legal prayer all the former president faces right now. the classified documents investigation is still in its early stages. according to an abc news report this week. the special counsel's team recently informed a trump organization employee that they are a target in their investigation which means that more indictments could be coming in that case. while trump cannot simply wish that away there is one thing he can do to, possibly, abate accountability and even shut down the cases against him. all he has to do is become president again. a new legal filing from trump's team this week signals that they want to give the former president every opportunity to return to the white house and regain control of the executive branch. including the power to pardon himself. trump's legal team is seeking to indefinitely postpone the criminal federal trial in the classified documents case citing trump's 2024 presidential campaign impossible matchup against president biden as reasons why the trial should be delayed.

he's also asking the georgia supreme court to shut down district tierney fani willis's investigation into whether trump and its allies tried to overturn the 2020 election. in a filing yesterday in that case trump's legal team writes that allowing the georgia investigation to continue with cause, quote, reputational harm to the petitioner as he seeks his party's nomination for the presidency of the united states via a flagrant disregard for in violation of, his fundamental constitutional rights. and i spoke last night with congressman, jamie raskin, and about these increasingly desperate looking moose on the part of the trump team. listen to what he told me. you can't prosecute him when he is president, because he's president. you can't prosecute him after he sees president, because he is running for president. you can't impeach and convict him, they argued. you can't use the impeachment process because, really, he should be tried, they say. use the criminal statutes.

but you can never use a criminal statutes because he's always running for president, which, for him, gives him perfect and unity and impunity. >> it's almost like donald trump would like to never be accountable to the justice system for anything at all. for his part, jack smith's team which had previously proposed a december start date for the federal documents trial submitted zone filing this week to oppose delaying the trial until after the 2024 election. quote, there is no basis in law or facts for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion. the defendants provide none, and quote. the start date for that trial will ultimately be set by the pro citing judge, aileen cannon. a trump appointee whose decision in this matter will certainly fall under intense scrutiny. judge cannon is in an unenviable position as the presiding judge in the first ever trial in a former american president, who also happens to be a current presidential candidate. having to deal with a number of legal considerations that no other judge has ever needed to confront before. and the eyes of the justice

system trump is presumed innocent until proven guilty just like anyone else accused of a crime in this country. judges have the responsibility of ensuring that everyone receives a fair hearing. at the same time trump is no ordinary defendant. trump has a long in complicated history with the legal system. he is known for filing to be motions to costliest and the literally thousands of lawsuits to which he has been a party throughout the years. there should be safeguards to ensure that he doesn't game the system, especially during a critical election. it bears repeating that trump is a leading contender in the 2024 presidential race. he has been using the campy speeches to rail against the prosecutors working on the prosecution against him. six months since the primaries officially begin, look at these numbers. trump begins the outright front another for the gop nomination. polling nearly 30 points ahead of his closest rival, ron desantis, in the latest poll from the economist and yougov. he also has many allies in congress who have already been

working, for months, to discredit the very institutions that are trying to hold trump to account. the bottom line is the trump remains politically powerful even though he is not in office. it is a complicated in unprecedented situation for the american legal system. it could still get a lot more complicated because we are facing the very real possibility that a presidential front rather could be hitting the campaign trail while at the same time being on trial for undermining the very democracy that he is trying to take control again. for more on this i'm joined by two of the sharpest legal minds i know. cynthia oxley is a former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. she worked as an assistant u.s. attorney general under u.s. attorney general, eric holder. alongside former fbi director, robert mueller. also with us, jennifer reuben. an opinion writer from the washington post and msnbc political analyst -- she is the offer of -- welcome to you. thank you for being with us. let me start with you, donald

trump, like anyone, else has reasons to ask for accommodations from the legal system about, generally, these people want speedy trials. he is looking for a slow trial. because he has other things to do. -- we have other things to do except he is in trouble because of claims that he allegedly did while president. i have got to imagine that the judge wants to consider that. they just might not be the right idea. >> a normal, well intentioned, unbiased federal judge would laugh at this motion. under the speedy trial act, you cannot do this. you have to have a date certain. their concern, i think, is that judge cannon, having put her finger on the thumb last time in the civil case that trump brought maybe so biased as to give him rulings that other judges, frankly, would not.

