watching the katie phang show. i will be back next saturday and sunday on 7 am eastern, right here on msnbc. you can also catch new, original episodes of the katie phang show on the msnbc hub on peacock on thursdays and fridays. velshi is coming up next. s coming up next >> today on velshi, the justice department is about to make its strongest case yet that the january 6th insurrection was not a random explosion of the violent protests, but a carefully crafted plot against american democracy. plus, the january six committee is not done presenting evidence of donald j trump's central role in that plot. congressman member jamie raskin joins me in the news to talk about what is next, and then vladimir putin just lost control of the key ukrainian city in a region that he literally claimed as russian territory just one day ago.

and a special sunday edition of the velshi banned book club brings us a beautiful, lyrical story of love and identity, a novel about mexican born texas raised gay teens that we'll feel universal when you read it. my conversation with the author, who will discover the secrets of the universe, it's one that you will not want to miss. velshi starts next. >> good morning to you, i am ali velshi, sunday, october 2nd. we have reached a new phase in the ever winding investigation into the insurrection of the u.s. capitol. tomorrow, marks the high profile trial seven from the january six so far. it's a rare case in u.s. history, or something called seditious conspiracy is charged, meaning the defendants are not discharged violent crimes but an effect on our country. opening arguments in the seditious conspiracy trial, this man, you oath keepers founder, stewart rhodes and

four other individuals with the far-right booker said to begin tomorrow, hundreds of alleged interactions are being charred village permit of justice for their violent actions on that day. but this trial is different. the members of the far-right anti government extremist oath keepers are accused of plotting, for weeks to stop the transfer of power from the failed twice impeached president who lost the 2020 election, to the winner of that election, joe biden. these charges and trial was so important that they get at the heart of what is really happening on january six, it was not a so often claimed by trump apologists that the protest got out of hand, but it was a traitorous plot carried out with the intent of overthrowing eight free and fair election in the united states of america and the d o jay has receipts. according to the justice department, rhodes wrote to his fellow oath keepers quote, we are not getting through this without a civil war, and quote, at the joe biden was declared

the winner of the presidential election, roads then called on his fellow members to quote, refused to accept it. and march en masse on the nation's capital, end quote. he did march en masse and according to the federal prosecutors, not under the constitution's first amendment protections of the right to possibly assemble, but rather with the attempt to use force against the u.s. government to block democratic certifications of the presidential election. and now lawyers for stewart rhodes, the oath keepers, plans to put the insurrectionist ex president at the center of roads defense. according to the associated press, his defense team is expected to argue that the oath keepers leader went to the nation's capital that day, in anticipation of direct orders from the then president of the united states. we will argue that rhodes believed trump would invoke the insurrection apt to call up a militia to prevent biden thing office and rhodes and his mötley crüe of extremist oath

keepers would then be there to support that militia. trump never invoked the insurrection act, but sent plenty of other bat signals to this government vigilante groups. he had the idea of voting the insurrection act at other points in his presidency, and you'll remember, this is the same man who told the proud boys, another far-right extremist group linked to january 6th to quote, stand back and stand by. that's after he was asked on a debate stage to condemn them. and then on january six, right before his supporters descended on the capitol, donald trump said this. >> we fight like hell and if you do not fight like hell, you will not have a country anymore. >> now if you thought the multiple investigations bearing down on him including the series of damning hearings from the january six committee or the actual, realtime prosecution of his supporters for their actions on that day where prompted the former

president to dampened down these violent language, i regret to inform you that it's not happening. trump took to his personal social media platform on friday night, seemingly inviting violence against the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, saying his former gop ally as quote, a death wish, because he quote hates donald today j trump. this audience might not contain a lot of mcconnell fans, but posting that someone has a death wish is several grudges too far. this was the response to mcconnell making a deal to keep the federal government open. >> as if that was not enough for one unhinged post, trump proceeded to use racist language against trump mcconnell's wife, who is trump syrian secretary of transportation until she resigned fouling the violent attack on the capitol. as the department of justice continues to prosecute these insurrectionists, the january six house committee is doing its work as well. that panel plans to hold one

