predecessor, under president bush? >> i think the reason is simple. because paul ryan has been seris about talking about these issues, about getting serious about solutions. you know, it's -- >> but votes matter. >> and i don't agree with all of his votes. but let's be clear. let's contrast the leadership paul ryan has shown with president obama's lack of leadership. the senate for three years hasn't had a budget. and so it's very difficult for democrats to complain how dare the other side actually get serious about fixing these problems when they don't even pretend to fix the problems. >> he wasn't serious under president bush. why wasn't he serious when we were funding a war in iraq? why didn't he say america should pay for the war in afghanistan. why didn't he say when we have a top program it needs to be available to folks on main street? he was for the automotive bailout -- >> barack obama -- >> did the -- >> the democrats did not. but i tell you what, we're not walking around talking about a guy who has a career doing something completely different. he has a budget that doesn't

balance, and he claims that he's a budget balancer. he's using supply-side economics, have a 20% tax policy that's a $5 trillion tax cut. >> i agree with you. i agree with you that republicans -- >> doesn't make sense. acting and being polite and it doesn't make sense. >> e.j., quick point. >> president obama put a plan on the table that would balance the budget in 12 years, which is quicker than the ryan budget. i'm a liberal. i didn't even agree with everything that was in that plan. but the notion that this president hasn't put down budget proposals. he tried to reach a deal with john boehner and that deal fell through. he was willing to put a lot on the table. >> how many votes did that plan get? >> well, that is a side issue. >> it got zero votes. not a democrat in the senate voted for it. not a one. >> yes, because the vote was put up there as a political matter. the fact it was a serious plan and serious budgets get voted on -- >> that's not a serious plan. >> let me come back to the effect of paul ryan. we know and we learned this week that the republican convention, which is coming up, is going to have a high profile keynote

speaker, that of course is new jersey governor chris kristie. another prominent speaker will be florida senator marco rubio. i this week sat down with another keynote speaker from four years ago. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and i asked him about what we're discussing. the ryan effect on the race. this is part of what our discussion. >> first of all, here's the good news for mitt romney, no major problem. when you think about it, that's already put the vice presidential choice at 75% range of vice presidential choices. it's in that first week that the problems start to emerge. i don't want to mention former people, but you remember what i'm talking about. >> sure. >> second, i think it's been a positive effect for both sides in the sense that the selection of paul ryan was like selecting an issue, as much as selecting a person. he was selected not for his home state, not for any perceived political advantage, not for some ethnic group he was going to connect to, but because he can speak very powerfully on a particular issue which is how to

rein in the federal government, how to deal with our budget, how to deal with our economy. and whether you agree with him or not, i think in a very powerful way, romney, rather than the president, should be setting the agenda, has now set the agenda for the campaign. maybe a bad gamble, maybe a good gamble. but i think it's going to make it a better campaign. >> you're worried that it's too much of a gamble. when you said one issue i thought you said medicare because paul ryan certainly wants to overhaul how medicare is run. and romney would make those decisions at the top of the ticket. are you worried that the gamble on medicare is tough for republicans to win? >> well, sure. i am worried about it. i'm worried that the gamble might not work. every gamble might not work. do i think it should have been done? yes. do i think it will work? i believe it will work. i can't guarantee that. >> is it a mistake for governor romney, he said he paid no less than 13% in taxes. he was talking about medicare at the time, he answered the question on that, and that is new focus on whether he should release more tax returns. is this an issue that means something? you think voters hear this and

say i've got a problem with that? >> i think it's a tradeoff. i'm guessing. i don't know the inside answer on this. but you know, being a lawyer and representing a lot of clients, representing a lot of people with very big, big tax returns, having pretty big tax return myself, if you take ten years of somebody's tax returns who've made the kind of money mitt romney made, anybody, you can spend three months making that person look bad and getting them off message. i don't think there's anything wrong with his tax returns. i don't think there's anything like a crime or a fraud or anything like that. this man's an honest man. he's been an honest man all his life. i think it's the feeling that this will give them the opportunity to divert this campaign if they give them too much material. >> you mentioned the parry and thrust and vice president biden raising a lot of eyebrows with his quote. he said there was no racial implication. you've been tough on vice president biden. you said he doesn't have the mental capacity, should he become president that he's not too bright. what's the impact of something