one concern that i have is in that earlier civil case she seems to carve out a special role for the president that he has special reputational issues that were special from other people if you take that issue than maybe he doesn't ever get a trial date in her mind. i think that this is fraught with peril for her. even if she doesn't grant this motion, which she may not, because it would be instantaneously appealed. she will be subject her cries of her removal. she cannot allow and indulge to after delay. that is my bigger concern. somehow by months and weeks this will drag on. we will not have a trial before the 2024 election. that will be a grave miscarriage of justice. the american people are entitled to know if they are voting for someone who is a criminal or not. a very real possibility exists, along as judge cannon is the

judge. >> let's explore this a little bit. in many trials, the outcome of the trial is not necessarily relevant to something else. there may be a public safety aspect of you are trying something with rape or murder. but in this particular case the outcome of this trial, as jen reuben says, is entirely related to something else important that is happening. that is the election of the president of the united states. how does cannon even if she had to put her thumb on the scale last time how does any judge bring that into their deliberation? >> i think an experienced judge who was calling balls and strikes would just talk about that with the parties as they try to come up with a travel day. this judge has already put on a jersey and is already playing the game. there is no indication she's going to change. that i don't think that people really change after -- my guess is that what she's going to do is kick the can down the road for trump.

as jen said, she has to say to trial. day let's say she says -- she doesn't grant the governor's motion. she just kicks the baby and says, come february when trump people don't want to do it and she says, they're too busy. okay, we'll put it off until, august. and then, that can continue. that is my prediction of what happens in this case. which makes the other cases all the more important. i can say, anyway, in my mind the most important case is the january 6th case. that is the development of crime against united states my opinion. try and overthrow the entire government. that will not be filed in aileen cannon's courtroom. that case should, and i hope, will go forward. there have been some reports on that, jen. the new york times talk about the fact that jared kushner was interviewed. trying the prosecutors, getting to the bottom of whether donald trump believed he won the election. or donald trump knew he hadn't won the election.

they were trying to figure out whether jared kushner, who was really close to him and part of this operation, new. that your kushner said they were under the impression that donald trump thought they won the election. i don't know how this all plays out. jared kushner i don't know if he was under oath when he said that but, you know? it will be hard. what are they trying to do? what does it matter whether donald trump knew or didn't know? was listening to sydney powell and rudy giuliani was listening to more regional people who said, you lost the election. >> it actually doesn't matter. i was surprised that they asked this line of questioning on jared kushner. it would kind of be icing on the cake if you had evidence that donald trump knew he lost and he did this anyway. that is not the sort of intent that the prosecutors have to try. think of it this way, if you are a robber. you think that money on the bank is really years and you are convinced of it, you still can't go in there and rob the bank.

the same thing here. he might have been convinced that he won the election. that does not excuse the attempts to create phony electors. that does not excuse the attempt to pressure the vice president. it certainly does not excuse his call to his mob to head up to the hill. the type of intent that you need here is much less than trump's recognition that he lost the election. it would be nice to have that information. it would be nice to have that evidence. it would certainly impress the jury. but it is not essential to prove trump skill. s nowhat is your sense of, it cynthia? this is an interesting thing. donald trump, whether he violently thought he won or lost the election, then did a whole lot of things that are, allegedly, outside of the law. possibly very dangerous. undermining democracy. how do you feel about that? >> i wholeheartedly agree. this discussion of, oh no. what did he say? it's ridiculous. the point is, he set up fake electors. he knew that that was unlawful.