more hearing before the november midterm elections. that ruling is ryan riley, a justice department reporter for nbc news digital. ryan, good morning, thank you for being with us. i first want to talk about stewart rhodes and his defense, his lawyers putting it on donald trump saying they went there on january six, waiting for orders from donald trump, and seemed to have some idea of what those orders could be. this seems like an unusual defense, work on the what you make of it. >> it is, he will also be throwing a lot of these other oath keepers are on trial, under the bus to a certain extent. these two staff who entered the capitol in this military formation did so, under orders from him. he will claim afterwards he was upset that they were in the capitol without his permission. his intention is that they decided to enter on their own, they had people who were trained, who would provide

potential medical assistance, that's not what they did when they entered the building. you have these people directly in conflict with law enforcement in many occasions. but also they will say hey, at some moments they interviewed for a lot enforcement and calmed things down. it's really a bizarre circumstance, this novel defense coming forward saying they were acting with what they thought was legally, essentially, the reason why they had these weapons outside of d.c. is because they were combining with d.c., and waiting for donald trump, under their sort of bizarre legal interpretation, which i think is how they will describe this to the jurors, it's out there but this intention that donald trump could invoke the insurrection act and basically enlist them, call upon them to act on behalf of the country. it will be a very interesting case. a lot of these have been sort of slam dunk cases previously. a lot of the trials we have seen so far, we wondered why they even went to trial. but this one is going to have

some different use of shades of gray here, right? this is not necessarily the slam dunk that a lot of previous trials have been. there's no evidence of guilt, it's just that is the potential for a mixed verdict here, because the doj is alleging these are novel charges, something the doj has not really gone down this path, for unsuccessful in the past going down this path. this is one actually there's a bit of mystery how it is going to land. you can see some interesting things coming up out of this trial as it proceeds over the next five or six weeks here, ali. >> that's a novel defense from stewart rhodes, also a novel prosecution we are talking about seditious conspiracy. this is just not something that you hear all that often. it is so serious, the equivalent of treason, but not when you are in a war, working for another government. it's domestic treason against your government. very hard to prove. very rare to use.

our legal experts made the point that the government would not have done this if they did not think there was a very good chance that they could succeed with this kind of trial. tell me about what that prosecution means, what succeeding in it would mean. >> well you know, like you said, it's a very novel case. but if you're not going to use the seditious conspiracy charges for an attack on the u.s. capitol, what will you use it for? to some extent, i think it will go that the doj is coming in here with the same kind, and at the same time, there's not a ton of evidence we have seen thus far at least, that could change the child, other than a specific plan to invade the capital coming from stewart rhodes. there's a lot of talk about, they would provide security for a lot of the trump folks. this talks about civil war, certainly, but in terms of the specific actions with aiding the u.s. capitol, there's not don we have seen thus far. they are essentially adding on standby as militia for trump. so it's interesting, broadly speaking they had this plan to

sort of help stop the overthrow of the, rather the transfer of power peacefully, certainly, i think that is in evidence. but in terms of the specific actions they took, in terms of going inside of the u.s. capitol, that seemed more kind of a day of plan. i think that is what is going to be really interesting to see here how prosecutors are able to sort of put some meat on the bones there, in terms of what the actual plan here was. what i am most interested in, as we get into this trial is this a moment on the night of january six, one of the oath keepers was played guilty to charges of seditious conspiracy justified or will testify telling the court, entering his plea hearing. essentially he says he's in a hotel room on the night of january 6th in the capital, with stewart rhodes on the phone. on the phone with the trump intermediary, someone was contact with donald trump, he's urging that person to call, to tell trump to invoke the insurrection act, to call on the militias, and they will spring right into action.

he asked to speak directly with trump himself on that night, january six, before the event in suburban virginia, and then celebrated what they had going that day. so it's this weird sort of mix of comedy and tragedy. >> it, let's listen, i know the story is true, but it does not sound true, i don't appreciate you sullying the olive garden on my show, ryan. i mean, i like the olive garden, it is one of those things! >> i know, very solid bread sticks. very, very solid! >> good to see, ryan reilly is the justice reporter for nbc news digital. i mean, there's nothing to laugh about about this matter, so you take what you can get. ahead of the next public hearing, the house select committee investigating january six originally planned for last week, and postponed because of the storm that was coming. congressman jamie raskin wrote a powerful op ed in the new york times about the violent rhetoric of the modern trumpian

