founder of the jackie robinson foundation, assistant professor of nursing at yale university, and recipients always been at the forefront of rachel robinson's mind. >> i was destined to go to college. there was no doubt about it. my mother and father were going to see to it. and i joined them in that desire. >> it was her freshman year at the university of california where rachel met the senior, jackie robinson. >> he was big man on campus anyway because he played four major sports, and i thought, okay, this is going to be -- this is not going to be so easy. well, i was totally shocked and totally wrong because everything about him was ideal and wonderful. and i was surprised. >> robinson proposed almost immediately. but after being drafted into the army, the couple waited five years to get married. but they knew they wanted to start a family. >> being a planner, i knew that i needed to spend those first five years with the family at home and then i would get a job. >> in 1945, after playing professionally for the negro league, jackie robinson was the first african-american to be drafted to

he raised a little dust last week when he said what we need is a gay jackie robinson in professional football so everybody can get over it. >> he's a super bowl champion. >> bill: absolutely. looking forward to that. he will be in with us in the studio as well. president obama says it is time to raise the minimum wage. guess what john boehner says. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> other stuff you need to know as you head out the door this morning, a big protest against the keystone xl pipeline in front of the white house yesterday resulted in 48 people getting arrested. politico reports that robert f. kennedy jr. actress daryl hannah bill mcgibbon and leaders of the sierra club were among those locked up for attaching themselves to the

we need a jacki robinson type figure to come on and to be an openly gay professional sports player. >> bill: but he's not naming someone. >> he's not naming someone. he is not -- >> he's not outing. >> he's not a gay man himself. he says we need, as a culture professional sports, as a collectively, need to welcome that person, whoever it is, when that person shows up because we're -- >> bill: that's a lot better attitude than that jerk from the 49ers last week. >> that's pretty big stuff. brave. >> as he says in his op-ed in "usa today," this is our time and our cause. it is a gesture, it is a pledge. it is solidarity at its most

jackie robinson changed baseball and he changed america. he kept his focus in the face of adversity because he had a higher goal. in studying him, i learned that branch ricky, who decided to courageously break the color barrier, look for a black that had the temperament and the focus to take all of the jeers, to take all of the hostility and take all of the hate and still perform and rise above what he was facing. jackie robinson showed a change agent but first changed himself. must have the temperament, the determination and focus that they can take whatever it is necessary to take in order to make change happen. those that opened door have to be stronger than those that walk through doors that have already been opened. happy birthday, jackie robinson. thank you for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> hawks or buzzards? let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. let me start tonight with this. the boiling hatred of the american right poured over today in hearings on chuck hagel

he a like the jackie robinson of music in that area. we respect his point of view even if we think it is misguided. what he doesn't say in implying that white america is der liquidity in the analysis of the gun control issue is that blacks are killing blacks way more. it's 75% in chicago. why do you think belafonte ignores that. >> i think its generational issue. he deserves all the credit in the world. not only a breakthrough, he a guy that stood with the civil rights movement. i take my hat off to him in that regard. he is stuck because in reality black people are about 13% of the population. about 50% of all the murders in the country are committed by black people and against black people. this is black on black crime in black neighborhoods and yet somehow harry belafonte has blinders to it. it's not just harry belafonte, it's the ncaa, it's the black churches and -- naacp. they want to talk about pipelines and inequity.... >> bill: it's like that. >> all that gas and all those words, all of the protests and not one against the drug

it's an interesting societal study, because you see jackie robinson breaking the color barrier, and soy others in sports. in this issue, sports seems behind. we'll have to see how it catches up to the rest of the country. >> you can have a view on gay marriage, but he was blatantly homophobic, and i'm glad he apologized. >> also, the other is the ad for volkswagen, featuring a white man with a jamaican accent, my view is a lot to do about nothing. the tourism minister said he found it funny. first, it's a cool accent, and it makes out jamaica is a happy, positive thing. is that the worst thing that can be said about a country? >> good to hear that from jamaican government. i like to wake up and find out that we haven't offended another country, but there is something about having controversy at the super bowl. everybody wants to have one. look, they have to be loving it over as volkswagen because super bowl ads, $4 million nearly to get 30 seconds. we have probably done 30 seconds here and we're doing it for free. they have to be happy. they say they haven't gotten a lot of complaints,