like this this week? >> well, i was astounded by his remarks. when i first heard it, i didn't see -- i didn't see the -- the tape. i just heard it. and i was really startled by it. this is a dumb remark. and that's why i said he's not so bright, and you wonder. it wasn't just that comment. joe is -- joe was on jay leno. he's not a vice president. he's a joke. you never know what he's going to say. in one week he thought he was in the wrong state. he thought he was in the wrong country. he didn't know that paul ryan was a congressman and of course he said this awful thing. the other three i don't know. everybody makes mistakes but joe seems to make a disproportionate number of mistakes. and i really do believe and don't get offended because republicans believe this, we all believe this, we believe we're treated more unfairly by the media than democrats. i truly believe that were a republican, sarah palin made that level of mistakes, dick cheney, he'd be plastered all over the media, "the new york

times" would go nuts, they'd be raising questions about is he smart enough, what's going on. how does a guy make so many mistakes? is he fit to be president? that's really why i said it because i want to even up the score. >> you can see our entire conversation, rudy giuliani, on our blog, by the way, "meet the press" nbc.com. chuck todd the biden effect. we talk about the ryan effect. you heard republicans this week saying he's a joke that he should be dumped from the ticket. is he doing more harm than good? >> i don't think so. rudy and biden have a little bit of a has try. biden came up with that hit four years ago, all you hear from giuliani is noun, verb, 9/11 and it really had a weird impact on giuliani. so i think there's a little bit of a personal vendetta between the two. but i'll say this about biden. i mean, i think what they like him for is what he does in the hand-to-hand campaigning. i think what's been interesting here is there's a lot of bravado coming from conservatives and republicans. they can't wait until ryan wipes

the floor with biden at the debate. just be careful. joe biden's been around the block a few times in the united states senate. i wouldn't be cocky. >> peggy, what did you make of the whole episode this week? >> i thought everything rudy giuliani just said was true. if it had been a republican vice presidential candidate who had made those gaffes, one after another, so comically, and all on tape, the subject today of the panel would be how stupid is this person? can this person possibly govern? that hasn't been said. i think there's something to what chuck just said about the debates. you know, joe biden is an american politician. he's been around forever. he's a big, warm, fleshy person-to-person. that has a certain power and he can play this sort of daffy old grandfatherly thing who everybody thinks he's going to make mistakes, but he says two or three acute things that can work in a debate. >> kasim reed, did you hear race in those remarks?

is there a racial appeal? doug wilder did as we showed the governors before. >> i didn't hear it. i mean i watched the entire presentation, i saw the transcript, i didn't hear it. i think this is small ball. i think that he's talking about the wall street recovery, and that was the context of the message. when mitt romney or paul ryan stands up to rush limbaugh, when they're disparaging georgetown law student or stands up to ted nugent, really stands up to anybody or stands up to donald trump, then i'll be willing to have a conversation about a comment that the vice president made. >> all right we're going to take a break here. when we come back, we'll have more from our round tail. we're going to talk about medicare. the politics of it. the facts of it, also the tax debate. the facts of it, also the tax debat[ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain

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now, ask governor romney and his running mate when they're here in new hampshire on monday, they're going to be coming here on monday, ask him if that's fair. >> that's the president in new hampshire talking about the tax debate. talking about battle ground states being in new hampshire. chuck todd is over at the big screen with his device that he keeps by his bed each night looking at the battleground map. i want to look at these issues as we look ahead through the prism of the battleground map and that all-important road to 270 electoral votes which is what you need to be president. >> we're going to look at it just through the prism of florida, the most medicare sensitive state. let me let you in on how to follow this. here are the electoral numbers. what these numbers stand for, 237 electoral votes are in states we think are already leaning in the obama column. 191 electoral votes lean in the romney column. we have nine toss-up states. four in the atlantic coast here. three in the midwest, and two out west. but i want to show you the power