republican party, the actual violence of january six, and the dangerous insurrectionist theory of the second amendment that they are using to justify it. let me read you a little bit from it. many republicans in congress agree the second amendment is about maintaining within the citizenry, the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government if that becomes necessary. they romantic but entirely fraudulent insurrectionary three of our constitution allows mr. trump's followers to suggest that the mass destructive violence of january six was something other than criminal. and quote. the january six investigation congress is still ongoing. you are looking into that role, donald trump and those close to him that played on that fateful day, and the committee is likely to hold another public hearing sometime in the next few weeks. jordan is a congressman, jamie raskin, democrat of maryland, member of the house select committee on january six, and also lead, a lead house manager on the second impeachment of donald trump. congressman, always a pleasure

to see you. thank you for being with us. other than your role in the impeachment in the january six hearing, you are someone we have turned to for years because of your understanding of the constitution. and i would like to explore this a little bit. there are candidates running now, and members of congress who talked about january six in terms of the second amendment, in terms of the right to pick up arms against your own government. could you explain to those of us who are not constitutional scholars what you were writing about in this op ed as it relates to the second amendment? >> pretty much, on a daily, certainly weekly basis, republican member of congress will get up on the floor, or in committee and say the second amendment gives the people the right to overthrow the government, to engage in armed rebellion. and it is just nonsense. there is nothing to support that, article one section eight, clause 15 of the constitution says the congress has the power to call for the militias from

the states to suppress insurrections. the republic guaranteed clause says they must guarantee the people of the states, it republican form of government, and has the power to put down domestic violence. even section three of the 14th amendment says anyone who has sworn an oath to hold and defend the constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic, who violates it by engaging in insurrection, or rebellion, may never hold office again. so the whole edifice of the constitution is designed to stop insurrection. yet, we have republicans who, this day are claiming there is some kind of constitutional right to engage in it. it is ridiculous. the only thing that they cite is the declaration of independence, which of course says when in the course of human events, people are being oppressed by tyrants, they could overthrow the government. this is true, but that's a natural law of right, another right contained in the constitution of the united

states, where no constitution gives people the right to destroy the constitution and the government. >> nor does the first amendment give people the right to overthrow the government, a number of people claiming what we look over here at on the screen, was the exercise of the first amendment, of the right to peace simply assemble, i put that in quotes because it's in the constitution. but, you don't have the right to not peacefully assembled with the aim of overthrowing the government, but in the first amendment or any others in the constitution. >> that is right. the first amendment is all about the freedom oaks beach, the freedom of association and the right to possibly assemble. but there is no right in the constitution to violently attacked the government. look, it is not even a right to engage in non violence, civil disobedience as my late colleague john lewis, dr. king, or bob moses found out from any jail cells over the period of the civil rights movement. if you violate the law, the civil rights movement understood, you would go to jail. that was something they were

willing to go through in order to move the country into redeeming the constitution. now we have a violent insurrectionists who have forgotten the whole message of this civil war, which is you don't have a right to take up arms against the u.s. government. that is the importance of all of these cases. we have had more than 900 prosecutions against the january six insurrectionists. there's not a single one where a federal, or state court for that matter, has dismissed the charges on the grounds that the people are lawfully engaged in second amendment insurrection. >> i want to ask you about ginni thomas, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas. she made a statement to the january six committee is been obtained by the federalist which he says, i can guarantee my has been ever spoke with the about pending case of the court. it's an ironclad rule in our home. i generally do not discuss with him my day to day work in politics. the topics i'm working on, who i am calling, emailing, texting or meeting. however, she told your

committee she still believes the 2020 election was stolen. all of this becomes a little hard to reconcile, which is why i put it to you, how do you reconcile this? >> far be it from me to question the household rules in the thomas family, but what was remarkable was the chair of our committee, jenny thompson, they've confirmed she is saying she still believes donald trump won the election, and joe biden's victory is based on fraud. that's a remarkable thing for anybody to say, much less someone who's married to a supreme court justice, who, theoretically, bases their whole work on the rule of law. we have more than 60 federal and state courts that have rejected every single claim of electoral fraud in corruption, in the country. and these people have nothing to cite against it other than a feeling that they have from fox news or some other media outlet,