he knew that pence could not overturn the election. he knew it was improper descend arm people up to the capital in trying to score in the capital. that is the thing that is important. it is a very important point. i would say as a practitioner of good grandeur work it makes sense to put gerald kushner in the grand jury. lock him down with his testimony. ask him about the way they were making money based on all of this. who are we kidding? who is going to please jared kushner? think about how many people told trump he had lost the election. his own attorney general. all the reputable lawyers in the department of justice. all the reputable lawyers in the white house. who's cybersecurity chief. his campaign manager. the two companies that he hired to check to see if there was any fraud in the election -- >> and every judge that saw the case! >> right. exactly! so, we have kind of misplaced

this discussion somehow in the tv sphere. somehow we have to know exactly what was in trump's head or whether or not he saw, in arizona, this with that. no. he knew those electors were a fake slate of electors. he knew that pence didn't have the authority to do that. he knew it was wrong and unlawful to send armed people to the capital to storm it, knock through windows, and ultimately resulted in the death of five people. that is what is important. jennifer has made a very important point. i stand with. her >> thank you to both of you. cynthia ochsner the former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. jennifer reuben opinion writer for the washington post. msnbc political analyst, author of resistance, how women save democracy from donald trump. still ahead this hour of velshi, hot temperatures and relentless rainfall from coast to coast. we are heading to phoenix, a city about to break an alarming milestone. 15 consecutive days of temperature above 110 degrees fahrenheit. as they say, it is a dry heat. plus, a uniquely american

health care crisis that is about to get much worse. then, today's meeting of the velshi banned book club featuring the hate you give. angie thomas's award winning debut novel, heralded as one of the great contemporary young adult novels of our time. the heat you give centers around 16 year old star jackson after the death of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. they hate you give grapples with questions of identity, justice, and community. o he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand for a better night sleep. so now, he wakes up feeling like himself. the reigning family room middle-weight champion. better days start with zzzquil nights.

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havoc from coast to coast. right now, nearly one third of americans are under heat advisories, watches and warnings. 86 million americans are expected to face triple digit temperatures this weekend. local officials are already planning for the aftermath. and as he's high temperature scorch the u.s., parts of vermont are still reeling from dramatic flooding. and we see marissa power joins me now from phoenix. marisa, good morning to you and you drew the short straw this

morning. it is not just hot, it is dangerous. >> yes tell me about. it was almost 100 degrees before the sun even roads this morning. ali jokes aside this really is putting a strain on the rescues. people who are in charge of making sure that the people who live here to stay both safe and cool and hydrated. but the people who are really most at risk are those who can't run inside to air conditioning. this morning, lay of americans waking up to yet another day of extreme weather. what a vermont bracing for more rain after catastrophic flooding, down south extremely eight breaking more records coast to coast. from miami until death valley where the highest place on earth is about to get even hotter. predicted this weekend to reach a scorching 130 degrees. >> it really does feel like an arrow blow dryer going back in your face. >> phoenix physicians calling this one of the busiest summers yet for a heat related illness.

>> we are seeing all sorts of dehydration, our, mild to moderate to severe as well as critically ill patients whose temperature is higher than 105. >> the city of phoenix is one of three places in the u.s. for the heat response team a big ask in one of the country's hottest cities. >> we had more than 300 people die from it exposure here in maricopa county each of the last two years. that's a big problem. >> those most at risk? residents without a home says director david gondola. left with no escape from the suffocating heat. their ground itself literally banking. >> 168 degrees. this is why being outside can become so dangerous, so fast. >> we acted at the call where we went on a homeless person and they had third degree burns on their arms and legs. >> with phoenix is lying in 110-degree plus temperatures for 15 days and counting, on track to break its own consecutive record. rescue crews and volunteers putting in overtime for weeks trying to keep people cool and