of florida in this battle ground. if the president is able to ride medicare to florida, look at this, his 237 goes to 266. he's four short. you just give him new hampshire where he was yesterday. romney can win everything else, north carolina, virginia, ohio, wisconsin, iowa, colorado, nevada, and look at that. he's two short. this is the power of medicare, and the power of the state of florida, and this is why you take florida out of the romney column, and he needs to do a clean sweep of the rest of the battlegrounds, including every small state like new hampshire. >> come on back as you do that. we want to put up the exit poll numbers from 2008 that showed the senior vote. this is something you wrote about in a column this week, mccain has that eight-point advantage over president obama back in 2008 and senator obama. it shows you medicare, florida, if he can cut into that number, it could be the end of the election. >> right.

over 65 have become a very big part of the base of the republican party. we forget, these aren't the only dealers who have gone on, this is a more conservative generation. i was talking to an organizer in north carolina where i was last week who said, look, we don't have to carry that vote, it's a democratic organizer. if we can cut the republican advantage among seniors about, say two or three points, it becomes very hard to beat obama. and by the way, in north carolina, or mccain had a 13-point advantage among seniors. so medicare is one of those issues that allows obama potentially to cut into the vote that romney needs to put together some of these states. >> i talked to republicans, mr. cruz, who thinks this may be a year, fingers crossed, sweating when they say this, this could be a year when you could argue medicare differently as a republican. do you believe it? >> look, i do believe it. and i think we're going to see that tested. i think people are ready for serious leadership. >> but you did work for president bush who tried this private accounts into social

security. he wrote in his own memoir he regrets that. he would have tried something else coming out of the gate in his second term. >> listen, we need leadership to stand up and save social security and medicare. and i think the democrats are being reckless. barack obama is doing nothing to save social security and medicare. and what the romney/ryan team is doing is running on leadership to get serious and save those programs, number one for seniors, for those 55 and over to preserve every bit of benefits that are there. but number two, for younger folks to have fundamental reform in those programs so that they can be there -- >> but peggy, they say the only way to save medicare is introducing private competition. there's no evidence that that necessarily works. even the medicare advantage program introduced under president bush ended up causing premiums to rise. you wrote in your column this week, ryan's got to be not a cutter, he's got to be a saver of medicare. how do you do that? >> you have to tell people i'm

trying to be the lifeguard not the shark. listen, something very interesting happened yesterday. paul ryan went into the belly of the beast, he went into the towns in florida, we all probably saw the speech, where loads of people, most of them were over 55 years of age. you can't live there unless you're over 55. >> this is a village, it is a republican stronghold. >> i beg your pardon. well, it's an interesting place. you know, and it's full of people who are elderly, and who showed up in great -- >> what are you -- >> -- because -- >> anyway making a serious point here. >> huge crowds, very enthusiastic, paul ryan brings his mother, he says she is on medicare, i am not here to try to harm those programs, i am here to try long-term to save them. everybody in america does know we're not on firm ground economically. they know the government has to be -- to be rearranged a little

bit or realigned. i think people know that the democrats will do nothing to save medicare, but they will not like it if they have the sense that republicans will -- >> and you would argue -- >> -- based on that. >> you would argue that this is also a myth that the president is doing nothing to strengthen medicare. there's big parts of the health care law that address this and the white house makes that argument very forcefully. >> yeah, i mean, the president did show leadership when he made reforms that extended medicare by eight years. not according to some partisan group but according to the cbo. and if paul ryan and mitt romney were so serious, paul ryan is the chair of the house budget commission. if he wanted to get his plan forward so that we could have an independent third party that would give us an opinion on the real numbers he could do it. and if the plan was so wonderful they wouldn't wait ten years to implement. they'd implement it today.

