Tonight on All In with Chris Hayes: in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict last week, some right-wing figures have fixated on the level of attention given to the defendant’s race. According to conservatives like Breitbart News editor Ben Shapiro and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, the trial would not have garnered anywhere near the same level of attention if George Zimmerman were black. The vast majority of crime is “black-on-black,” they argue, which goes unnoticed by the media and the public. Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights activist and host of msnbc’s Politics Nation, will join Chris Hayes to discuss the attacks also leveled at him by conservatives who think he has exaggerated the role of racial bias in the Trayvon Martin case. Joy Reid, msnbc contributor and Managing Editor of TheGrio.com, and Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters, will join the discussion as well.
Plus: Under Commissioner Ray Kelly, the New York Police Department has illegally spied on the Muslim community and instituted a controversial, racially-biased “stop-and-frisk” program. So why did President Obama say Wednesday that he would consider Kelly to replace Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary? Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York will join Chris Hayes to discuss Kelly’s policies and what we could expect from a Secretary Kelly.
Later, Chris Hayes will talk with Matt Welch, Editor in Chief of Reason magazine, about a big name in politics that’s coming back into the spotlight. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, announced this week her intention to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Wyoming. Cheney is mounting what’s sure to be a contentious primary challenge against longtime Senator Mike Enzi, a fellow Republican.
Also Wednesday, Congress addressed the Voting Rights Act for the first time since the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down key provisions of the law. Chris Hayes will talk with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who was present at today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on restoring the VRA, and Ari Berman, Reporter at The Nation. Democratic leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Rep. Larry Hall, will also join the table to talk about the voting restrictions that Republicans in his state hope to implement without the restrictions of the VRA.
Rachel Simon
Rachel Simon is a writer and editor based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of “Pickleball for All: Everything but the ‘Kitchen’ Sink.” Her work has been published in The New York Times, Glamour, Vulture, Teen Vogue and more. You can find her at @rsimon113. Recommended
