bring 100 black pastors here to court on monday morning. for his part, the attorney this morning said he apologized and

said he would file a motion putting those comments into the proper context. but it gives you an idea of just how emotional this case is and continues to be. very heavy racial overtones, of course, because of where it's happening and because the jury is 11 white residents and 1 black resident and so on and so forth. today in court, there's still a lot of focus where ahmaud arbery was killed, and the question of whether this was a neighborhood on edge or whether arbery was an innocent man running through this neighborhood and he was shot and killed for no reason. today we heard more testimony from a police officer who patrols that neighborhood. and actually ran into two of the defendants, greg michael and his son, travis, when they were trying to chase down this trespasser, who turns out to be arbery, as far back as october, before the fatal incident happened in february. here's how the prosecutor questioned this officer about

his interactions with gregory michael. take a listen. >> did you deputize gregory michael? >> no, ma'am. >> did you give him any authority to act as a police officer? >> no, ma'am. my goal in sending that text is gregory michael to my knowledge had about 30 plus years of law enforcement experience. who else to be an expert witness? >> reporter: the point the prosecutor is trying to make is mcmichael was not deputized to be a police officer. the defendants maintain they were trying to make a citizen's arrest and the prosecution is saying that is not what was happening. >> thank you very much. turning now to the latest in the kyle rittenhouse homicide trial. on monday, the prosecution and defense will return to the courtroom, when they will each have two and a half hours to make their closing arguments. the defense rested their case on thursday, one day after rittenhouse took the stand and his lawyers called for a mistrial. joining me now from kenosha,

wisconsin, is nbc news correspondent, megan fitzgerald. what more can you tell us about where things stand today? >> as you mentioned, the defense yesterday rested its case. the jurors were then sent home. they'll be back on monday, where they'll hear closing arguments, jury instructions, and they will begin deliberations. but important to keep in mind, they were sent home after hearing from three witnesses called by the defense, including a guy named drew hernandez. this is a guy who took video that night, posting it to social media. he testified before jurors that kyle rittenhouse acted in self-defense. that he was trying to de-escalate situations that he said he witnessed and that he was there to help people. in just about an hour, 10:00 local time here, we know that the prosecution along with the defense will be back in court before the judge, where the prosecution has indicated that they are going to be asking for lesser charges here, likely because they're not as confident in their case.

and they want to see some sort of a conviction, but in an hour, as i mentioned, that's when we'll be able to get more information as to what these lesser charges will be and why the prosecution is asking for it, jose. >> megan fitzgerald in kenosha, wisconsin. thank you. time now for the headlines out west. a ninth person has died in connection with the astro world concert try. bharti shahani attended the concert with her cousin. this as the artist's lawyer speaks out. joining me now is jake ward. what more can you tell us about the victim and the astroworld investigation? >> reporter: good morning, jose. that's right. miss shahani did, as you mention, attend the concert with a younger sister and cousin, and unfortunately, was caught in the crush towards the stage and wound up having multiple heart attacks, according to her

family, and being on a ventilator. unfortunately, she didded wednesday night, the family told us on thursday. and that, of course, makes her the ninth fatality out of this concert. at this point, the investigators still say that they're at the very beginning of understanding what happened here, but it's important to note that more people are clinging to life. a 9-year-old attended with his father, was trampled in the crowd, and also is on a ventilator with truly very little hope of returning. his father says he's praying for a miracle, jose. >> meanwhile, in los angeles, a big britney spears hearing today. >> reporter: that's right. it's a very unusual day in an unusual series of days when it comes to britney spears. she is under a pair of conservatorships, one that controls her money, and the other that controls her personal and mental health. the one of her estate was

dissolved, you'll remember -- or her father, his role was dissolved back in september. and that position is now held by a cpa. the second conservatorship is also under consideration here in this hearing. it really could go any sort of way. the judge could determine that both conservatorships need to go away, as spears and her lawyers wants to have happen, or it could go such that one is kept, but the other is not, both are centralized. it's a very strange case, but we certainly know one thing. we're going to undoubtedly see of those free britney signs out in front of the courthouse here today. >> and in jjacob, in seattle, three school districts are closed today? >> this is a real sign of just how much strain teachers are under all across the country. we've spoken to teachers up and down the west coast who say that they are stretched too thin, they are exhausted, and it seems to have all come to head in the seattle area. the school districts of seattle, kent, and bellevue announced all