that there was fraud. but the courts have looked at it. this is how we deal with claims of electoral fraud, corruption in the united states of america. all of the courts have rejected it, yet we still have people like ginni thomas and others who are out there, swallowing the big lie continuing to propound it. it's a dangerous thing for a democracy, one of the hallmarks of an authoritarian or fascist political party is a refusal to accept the results of democratic elections, and embrace political violence, a refusal to renounce physical violence. the whole country should be alarmed about where the gop is today. >> your next hearing, might be the final hearing, you have described it as it may be the last investigative public hearing, where we will try to round out the factual narrative. could you put any meat on those bones for us? >> well, i think the public understands the essential elements of the story, donald trump refused to accept the

results of the peoples vote in the elections and the electoral college. and they said about numerous different methods trying to overthrow it, culminating in the idea of enforcing the vice president out of his constitutional role, getting into the clear unilateral powers, just to vaporize electoral college votes from arizona, georgia, pennsylvania. we are going to complete that story. we may have some updates on what happened with all of those missing secret service techs, we might have more information from the secret service about what actually happened. basically, we will give the public all of the material, essential information we got about what happened. but ali, the other thing is that we will talk about the continuing, clear and present danger posed by the political forces, leased by donald trump against us, the domestic violent extremist groups, use social media which has been used as an instrument for

promoting this kind of insurrectionism against the government of the united states. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you for joining us this morning, we appreciate, in the democratic congressman jamie raskin of maryland, member of the house select committee on january six. still to come, at least 77 people have been killed with to the impact of hurricane ian. but as the state of florida begins to pick up the pieces, that number is expected to rise. and just because the immediate danger has subsided, officials are warning residents not to get complacent, the next danger to anticipate is the health and sanitation crisis in florida, later this hour, the sea band book published called into session to discuss a masterful and award-winning level but to get american and mexican teams, dante and aristotle discovery secrets of the universe grapples with a specific identity, which is mexican born texas raised and gay. but it still feels universal and rooted. i'll talk to the author benjamin alire saenz. alire saenz

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on hurricane ian. remnants of the storm continue to rain down on the mid-atlantic in the simple appalachia in regions this morning, but the cooler temperatures will be nothing compared to the devastation left by hurricane ian in florida, and to a lesser degree in the carolinas. nbc news confirmed at least 77 deaths have been caused by ian in florida and in north carolina. more than 860,000 floridians remain without power as of this morning. according to the miami herald, at least 10,000 people throughout florida remain housed in shelters after evacuating their homes. in florida's hard hit lee county, that's where fort myers beach is, the sheriff confirmed 35 people died from the effects of ian on pine island, in lee county as well, officials say wrexit efforts continue to be a challenge the island is largely without cell surface or electricity. the storm also disagreed the only bridge going in and out of the island, making driving in

with food supplies or medical supplies impossible. to make matters worse, the new york times is reporting officials in lee county actually delayed evacuating the area, potentially contributing to the catastrophic consequences and the high death toll. quote, while officials along much of the coastline responded with orders to evacuate on monday, emergency managed in lee county held off, pondering during the day whether to tell people to flee, but then deciding to see how the forecast evolved. 35 storm related deaths in lee county of the highest total anywhere in the state. president joe biden and asked over and he and the first lady planned to travel to devastated areas in florida this week. but before they go, the first couple held to puerto rico, tomorrow. those ravaged by hurricane fiona last week. the deaths of at least 25 people in puerto rico have been linked to fiona, according to reuters, as a friday, an estimated 233,000 homes and businesses were still without power almost two weeks after the storm hit. nbc's liz mclaughlin is in fort

myers, florida, which is in lee county. liz, lee county was hit particularly hard. i was actually there until yesterday. what is the latest on the situation recovery, from where you are? >> just heartbreaking. as you mentioned, that death toll continues to rise. we look at the state medical examiners initial reports. most of those deaths here in lee county, most over the age of 60. so the most vulnerable populations are really suffering here. and in this area where we are, the devastation is widespread. there is no missing it. debris is everywhere. little pieces of peoples lives, screaming about, tangled with power lines, home siding, kids toys, literally the kitchen sink. people's homes, cars, floating in water and boats more than 100 yards from the shore, just scattered about. you can see the widespread

