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Politicsnation With Al Sharpton - Season 2026 Episode
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00:00Good evening and welcome to Politics Nation, tonight's lead, Living History.
00:09On the first night of Black History Month, America finds itself embroiled in a new struggle
00:27to preserve and protect our basic civil rights.
00:30In Minnesota and across the nation, we're seeing scenes reminiscent of the 1960s as
00:38thousands of Americans turn out for mass demonstrations and sit-ins to protest the Trump administration's
00:46immigration crackdown.
00:48Meantime, in Georgia, our democracy itself is under threat after the FBI seized ballots
00:55and voter data from the 2020 election, prompting new concerns about what this president might
01:02do ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
01:06As new special election results tonight suggest Trump and the Republicans could be facing
01:12a massive rebuke from voters who fear the country is headed in an increasingly dark and dangerous
01:20direction.
01:21Let's begin in Minnesota, where the Trump administration has also demanded the state's voter rolls amidst
01:29their surge in immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.
01:35Joining me now is Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.
01:39Secretary Simon, thank you for joining us.
01:42After federal immigration agents shot and killed an American citizen in Minneapolis for the second
01:50time this month.
01:52Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that outlined what she described
02:00as three simple steps to, quote, bring back law and order, end quote, end quote, end the chaos in Minnesota.
02:09Her final step, however, seemed to have little to do with immigration or the state's fraud scandals as the DOJ has requested access to Minnesota's voter rolls.
02:23Now, Secretary, I know you said that you will not hand over voter data to the Trump administration, but can you elaborate on your position and why do you think the White House is pressing for this now and tying it to immigration in Florida?
02:37And tying it to immigration enforcement?
02:40I have to say, Reverend Al, it's a mystery, and it's really, really troubling to many people.
02:46Keep in mind, this letter from Attorney General Bondi came just hours after the second person, the second American citizen, was gunned down by federal agents within as many weeks.
02:56Why this was tied to the chaos in Minnesota that came with the federal agents, I don't know.
03:02It doesn't have anything certainly directly to do with immigration or boots on the ground or levels of force or anything like that.
03:10And I worry that it's tied to something bigger.
03:13I worry that it's tied to an overall attempt to denigrate people's confidence in our election system in the run up to 2026.
03:21We know that in Minnesota and most of the rest of the country, our elections are fair and accurate and honest and secure.
03:28We obey and comply with federal law.
03:30But why this was connected so soon to that issue, I'm not sure I can tell you.
03:36Now, have you been in contact with officials from Georgia and other secretaries of state about this and its implications for the midterms?
03:46Is there a potential plan to respond or combat any possibility of election interference?
03:53Yes.
03:54In fact, just this past week, I was with colleagues at a national conference of secretaries of state, bipartisan.
04:00We talked about this.
04:01And I have to tell you that at this point, it would be irresponsible of us as secretaries of state not to plan for the possibility of some federal interference, direct or indirect.
04:13It's not necessarily prediction.
04:15It's a precaution.
04:16So what have we done already?
04:17We have actively worked with other states.
04:20We have actively worked with federal partners and, of course, within Minnesota to game out or plan these potential scenarios of federal interference.
04:29I hope they don't happen.
04:30I'm not ready at this point to predict it will happen, but it would be irresponsible just like we plan for a weather event or a power outage or a bomb threat.
04:38We have to plan for this.
04:40It's sad in 2026 that this is on the list of things we have to plan for.
04:44But we have to be realistic and we have to be safe.
04:47Now, five year old Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian, are back in Minneapolis after being released from a Texas detention facility where they were held for over a week.
05:00Texas Democratic Congressman Julian Castro escorted them back home to the suburbs after they were taken to Texas by immigration agents.
05:16Now, meanwhile, on Saturday, a Minnesota federal judge declined to order a halt to the immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, despite the lawsuit by state officials outlining the federal agents widespread civil rights abuses.
05:32However, Minneapolis residents continue to organize and resist this weekend, including a sit in and at least 19 target stores to demand action against immigration enforcement.
05:45Secretary, from your point of view, what's the mood in your state right now?
05:50Well, it continues to be grim and heavy.
05:54However, I am so proud of us, the way that we have stood up, not just that we've stood up, but the way we have overwhelmingly nonviolent, huge shows of force in below zero temperatures.