hydrated. battling the heat and burning at the same time. >> so it is not just here, hospitals around the country are reporting an influx of patients suffering from heat related illness. they're asking you to keep an eye out for any symptoms which include, headaches dizziness, shortness of breath, elevated heart rate and feeling weak. ali, i will add to things here. it has been so hot, we have been here we actually had parts of our equipment now function. we have had some pieces of our equipment melt from being out in the sun all day. and i will tell you, this again we talk about phoenix being so hot and people being used to this in phoenix. the thing is, the thing that everybody agrees about is just the fact that this has been going on. it's a heat marathon so it really as putting a strain on these workers. everyone that's out, here whether it's people working outside or the people working to keep them cool. >> people always facetiously joke it's a dry heat but when your body temperature as a doctor and the stories which is 105 degrees, doesn't matter where the dry heat or hot heat, that's a life or death

situation. mariza stay safe, stay hydrated and keep your team safe and the shade as much as you can. marissa pirate for us in phoenix, arizona. right after the break, maternal deaths in childbirth are climbing rapidly. nearly 33 deaths from 100,000 live births in the united states but if you are a black woman, that number more than doubled to nearly 70. this is actually a crisis. if you watch one thing today, you will want to watch what comes next. comes next mean to you?" it means cashbacking every opportunity. did you cashback on this? like i wouldn't cashback? cashbacking by the basket, i see you. ugh. i dreamt you didn't cashback this flight. oh good. if you're buying it, flying it, or wining n' dining it, then you gotta be cashbacking it. come on now. cashback on everything you buy with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. (christina) with verizon business unlimited, how do you cashback? i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data.

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...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. subway's now slicing their meats fresh. that's why subway's proffered by this champ. and this future champ. and if we proffer it, we know you'll proffer it too. he's cocky for a nineteen year old. i was republican governor kim reynolds signed into law last week ager kony and six-week abortion ban joining the ranks of more than a dozen other states that have implemented near total bans on abortion following the supreme court's decision last year to overturn roe v. wade. these new abortion restrictions have disrupted not just abortion access but as we have all been warned, maternal health care across the united states. actually reproductive health care of all sorts resulting in

an increase in pregnancy complications and a higher risk of maternal mortality. this is a problem. because the u.s. already has an alarmingly high maternal mortality rate. i want to ask the director to keep this on the screen for a second, that is mexico the, top united states is number two. this is of global countries. look at where most developed countries are france, australia, austria, israel, japan, five, four, three. we are at 31 per 100,000. that's by far the highest on all of the nations when it is on par as you see with mexico, places like kazakhstan. now a new study in the journey of american metal so she asian and deeply troubling reality. between 1999 and 2019, the maternal mortality rate in the united states more than doubled with the highest deaths among black women. one of the authors of the study called it a call to action for all of us to understand the root causes of this crisis.

quote some of it is about access to health care but a lot of it is about structural racism. the policies and procedures that we have in place that may keep people from being healthy and the quote. one thing experts agree on is that the maternal mortality crisis is certain to get worse until the antiabortion instead of sprung up and nearly half of the country since the overthrew roe v. wade. health experts have long understood that abortion access cannot be meaningfully separated from comprehensive health care access. and that removing abortion access has ripple effects on the entire health care system, placing millions of women at risk. 2021 study published in the medical journey contraception examined data from 1995 to 2017, and found a strong correlation between straits with abortion restrictions in the higher mortality rates. and, fact the study explicitly concludes that quote states with abortion restrictions have higher maternal mortality rates compared to states that either

protect or maintain a neutral stance towards abortion, end quote. the report goes on to say that it's not just that woman in these places suffer worse health outcomes, it is also likely that quote states that restrict abortion may have broader hostility towards women's health, and quote. broader hostility towards women's health. that hostility is reflected in the closure of numerous clinics that were once a part of the larger safety net offering women affordable services like a birth control and other reproductive health care. really troubling developments, i'm joined by dr. jamilah parrot, the president and ceo of positions for reproductive health. she's also certified obstetrician and gynecologist. dr. parrot, thank you for joining us. there are so many places to go here but let me start with that last point. that is there are millions of women in this country, many black, women many women who are lower socioeconomic status don't have health care coverage whose first interaction with proper reproductive health came out one of these clinics that