so he can go to a republican stronghold, and be embraced, but to say that the president hasn't shown leadership is not supported by the cbo. >> are you concerned, i talked to some other conservatives who quietly say this but won't say it publicly right now, say that attacking the president on his medicare plan, the $716 billion of cuts, is a little disingen disingenuous for republicans to make that attack because it's what republicans cried about when democrats attacked him for this in '96 number one, and those are all cuts, they're cuts in future growth. they're not cuts in benefits now. aren't these some of the same cuts that you're going to have to advocate for, assuming you are elected to the united states senate? >> look, if you were doing fundamental reform to save the program, then that's something to celebrate. but the problem with what barack obama did is he took $716 billion from medicare, and he didn't use it to reform the program. he used it to fund obama care. >> you're in favor of -- >> you are in favor of those reforms? just not what he used the money

for. >> what i'm in favor of is leadership to step up and save those programs. you know it's interesting. we were talking about joe biden a minute ago. there's an old line in washington thats classic definition of a gaffe is when a politician tells you what he actually said. i think joe biden makes an awful lot of gaffes, because he actually said what he thinks, and the obama strategy is not going to be to talk about serious solutions to our debt for the 23 million people out of work, it is going to be to distract and scare people. when he said they're going to keep you all in chains we're going to see a lot of that for the next three months. >> i want you to respond on the issue of moving that $700 billion. >> yeah, first of all, two-thirds of that money comes from either curtailing medicare advantage, which is not traditional medicare. or trying to get hospitals to behave more efficiently in treating people. secondly he does move some of this money right back to seniors. if you repeal obama care, then seniors will be back in that doughnut hole under the prescription drug benefit. he gives seniors the opportunity

to get checkups that they couldn't have. free checkups so they can stay well. i think this argument resembles that chilly line, we must destroy the village in order to save it. the other side doesn't want traditional medicare. they never liked traditional medicare. they want to move it to a different kind of program. that's a good debate. but let's not put -- >> before we go -- >> very -- >> before we go i want to end on a slightly lighter note. something that caught my attention that was not about medicare this week and i want to show a poll in "time" magazine about our devices that we use, 50% of northerns say that they keep their devices, their iphones, their blackberries, by their bed each night. 56% said they'd rather have their device than lunch. i happen to carry two of them, and i keep both of them by my bed each night. what about you? i don't know. the debate will keep going. thank you all. >> 100%. >> you know it. >> you can't go out at night -- >> you want to know.

thank you all very much. that's all for today. we're going to be back next week, live in tampa, florida, we're going to be back next week, live in tampa, florida, from the site of the rep we're going to be back next week, live in tampa, florida, fromthis is new york state. we built the first railway and the first trade route to the west. we built the tallest skyscrapers, the greatest empires. we pushed the country forward. then, some said, we lost our edge. we couldn't match the pace of the new business world. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. build energy highways and high-tech centers. nurture start-ups and small businesses. reduce tax burdens and provide the lowest middle class tax rate in 58 years. once again, new york state is a place where innovation meets determination and where businesses lead the world.

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what would your kid say to comments like this? >> he is just another illegal immigrant? >> i think elijah just doesn't look smart. >> racial stereo types, ethnic and religious intolerance. tonight, courageous parents let their kids join a "dateline" experiment to find out how they would handle situations involving discrimination. >> wow. >> they watch as their kids judge a quiz show. >> nitrogen. >> that is correct. >> and singing contests. ♪ you and me together >> would their teen stand up to this kind of peer pressure? >> her dad could be a terrorist. >> or this? ♪ just the way you are >> looks like -- >> may be involved in drugs, we don't know what he is doing. >> tough and important lessons learned by parents. >> i would look them in the eye and say what exactly do you mean by that? >> and their kids.

>> really, really, really, really sorry. i'm really not like that. >> you stood up there, buddy. >> natalie morales with "my kid >> you stood up there, buddy. >> natalie morales with "my kid would never do that." captions paid for by nbc-universal television thanks for joining us, i'm lester holt. we all tried teach our this case prejudice and intolerance is wrong. what they know what to do when faced with a situation involving discrimination? natalie more ram less joins us now a look at how our children sometimes behave when we are not around. natalie? >> thank you, lester. you may think your child would never discriminate against anyone. as you are about to see, we asked some brave parents to help us with an experiment to find out. we have got give our parents a lot of credit. they agreed to allow their kids to be placed in what could be difficult situations in the hope that fair limbs and the rest of us might learn something. fitting in among the cliques and crowds at school can be rough on