devastation here, it does not look anything like it normally does. residents saying they don't even know where their home is. some completely wiped off the map. recovery crews, rescue crews and other crews are just working around the clock. we saw them deployed before the sun rose this morning. now, excavators are out, picking up the pieces after this area has been ripped to shreds. we talked to some rescue crews, who were on pine island. we spoke with people coming off of that boat as they came back. let's listen to what they are going through. >> well we have not had much water. we have been trying to get by. we have a couple of buckets full of water in the back? >> the lotto turns on and off periodically. when it turns on, we fill up all of the buckets and tubs with water as much as we could. my mom works at a restaurant, so she has food. she is set for that. but i know the neighbors, they

have kids. they did not have food or water, they were not prepared. they were not ready for that. >> no. >> we went over and gave them some food. i don't really know what is going on with fema. >> a lot of the communications still cut off, communities still caught. and ali, those young people you heard from? they were actually on a first date the night the storm came, evacuated from miami and rode out the storm together on pine island. luckily, they like each other, and i think they will be going on a second date. ali? >> outstanding. because if you are stuck on a first date with someone during a storm and you don't like them, that's bad news. liz, good to see you from. their least mclaughlin in fort myers beach, florida. liz mentioned health care and temptation. health care facilities are the most crucial and vulnerable during a major hurricane. and a florida hospital at the forced to evacuate patients or cut back on critical care. now health officials are warning about a burgeoning biohazard crisis.

we will have more on that as we come back. as w come back. t exactly does it mean for you? out of pocket costs for drugs will be capped. for seniors, insulin will be just $35. families will save $2,400 on health care premiums. energy costs, down an average of $1,800 a year for families. and it's paid for by making the biggest corporations pay what they owe. president biden's bill doesn't fix everything, but it will save your family money. full scale fallout from

hurricane ian, but with no power clean water, health experts are warning that this is the environmental risk that's right for disease outbreaks and infections. the lack of running water and a lot of areas is already for several florida hospitals and dozens of nursing homes to evacuate dozens of patients. one hospital, hva hospital in port charlotte, the storm tour part of its roofs, in flooded one of its emergency rooms. this force hospital to cram patients into two floors. staff members at another hospital, in fort myers, were forced to take drastic measures after they lost rodney water. as nbc reported on friday, patients and nurses alike were forced to deprecating plastic bags, then store the bags in overflowing biohazard bin.

workers that they can't properly sanitize medical instruments for reuse, and some patients went for more than a dozen hours without drinking any water. the president of the health, which operates for hospitals in lee county announced on friday that its hospitals were evacuating hundreds of patients. >> we have been through a very harrowing time in the last 48 hours. as you know, our decisions are always made around the best interest of our patients. we have begun a evacuation process of two of our facilities that do not have water supply. that is ongoing. the loss of life and property in this community cannot be overestimated. it is truly devastating to see what this storm has done to us. everyone has been working around the clock to get as to this very difficult time. they've been doing it without breast. >> hundreds of thousands remain without power in florida and the carolinas. people who are dependent on medical devices like

respirators and katie del says face severe health risks, while the lack of air conditioning threatens older more vulnerable populations. with us to announce the public health crisis bias -- doctor irwin red letter. he's the founding director of the national center for disaster preparedness at columbia university. erwin, you and i have been talking throughout this hurricane, often i guess it was friday, i went over to an area in fort myers beach where there are a number of shrimpers, who live on their boats. their homes haven't been destroyed, their boats have been destroyed, they had a lot of issues. they didn't have food, power, couldn't charge cell phones, didn't know where to go for assistance, did nowhere to go for food. the number one thing they said to me is can we get some portable toilets. we're about to have a sanitation problem here, because we have no toilets. >> and right. this is a typical but highly complex and very severe disaster. it starts with a semi collapse,

really, of the health care system. it's even before we get to the hospital situation, people are chronic illnesses that are on medication, they can't get access to a pharmacy. they won't be able to get their refills. if they're evacuated without their member -- another problem. all of this exasperating for medical care that is not actually available. the hospital situation is particularly disastrous because people are moved at hospitals which, by the way, is a very fragile, tenuous situation. you have to move icu patients and newborn intensive care patients to some other place. that very process is dangerous. they get to the host hospital, after the evacuating, and they crowd up that hospital, so that hospital gets impeded in its ability to deliver regular medical care. people with heart attacks, in mobile crashes, they will be able to get the care they need. that's one of the hidden