may have also offered abortions. and often when somebody goes to determine the reproductive health situation, they discover other things. so limiting reproductive health care limits health care for a woman as a starting point. >> absolutely, you hit the nail right on the head. we know that abortion clinics and family cleaning clinics in our community have for decades served as a social safety net. it is often a place where folks can go and be cared for, folks who speak their same language to understand their culture. who look like them. we know that the folks that we are four and community are served bests by community based organizations and many of these also provide abortion care. so when we shut down access to abortion care, we are absolutely impacting the ability of so many folks to be well because of an inability to access the services and our own communities. >> we are showing a chart here

that shows the increase, the red is the period in which the maternal mortality rate increased dramatically and it correlates to an increase and abortion restrictions per year. how do we get people to understand that deciding you don't want to provide reproductive health and sort of like arbitrarily deciding that i am not going to help people who have told pain or something like that. it can't be carved out from health care, for a woman, for anybody. >> absolutely, absolutely. when i was in moscow and residency and in my training, i assume naively 25 years ago that i would absolutely be able to provide abortion care as a part of the full spectrum of reproductive health care and my clinical practice. i quickly learned that it is carved out. it is, other it's the gift of in the way that prohibits many folks who are interested in supporting this care and providing services from being able to do so. the need to access abortion

care is not and should not be distinctly separated from the need to access health care more broadly. it doesn't look like that in real life, even though we see these arbitrary separations and silos in the political theater around abortion access and comprehensive health care in general. >> let's talk about how this affects maternal mortality, i grew up in canada and i assumed that americas higher maternal mortality rate has something to do with not having sort of universal access to health care like every other developed country does have. the study indicate that there is more to it than that. some of it is that everybody does not have access to paid health care in this country. what is the racism component however that separate and apart that universal coverage. >> the racism component that impacts maternal health and health care more broadly in our communities is the same racism component that impacts

inequities and disparities in our educational system and our banking system and the housing system. it is the root of so many of the systems in this country and medicine and science is no different than that. i think for so, long we have the collective we as physicians and public health agents and scientists like to believe ourselves uniquely removed from these legacies. and has allowed us to ignore the implications for our communities, for the health and well-being of so many people. we know that systemic and instructional racism impacts health outcomes period. it shapes the access that we have to care for providers that looks like this and that community. it shapes the likelihood that folks will be able to move socially in a way that allows them to be saved. it impacts the ability for folks like me to come to their doctors office and to say this is what is happening to me and to be believed. we talk a lot in the medical space about implicit bias and that certainly as a factor but

it is not just. that it is implicit bias, it's explicit bias and a systemic and sexual racism. all of those things have implications. elastic i will say about that as we spent a lot of time talking about these differences and how outcomes basin of nest and a. i want to be very clear in saying that it is not the fact that i am black that puts me at a greater risk of dying during childbirth and in postpartum period. but instead the racialized ex experience that i have within the health care system that impacts my ability not just to access care but actually to receive culturally grounded and community responsive health care that meets my needs. i cannot educate myself out of this. i cannot earn my way out of this. as a black physician, i still have a greater likelihood of dying than many other folks. >> i have a lot more to discuss with you on this, i will invite you right now for a return visit so that we can get there more of this conversation.

thank you so much for the work that you have done. dr. jamila paris, certified ob/gyn. she is the president and ceo physicians for reproductive health. all right coming up next, today's meeting of the velshi banned book club, i speak with angie -- the young adult novel, the hate to give. do not miss this much anticipated meeting. ticipated meeting. we live our lives on our home's fabrics. and though we come and go, our odors stay. it's called odor transfer. left untreated, those odors get trapped inside fabrics and then release smells into your air. eww. you need new febreze fabric refresher. its new formula is proven to deliver longer-lasting