today is the birthday of jacki robinson. carol channing is 92, and john lydon aka johnny rotten of the sex pistols is 57 p. and 148 years ago today congress passed the 13th amendment, which made it possible for the greatest actor alive to play four greatest president ever, oh, it abolished slavery too. this is "viewpoint." >> john: good evening, i'm john fugelsang. thank you for watching "viewpoint." coming up chaos in the g.o.p. as republicans split on immigration. a new movie asks if a convicted activist was really a cop killer as charged or really a political prisoner and why should the nra draw the line at your right to own assault weapons when rocket launchers need love, too. but first, senator chuck hagel may be a decorateed vietnam veteran, successful businessman and twice-elected republican senator from nebraska. but he ran into a little trouble on the capitol hill today. hagel testified before the armed services committee, which will have to pass onties nomination to be president obama's secretary of defense. >> i'm

maybe next year or the following year we feel like we're going to see our jackie robinson, our pioneer for gay rights and equality. and you know, we're going to there to support that player and make sure he has a support group around him so he has everything that he needs. >> okay. brendan ayanbadejo, great to have you on "the ed show" tonight. thank you for your answers. i appreciate it very much. and that is "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now from washington. big day today, rachel. >> a big day today. i was at the supreme court today, ed, and it was the sort of thing you can't prepare yourself for. we talk about this stuff all the time, but being there, it is amazing. appreciate it. and thanks to you at home for joining us for this hour from washington, d.c. as i said to ed there, the reason that we have been doing the show from washington these couple of days is because i went to the supreme court today in person to hear the arguments over the voting rights act, the cornerstone of american civil rights law. it was kind of an amazing experience.

it's the jackie robinson story. harrison ford plays the owner of the dodgers and i played dixie walker, the right fielder in '47. kind of the main antagonist in some ways, kind of helped start the petition to kick jackie out. >> all right. so we have to check that out. that is called "42"? >> "42. ". >> thank you, ryan. we appreciate it. i think this went okay, right? >> you did great. >> all right, youawesome. >> a-plus. >> thank you so much, ryan. let's get a look at the weather maps and what you will find out here to cinequest or anywhere in san jose. temperatures in the 50s here for the most part. again, this is happening over the next couple of weeks. you can go to their website and check out this event for more information. there's some 200 films and hundreds of different artist that is will be involved in this. on that seven-day forecast, what you're going to find is plenty of sunshine all the way through this upcoming weekend with some of the warmest weather of the year coming as we head throughout friday an

wants to be jackie robinson. >> and getting re-elected was key. >> i agree. >> he wanted to get re-elected -- >> okay, what does he do to make the big time? >> immigration reform i think he wants, gun control. i think if he got those two big things. he's done a lot on gay rights. if you combine that with health care, saving the economy, i think that would be big -- >> and also -- >> he's done equality, doma, getting rid of that, getting rid of the don't ask don't tell, pushing towards pretty much equality in marriage all the way, almost there, and then health care, of course, historic because every democrat since truman -- since roosevelt has been trying to do it. >> he grades himself on a tough curve. i remember when i visited him in his senate office years ago. the pictures he had on the wall were gandhi, lincoln, muhammad ali, and thurgood marshall. >> where was hannibal? >> hannibal wasn't there. but thurgood marshall was there, ali was there, gandhi was there, lincoln was there. that's the way he thinks of himself, and i think he's going to strive very hard to reach those goals that j

happy birthday, jackie robinson. thank you for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> hawks or buzzards? let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington. let me start tonight with this. the boiling hatred of the american right poured over today in hearings on chuck hagel's nomination to be secretary of defense. hatred, pure and simple. from the mouths of john mccain and lindsey graham as they slashed away at war hero hagel. badgering the witness is too nice a description. the hawks swirled like buzzards sweeping down, pecking and pulling at the skin of a former colleague who dared to say this country's been too ready to enter wars the american people quickly wish we'd never gotten into. what's with this hatred now centered in the american sunbelt? what do we make of this poll that shows two out of three texas republicans now want our president impeached? why the cussedness, why the range war, why the hatred of anyone who dares to stand with obama? why can't politics be a matter of belief and honest disag