of a sudden that friday, today, schools would be closed in those districts, after the thursday, veterans day holiday. it was definitely just too much to ask teachers who are pulled, stretched so thin to come back into work on friday and so they've closed those schools. that, of course, throws parents into disarray, but the state's superintendent says if anything, she's surprised that more districts didn't close down, considering how stretched teachers have been, jose. >> jacob ward, it's a pleasure to see you. thanks for being with me. still ahead, the debate over covid booster shots. should all adults get them, even if they're healthy? we'll ask a doctor. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." doctor you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark.

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30 past the hour. and turning now to the latest in the efforts to combat the covid-19 pandemic, top biden health officials are pushing to expand booster eligible to all adults, but not everybody is onboard, including cdc director rochelle walensky who wants to see more data. joining me now, sam brock, and dr. emilio, managing director at opportunity labs. sam, today, florida's largest school district is dropping its mask mandate, as concern grows over the waning effectiveness of

vaccines. what are you hearing? >> look, it's a delicate conversation right now that's going on, jose, and this dynamic of what's actually driving numbers up right now, a huge portion of this is in fact the booster situation. about a third of all eligible seniors have received their booster shots, of which two-thirds have not. it's great this is a population that is largely fully vaccinated, but that vaccine that was administered six or nine months ago does wane over time and we are seeing more increasingly more breakthrough cases. they have sort of staked out their positions that everyone 18 or older should have access to a booster shot. that's what's going on right now, conversations at the highest level of the biden administration, making them more readily available. the other things you correctly point out, communities in general, relaxing some of those rules. miami-dade, broward, are two of the tenth largest school districts in the entire country.

both of them this week, jose, voted to give parents the options of whether or not to wear masks, this after this vitriolic debate, really a fever pitch conversation with juan desantis, the governor of the state, as to whether or not they should be allowed to require masks in schools. i talked to a parent yesterday about whether she feels comfortable sending her five children to school with no masks on. here was her take. >> my kids will continue to wear masks. i understand that there are vaccines and what not. right now, i'm more on the cautious side. these are my babies, you know, so i want to protect them at all costs, even by things that i'm not sure -- i want to be 100% sure before i take that leap with my kids. >> reporter: right now, the new case positivity rate in miami-dade county, jose, 1.8%. if you go back just a couple of months from where we are right now, it was more like 20%. certainly, the numbers are coming down. if you look at the big picture nationally, not just what's going on in florida, there are

15 states right now with double-digit increases in covid cases in the last couple of weeks. that's cold weather states and warm weather states, jose. >> interesting. dr. ramirez, there seems to be so much confusion about whether or who should get a booster. can you help clarify that? >> so there is a lot of ongoing debate within the scientific community about this. i think what we have seen over the last few months are particularly folks who i think most prominently include dr. fauci, dr. murthy, dr. kessler, who are advocating very strongly for a broader-based booster rollout. and i think they base that on overseas data, which historically countries in europe have run about four to six weeks ahead of where the united states is. the problem is that this coronavirus has proven very difficult to predict. and so i think on the converse, there are other scientists who have said, well, we really want to see more data about breakthrough infections to justify the risk of giving a booster shot.

and the risk that they cite more prominently include the risk of myocarditis. and i, myself, also believe that we need to have much broader rollout of booster shots, because i'm significantly concerned about what we're seeing out of europe and what that may mean for the later winter season ahead. >> these are countries that have given vaccines to the vast majority of their populations. what's going on? >> well, so what we're seeing is that certain countries, particularly in western europe, so spain and portugal that have vaccination rates closer to 85 or 90% are having much newer rates of hospitalizations compared to some of the countries in eastern europe. comparatively, the united states sits just below germany in terms of overall vaccination among our populations. germany is about 69%, united states at about 67%. if we look at the number of new cases and the number of new hospitalizations that are going in germany, that should give us pause for concern, right? our countries look very similar, we've used a very similar

vaccine rollout. so if we are preparing for a situation ahead, we should look to what's happening there and realize that they are seeing a significant wave right now. >> thank you for being with me this morning. still ahead, cuba's regime. they're expecting protests the 15th of this month. they've been cracking down ahead of those protests for months now. we'll talk to a journalist who just returned from the island, next. "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. want your clothes to smell freshly washed all day without heavy perfumes? now they can! with downy light in-wash freshness boosters. just pour a capful of beads into your washing machine before each load. to give your laundry a light scent that lasts longer than detergent alone, with no heavy perfumes or dyes. finally, a light scent that lasts all day! new downy light, available in four naturally-inspired scents.