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something abroad that makes our legislative sessions of like a walk in the park. [inaudible] on thursday, a literal fistfight erupted on the floor of the parliament and the country have kosovo between members of the opposition and ruling parties. it was captured on a live video broadcast of the parliamentary session. you can see an operation lawmaker throw water on kosovo's prime minister and his deputy pushing and shoving ensued, and eventually some fits for thrown leading to the session being delayed for two hours. police ultimately intervene. the president of kosovo has subsequently condemned the brawls. now the time that the water was, thrown the prime minister was giving remarks about government measures to defuse months-long tensions in the northern part of kosovo between its two primary ethnic populations. ethnic albania to make up roughly 90% of kosovo's people, serves account for about 5% but

in the north, the serves are the overwhelming majority. back, and made violent clashes broke out on the streets after several ethnic knee albanian mayors took office following an election that ethnic serves widely boycotted in a push to gain more autonomy. are it still, ahead today's meeting of the velshi banned book club with andrew thomas on her debut and award-winning novel the hate that you give. heavily banned, heavily celebrated. the hate that you give has been on the top of our list literally since the inception of the velshi banned book club. i banned book club fresh. that's why this qb profers the new five meat beast. and this qb profers it. and if we profer it. we know you'll profer it too. are you trying to outspokesperson me? maybe.

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feet firmly planted into different world. one foot at home in the garden, predominantly black neighborhood weather philosophical father, big math. or loving but strict mom and her dog breaks. in other four that are mostly white prep school with a wealthy and well-meaning white boyfriend where she is quote cool by default.

as one of the few black girls and rolled their. these two worlds do not, mix that is until star witness is the murder of her childhood best friend, khalil at the hands of a police officer. star is the only witness, the only person who can defend her friend and her community in front of a grand jury. she is the only person who could use her voice to demand accountability. , suddenly the lines between these two worlds become blurred over questions of justice, identity and equality. that is the plot of today's velshi banned book club featuring the award-winning, they hate to give by angie thomas. we have had this book on our list of most wanted since the inception of the velshi banned book club a year and a half ago. i remember the way the mother of contemporary black literature tony morrison described her own books while i was engrossed in the hate you give this past week. quote, it is not fast food, it's a meal that you should relish. now i am not here to counter tony morrison and her yardstick to measure literature but it seems to me that they do give

is the sort of fast food that one does relish. like the best not as you've ever had or a delicious hamburger. thomas wields accessible intimate language state from the halls of your local high school like a weapon. sharp, to the point and real worry another author might make her reader work more. thomas gives her readers the assist. the ceiling multi layered concepts like cyclical poverty, insidious, racial stereotypes. the constant abbreviate and code switch murray with ease. this is by design at its core the hay to give as a coming of age story star navigating her place in the halls of her high school grappling with her first love and broken friendships in ways that we have seen before. thomas masterfully uses the familiarity of these why a tropes and first person perspective to tell him more nuanced story. what made infinitely more complex by questions of race and tragedy and shifting cultural viewpoints. they say that you give proof the importance of young adult

novels for anyone who has ever doubted the genres value. this frank and approachable style of storytelling will not let any reader regardless of background close its covers without a much more intimate understanding of star, her community and a story that very well could be real. and if this book feels ripped from the headlines, it's because it is. on page 20, six star echoes eric garner's last words quote they finally put a sheet over khalil. he can't breathe under it. i can't breathe. the second to last page list names that have become hauntingly familiar to all of us, trayvon martin, michael, sandra, even the concept of the book is painfully true. when she was in college, thomas wrote a short story after the deadly 2009 police shooting of oscar grant that would later serve as the bones for this novel. with these passing reference and direct mentioned, the raiders reminder that the relentless murder of young black men and women at the

hands of police is so far from fiction. unsurprisingly, despite all of that they hate to give's face challenges, and calls for ban across the nation. many, many times. some parents and school board members have cited the books use of profanity while others directly condemn the books topics often wrongfully attributing it as critical race theory or just anti-police, red large. i could continue to defend the merits of the hate you give but i will give one student at north allegheny high school and pennsylvania the opportunity instead. published in the school newspaper, the uproar jr. stabbed pardon are said quote that first reflex for white parents and white kids might need to shield their kids from any mention of racism but if we want to change anything for americans of color, we should let education push kids out of their comfort zones and quote. right after the, break i'm joined by angie thomas, author of the award winning the hate you give. stay with us. stay with us try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health