factors that increases the ultimate fatality rate. we saw this big time in puerto rico after hurricane maria in 2017. the hospitals, with the roofs torn off, the hostile generators are working, the lack of water and sanitation is particularly onerous. this is going to cause ongoing problems as well. it's never just a simple of we have to evacuate this hospital for xyz reasons. the very evacuation causes ongoing health problems. what's going to happen with the situations distances that those faster, many of the wastes maintenance programs in the water treatment plants are not functioning as well. there is a big picture element to this, which is going to take a lot of focus and resources, as well as the state. >> one of the things that happens in these cases, obviously governments are trying to help everybody and

the situation, but people on the margins, low income people, undocumented people, they have special challenges. some people don't want to go to places, some people don't have any communication or transportation. i'm a people who lost their cars. you are in southwestern florida, you lose your car, there's not enough for best public transportation infrastructure, particularly in rural parts of the place. there is a distinction. you have a lot of expertise around the world and dealing with marginalized populations who will we suffer more from health issues in the face of disaster. >> right. that's a universal truth. it happens all over the world. the poorest get hit the hardest by any kind of disaster. it's just unfortunate that we don't have a more equitable system of making sure that people get what they need fairly. irrespective of what their income is, what their social status is. a lot of undocumented people, by the way, are terrified, especially in florida, of revealing themselves as

undocumented. they may be very reluctant for themselves and their children to come forward and say we need help, fearing that the authorities will somehow apprehend them. there is layer upon layer of problems where at the end of the day, this inequity in response to this disaster is is a moral problem that really affects public health in many ways. it's really unfortunate. >> thanks for being with us. as always, we appreciate all your support analysis this week. doctor irwin red letter is that msnbc health analyst. he's the founding director of the national center for disaster preparedness. in the 19 80s, a woman named all liberal while battled with the environmental protection agency to acknowledge the environmental racism that was plaguing black communities in america. 40 years later, it all came full circle. coming up next, how the mother of the movement helped fight environmental justice. ronmental justice. you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough.

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egregious crimes of environmental injustice, aside from the flint water crisis was hurricane katrina. louisiana's most vulnerable communities where an afterthought in the preparation and the response to the monumental storm. the tragedy had a powerful racial component from the start, images of port communities, decimated. black families, stranded on

roof tops and the abhorrent conditions inside the louisiana super drone, which many black residents of new orleans have been evacuated. in 2015, a decade after the storm, and subsequent failures, new orleans residents were asked if they believe the state of louisiana had recovered from china. in the 80% of white residents said that it was mostly recovered, only 59% of black residents said it was mostly not recovered. country's racial divide is clear today, even up a home of kanye west who put it in the most matter of fact terms when things are set on national television quote, george bush does not care about black people. hurricane katrina was likely the first time many americans were introduced to the idea of environmental racism, but the environmental justice movement began decades before katrina, and kanye west. the movement sprang from a protest in warren county, north carolina in the early 19 80s. a small, predominantly black community was designated as the dumping site for a hazardous

waste landfill. it was proposed that the landfill store thousands of tons of pcb contaminated soil. but when the truck loads of tainted soil arrived at the site, hundreds of protesters showed up to literally stand in the way of injustice. for weeks, protesters marched, prayed, lay their bodies in the middle of the road to block the trucks from turning their home into a poisonous wasteland. dolly burwell was one of the leaders of that protest, she has been credited with the mother of the movement. that 19th news describes her as quote, a leading force behind the idea that all communities have a right to a safe and healthy environment. she was arrested five times during the protests, even her-year-old daughter was arrested while participating in the marches. ultimately, dolly burwell and her fellow activists lost the fight against the 22 acre dump, but it was not a total failure, far from it. their cries were heard far and wide, awareness spread. like so many examples of the

black experience, americans started to realize that warren county was no outlier. other predominantly black and poor communities began to notice the talks this landfill, were poisoning their neighborhoods as well, and a nationwide movement against what became known as environmental racism was born. everything came full circle last week for dollie burwell, who is now 74 years old. on a sunday in warren, south carolina, she watched as michael regan, the nation's first black epa administrator announced the creation of a high level office within the epa, dedicated to environmental justice and civil rights. the new divisional bolster title six, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin as well as helping communities access and use the three billion dollars dedicated to climate and environmental justice in the inflation reduction act. for decades, the epa failed to acknowledge the environmental

inequities that plagued marginalized communities. now such issues are a pillar of the same agency. dollie burwell, the mother of the movement, says she is tremendously excited, but also cautiously optimistic, telling the washington post, quote, the war is won in incremental struggles. one battle at a time. the war is never over. t's get some more analysis on that, chuck. mmm. pepper jack. tender steak. very insightful, guys. the new subway series. what's your pick? the first time you made a sale online was also the first time you heard of a town named... dinosaur? we just got an order from a dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. godaddy. tools and support for every small business first.

