This Saturday on Melissa Harris-Perry we’ll discuss President Obama’s legacy. After major diplomatic advances recently with Iran, Cuba, and a push for immigration reform, President Obama’s legacy may be remembered not by what he accomplished during his earliest days in office, but by numerous policy achievements as his presidency nears its end.
Joining MHP to discuss Obama’s legacy:
- Kenneth Mack, professor, Harvard Law School and author, “Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer”
- Rich Tafel, president, Public Squared
- Ron Christie, columnist, The Daily Beast and former special assistant to President G. W. Bush
- Maria Hinojosa, anchor, NPR’s “Latino USA”
Also on MHP, criminal justice reform. President Obama marked off another first this week by being the first sitting U.S. President to ever visit a federal prison. In an effort to build bi-partisan support for an overhaul of America’s criminal justice system, President Obama is addressing issues of mass-incarceration, racial disparities, and lengthy sentencing for low-level, non-violent offenders. Joining Melissa Harris-Perry to talk crime and punishment are Dafna Linzer, managing editor, MSNBC.com , Bryonn Bain, prison activist and author, “The Ugly Side of Beautiful: Rethinking Race and Prisons in America” and Rev. Vivian Nixon, co-founder, Education Inside Out Coalition.
Be sure to check out these interesting reads related to the discussion:
- Kick the ‘new Jim Crow’ out the door
- A National Agenda for Criminal Justice Reform: Not Just Second Chances, but a Rational First Response
- Hillary Clinton and the Tragic Politics of Crime
- The Milwaukee Experiment
- Jailhouse nation
Also, the issue surrounding Texas birth certificates, as more than a dozen undocumented parents have sued the Texas Department of State Health Services, saying they were denied birth certificates for their Texas-born babies.
All that plus, dance, dance revolution. Misty Copeland and Stella Abrera , groundbreaking ballerinas from the American Ballet Theater, will be joining #nerdland .
Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10am ET on msnbc. Join the conversation—share your thoughts about these issues on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.
Ayanna Gill