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sleepovers just aren't what they used to be. a house full of screens? basically no hiccups? you guys have no idea how good you've got it. how old are you? like, 80? back in my day, it was scary stories and flashlights. we don't get scared. oh, really? mom can see your search history. that's what i thought. introducing the next generation 10g network. only from xfinity. i am john amber and she thomas,

the award winning author of today's velshi banned book club featuring a staff favorite they hate you give. angie, welcome to the velshi banned book club. we literally evan talking about this book since day one. it epitomizes what we are trying to do here and the good news is we have been talking about banned books for a year and a half, we don't have to talk about the book banning here. we can talk actually about the book which is fantastic. let me start with bravery. it's a persistent theme in the hate that you give. it culminates in the moments

before star testifies. her mother says to a quote, brave doesn't mean you're not scared, star she says. it means you go on even though you're scared and you're doing that. star pushes back on, then she rejects the notion that she is brave or acting bravely throughout the book. why is that? >> we'll, first off thank you so much for having me and that introduction earlier is probably the best introduction i've gotten in my career. so thank you but you know bravery is one of those concept that feels bigger than it actually is. especially for younger people. when you think of bravery, they may think of superheroes or something like that but sometimes bravery, the best bravery is found in the smallest acts. sometimes it just means stepping out of your comfort zone, sometimes bravery means yes i am shaking, i am trembling but i will push forward to do what i believe is right. and i think a lot of times young people think that oh, my heroes are people who have changed history. they weren't afraid and that's not true.

you know i am sure there are plenty of times dr. king was terrified but he kept going. it's kind of like what you were saying, earlier you know presenting fast food but hopefully, the reader will cherish. it take their time with. it it's about breaking something down and saying hey, it is not always the big acts. some is taking one step at a time and doing something that terrifies you but still pushing forward and doing it anyway. >> so the unusual nature of this book club is it's a news program, so while you are here i want to talk about the moment that star goes on the news to recount khalil's murder. the fictional news anchor ask star how she feels about the medias portrayal of the murder. quote, it seems like that we want to talk about what he may have said, when he may have done. when he may have not done. i don't know if that person could be charged in his own murder, you know? ultimately the news program as use as a vehicle to further stars growth to help regain her voice but this is a real critique of news coverage of

police brutality. it is not the only media reference in the book either. let's talk a little about that. you are making a point here that historically the news has gone after the victim quite often. >> oh absolutely, not just a victim, they've even gone after the witnesses. i remember when i was working on the hate that you, gave i particularly thought not just of trayvon martin but his best friend, rachel john teal who was on the phone with him at the time of his murder. i remember that there were so many people who are criticizing this young lady for how she spoke as opposed to listening to what she was saying when she was on the stand. she wasn't quote unquote polished. you know, she spoke out she spoke. she talked how she talked and that there are people coming at her. then i remember two there was a lot of talk about oh, what kind of kid was trayvon? oh you know he got in trouble, this and this. they were pulling up pictures that he, took maybe a family now looking a certain way in

the photo and i remember thinking, what does that have to do with his death? why is it though that when you talk about that young black man, suddenly you know they are not victims, there is something that they did wrong. and we immediately look for reasons to justify their death. the media, honestly is guilty of doing this at times. i see more things about these young black man and their records and they do of what happened in those last moments. we have to sit back and wonder why is that? >> why is that? why is that? we don't listen enough because we get our information from police? because of institutionalized racism? what conclusion did you draw? >> my conclusion is that it's unfortunately a tale as long as old as this country. in fact, i will even go back and reference another book of mine concrete roads which is the prequel to the hate that you give about stars that, maverick. there is a line in there where this man tells maverick, young

