he added today "while i was governor of mississippi, mississippi became the only state in the countryo use state money, taxpayer money, to build a civil right's museum." expecting that museum to open in 2017. former mississippi governor haley barbour says he's not offended by his state's partly confederate flag but he is very proud of its civil rights museum that's due to open in the next couple of years. already they have been collecting artifacts for it like, for example, the papers of medgar evers. medgar evers the first leader of the mississippi naacp. medgar evers took on that exceedingly dangerous mission, boycotting local businesses, organizing sit ins, investigating civil rights murders like the killing of a young emmett till. in the middle of that work medgar evers was murdered. he was shot to death outside his family home with his wife and kids crouched for their own safety on the floor of that home. it took more than 30 years for them to convict the man who murdered medgar evers. in the meantime, his wife and children followed the many tens and hundreds of thousands of afri

people in mississippi have to decide what's best for mississippi but if i were in mississippi i'd vote to change the flag. i think it's a better future. >> reporter: is this a test for the republican party? >> yes. because democrats will vote to remove the flag. the only no votes will probably come from our party and everybody who says that flag means something to me is not a racist, but in the hands of this young man it was the ultimate symbol of racism. in the hands of this young man, it was a symbol that no one can justify or explain. and what drives my thinking is that the families of the victims were so loving, so caring, so forgiving, i cannot in good conscience tell them they're wrong to ask me and others to take this flag down is. because they're right to do so. >> are you hearing anger from those who believe removing the flag dishonors that history that was a part of the south cull secure in. >> absolutely. >> what are you hearing from people? >> i'm hearing a lot from people "the flag didn't kill anybody, i flag this flag from my house. this is a symbol he misused, the flag i

mississippi coast. and with the republicans looking for someone to challenge president obama in 2012 president barber seemed as likely an idea as anyone. so the weekly standard ran this more than glowing pro time of haley barber. not just reveling in his high standing in the party and his power and his political experience, but in effect trying to reintroduce haley barber to con serveives nationwide. basically giving the conservative fairytale of the haley barber life story. they called it "the boy from yazoo city." in haley barber's hometown of yahoo! city, mississippi, the schools there didn't integrate until 1970. but when the schools did integrate in yazoo city they did so relative peace, compared to the with the rest of mississippi. the magazine asked haley barber in this profile, why that was. and this is what he said in response. he said quote, because the business community wouldn't stand for it. you heard of the citizens council, up north they think it was like the kkk. where i come from it was

, a lot of county clerks in mississippi are issuing licenses to same-sex couples, but the mississippiently thinks there's some way to stop this thing or delay it. phil bryant of mississippi has written to the federal district court there asking the court to keep an old stay in place even though the supreme court has ruled and been very clear about the implications of their ruling. you have sort of a stand-off between all of these mississippi couples thought got told by the court that they have the right to get married and the governor of the state saying wait right there, indefinitely. but in mississippi, those couples who want to marry, they have on their side exactly who you would want on your side in a case like this. they have roberta kaplan, roberta kaplan is the lawyer who took edie windsor's case all the way to the supreme court two years ago. she argued the justices should overturn the federal defense of marriage act, and as you know, she won that case, and then right after winning that case, robby kaplan went to mississippi where she argued in federal court that mississippi's

this is an election year in mississippi.o tell the voters this is where we stand and this is where we stand on the flag. even the rnc has made a comment on it, it's time for these flags to come down in the south. >> can i ask you this? rooir there are people who feel differently about that, the 64% in 2001, whatever the number is today. i'm curious where they are. we're seeing protests everywhere, in particular in south carolina they're on the state capital today and they don't seem to want to let up the effort to pull the flag down. i am not seeing demonstrations in the street to keep the flag up. is that coming? is there a reason there's not a visible representation on the streets in support of this emblem? >> well, here in mississippi we are mourning the tragic loss of life in south carolina and i think right now it's inappropriate for us in mississippi to go ahead and do this right now. i think you will see movement here in mississippi after the funeral services and for those in south carolina. but we have been discussin

