james peterson of lehigh university. i will start with you. a remarkable man. a life that is a true treasure to humanity. >> he is a star across all lines. >> you cannot compartmentalize him to a politician or a founting of south africa. here's a man who fought the hate and the bigotry and the institutional apartheid of a nation without internalizing it. he was able to reconcile a nation and move it forward and revolutionize it nonviolently, without firing one bullet. i was an election observer in 19 nor in johansburg the night they lowered the flag of apartheid. we met with him many times and to see this transition happen, he nonviolently peacefully negotiated while he was in jail and couldn't even share a lot of what his fellow prisoners who had done decades in jail. he did 27 years in jail. 16 years he couldn't touch his wife's hand through the screen because it was against the law. they wouldn't allow him to get out of jail and go home to his son. the sacrifices he made not to have any ranker and deliberate that nation with no rank and revenge, he was truly

. >> the lehigh university professor grew up just 20 miles from newtown. >> i was raised in an environment so similar to newtown, those are lives not led. >> reporter: lives not led. cut short. >> cut short. that there is just a sudden hole in the fabric of what could have been. >> reporter: too honor the victims sametz is composing a special piece of music. >> i elected to start this project in a very unusual way, for me, i wanted to enlist school children, i wanted to get their responses to tragedy and loss, because i wanted the piece to speak from the point of view of the group most affected at newtown. >> reporter: he has received hundred of letters, ranging from depictions of violence... >> this is a fourth grader writing, my dad was about to go outside with me and someone had a gun, and shot my dad. >> reporter: to pictures of heaven... >> and this 17-year-old, jeff, gave me this incredibly beautiful picture, and it just said where people go when they die. >> reporter: sametz says the piece entitled a child's requiem will have a hope not living. >> it is aunt the living, it is offeri

joining me now is james peterson, associate professor of english at lehigh university.bc contributor. this looked like the outcome that had to happen, after our program last night, the mayor of rochester came out against this. i was deliberately on this show last night doing everything i could, including booking dan french, to push this prosecutor back and to push the police back on this arrest. >> that's right, and listen, kudos to you, your show, and your producers for making this national news. we have to give credit where it's due. really important here, lawrence. i'm teaching a class right now in black prison narrative. i'm studying michelle alexander and the narratives about prison systems in the united states, and we have a really aggressive criminal justice system that is racially biased, profiles people of color, women of color, and at the end of the day, we have to have media and other institutions step up and shine a light on it, because these three young men, thank god, are going to be exonerated for doing nothing, but unfortunately, the aggressiveness filte

story, national journal political correspondent alex sikes wald and james peterson, professor at lehigh universitying here. alex, your piece is about the president recovering. tell us what you noticed. >> if i had a dollar for every time somebody said obama or obama care is doomed, i could pay for the website rebuild myself. you know, at every stage when scott brown got re-elected, everyone was sure obama care was done. when the tea party came, everybody said obama care was done. obama himself, from controversies like the irs to when he criticized the arrest of henry lewis gates, he's been done. and he continued. this should be no surprise to anyone who's paid attention to history. bill clinton emerged from an impeachment scandal with the highest approval rating of his career. he's the president. he has the support -- he won the 2012 election with the support of many americans. and the health care law is here to stay. it's not going away any time soon. >> you know, james, some in the media talk over and over -- i mean, we've been hearing for the last few weeks. it goes all the way back to jim demi

joining us is jonathan alter, author and msnbc contributor, and james peterson, professor at lehigh universityto you first. you've covered president obama extensively. what kind of mandela influence do you see in him? >> huge influence. as he president said in his statement. he said he would not be who he was without nelson mandela. he followed him from an early age. you may recall when the president was a student at occidental college in california, he took part in anti-apartheid demonstrations. he was a leader on that issue and focused on it. but one of the things that is really striking me tonight is what can americans learn. and american society learn from the example of nelson mandela? i think back to civil rights movement, ghandi with his principle of civil disobedience, that helped to give the movement life. so what is mandela's message? well, today we're hearing even very conservative senators and other figures talking about the spirit of forgiveness that he embody embodied in south africa. my question tonight, rev, is can we import that spirit of forgiveness and apply it to the hundre