any teenager but what if there is something else too make a kid feel like the odd man out? >> for my race. >> as soon as they found out i was like, muslim, oh, so, you're he a terrorist. >> when i hear jokes about hispanics, you know, being immigrants, i'm angered by it. >> he told me that i need to go back to the cotton picking fields where i belong. >> this generation of young people is the most diverse in our nation's history. and in many ways, the most tolerant, too. but from subtle stereotypes that divide because of race, kids tell us discrimination still exists. >> i felt weak. >> reporter: were how do we raise children that would never discriminate? turns out it may be a lot more complicated than just telling them to treat everyone equally. tonight, with the help of some concerned parents looking for a learning experience, we will get a closeup look at how discrimination happens and what

all of us can do about it. we'll watch as kidsudge other kids in a talent show. ♪ they can say what they like >> or a quiz competition. elijah? >> seneca falls. >> correct. have their parents prepared them for this? >> a latino mexican, whatever, he could do some salsa dancing. >> she is a terrorist. that's what people think. >> i think elijah just doesn't look smart. >> shut up. >> those negative stereotypes impact each and every one of us. >> melissa harris perry is a professor of race, gender and politics at tulane and an msnbc host. >> we have to give kid it is tools for how to push back against racial bias, because

it's not a natural thing to do. >> harris-perry and the nbc news websites the grio and nbc latino will help as we turn our cameras to discrimination. first, stereotyping and african-american kids. >> racial stereotypes are complicated. an african-american boy might be stereo typed as being athletically talented and stereotyped as being potentially criminal or not being a very good student. >> 16-year-old elijah says that last stereotype, not being good in school, is something he often feels. >> when i do well in school, i do get strange reactions like, wow, i didn't expect him to get that. this girl came up to me. we were having a conversation about different colleges. she's like, you're black, you can get into any school you wa to get into. it makes me feel like i don't belong. >> reporter: that's elijah's story in real life. we hired him to help in our

first demonstration about stereotypes. he'll pretend to be a contestant in a quiz show called "smart, smarter, smartest." we'll invite teens to try out and plant two actors to discriminate against him during the competition. >> he doesn't look smart. >> they will use subtle, coded language, the way harris-perry says people talk about race in the real world. comments like this. >> people of color are difficult to work with. somehow they're not good team players. it's a lot harder to fight back against that subtle language than it is against the open declaration of bias. >> so what will happen when it's time to pick teams for the quiz show? >> hi. i'm samantha barrett. >> samantha's mother has no reason to believe her daughter would ever judge someone by the color of his skin. >> she is very compassionate. >> do you think she'll stand up then and speak out in a situation where one kid is being discriminated against? >> being that she's with people she doesn't know, she may hold back a little bit. but i think push comes to shove, she probably would. i would hope she would. >> hey, i'm sarah.

>> reporter: sarah was adopted as a baby from china. her mother says she's athletic and outgoing and aware of certain stereotypes. >> she's expected to be math-oriented or she's expected to be quiet and obedient. people say, you're not asian, you're too outgoing. >> even so her mother doesn't know how sarah will react to the comments today. >> she'll know it and see it. >> ready? >> we'll watch on monitors with an expert on teen dynamics and a consultant to schools on bullying and social justice. >> i think we are so uncomfortable talking about race, we just don't talk about it at all. what our kids get is it's bad to talk about. >> here's how the competition will work. sarah and samantha have been put on a team with the actors we planted. >> we need two more people to finish your team. >> the producer says there are

three contenders for their team, matt, julie and elijah. to help them decide, we do a round of questions out loud. >> elijah, earth's atmosphere is mostly composed of this gas. >> nitrogen. >> that's correct. okay. >> we have instructed each of them to get just one question wrong. >> is it -- gold? >> no. it is diamonds. >> making them all look equally qualified. >> tuberculosis? >> no, it was bubonic plague. >> kentucky? >> no, it's virginia. >> then it's decision time. we left the kids alone, hidden cameras rolling. >> you have to pick one to eliminate. >> they did equally the same. >> all got one wrong. >> what do you think? >> right away, the real girls say julie, the asian contestant would be a good teammate. >> i think julie. >> and one of the actors ad libs the line to see how they will react. >> she's also asian, so she's probably really smart. >> true. >> interesting.