"well it's tough all over mississippi.uh, mississippi isy resisted any move to rid itself meanwhile, all over the country, faced with this high- profile killing there was no more dismissing the civil rights movement as frivilous and that included the office of the presidency. of civil rights. first, because of the civil rights bill which just passed the senate, is under consideration in the house ofepresentatives and probablyiny 4. but this also will be known as the summer of civil rights because of a program which began on june 22, the mississippi freedom summer project." if there was a single impetus that made the civil rights movement everyone's problem - everyone's duty - it was the faces of goodman, schwerner and chaney ==ap_missing civil rights workers_1 @ :28== whose lives were lost simply by carrying the flag of peaceful justice. struck down by a hate so strong that if left to fester risked ripping the country apart again. don't want to have to go to another memorial.'m tired of funerals. i'm tired of it!o st anoth

there was a poll taken in mississippi about six weeks ago and 50% of the people in mississippi said thatother war between the states. 50%. you say leave it to the people? what is your position though? haley barbour's position. >> my position is anybody that believes those kind of polls needs to learn more about polling. i would be very interested in who took such a poll and what the question really was. because i don't anymore believe that than the man in the moon. >> mike let's try it this way. haley barbour, i got to tell you. it just sort of seems a little bit like a cop-out to leave it to others to decide. either you have an opinion in your heart or you don't. >> well in my heart, i have this to say to you. while i was governor of mississippi, mississippi became the only state in the country to use state money, taxpayers' money to build a civil rights museum. we're building a civil rights museum in mississippi to commemorate, to celebrate the civil rights movement in our state. and when the freedom riders of 1961 came to mississippi in 2011 for their 50th anniversary, we had an event

including mississippi senator roger wicker. he's a republican.jersey senator corey booker. he's a democrat. senator wicker i want to start with you. because your state flag in mississippi in some ways is even more problematic than the confederate flag in south carolina because the confederate design is right there smack dab in the middle of the mississippi state flag. >> you're right. it actually is a part of our state flag adopted by the voters . i just have made a statement that i don't think our current flag is unifying and i think it's time to put it in a museum and work toward a flag that's a symbol of unity for all of mississippi. the speaker of the house said the same thing yesterday. senator cochran also agrees with that point of view. maybe we're beginning a conversation that will lead to a more unifying state flag. >> senator wicker you have a very interesting perspective baz your because your ancestors fought for the confederate army. have you just come to this just the charleston massacre? >> i think this charleston massacre gives us

trent kelly is from the little known town of salito, mississippi. the speaker: the gentleman will suspend. the house will be in order. the gentleman may proceed. mr. thompson: thank you mr. speaker. trent kelly is from the little town of saltillo, mississippi. population 3,393. he knows the district well, having served as district attorney for the largest judicial district in that area. representative kelly has also served in our national -- in our nation's military and has spent 29 years in the mississippi national guard. representative kelly will be serving out the term of our dear former colleague alan nunnelee who passed away in february. as he hope he will follow alan's example of service and dedication to the people of mississippi. our colleague, gregg harper, will now join me in welcoming our friend from lee county, mississippi. mr. harper: mr. speaker, it's my great honor and pleasure to welcome the newest member of this body, congressman trent kelly. i'm confident that trent kelly will carry on the legacy of his predecessor, our late collea

he loves mississippi. but he would love for mississippi not to have an emblem that's insulting to the people many of the people who come to his office. >> congressman thompson by the way, benny thompson of mississippi will be one of my guests later in the situation room today. we'll talk about ( what you just raised with him and have a serious discussion with him on that as well. one final quick question is you know that president obama will be at the memorial service, the funeral services on friday together with the first lady and the vice president joe biden. what specifically congressman do you want to hear the president say? he says he's now freer to say what he wants to say on the issue of race relations in the united states. >> well i have been talking with president obama a lot about this issue in recent weeks. we had the opportunity to talk quite a bit when we were working on his trade package. he called me last thursday as we worked our way to the ame church and he was shaken. he knew representati