joining us now, krystal ball, co host of "the cycle" and james peterson at lehigh university. krystal, krystal, uber president. i can a lot of liberals would be surprised to find out this president was practically a monarch. >> he has like super powers. if i was artistically talented, i think there is a comic book angle here that could be interesting. >> okay. could be. >> but this is part of a long-standing conservative narrative ever since this president was elected. they find any way they can to undermine his legitimacy, to even hold the office. there are still a lot of right wing memes out there that you may have heard over thanksgiving about how he may have stole the election and not legitimate to be our president for the second term. of course the birther stuff. even the extent of the challenges to the health care law. you know, yes, it was passed through congress. so legitimate there. there were -- went up to the supreme court. it was affirmed in the supreme court. he was re-elected. he won re-election. and yet still republicans refuse to accept that it is the law of th

professor at lehigh university james peterson and the daily beast special correspondent, michael tomaskyo begin with the one handshake that has outraged so many conservatives. yesterday's memorial, the president shaking hands with cuba's communist leader raul castro. here's the republican reaction followed by secretary john kerry. >> mr. secretary, sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like raul castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant. raul castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy. >> should he have not done it? >> of course not. why should you shake hands with somebody who is keeping americans in prison? i mean what's the point? nevil chamberlin shook hands with hitler. >> the president said in his speech today honoring nelson mandela, he said we urge leaders to honor mandela's struggle for freedom by upholding the basic human rights of their people. >> and would you say raul castro is upholding the basic human rights? >> no, absolutely not. >> thank you, si

contributor james peterson, director of afrocono studies and associate professor of english at lehigh universitys, i'm of two minds about this. the entire enterprise seems doomed and preposterous, given the biography we've shown, yet his speech this weekend was better than i was anticipating. >> yeah, he's improved. he's a little bit more on message. remember, the message that i think that republican strategists believe will resonate coming from rand paul -- i know this seems like a stretch sometimes -- but his messaging around mass incarceration, around ending the so-called war on drugs, around mandatory minimums and voting rights for ex-cons and ex-felons, i mean, those are the kinds of things that will resonate with some black voters, some latino voters, especially because the institution of mass incarcerations and imprisonment in the industrial complex obviously disproportionately affects people of color and poor folk. so, if he can stay on that message, he might be able to make a little headway, but chris, the only -- you know, people always talk about 90% of african-americans vote democrat

host of "disrupt with karen finney" on msnbc and james peterson, director of african studies at lehigh university me. there are many up this cycle. and half of them in the whole group facing these primary challenges. and this raises a theological question for republicans, the 11th commandment,000 shall not speak ill. isn't it hard to do that if half are in intraparty primaries? >> yeah, i think that rule was broken quite some time ago. and then a number of times since then. here's the problem, that i think the party has, right? they don't have sort of a unified here's what we're trying to accomplish. instead you've got the tea party folks who i don't even really know what it is they're trying to accomplish. they say smaller government and all these other things. but they seem to be more about destruction and obstruction. and then you've got, you know, some of the -- i guess they would consider the old guard republican party members. and so you've got this real clash in between. i think the challenge they're going to have is that in 2014, that -- the midterm election is going to be nationalized. a

we welcome david corn, james peterson is director of african studies at lehigh university and victoriais at the lbj school of public policy at the university of texas as well as being an msnbc contributor. gang, it is great to have you here. we are going to get into this duck and cover situation. i do want to remind all of our viewers that this is a situation from wednesday where a & e executives indefinitely suspended their "duck dynasty" dad, phil robertson, for remarks he made about gays and african-americans in an interview with "gq" magazine. those that are coming out to his defense, we have sarah palin, newt gingrich, governor bobby jindal who called robertson a friend. take a listen. >> he's a good man. i know he's got love in his heart and he wants everybody to be treated with equality and respect. here's where i think that it's so hypocritical of a & e and hollywood and the left. they all say that they're for diversity, they're for tolerance, they're for minority views and opinions unless you disagree with them. >> a & e, they were absolute quacks on this one. well, what phil

students at lehigh university came up with the most elaborate beer pong set-up ever.d online. they are facing several offenses including irresponsible distribution of alcohol. that's innovation. >> a new report finds jane fonda's foundation has not made a single charitable contribution in the last five years despite having $800,000 in assets. so with this time of year being one of the biggest for giving, what you need to know before donating to charity. we turn to ceo of charity navigator. rule one is don't give to jane fonda. is this legal? >> it could be technically legal because if you give one donation over that five-year period and then averages to 5% per year of the money, could you get away with it. it technically may be legal, but the spirit of what a foundation is supposed to be doing is defied by this logic. >> not adding to the public good. >> that's right. >> we get hit up from people on the street, tear-jerking television ads. how do we know what's for real? >> three core things to look at to answer that question. first is the finances. which is a perfect