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the world. this all comes just four months after the massive protests on the 11th of july, during which the government, as i say, arrested hundreds, many still in jail today. joining me now is vice news correspondent and msnbc contributor. you just got back from reporting on the ground in cuba. something that takes a lot of courage. i want to play a clip from your trip. it starts off with you trying to meet with an activist who's on house arrest. >> reporter: the police stop us and ask for our documents and as

we show them our papers, we spot carolina watching us from her balcony. >> so we just tried to get into carolina's apartment. there's a very, very high chance that at this point they know who we are and we're being watched and it's very likely that they know what we're up to.

>> i'm feeling slightly tense right now, because today officially the state asked us for our passports and asked us for our information. and so it's 8:54, there's six minutes left until curfew is over and we don't really know where our ride is. so any excuse the state will find any excuse to put you under their thumb. >> two words. journalism and courage is what you just did. >> thank you. >> tell us a little bit about your trip. what's the atmosphere of going in to a totalitarian regime and trying to do some work? ? >> well, look, what you just saw is a cuba that is on extreme high alert. a cuba that we know that has been under an oppressive

dictatorship. the woman we were trying to see with our team was a young activist that has been under house arrest for 200 days. that gives you a sense of what the cuban government is trying to do. they don't want the world to understand what's going on. and that to me, jose, is a sign that they are scared. the cuban government for perhaps the very first time in over 60 years is scared of its own people. and that's exactly what i felt on the street. you feel the tension. you feel the cameras, you feel the watchdogs in every neighborhood. you feel the tension. but i will say, jose, the biggest difference that i found this time around, i was in cuba in 2015, is that regardless of this repression, regardless of what we just saw on the screens right now, that is no longer stopping people from talking. people wanted to talk to me. they came up to us to talk to us. it wasn't just the activist, it was also ordinary citizens. perhaps at one point in their

lives, they never -- and now they want to talk to us. >> do you think november 15th is a day where we will see people coming to the streets again? >> we're already seeing the cuban government do what they typically do, which is blame the united states as their biggest threat, as their biggest enemy, as the biggest cause of the protest that we're about -- that's not true. what is happening on november 15th is that the biggest threat to the cuban government in this moment is the people. it is the people that will once again go to the streets demanding more food, more medicine, more rights. and the best thing in this moment is they have these cell phones to tell us what's really happening. the reason why we're seeing this clip that we're showing the people is that over 7 million people finally have access to some form of internet on the island. let's remember that cubans never

had access to cell phones until 2018. the internet and these cell phones are changing the story and i think that's exactly what we'll see on november 15th. >> how incredibly difficult it is to do journalism in a totalitarian system and you did it brilliantly. thank you for being with me. >> thank you. and for more of paula's reporting, catch the premiere of season 2b of "vice" on showtime, sunday at 8:00 p.m. sunday 8:00 p.m. thank you, paula. still ahead, a migrant crisis half a world away. we're live in poland with the escalating situation, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. hello? gordon ramsay? this is a cold call! nfl teams are turning to cold with tide, will you? that will never work! if it works on nfl jerseys it'll work for you. seriously! just perfect! and it'll save up to $150 a year. and it's cold!