the state of mississippi. you're the only african-american a representative from mississippi. you won't fly that mississippi state flag in your congressional office or outside your congressional office. is that right? >> that's correct. >> basically because as an african-american i resent what the flag implies. i am not one to promote hate or hostility. i don't see it as heritage. and i personally take offense to it because we are better than that. and i'm convinced that the only way you can solve it is by not displaying it. >> 40%. nearly 40% of the people who live in your state of mississippi are african-americans. the highest percentage of any state in the united states. it seems hike the political clout of african-americans in mississippi might be limited, right in. >> it is. had it not been for the voting rights act, i wouldn't be here. it has always taken a federal oversight to make things happen. the flag i agree, is a local issue. if you're going to make this country the country that we know it can be we're going to have to put these symbols into museums where they bel

then he retired in mississippi and that's where he died. guy moved around. but the one state in the nation that celebrating him today with a state holiday, the only place in the country that does that, is the state of alabama. jefferson davis was the first president of the con fed rascy. as far as alabama goes specifically, he really has no connection to alabama at all. yes, it's true, the first white house of the confederacy was in alabama. it was only there for three months. it would make sense maybe if jefferson davis was born in alabama or represented in al 58 in some way. maybe because he even died there or was in prison there or something. but no, alabama has none of those connections to jefferson davis. they just love them some jefferson davis.

james meredith and mississippi.nd not to south carolina, but nearly all of the deep south states began to use the confederate flag as a kind of symbol of resistance. it was also entangled with the commemoration of the civil war centennial a century earlier. so it was confused and shrouded in this issue of heritage and history and this kind of benign concept of celebrating were honoring the past -- were honoring the past. i think people sincerely believed in that, but at the same time, the political implication of the flag in 1962 when it was raised at the statehouse dome along with the united states flag, the state flag, and then this battle flag, i think it was clear to everyone that this was a symbol of resistance, of defiance, and if you provoked an offended i think that was ok with the people who defended the place of that flag up on the statehouse dome. amy: we are going to take a break and come back to this discussion. that is historian don doyle of the university of south carolina. we're talking to dr. willia

the state of mississippi had a referendum in 2001 and any student of mississippi politics can go backe returns precinct by precinct and see that instead of having a divisive argument over the matter we prevailed 65% and we carried precincts that the talking heads would never have guessed that we could have carried. that's because the flag represents us all. we all got here through a common history and that flag represents that. i remember before the mississippi flag issue came up that arkansas had an issue. it was your mayor, edward cox that made a point that changing out stuff like that on a whim is probably good psychology but poor policymaking. i would have to agree with him. this kind of knee jerk reaction besides being knee jerk is insulting. what the black south carolina want and deserve and you don't get that when you throw a cotton flag at them and pretend everything is fine. they know that. >> nobody is saying we will change the flag and do nothing else. if you look into the returns on the referendum you refer to in mississippi, there are a lot of theories about why the numbe

now there are calls in mississippi, mississippi. even walmart getting in on the action. such an historic change in just a few days. >>> a stunning word from president obama in a new, candid interview about race in america. six little letters causing an awful lot of discussion this morning. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> great to see you. i'm john berman. it is tuesday, june 23rd 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> important, new leads in the manhunt for two convicts escaped from a new york maximum security prison. authorities have found dna from richard matt and david sweat inside a hunting cabin near the town of owls head in upstate new york. that cabin has been burglarized, just 20 miles west of the prison they broke out of more than two weeks ago. a witness spotted someone running into the woods near the cabin over the weekend. after that about 1,000 officers they descended on that tiny community with helicopters, atvs and cruisers. >> how confident do you feel about these leads? >> all options are open and everything's on the table. and like

40% of the state of mississippi is african-american. you don't fly your own state flag outside your office on capitol hill because of its symbolism, because it has that symbol of the confederacy. if your legislation were to pass would all of your mississippi colleagues other representatives, the two senators, would they have to remove the state flag of mississippi unless it is changed? >> well the good part about my resolution it allows members from that state to fly the flag of the state. but what we are saying to the speaker, at those areas publicly viewed, the tunnel where we use the subway systems, the rotunda, other public places that are not within the purview of the member those flags are the one that should be removed. >> i want you to stand by congressman. i have a lot more questions to ask you on what is going on not only in south carolina or your home state of mississippi but elsewhere around the country. we will take a quick break. much more with congressman bennie thompson when we come back. moved some new cars. hauled a bu

