It has been one year this coming week since the Supreme Court’s consequential decision to strike down a key part of the Voting Rights Act. This year, that somber anniversary collides with the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, the season long campaign of voter registration and nonviolent civil disobedience that drew attention to southern voter suppression and helped lead to the passage of the VRA. Today new battle lines are being drawn all across the country as Republicans in Ohio, Texas, North Carolina and elsewhere are taking actions that will make it harder for people to vote in those states. Meanwhile in Washington, a bipartisan group of legislators continues to move forward with a bill to resurrect the preclearance requirements under the VRA, despite a major political defeat by a key Republican ally. Melissa and her panel will discuss the state of voting rights a year after the Supreme Court decision. Then later she will sit down with civil rights icon Bob Moses to discuss the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer and what today’s voting rights activists can learn from the victories of the past.
We’ll also have the latest news out of Iraq. President Obama announced Thursday he will be sending as many as 300 Special Forces troops to Iraq to serve in non-combat roles as advisors to the Iraqi military. As the domestic politicians continue to debate what, if anything, the US should do, Melissa will talk with her experts about the implications for the fate of Iraq and the region going forward.
We’ll also look at the ongoing crisis at the border with thousands of unaccompanied minors entering the country in just the past year. Though many are seeing this story as an immigration story, Melissa and her panel will explore an alternative explanation how to view it and what is required to help these children.
And then there’s Mississippi, where we’re just days away from the runoff that will decide what is, hands down, the most intriguing primary fight still looming this election season. With people breaking into nursing homes, getting locked in court houses and a real life character who goes by the name Scooby Doo, the race between Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel may have a place in history just because of its strangeness. We’ll have all the juicy details on Saturday.
Plus – accidental reparations. Yes, accidental reparations. In Texas. Sort of. Plus we’ll explain how the Washington, DC football franchise owner Dan Snyder is getting a massive headache from a relatively obscure office in the US Commerce Department. Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10am ET on msnbc! Also, don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.
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