06:07And we have shown a way out of this for a lot of communities that may be facing this in the coming months.
06:13And I have to say years, which is massive but peaceful protest and making sure we have folks out there with cell phones.
06:21I mean, recording, bearing witness, showing the rest of the world what's going on, showing people that this isn't about some list of the worst of the worst.
06:29If it were only that, it would have massive support. But it's not that it's a random, cruel dragnet with seemingly out of control tactics way too often.
06:39And I think people are using their ears, their eyes and their common sense all over the country.
06:44And they're arriving that so same conclusion. So we're still bracing.
06:48We're still under this sort of onslaught. But I think the people of Minnesota have really shown the way through.
06:54You do it in a peaceful way. You do it in a massive outpouring. And that's what attracts the hearts and minds of Americans.
07:00Now, Trump announced on his social media on on Saturday that he has instructed the DHS to not intervene in protests occurring in cities led by Democrats,
07:13unless local authorities ask for federal help.
07:17However, in the same post, he also says that he has instructed immigration enforcement to, quote, be very forceful while protecting government property.
07:29He even threatened using the military on protesters, saying federal officers would be, quote, extremely powerful and tough in the quote.
07:39Now, this language seemingly contradicts de-escalation efforts.
07:44What should the public be watching for in the weeks to come?
07:48They should be watching for overreaction and overkill.
07:52And that's what we've seen so far.
07:54And what I think would be really refreshing and a way to not just talk about,
07:58but to show that there's de-escalation is to show some restraint,
08:03to not turn things up to the highest level of volume and to the most extreme tactics right away.
08:09That's what our law enforcement does within the state.
08:12That's what police are trained to do.
08:14And that's what these federal personnel should be doing as well.
08:18It would be more productive for everybody if they would show some restraint.
08:23If we could see people from Washington not labeling everyday moms and dads with whistles and cell phones as domestic terrorists or rioters or agitators or the like.
08:35These are people who are trying to bear witness.
08:37They're trying to make sure that people are conducting themselves the way they should from the federal level.
08:42That's what's happening.
08:43But the words from up on high mischaracterizing the situation and the overkill tactics help no one.
08:50So we'd like to see action in that sense.
08:53Let's make sure that force is a last resort, not a first resort.
08:57All right, Secretary of State Steve Simon of Minnesota.
09:02Thank you for being with us.
09:03Let's turn now to George.
09:05Congresswoman Nakeema Williams, a Democrat.
09:09Thank you for being with us here tonight, Congresswoman.
09:13We have a lot to talk about, but I have to start.
09:17So much, River, now.
09:18I have to start with the partial government shutdown now underway.
09:24House Speaker Johnson is saying today he expect the resolution to end the shutdown will pass by Tuesday.
09:31Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries was on this program last night saying Democrats will not be helping him pass that measure.
09:40What should we be expecting when Congress returns to work tomorrow?
09:45So I think what you heard from my future speaker, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is absolutely correct.
09:51House Democrats will not stand by and supply votes for a DHS funding bill, Reverend Al, where we are seeing citizens, human beings, regardless of their citizenship, being gunned down and killed in the streets of our country.
10:06We're seeing children being detained.
10:09We're seeing our communities being terrorized.
10:12And House Democrats stand on the side of the American people who are demanding accountability from DHS and ICE.
10:19And so as long as this bill stands as it is, I am a strong no vote, as well as our House Democratic leadership.
10:27And we're not going to supply the votes for them to continue to terrorize our communities.
10:31This means that there might be a Republican force partial government shutdown because they refuse to even negotiate and make any conditions relevant to keeping our communities safe.
10:44ISIS making our communities less safe, Reverend Al, and the entire country is seeing this.
10:49You can't do this in our face, play in our face and tell us we're not seeing what so many of us are witnessing.
10:54And so enough is enough.
10:57Now, let's talk about the ballots that were seized by Trump's FBI in Fulton County, Georgia last week.
11:04We don't know where they are or what the administration intends to do with them.
11:09We also don't know why Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbitt, was there.
11:16The chairman of County Board of Commissioners was on the program last night.
11:21I want to play for you why he thinks this is happening right now.
11:28I think this is a distraction.
11:30I think it's intimidation.
11:32I think it's going to discourage people from voting.
11:35Even our co-workers.