your daughter laughed at that. >> she also went, oh! did you see that? >> here we go again. >> now they need to choose one of the boys to stay. the other will go. >> between matt and elijah. >> i think -- >> i feel like matt might be, like, a better fit for the team. >> yeah. i think elijah just doesn't look smart. >> whoa! >> like he doesn't look -- >> oh, my goodness. >> like he cares about this. >> what do you think "whoa, oh my goodness" means? >> like shocked. >> both girls laughed at the comment, nervously perhaps. now the actors start talking about what elijah was doing before the competition -- listening to music, something we asked him to do. >> like with the hip-hop music. it was so loud. >> yeah, but come on. he could be good. he answered most of them right. >> but he had the easiest questions. >> really? >> yeah. >> the girls look increasingly uncomfortable.

>> he looked like he might go to inner city schools or something, so he might not take a.p. classes. >> wow, she's laying it on. >> probably wouldn't even be a good team player. >> yeah. >> and now a moment of truth. who will they pick for the team? >> i just know what i want. we should vote. coming up, what will they do? >> do you agree? >> oh, wow. plus, a singing contest. ♪ just the way you are >> and different kinds of discrimination. >> he could be illegal. >> people think she has like a headdress, she's a terrorist. >> when "my kid would never do that" continues. [ male announcer ] oh, to suffer with dandruff that keeps coming back. women hate dandruff. but now, sad man, you're saved by a new anti-dandruff shampoo. clear men with mint, ginseng and tea tree. clear men feeds your scalp and stops dandruff at the source.

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z >> reporter: we have been watching on hidden cameras as two teens struggle with a difficult situation. they're trying to decide who they want as a teammate for a game called "smart, smarter, smartest." >> he looked like he might go to inner city school or so something. >> reporter: they don't know the kids sitting next to them are

actors we've hired to discriminate against elijah or that their parents are watching. >> probably wouldn't be a good team player. >> yeah. >> reporter: the girls have laughed at one of the racial stereotypes, but now, they look uneasy, especially now, decision time. >> i vote off elijah. >> i think i vote elijah. >> reporter: interesting. your daughter, her gut seemed to say this is not right what they're saying. >> right. >> reporter: but isn't speaking out. >> exactly. >> do you agree? >> julie and matt. >> yeah! >> all right. >> wow. >> reporter: it's not what these parents hoped for but they can see what a tough spot their teens were in. >> do you think your dghter recognized that there was racism going on here? >> yeah, but she wasn't sure. the laughter is definitely nervous laughter. >> reporter: what do you think happened? she recognized it for what it

was. >> right. she did. and yet, she's not going to, like, correct somebody. it's very forward to do that. >> reporter: right. >> reporter: now i go tell the girls this really isn't a quiz show. we're doing a show about how kids react in situations where there may be racism or discrimination going on around them. they seem relieved to find out that the kids next to them were acting. >> oh, that's why you were so mean. oh, my gosh. >> reporter: and i bring in our expert in teen dynamics. >> what do you think stopped you from being able to say something in this moment? >> everything's just so overwhelming right now. you think you're going to be on a quiz show and your mind is racing. you're not thinking fully. >> reporter: the laughter, she said, was hiding what she really felt. >> i'm kind of nervous. i have this nervous laughter thing. >> reporter: sarah also wishes she'd done more to push back and not just to please her mother. >> i didn't say, that's not