maverick that sometimes for black man, it's easier to not see them as human, to justify the brutality that is done to them. and for me as an author, one of the things i work towards is dehumanizing young black people, i mean humanizing young black people because so often, this country has dehumanized. this is a tale as old as time, it's a part of the dehumanization and it's so ingrained in us. it is so ingrained in our media, it's so ingrained in this society. it is so ingrained in our laws that at some, point we have to take the blinders off of ourselves and say wait one, minute what is going on here? and as an author, my goal is to humanize so it feels like it is always happen. you go back to every movement for black people in this country, the dehumanization is at the core of it. so of, course it translates in the media as well. >> that's a lesson for us all to take to heart and try and

make sure that we do our part to change it. you explore community throughout the book and i want to read a quote. you say all right now, star one of our neighbors calls. out i get that just about every day in the neighborhood, now all right now is more than a greeting. it's a simple way people letting me know they got my back and quote. made more complicated by stars dueling communities, right? she has a home community, the garden and she has got the school community. you really explore both. she is a part of both and then they come into conflict. tell me a bit about that. >> that was taken from my own life. i grew up in jackson, mississippi. in fact i'm in my mom's house and mississippi right now. i grew up in jackson, mississippi. i lived in a neighborhood called george town, mostly black, mostly poor never timing it about georgetown on the news, it was for the wrong reasons. but i went to a school called belhaven which is the name mostly white upper class, private. mostly white, upper class private school and it's in the very fluent area. so i found myself being two

different people into different worlds very often. i don't think a lot of people understand the duality of being a black person in america at times, specifically if you are from a certain type of community and you find yourself in a different environment. such as a private school or something like that. who i was in my neighborhood were not cut it at my school. so i often have to code switch so that people wouldn't make judgments about, me so that people would not assume oh she is a ghetto girl, she is the angry black girl. this and that is because those assumptions, those stereotypes are so prevalent that if i step out of line, just in one simple, way suddenly i am written off their assumptions made about me. this is what star faces, what a lot of black heads especially kids of color period in this country face. they often have to change and not just let me change that. not just, kids adults too because i still deal with it. if i were to get on here right

now and i start talking like a top in my neighborhood and say like iain finna deal with this, there will be people who are watching you right now and say, oh she is like that. i don't want as to think about for a moment, i wish we would do more is consider what people are saying as opposed to how they say it. some of the most intelligent people i know from my own neighborhood speak a certain way and you can easily write them off but if you paid attention to what they are saying, you would learn something yourself. so that duality is tough. it is hard, it's a challenge and that's something i dealt with personally. it's something i know a lot of black americans especially deal with on a daily basis. and i wanted to show these young people that, hey you deal with this. but at the end of the, day you define yourself. not from delta standards for what intelligence is. >> angie, thank you so much about looking for to this conversation for a very, very long time. andrew thomas is the author of today's velshi banned book club. they hate you give. i will continue the conversation with andrew thomas, the extended cut will be

available next week on nbc streaming platform peacock. log on this week and search velshi for the rest of our discussion another extended velshi banned book club interviews. that is for, me thank you for watching. stay right where you are, alex witt reports begins right now. and a very good day to all of you from the top -- on los angeles, welcome everyone to alex witt reports. right now, nearly one third of all americans are under extreme heat advisories and warnings as a historic heat wave scorches the west and south with no signs of ending anytime soon. in fact it's about 9 am in las vegas right now. it is already a blazing 98 degrees there with forecasters warning is that these 117 degree record could be broken this weekend. phoenix, arizona topping 110 degrees every day this month with the mercury later