millions of dollars and you're asking to put your career on the line to become, if you will, the jackie robinsonlity, being the first athlete to come out. because no athlete of major sports has come out while playing that sport. have you people making all this money. do they want to put that on the line to represent something. i, in my own opinion, i think we are less than five years away from that happening. i think we'll see that in the next few years. and what i -- >> five years seems like a long time to me. i don't know. >> it's the culture of the nfl. when you talk about, you know, we're here talking right now about a story about a team asking someone if they're gay. you know, i think that the nfl needle to come out and say, we -- we almost welcome it. please, come to us if you want to play for broncos, if you want to play for the niners, we welcome it. >> we have to leave it there. we'll talk about this time and sometime again, i'm sure. carlos, stand up with me. you have to sit and stand up here because we have a story we're going to tell you about that you need to get out of the chair. i

i went and i found things like jackie robinson and charles barclay and mark twain and jonathan swift, and i had all these weird influences. it was just a gift in the curse of my parents not knowing to tell me, like, here is this kit of american culture that you're supposed -- >> isn't that -- i think about the dutch, which is one of your restaurants, and it is a new york city restaurant, and it's very essence as far as it has food from all over the burroughs, and being multi-cultural is in many ways being american in the 21st century. >> i was always more interested in what the grandmothers were cooking and, like, what the big chefs were cooking. even -- i'm half italian and half polish. you know, guys that work for me, they're korean-american, mexican-american, and that's the food that besides my own that i really, really embrace. i was always interested in what that soul was. you know, we'll never cook fusion there. we'll never do, like, lemon grass and gnocci and pasta, whatever. it's like finding the soul of something, and that's what always fascinated me. >> the whole authenticit

we need a jacki robinson type figure to come on and to be an openly gay professional sports player. >naming someone. >> he's not naming someone. he is not -- >> he's not outing. >> he's not a gay man himself. he says we need, as a culture professional sports, as a collectively, need to welcome that person, whoever it is, when that person shows up because we're -- >> bill: that's a lot better attitude than that jerk from the 49ers last week. >> that's pretty big stuff. brave. >> as he says in his op-ed in "usa today," this is our time and our cause. it is a gesture, it is a pledge. it is solidarity at its most basic. our jacki is coming. we need to pave the way referring to jackie robinson who broke the color-barrier in baseball. >> bill: i think it may be ray lewis but i may be wrong. >> whoa. >> bill: victoria, let's say hello to ben calling from wendell, massachusetts. >> caller: thank you for having me on. >> bill: glad you're there. what's your point this morning? >> i wanted to talk about the drone strikes. it really seems to me that it feels very much like a slippery slope. i fe

is a time of evolution right now but i think it will take a differencemaker, a rosa parks or a jackie robinsonm, i'll stand up for what is right and once that ice is broken i think we start to see change. >> the other hypocrisy in all of this, the nfl penalized a player, you know, during the super bowl, right, because he said some anti-gay remarks so the nfl is trying to promote this we don't do that, we want to pave the way for maybe gay players and during the combine, teams ask players if they like girls? >> right, so there's that dichotomy there, doesn't make sense. >> what should we believe? there has to be a reason they're asking players that. i know it's an investment and all that, there are other reasons, they don't want gay players on their team and don't want to deal with that? >> they don't want any ruffled fete feathers, i hate to use this word, but they don't want cancers in the locker room, things that eat up the team and chemistry within a group of men. if there is a gay player there is mocking, scorning, scoffing, not good vibes because it's not readily accepted. that's why ther

. >> we need a jackie robinson of this cause because we need an example to show that, yeah, i can stillame high level and i don't want to -- >> i talked to wade davis recently. it is interesting you bring up manti te'o, according to mike fl fl florio, he's saying that's the elephant in the room. listen to the sound this is mike talking about manti te'o and this whole thing. >> here's the elephant in the room for the teams. and it shouldn't matter, but we have to step aside from the rest of reality and walk into the industry, the unique industry that is the nfl. teams want to know whether or not manti te'o is gay. they just want to know. they want to know because in an nfl locker room, it is a different world, it shouldn't be that way. >> here is my question. i was thinking, is there a double standard? a lot of this took shape after chris culver made anti-gay remarks, i don't do guys in the locker room, something to that efee effe effect, he made news, he apologized. now we're hearing about scouts asking do you like girls? what is the deal? >> there is a couple of things. there is a coup