mississippi next up.ent for the extension of this progress let's call it in changing the flag away from the confederate symbol. >> i think one of the things we are actually seeing are the economics of the flag. there's a visceral emotion and reaction to the flag being there. there's so much death associated with it. right now, we have nine more lives associated with it. in south carolina you have michelin boeing sunoco the south carolina association of manufacturers coming out against the flag being there. you are seeing the economics. the debate is shifting. this is now a mainstream debate. this is the beginning of a debate that surprisingly enough people want to have about race. i think this is a debate that will be lasting more than just today. more than just in mississippi. this is a debate that will last for a while. >> it's interesting, people are saying online hey, if people hadn't been killed in that black church we probably wouldn't be seeing this right now, as if that was mitigating the effectiv

the obvious would be mississippi. phillip gun says the confederate emblem on the flag needs to be removed. this is the first time an elected republican in the state has publicly called for the flag to change. the symbol has been on the state flag since 1894. a referendum to remove it failed. >>> this morning a series of storms including powerful tornados ripping across the state. this is a video of cole city. rescue crews trying to find victims who may still be trapped. in sublet illinois rescue officials called damage to a major campground there catastrophic. >>> they are increasing combat material into central and eastern europe. he says america will ramp up the number of tanks and artillery in response to russian aggression. >>> working out with kettle bells is on the rise. but no one tells you to swing them at a coach. sean "diddy" combs is on bail in morning after allegedly swinging at a coach with a kettle bell. his son plays for the team. no one was seriously hurt. >> i guess you could use anything as a weapon.

mississippi house speaker is leading a call to remove the confederate emblem from mississippi's flag. leaders in south carolina still reeling from the charleston church massacre are calling for that flag to be moved from the state capitol grounds. >> erin o'hearn at the big board with more. the battle symbol of the deep south under siege s some think it's a symbol of hatred. >> reporter: that's right. this is a decades long debate which may have reached a tipping point. south carolina's governor nikki haley is demanding state lawmakers move quickly to take down the couldn't confederate flag in front of the state capitol. this is mississippi's flag with a confederate emblem on it. lawmakers calling for that flag to be removed. many say it represents hate hatred associated with with violence and segregation. mississippi- in south carolina haley says she's not against the heritage the flag represents but said yesterday it is time for a change. but some family members of the charleston church shooting victims respect skeptical of her timing of the announcement. >> for many people in our s

getting rid of the flag in mississippi won't end racism. keeping it shows we are not going to try. >> let's talk about mississippi. your state is in a worse predicament than south carolina because your emblem is part of the flag. this is something you tried to do as we said in 2001 but voters rejected it. do you think that today, voters in mississippi, we are putting up what the flags look like. that's the proposed flag in 2001 but they didn't like that. do you think the tide has turned? >> barnes georgia and myself had it used against us by republicans including mark sanford. we all three lost. if republicans want to say they are doing something, then address education in the south. level the playing field. expand health care. create opportunity. then you will know we are serious about the real problems behind the flag. that is the issue to address. the problem of institutional racism has caused us a loss of opportunity all across the south. that's where we want to get to is greater opportunity for all of our citizens. >> governor you are

our colleague will now join me in welcoming our friend from mississippi. >> mr. speaker is my honor and it is my honor and pleasure to welcome the newest member of the body congressman kelly. i'm confident trent kelly will carry on the legacy of his predecessor our late colleague, one of impeccable services and an annual income is of to this country and citizens. i look forward to working with the representative as he serves the first congressional district and the people in the great state of mississippi. congressman i am so honored to stand here and welcome you to the floor of the house of representatives. [applause] >> to the rest of the mississippi delegation and most importantly i would like to thank senator corcoran who were present. thank you to my family which would include my mother and wife and three children. my brother who cannot be here. thank you to my friends in the gallery above. thank you to the citizens. thank you to my fellow members. i'm honored to i am honored to serve the nation in this great capacity. thank you and god bless you. this is a

