This Saturday on MHP, Hillary Clinton makes her big pitch. Kicking the campaign off on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island, Clinton will evoke FDR and his New Deal policies as she makes an appeal and attempts to energize the Democratic base. We will take you live to the event, where the Democratic front runner will once again introduce herself to the American public.
Then, we’ll take you to another island in the East River – one that has a far more nefarious reputation. Rikers Island, New York City’s primary prison, has become synonymous with danger, corruption and abuse. We will talk about Kalief Browder, a young man who was sent to Rikers when he was just 16. He spent three years, including two in solitary confinement, awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a backpack. The case was later dismissed, but the damage was done. Even after he shared his story and gained public support, he struggled with what he endured at Rikers. Browder took his life last week. We will take a look at how the system failed Browder, and what can be done to fix it.
Joining the Rikers conversation are:
- Glenn Martin, President and Founder of JusticeLeadershipUSA
- Erika Eichelberger, Independent Journalist
- Robert Gangi, Director of the Police Reform Organization Project
- Farai Chideya, Professor of Journalism at NYU
Then, the story of a civil rights leader who identifies as black but was born to white parents has set the internet ablaze. Rachel Dolezal is the President of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, WA, a Professor of Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University and appears to represent herself as African-American. However, her parents went to the press and said her actual heritage is Czech, German and Swedish. When asked directly about her race, Dolezal responded that the “question is not as easy as it seems,” and the ensuing debate on identity and representation reinforces that. We’ll talk to Stanford Professor Allyson Hobbs about just who gets to be black or white.
And, there is a manhunt underway near Lake Champlain, where two convicted murderers escaped from a maximum security prison and remain at large. Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped a week ago, reportedly aided by contraband they possibly received from a prison guard. We’ll have the latest on this story as it develops. Plus, developments in the Tamir Rice case, activists out to save rural healthcare and dinosaurs with feathers. Tune in to Melissa Harris-Perry this Saturday at 10am ET on msnbc. Join the conversation—share your thoughts about these issues on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.
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