nicole hannah jones was awarded the pulitzer prize for the powerful project. joining me now is pulitzer prize winner nicole hannah jones and the great granddaughter of ida b. wells herself, public historian, michelle duster. i am so excited about this blog. nicole, i'm going to read one of the tweets that you tweeted out about winning the pulitzer. you wrote i've been trying to come up with sentences worthy of how it felt to be awarded the pulitzer prize on the same day that ida b. wells. the newspaper called her a nasty minded. i would not be without her. she never got the recognition she deserved when she was living sometimes even from her own people. and this came at a time when you were messrs.ly castigated for winning. ted cruz probably most exhibited the pearl just gripping that took place on the right. pulitzer clowns itself, adheres to the journalistic principles. how good did it feel to dunk on those haters this week? i guess that's the classy way for me to put it? >> i really tried to control my petty this week and just be grateful for receiving this

to nicole hannah jones and the 1619 project. thank you for the amazing work that you've done. nah jones. >>> that's all for me. coming up, dan rather joins my friend joy reid to put this week into historical perspective. that's next on "am joy." thank you for watching "velshi" and a happy mother's day. 300 miles an hour, thats where i feel normal. having an annuity tells me my retirement is protected. protected lifetime income from an annuity can help your retirement plan ride out turbulent times. learn more at protectedincome.org. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking,

pulitzer prize winner nicole hannah jones on america, racism and violence. then, hong kong in beijing's crosshairs. the mainland government is asserting greater control over the island. citizens of hong kong have reacted angrily, so has the united states government. what happens next in this high stakes showdown? >> this is a tragedy for the people of hong kong, the people of china, and indeed the people of the world. >>> i'll talk to the last british governor of hong kong, chris batten, as well as the city's legendary campaigner for democracy, martin leech. >>> also, it's graduation season, at least on the internet. i will give graduates my thoughts and share some of the smartest that i have seen. >>> first, here's my take. like most of you, i'm still taking in the events of the last few days, the gruesome death of george floyd, the riots on so many american cities. i just want to make a few brief observations. some people are asking why is this happening now, haven't things gotten better for african-americans? many are titans of business, hold political of

amy: that was nicole hannah jones.inda villarosa, you were a contributor to the acclaimed "1619" project with an essay titled "myths about physical racial differences were used to justify slavery and are still believed by doctors today." up, if you could comment onon the significance of the 1619 project that you were a part of and also not only the pillars are going to nicole hannah jones, but to ida b wells as well in a special citation an award for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against doctors during the year of lynching. ifif you can take as fullircle? >> first of all, we are so proud of nikole. i was honored to be part of that project. ii think it speaeaks to the powr of b black w women journalists, nikole andnd ida b. wells. didink what "1619 project" was take us back and look at the legacy of enslavement. there always people sang, slavery was a a long ago. ththat is nonot part of r expeperien.. but itit is. ouour chargege was to prove what happened during e enslavem

jelani cobb and nicole hannah jones. let me just pull out and show outsce you the scene here.d it over to miguel, my partner, my photographer for the past few days, that's the 3rd precinct that burned out. next to it, a liquor store, a tobacco store and smoke shop. next to it, a restaurant, more restaurants and a burned out block. this is the picture of one area, here in minneapolis. i'm going to leave you with some pictures of what we have experienced in covering this story in the last couple of days. joy reid joins me after this and she will be talking to minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar. have a good weekend. >> they're aiming their fire now. they're working towards us. get back. get back. get back. he's hit. step back. watch it, guys. we got gas here. all right. back up. back up. back up. back up. they're now moving toward us, they're now moving toward us. there was -- >> they're shooting. >> they're shooting. put your helmets on. miguel, stay with me. we got gassed. continuing to fire at us. there we go. here is the gas canister. there has been no provocation, joshua. th

pulitzer prize winner nicole hannah jones on america, racism and violence.ijing's crosshairs. the mainland government is asserting greater control over the island. citizens o

i think that nicole hannah jones' essay is excellent and it reflects what many african-americans experiencehat we are in a country that's full of ideals, that's full of possibility and yet we have been locked out of it. and so my concern was that i knew the critique would focus on the small errors, and that is exactly what happened, as i say in my essay. what i try to do was show where i thought there was an error, and i had expressed that. and i knew that people would read the essay if i put that out there like that. but the greater problem for me and this was not nicole's fault, this was the historical profession's fault. even as the historical profession began to address issues of slavery, there are those who ignored the history of slavery and history of african-americans and their contribution to democracy, to our country, to the wealth of this country, the ideas of this country. and the two critics that i focused on in particular, gordon wood and sean wallence were the people in the '70s, '80s and '90s had not taken seriously how slavery affected our founding. most of our founding fath