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your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. 49 past the hour. returning back again to the growing migrant crisis at the border. tell us about the situation at the border. >> reporter: the situation at the border is what aide agencies say already amounts to humanitarian crisis. thousands of migrants and asylum seekers camped on the belarusian side, but they want to get across that border into eu territory, mainly here into poland. the polish government is determined to prevent that happening this week alone. they've brought in some 12,000 border guards, military police,

to stop it happening. we have managed to speak to some asylum seekers who did make it across one. a young syrian man told us he got into polish territory, was then pushed back by the border guards into belarus. he was stuck there for a number of days before a border guard there cut the wire fence. he got back into poland and had to survive in the woods for days. he said he was beaten by guards on both sides of the border. we also spoke to a young iraqi mother. she has three small children. fled the violence at home with her husband and her children. again, had to live out in the freezing cold of wooded areas. they had no food, and she said at certain times she wondered if her family was going to survive. here's what she told us. >> translator: our situation was really, really difficult. all we had was a little bit of water left in this bottle. and i had to share it among my children. me and my husband wouldn't

drink, so nothing would happen to them, so they wouldn't die. >> michelle clifford, thank you for being with me this morning. >> reporter: you heard there -- >> thank you. up next, the forgotten story of america's first black female prisoner of war. you're watching jose diaz balar reports. s. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world.

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flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. germane, host of "into america" spoke to a veteran whose story is known but not often told. it's great to see you. what did you learn in. >> great to see you. the iraq war veteran should be a household name, but she's not. she was the first black american woman whob held as a prisoner of war. i had a chance to catch up with johnson just the other day. this is her story. >> the city isn't secure. we've got to get out of here. that's when the ambush started. >> march 2003, the early days of

the war in iraq. her unit was part of a convoy headed for nazaria when it was ambushed. >> you could hear gunfire. getting shot. hernandez get shot. i could feel them pulling me by my legs from underneath the vehicle, and they start whaling on us. >> 11 americans died. seven others were captured and hurt including johnson. she became the first black american female prisoner of war spending 22 days in captivity. >> we are getting word this morning out of iraq that a number of missing american soldiers have been found alive. >> johnson was medically discharged in december of 2003. she has been awarded the bronze heart, the purple heart, and prisoner of war medal. for almost two decades her story has been overshadowed by jessica lynch, a then 19-year-old white

woman from west virginia. while many people forgot about johnsen, jessica lynch became a hero. her face on the cover of magazines, all of it in part based on an overhyped gunfight story. military officials basically said was unconfirmed accounts. jessica during a congressional hearing. >> i'm still confused as to why they chose to lie and try to make me a legend when the real heros of my fellow soldiers that day were legendary. >> a cute little blonde girl. oh, my gosh. was it fighting to all her bullets are left? >> it started she was just rambo just -- >> not happen. we want people to understand, that's not her fault. >> military officials later said the gunfight story was based on unconfirmed accounts. the rush to make her a poster story begged the question whose story gets elevated and why. >> judge her on what happened to

her and how she handled me. judge me on how i handled it. give me the respect i'm due for enduring what i had to endure. >> american history is litters with stories of black people who gave so much to a country that didn't always give back. >> do you feel respected for it, everything you've given this country as a black woman? >> sometimes yes, sometimes no. >> such as when black veterans like her a both praised and put down for their service. >> thank you for your service. but you really don't need it. i got an email from a gentleman who said how angry he was that a [ bleep ] like me was collecting benefits. >> all these years later, she still bears wounds, physical and mental from her service. but these days when she thinks of her fallen comrades, she also feels a sense of purpose. >> i just have to share the story. maybe hope it helps civilians

understand the female veteran community, and especially the black female veteran community. sometimes they just don't grasp what it's like. if we don't share the story, then they'll never get it. >> with all that she's been through, jose, the burden of carrying the past and the wounds that haven't healed, she's proud of her service and those colleagues she fought with and said she'd do it all again. >> it's interesting. it's how and who decides who is to be recognized. you know, it's kind of a question that those i guess throughout all aspects of our society. >> that's right. who are the gate keepers of history and the politics of memory, and who is worthy of having their story told? who is centered in the narrative is a story we continue to wrestle with in this country. >> and one that you do so well.

i'm grateful for everything you do to shine light. where oftentimes things are kept in the dark but not always. not forever. thank you very much. check out the podcast "into america" to learn much more. i am going to be checking it out. also a programming note. tune in sunday for msnbc films as "in the dark of the valley" exploring the decades' long coverup of a nuclear action in the los angeles area. the families that suffered, and one mother's journey to activism. after watching her own daughter fight cancer twice. watch "in the dark of the valley" sunday, 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. that wraps up this hour. i'm jose diaz-balart. i'll see you tomorrow night. you can always reach me on twitter and instagram st. jzbalart.