11:36That's why I went there to make sure that our workers were safe because you recall the two women that Rudy Giuliani intimidated.
11:45They want a judgment against him.
11:47So that has a chilling effect.
11:49And I think that's what this is all about.
11:51If you really peel it back and get to the bottom of what they're after, it's not about 2020 anymore.
11:56It's about 2026 and 2028.
12:01What are your thoughts, Congresswoman?
12:03You represent part of Fulton County.
12:06Absolutely.
12:07I vote here in Fulton County, Reverend Al.
12:09And I saw all of this playing out in the 2020 election.
12:12And the first thing we need to make clear is Donald Trump, he lost this election.
12:16And it's been adjudicated.
12:18And the judicial process has told us 63 times what we all know to be true that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
12:26So, yeah, he still has hurt feelings and he's still dealing with this.
12:30But we need to be looking forward.
12:32What are they going to do with these ballots?
12:33We no longer maintain the control of custody of these ballots.
12:37And these are original documents.
12:39So we saw in Minnesota where they told them if they just turn over the documents from 2020,
12:45then they might let up on what is happening with ICE.
12:48This is our American government terrorizing a county municipality.
12:53And so, going into our county, an FBI raid, a criminal indictment, like, coming in.
13:00They couldn't get a judge here in Georgia.
13:02So they found a judge in Missouri to sign the warrant for them to come in.
13:07I've led an FBI oversight letter in my congressional authority asking questions, demanding answers.
13:14What are they trying to answer by taking these documents?
13:18Where did they take them?
13:19Where would they end up?
13:20Where are you going to do with this information?
13:22This is highly sensitive information.
13:24And as we are looking at early voting starting in our midterm elections right here in Fulton County,
13:29in April, Reverend Al, this is right around the corner.
13:32What is happening with this very delicate elections information that they have stolen from our Fulton County Board of Elections?
13:41Now, the commissioner also told us yesterday that leading up to the Fulton County raid, he's heard rumors that arrest of Georgia officials could be coming.
13:52Are you concerned Trump may have more in store for Georgia?
13:56And how are lawmakers and public officials preparing for that possibility?
14:02Reverend Al, I don't think we can say that anything is not possible under this administration.
14:07Donald Trump has shown us that he will do whatever it is to try and get his way.
14:12As elected officials, we need to make sure that we are standing strong and finding a way to get in the way to protect our democracy,
14:19protect our elections, and stand up for the American people.
14:23Reverend Al, if he is sending a warrant to my home, you will be hearing from me because I'm not standing down in the face of this man who is trying to terrorize our communities,
14:34trying to steal our elections, refusing to stand up for what he saw.
14:38He lost this election, Reverend Al.
14:40So, if you hear about an election warrant sent to my house, I'll be waiting for you to come and stand with me, Reverend Al,
14:45because I'm not standing down to this man.
14:47Now, if Trump is trying to resurrect the big lie going into the midterms, it's probably because he senses accountability is coming.
14:56In Texas today, Democrats are celebrating a special election shocker, a nearly 15-point victory in a state senate district that went for Trump by 17 points in 2024.
15:12And, by the way, the Republican candidate outspent the victorious Democrat by nearly 10-to-1, according to data compiled by Transparency USA.
15:24How do you explain that?
15:26I mean, Americans are paying attention.
15:28They know that they were lied to during the 2024 election.
15:31Donald Trump said that he was going to lower our costs and make sure that our economy was back on track, and he's done the exact opposite.
15:39Our costs have raised.
15:42We've seen, when we go in the grocery store, the prices are higher.
15:44Look at our health care costs.
15:46Here in my county, Fulton County alone, people have seen their health care premiums quadruple because of Donald Trump and his Republican Party.
15:53Americans have had enough.
15:55They're standing up.
15:56They're letting their voice be heard at the ballot box.
15:59That 20-point swing in Texas sounds like a Senator Jasmine Crockett to me, Reverend Al.
16:05Now, today, I'm out of time, but I have to ask you this.
16:10Today's the first day of Black History Month 2026, at a time when around the country, Trump and some of the governors have tried to take away black history out of the schools, out of being recognized on national parks on certain holidays.
16:27You sit in a historic seat as one who has now the hold of that baton, the mantle on your shoulders.