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he has a brother in prison, a father who feels distant. terry, as it's called, it's 15, board, miserable. and he is all alone. that until he meets dante, who is everything that ari is not. selfish are, not afraid to love our, open at the world. when the meet at the local swimming pool, it seems a teen have nothing in common, they quickly become best friends, upon the last a lifetime even blossoms into love.

their story, "aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe" is today's feature for the velshi banned book club. it's impossible to talk about the book without commenting on the masterful way that it is written. it is lyrical, with a cadence that only makes sense once you learn that the author, benjamin alire sáenz, is a poet. in his work, he did not pander orders heavy-handed metaphors. he trusts that the reader will be able to do some of the legwork themselves. masterfully, the book spans two years. with the passage of time, it shifts in its writing style, and matures as our characters do. the intricate narrative and the careful word choice strikes a deeply emotional core, even the most stone hearted reader will choke up reading this book. ultimately, aristotle and dante 's about identity, both sexuality and heritage. it grapples with a specific identity, mexican born, texas raised and gay. but the story feels universal. the leader already knows that

identity as a concept, contains multitudes when you open the cover, but reading the book is like discovering the truth all over again. dante and aristotle discover the secrets of the universe has been critically acclaimed, named among time magazine's 100 best young adult novels of all-time. among that classics like catcher in the right and to kill a mockingbird, it's even the basis of a new movie, the recently premiered at the toronto international film festival. but also, the book, as we are talking about it, is heavily banned. so many books on the growing list of banned titles grapple with sexuality, either the protagonist is part of the lgbtq community, or the author 's. we talked at length about the insidious nature of silencing those stories. what we have not covered nearly as much on the velshi banned book clubs are stories of mexican heritage. why? partly because there are so few books written about the latino experience in america, because of an alarming lack of diversity in the publishing world. a survey conducted by lee and

low books embossing university found that a mere 6% of people who work in publishing houses identify as latino, latinx or mexican. even outside that single digit number, you can see it at your local bookstore, you don't need a survey for it, there's a handful of books for such a large and diverse group of people. one that is the fastest growing population in america. titles like "aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe", surely even bloom from an idea to a full fledged book, are few and far between. but they are ever crucial. they celebrate this vibrant community, and they help others to understand. right after the break, i will be joined by benjamin alire sáenz, author of "aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe", and the first hispanic winner of the pen faulkner award, among many others. g many others let's hear from simone. chuck, that's a club i want to join! i literally just said that. i like her better than you the new subway series. what's your pick?

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is officially call to order. without further to do, i'm thrilled to be joined by ordering poet and author, benjamin alire sáenz. he's the author of "aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe", he is the first hispanic winner of the pen faulkner award. benjamin, welcome to the club. thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> i want to talk about this, i want to talk a lot about you, a lot about the book. let's start with the book, it's a book club. aristotle and dante begins with the inscription, to all of the boys who had to learn to play by different rules. now this can be applied to

aristotle and dante's characters in different ways. i start with this? why use this as your inspiration, what did you mean by this? >> well, obviously for me, it's for gay boys, and especially for me, for gay, latino boys. so, for the young adult audience, i want to latino boys to read, it did not turn out to be that way, women read more than anybody else, but really, i wanted to recognize them, to support them. i want gay young men, women, trans people eat a lot of support. they really do. and we think that it is easier today to come out than it was in my day, of course it is. that does not mean at that moment, that a young woman and young man, discover their