okay, that's racist. i guess i wouldn't be worried about how i would feel and how i would carry it on into my daily life. >> reporter: so what should kids do when they hear what sounds like racial remarks. >> what i would do when people are making coded messages about race is i would look them in the eye and say, what exactly do you mean by that? and let them answer. >> reporter: and these parents say today's demonstration will change the way they think about stereotypes, too. >> i could tell you were nervous. >> yeah. >> what did you think when they first said the smart asian thing? >> oh, i was pissed. >> reporter: the kids who go along with racial stereotyping in the scenarios we present doesn't mean they are necessarily racist, right? >> oh, absolutely. it's one thing to say, i'm not racist. i don't bring up sterotypes. i don't act on stereotypes. it is another thing to say when somebody else brings them up, i

am the voice of reason that pushes back against them. the fact is most adults would fail that test. >> reporter: now we move from the quiz scenario to a type of discrimination that has been on the rise in the last decade. >> after 9/11, we got phone calls at my house with threats and stuff like that. >> reporter: 18-year-old kashish is a muslim-american teen, part of the first generation of kids to grow up in the post-9/11 era. >> people have said weird things to me. as soon as they found out i was muslim, they'd be like, oh, so you're a terrorist? no. >> reporter: kashish is not alone. >> our children have become increasingly victims of harassment, bullying. >> reporter: mona malik is a social worker who has conducted surveys with muslim-american kids about discrimination. she says 80% report being harassed because of their faith. >> i remember a little boy. he was so cute. and he said to me, you know, i don't really face discrimination.

my friends really like me. they only call me a terrorist every other week. >> reporter: so kashish, a performing arts student, will play the victim in our next scenario. to make her faith more obvious, she'll wear a head scarf, something she usually wears only when praying. we have invited teens to be judges for a fake competition we're calling "oh, say, can you sing, american teen voices." and we planted two actors at the judges' table to discriminate against kashish. we coach them, suggesting they use the show's name to report a common false stereotype. >> they're not american, not like us. >> reporter: will the real kids go along? kashish hopes not. >> america is a melting pot. and that's the beauty of america. >> reporter: our first judges arrive. >> hi.

i'm nell. i'm 13 years old. >> reporter: nell's father says they try to teach by example. >> we try to send the message by the way we act and deal with people. i hope if she sees injustice, she'll do something about it. >> hi. my name is kyle. >> reporter: kyle's family lives in a diverse town. his dad says the high school there is full of cliques, like any other. what's the message at home? >> do unto others. if you want to be treated right, treat others right. >> reporter: if he doesn't speak up, how will you be feeling? >> i have more work to do. >> reporter: that's what being a parent is about. there is always more work to do. >> every day. >> reporter: the judges will watch five singers perform. then they have to eliminate one. we told them performing under pressure counts. kashish gives a heartfelt performance. ♪ i just want you close ♪ so you can stay forever >> reporter: and the next

singer, logan, will help us rig the competition by messing up on cue. he's going to purposely forget the words. ♪ all about love, girl -- ♪ all you've got to do is repeat after me ♪ >> reporter: now it's time to send one singer home. we leave them alone, with no idea two of the judges are actors. >> what did you think? >> reporter: both kyle and nell notice kashish's performance. >> she was really confident. >> she was confident. >> reporter: and nell points outs that logan choked under pressure. >> he was a little nervous. >> you could hear it in his voice. >> reporter: now the actors say they want kashish gone. >> it is american teen voices. >> teen, yeah. >> people will see the head scarf and think she's not american. >> she's a foreigner, right. >> reporter: kyle goes silent.

>> i can see that he's nervous with the nail-biting situation going on there. >> reporter: nell starts out defending kashish. >> she has confidence though. >> she did, but she's not american. >> reporter: but goes with the flow. >> i think people think, oh, she has a headdress, she's a terrorist. >> they're gonna say things. we can't control that. >> she stuck out to you? >> to me? >> to me, she stuck out. >> definitely. >> do you think nell realizes that this is discrimination? >> i don't think she realizes that it is. i think she's trying to get along, basically. >> reporter: now, a decision has to be made. remember, just one singer has to be cut, and logan clearly performed the worst. >> i vote kashish to go. >> i'm with you. >> yeah, me, too. >> reporter: the kids look miserable, but they've gone along with the vote. >> okay.

bye, kashish. >> reporter: not the result the fathers expected. >> i'm not liking it. >> i would like him to speak up more. >> reporter: as they get ready to announce the results, the kids are whispering. kyle knows they are about to do something unfair. >> so are we going to explain why we picked her? >> are you sure you want to -- coming up, what do they decide? >> you want to tell us who you chose to eliminate? >> plus, will another set of kids be able to withstand actor's pressure?