here in jackson, mississippi. the kind of cold that freezes the dew. to make a guitar box. millions of kids these days dream of becoming rock stars and guitar gods. and millions of parents lay down big bucks for store-bought instruments that spend the rest of their lives gathering dust. so before you drop thousands on a les paul or an stratocaster, there might be a cheaper option down the block. meet this guy. archie storey and his lovely wife kristie. >> when i said hello, i told you everything i knew about guitar box guitars. i assume you play. >> i will. not very much. this is a one string, just a cigar box and a stick. it is a one string bo diddley. that is where he gets his name. >> sure. i know bo diddley. but what is the diddley bo? >> he plays a diddly bo. a bo is one string and that's where he got his name. >> i want to make sure everybody is tracking that. this part is called the bow. >> well this is called the neck. >> what is the bo? >> there is no bow. >> what is the diddly? >> the diddly was you. >> i felt like i was right on the verge of

taken off the state flag of mississippi. and, no it's not done but the confederate flag issue has all of a sudden just broken this week. it is not done but it will be done. and then catch your breath it was then the seminole issue of the obama presidency. the full force of every domestic political enemy this president has has been brought to bear for years against the signature policy that he achieved as president, the signature policy achievement which has alluded presidents before him for half a century. but yesterday, in a surprise ruling, the supreme court definitively saved and upheld and rayified that law. and frankly, there was no obvious reason for the court to take that case unless they were going to use that case to kill the health law, and it was a surprise when the court ruled that yes, the health law is the law of the land and, no it cannot be easily torn down. it will not be torn down now and it will not be torn down by some future president who replaces this one. and again, on this issue, no technically, it is

senators from mississippi, both republicans, did an about face today. on the question of their state flag, the last in the country to include the iconic confederate emblem. only two days ago, senator wicker said he deferred. he announced in a statement this morning, i now believe our state flag should be put in a museum and replaced by one that is more unifying to all mississippians. in response the senior center for mississippi, thad cochran, initially told msnbc he hadn't gotten that far. about two hours later he release ad statement of his own calling for a new banner. cochran largely owes his job to african-americans who came out to vote for him during a tough run-off election during the primary. all over the south, political leaders are rethinking the prominence given to symbols. the governors of north carolina, tennessee and virginia have all called for state sponsored confederate license plates to be phased out. while nathan deal wants it to be redesigned. in new orleans, the mayor said it is timely to place the monument to robert e. lee. and in

she wrote "mississippi goddam."e and her career and said, right now permission and her passion was to make music that would help her people. so she continued to make some of the great anthems of the civil rights movement young, gifted, and black, backlash blues, old jim crow. she continued "mississippi goddam." she hung out with -- she was part of the circle of activist black intellectuals and she had quite a political awakening. she and al went to the selma march together. you can talk about that. juan: al, you are not exactly a stranger to the civil rights movement or the great artist of the time. you also played with a bellefonte as well as. can you talk about how you juggle that and your involvement in the civil rights movement? >> yes nina was not performing regularly. i had the opportunity to go on with me belafonte on the fund-raising tours with martin luther king. we would fly to different cities and we were in europe with them as well. it was a great opportunity to be able to get next to martin and really f

so he took another trip down to mississippi.o track down the gun's original owner, which was harder than it might sound. >> this gun had multiple, multiple owners. it would take me 30 minutes just to persuade somebody to talk to me. >> reporter: why? because in mississippi you sound like a stranger? that's so weird. >> possibly sound like a stranger. also, nobody wants to talk about guns. they always think that i'm there to get them in trouble. >> reporter: it was a lot of shoe leather, and ruvin still didn't have a solid ling to katrina. >> it would take some persuading from me to even have people talk to me. >> reporter: but slowly the persuasion paid off. >> and each would tell us, yeah, i had it for a year. and then i pawned it at this pawn shop. >> reporter: after interviewing six former owners of the gun, ruvin arrived at a pawn shop that bought and sold it sometime around 2003. >> so the owner, he was like, we keep our records in diaper boxes in the back of the shed. and the rats were eating on them. so we decided to just

john hawkins grew up in water valley, mississippi, not far from the university of mississippi which mostole miss. when john hawkins was ready to go on college, he went to ole miss. at the time, only about 7% of the student body was african-american. people rioted in 1962 for threaten days. president kennedy called out the national guard. two people lost their lives. and that revolt to keep ole miss all white. the governor of mississippi who stood in the school house door waved the rebel flag in an ole miss football game the night the riots broke out people there at the time say that is when the rebel flag became ubiquitous. the school was already known as the ole miss rebels. but people say ole miss became synonymous with the confederate battle flag, starting then. starting in 19. 62 not 1862 during war but 1962 as a symbol of resistance to civil rights and the civil rights movement, a symbol of resistance to integration. 20 years after the violent effort to integrate that university, john hawkins, ole miss student, got himself elected cheerleader at the school. if you look closely at th