orientations, perhaps they want to be another gender, how painful and how alone they feel at that time. i wanted to write a book that supported them, to tell them, let them know that they are loved. >> it is uniquely poignant in your particular case because you came out at the age of 54. >> i did. i have had a complicated life. i had a hard time coming to terms with my sexuality. i finally did, i've a lot of help from a therapist, it was due to my history of sexual abuse, and it wasn't appealing to me, i had to work through a lot of issues. i was not alone, i got a lot of support, i had people who love me, kept loving me. and that was really important. so i wanted to be crude in the book, loving parents, because there are loving port -- parents were very supportive of

their sons, and daughters, parents that struggle to love. i wanted to write about that in this book, i think it is terribly important. and particularly, i wanted to say that latino families do not dismiss their kids just because they are gay. and i think, i want to put that out there in the universe, it's simply not true. >> do you think it will be useful, would this be useful for parents of gay, lesbian, trans kids to read this? because you sort of honor them, right? you are making the point that they can love and they can help their kids, even if the initial instinct when they find out, the kids were not what they thought they were going to be can be negative? >> i think one of the things that is important is that we realize our sons and daughters, they are kids. we are the adults.

you know, if i tell you that i am game, what do you know about me? nothing. if you tell me i am a heterosexual, they want to i know about you? nothing. yet, we make it everything, and it is not everything. when i write, aristotle and dante our sweet kids in many ways. they are not a typical of that age group. i don't confer my sexuality on the page, i don't confirm my ethnicity on the page. >> so there's a lot of what we call intersectionality in this book, right? the idea that these boys are gay, but also there's the mexican heritage throughout the book. here's one conversation between ari and's mom. it reads in parts, maybe i will just mow lawns. that's imaginative. two mexican for you, mom? >> -- no, too reliable. >> flipping burgers, that's reliable. but imaginative, but reliable. come to think, that is the perfect job for me. i am reliable, and imaginative.

she shook her head, or when you spend your life beating up on yourself? you are right, maybe i will take the summer off. you are in high school, ari. you are not looking for a profession, but a way to earn money. you are in transition. >> in transition? what kind of a mexican mother are? you >> i am an educated woman. that doesn't on mechanized me, ari. >> he sounded angry, i loved her angry. i wish i had more of, it her anger was different from my door my fathers, her angry did not paralyze her. benjamin, if i could quote one line, instead of reading the whole quote, i would've read the last line, her anger did not paralyze her. i want to post that on my computer, carry that around with me. >> my mother taught me that. and my anger has not paralyzed me. i write to give young people hope, because i think the world conspires to take their hope away.

as a writer, i am also an educator. and these are my children. these young people of the world, they are my children, i think we should all think that way. they are our children, we are responsible to educate them, love them, take care of them. that is our job. you know, james baldwin once famously said, the children of the third reich, when they were educated to the purposes of the third reich, they became barbarians. we are educating our children to something, and that is to be civil and to be kind, and realize they belong to one another. we all belong to one another. >> i want to bring one last quote, only one minute left in the quote, but major theme is a companionship to these two boys, friendship and they love. one passage reads, i wanted to tell them dundas the first human being, aside from other, whatever maybe want to talk about the things that scared me. i wanted to tell them so many things, and it i did not have

the words, so stupid repeated myself, dante's my friend. 30 seconds by what you meant on that? >> i think we don't know how special friends are, we in fact, whether sexually or not, all of the friends we have, we fall in love with and they are important. so friend is a wholly word, it really is to say dante's my friend, to call someone's friend, to be a friend is to hold an office, and it is a beautiful thing, it really is. can i just say friends are like family? friends our family, they really are family. who could live in this world without them? >> benjamin, first of all, amazing you did that in 30 seconds, you are such a prolific writer. thank you for your time, thank you for this book and for being who you are. thank you for your courage. benjamin alire sáenz is the

author of "aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe". it is a wonderful book. in the next few moments, nbc news in partnership with telemundo will release new numbers before the midterms, giving specific numbers to one of the -- most important blocks, the latino voting bloc. we'll give you those numbers. a new developments in russia's invasion of ukraine, vladimir putin is claiming swath of ukrainian territory that is armies now retreating from. make that make sense! as you can accelerate its bid to join nato, as we did former nato secretary general, who is on the job and russia annexed crimea in 2014. another hour of velshi begins right now. in right now. part of the united states have been battered by two hurricanes back to back. president joe biden will head down to the storm zone to survey the damage in the recovery efforts. the white house