♪ you and me together ♪ through the days and nights >> reporter: we hired a pair of actors to see what these real kids, nell and kyle, would do when they heard comments like this. >> she's a terrorist. that's what people think. >> reporter: looks like they have decided to vote the muslim girl, kashish, off the show. >> just the way it is. >> i think he wanted to fit in and that colors where he was going. >> reporter: will they go through with it? >> are you sure you want to stick with him? >> reporter: we go to the auditorium to hear the verdict. >> kyle, who did you eliminate? >> we picked kashish. >> kashish is a lovely singer but sometimes that isn't enough. >> reporter: now i tell them what the show is really about. this is "dateline nbc" and we are doing an episode on discrimination. now we find out what they were thinking. you were very easily convinced. it seemed like within a minute, you -- >> i'm pretty impressionable. i guess i just, i don't know, went with it.

>> in my head, i was thinking to pick logan. >> so what stopped you from speaking out? >> i'm kind of a nervous person. i was thinking the words. they just didn't come out. >> it happens, not realizing it, you know? >> exactly. no matter what your age, by the way. >> reporter: so if they could do it again, what should the teens say? >> i don't think it has to be a long discussion. i don't think you need to lecture the person about racism. what i would do is really focus on the person. she's here to sing. or that's a person who's a student in our school. it takes five seconds. are you mad at yourself? >> kind of. >> yeah. >> come on in, dads. >> reporter: these parents are confident their teens will do better next time. >> i needed the wake-up call and i got it. >> good job, sweetie. >> reporter: but our singers are just getting warmed up. our next group has three real kid judges, which might make it easier for them to stand up against the two actors. madison is the youngest. >> hi. my name is madison.

>> hi, my name is i'm aurora. >> reporter: aurora is an aspiring singer herself. if the muslim singer just knocks it out of the park, is the best performer -- >> i would be surprised if she didn't recognize it, hands down. >> reporter: so she wouldn't vote her out? >> no way. >> hi, my name is alyssa. >> reporter: alyssa's mom said she's been telling her girl the same thing since kindergarten. be nice to people, they will be nice to you. >> reporter: once again, kashish sings her heart out. ♪ everything's gonna be all right ♪ >> while the boy next to her chokes. ♪ all about love -- girl -- >> reporter: who should go home? >> i'm not a big kashish fan. >> i was going to say that. >> why did she wear that thing on her head? >> it's not her fault. >> it's her religion. >> reporter: the girls point out

that the hijab is not something scary, but a symbol of faith. >> both of her parents are probably that religion. >> her dad could be a terrorist. >> that's totally racial profiling. >> there you go. >> when people see that headdress, they think of terrorists. >> people that are ignorant. >> she has great confidence in her voice. personally, i thought she was one of the best ones. >> yeah! >> she recognized true talent. >> whew. >> reporter: all that's left to do is vote. >> logan. >> so three against two. >> he forgot the words. >> reporter: kashish stays because all three girls held their ground. >> she was going with the best talent. didn't matter what nationality or ethnic background. >> this is very exciting. >> i didn't know what the outcome would be, but i'm proud. >> reporter: kashish watched

the deliberations backstage and wants the girls to know how much what they did matters. they're saying, oh, they're terrorists. people told me that before. it's great to have someone else stand up and say, give them a chance. they can prove you wrong. you guys said that. >> you're a good singer. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> good job. >> very good. >> coming up, another singer. ♪ cause you're amazing >> will teams resist still another type of intolerance? >> he's just another illegal immigrant coming into america. >> when "my kid would never do that" continues. [ nicole ] so i'm trying herbal essences new honey, i'm strong when i'm transported to a revitalizing world. there, strength givers using formulas containing apricots and honey extracts help restore my hair to so silky and strong ♪

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