when our jackie robinson comes out, he will have a supporting cast around him.treat him just like we treat everybody else, every other teammate, with love and fairness and kindness and compassion. because we know it is going to be a tough burden on that person. >> watching social media here. people are talking about you now. shelley wright, country western singer who came out and said i'm watching brendon 310. that's your twitter. with don lemon. what an amazing ambassador for equality. thank you, brendon. lot of people are thanking you. i appreciate it. i didn't screw up your name, as i have many times. thank you, brendon. i appreciate and it will talk to you soon. safe trip back to baltimore. >> thanks, don. with love we can accomplish anything. go ravens. >> congratulations, congratulations. carol, congratulations to them. i heard you talking to the scout leader this morning. this has been a huge issue. i read one of the major painers that called it big gay super bowl because of brendon and because of what the 49ers player had said. this issue had never reall

. >> after the super bowl said we are at a moment where we need a jackie robinson.e has been eloquent about that even back during the election season in november when he was making videos about that and insupport of same-sex marriage, equal marriage rights. it was interesting to see he is, now, i think, headed to some sort of training program. he is going to have to sit down and get a little bit of counsel ling about this. it was also really interesting to me to see that come up at the super bowl, you know, the big story lines of the super bowl were safety issues and that frankly. that was something people were talking about. >> i think it's great that they can come out and talk about it like that, but i also think that the sport has -- or lebron james or, you know, some big name players who actually have something to lose by speaking out on it you know. i mean... >> there were quite a bit players. i think it was about a year and a half ago maybe when new york had a proposition about the equal rights, you know, equal marriage rights. there were a lot of hockey playe

jackie robinson was a friend.uld speak up right after brown versus board of ed. >> eisenhower was no civil rights champion. he didn't appreciate nixon going out supporting nixon's civil rights. >> he didn't think it would help him in the south. ike did not like that supreme court decision. he thought that it was -- things should stay as they were. it would disrupt the society to have this -- ike understood the constitution. yeah, so there was no -- >> but he was made uncomfortable by it. >> he was. >> i thought it was fascinating because even lbj when he was running the senate got angry because he thought nixon was too far out there on civil rights and said nixon was running the propaganda arm of making the civil rights bill more than it was. >> johnson was playing all sides of that point. mark can tell you he was running for president. on the other hand, didn't want to offend the southerns like dick russell. they wanted a bill but there was a clause in the bill about voting rights which he did not want and it got

. >> bill: when you were in studio a week or so ago you mentioned that we need like a jacki robinson, major league. what happened have happened if nick would have said i like girls but i like boys better. what if he had come out and said i'm gay. so what? do you think he could have been picked? >> you know, i think the combine, they're there to find out players they want in their organization. potentially that could hurt him and unfortunately in this day and age you know, players still have to stay positive in line. i think it would be harder if you're not on a team and you don't have a contract and you said yeah, you know, i'm gay than if you're already on a team. last night, i was doing msnbc and i said selfishly i think a player shouldn't tell the team what their sexual orientation is. once you're on a team, you can do that because i wouldn't want that dream of them becoming nfl player to be crushed or to be any harder than it already is. so ultimately, at the end of the day, it is up to the person if they're comfortable doing it now, doing it later or doing it when they retire but

>>> among our guests this morning, janet robinson, a superintendent of the newtown public schools. anna deveer smith from the actress from nurse jackie is working with mayors against illegal guns. she'll join us to talk about this project. and saru jayaraman is exposing secrets of restaurants around the country. plus richard simmons joins us to talk about his new project too. it's thursday, february 7th. "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning is bracing for the big one. right now there's a blizzard watch in effect for parts of new england. there's a winter storm heading to the northeast. it could be historic because it is expected to leave behind more than two feet of snow in some places with the first flakes falling tomorrow. we want to get right to indra petersons, she's tracking the weather for us out of atlanta. good morning. >> back on february 17th and 18th of 2003, boston got 27 1/2 inches of snow. we're looking to see whether or not we break that record with this nor'easter. let's talk about how it's expected to form. we're currently watching some severe weather potentially