ed lavandera is in oxford mississippi with the latest. ed? >> reporter: john here in the town square of oxford mississippi, the state flag is still flying with the confederate symbol. but across the state, there is a growing push to have the state flag changed. the two u.s. senators from mississippi are calling for the flag to be changed as is the republican speaker of the house and other state lawmakers to say this is to become a symbol of hatred and the flag should be changed. mississippi's governor a republican is also saying he does not think the legislature will act and voters had a chance to make a change back in 2001 but by a 2-1 margin voted to keep the flag as is. but it's interesting as you look around here in the town square of oxford a number of businesses have put up old flags that thuns used to represent the state of mississippi. several people we've spoken with say this is their way of saying this could be a change that could benefit the state in the long run and something that would take away the symbol of hatred that is on th

>>reporter: many in mississippi's poor and rural areas often have trouble seeing a position.he state has eight doctors for every ten thousand residents. that's compared to the national average of nearly 13. >> just one doctor was registered in sharky county home to nearly 5,000 people. in another cupty, there were two registered. >> it's areas without a lot of transportation, there's not public transportation so people have trouble getting to providers and there's not a large number of providers and particularly specialists. >>reporter: so we're driving through the mississippi delta right now and if you look around you can really get a sense of just how rural this place is. access to care and primary physicians are some of the big considerations people are confronted with. many say when they get sick they treatment. >> go to the emergency room. >> but that's not cheap. a trip to the er is $1,233. that's 40% higher than the average american's monthly rent. >> kind of works out good for a guy like me in the event of an emergency but it really doesn't do anything as far as i hav

we'll take you to rural mississippi where doctors are still few and far between. manit. monday, 6:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >>> on thursday, the u.s. supreme court made sure that 6.4 million people in 24 states still have access to subsidies they need to make healthcare available. it lends weight to the idea that the afford act is here to stay. thursday's ruling also raises a bigger question. will obamacare make people healthier? if people have health insurance they won't worry so much about paying a visit to the doctor meaning they could start getting more care but what happens if getting to the doctor is just as big of a problem as paying for it. ♪ >> it's often called the birth place of the blues. in the poverty stricken delta, these sounds are a well come distraction from joblessness. >> a lot of people that need insurance don't have it. i am one of it. >>reporter: many in mississippi's poor and rural areas often have trouble seeing a position. the state has eight doctors for every ten thousand residents. that's compared to the national average of nearl

. >> will mississippi demand changes next?

. >>> and then -- i dig up the roots of musical mississippi when i learn the art of the home made cigarox guitar. >> not perfect. >> we don't want perfect. >> no, i nailed it. >> i want it made in the usa. >> how hard is it to produce a bobble head in the good old usa? quite hard, actually. >> can you make me look smarter? ♪ >>> americans have been obsessed with cars since the first model t rolls off the assemble line. in southern california, that obsession is a way of life. this is paramount, california. a working class neighborhood that sits between the 105, 710 and 91 freeways. here that american car obsession takes the form of the low rider. >> you want to go for a ride? >> paramount is home to homey's hydraulics, where brothers anthony and ralph fuentes have been hopping out legendary low riders foreyears. >> so duke and anthony, ralph, between them, know everything there is to know about low riders. we're going to take a cruise, and by the time we get to where we're going, you'll know everything you need to know. >> have you ever been in a low rider before? >> i think it is someth

now there are calls in mississippi, mississippi. even walmart getting in on the action. in just a few days. >>> a stunning word from president obama in a new, candid interview about race in america. six little letters causing an awful lot of discussion this morning. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> great to see you. i'm john berman. it is tuesday, june 23rd 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> important, new leads in the manhunt for two convicts escaped from a new york maximum security prison. authorities have found dna from richard matt and david sweat inside a hunting cabin near the town of owls hea