16:37How do you see Black History Month 2026, and how should we be observing it?
16:42Black History Month 2026 for me, Reverend Al, just like we just came off of Martin Luther King Day and sitting here in Atlanta, the birthplace of Dr. King, in the seat held by Congressman Lewis.
16:53Congressman Lewis told us that our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, or a month, but it's the struggle of a lifetime.
17:00And each generation has an obligation to do our part.
17:04This Black History Month, we need to all be renewed and doing our part, Reverend Al, because our struggle is the struggle of a lifetime.
17:11I love it.
17:12We don't need to just read black history.
17:14We need to continue making some.
17:16That's right.
17:17Congresswoman Nakeema Williams, thank you for being with us.
17:20Still ahead, we're in the middle of a partial government shutdown.
17:23Maryland Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester will join us with the latest on when the government will reopen and where things stand for demands for reform to ICE and to DHS.
17:39And later, preserving and protecting black history under Trump 2.0, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eugene Robinson joins us later on Politics Nation.
17:51Welcome back to Politics Nation.
18:02Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says a vote to end the partial government shutdown could take until Tuesday.
18:11Last night, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on this show that the speaker should not expect any Democratic support as this caucus demands significant reforms for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
18:29In terms of the legislation that's going to be in front of the House on Monday, we need a full and complete debate.
18:35And what I've made clear to House Republicans is that they cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a my way or the highway approach in the absence of House Democrats convening, which we're going to do tomorrow, and having a discussion about the appropriate way forward.
18:52Joining me now, U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester Democrat of Delaware.
18:59Thank you for being with us, Senator.
19:01What's your view from the Senate on where things stand?
19:05Well, Reverend Al, as you shared, we are now in a partial government shutdown.
19:19And from the Senate's perspective, we just voted on Friday and really what was put before us different from the House, where in the House they had the opportunity to vote on five funding bills that will support the hard work that we have done for our constituents throughout this past deliberations for our budget.
19:41And also separating out the Department of Homeland Security bill so that we could vote separately on that.
19:48In the Senate, we did not get that option.
19:50And so for us, we had our vote.
19:54It now goes to the House.
19:56And you've heard what leader Hakeem Jeffries has said, that for all of us as Democrats, whether you are in the House or whether you are in the Senate, we are united that ICE is broken.
20:09We are united that there has to be a sense of urgency in terms of real reforms and that there's no time to waste.
20:19And we are also united in the fact that there's a real trust deficit with our Republican colleagues.
20:25I mean, the reality is we saw this during the health care fight.
20:29They said, we want to fix it.
20:32We'll work with you.
20:33And here we are today in the midst of a new year with no real fixes to health care.
20:40And so, again, I think what you will see in the next week, again, is a real deliberate conversation about what could those and what should those reforms look like.
20:52And again, as Democrats, we feel this is unconscionable that you would have secret roaring police in this country and that you would see a little boy like Liam.
21:03I can't get I can't get this five year old's face out of my mind.
21:08A little boy with a rabbit hat and a backpack being taken away from his state to a detention facility or an older gentleman that I saw being whisked out of his house in Chicago with his shirt open in the freezing cold.
21:24A ICU nurse from for the VA being shot down as well as a mother of three.
21:36Are these individuals, are these the ones that are making us less safe as a country?
21:41In this moment, it is ice that's making us less safe as a country.
21:46I want to get to a five year old Liam in a minute, but I want to ask you this.
21:51The Senate approved a measure to fund DHS for two weeks, giving Congress time to negotiate on ice restrictions.
21:58Leader Jeffries laid out some of those proposed restrictions last night on the show,
22:04unmasking ice agents, mandatory body cameras, mandatory judicial warrants before ice agents can detain people.
22:13As you look at this two week negotiating period, what are the most important reforms Democrats should pursue?
22:21And how do you make sure that your time isn't wasted without any significant concessions from from Republicans?
22:30I think Leader Jeffries, you know, hit on many of the major points.
22:35And again, we have a a real unity on those kinds of things that, you know, right now what we're seeing are these folks that are not identified.
22:45You don't even know who they are as they're coming up to.
22:48They might not even be ice the way they are doing this operation.
22:52So making sure that there are real warrants and that they're not just going into people's homes and bringing them out.
22:59That's important. You know, again, we talked about some of the other kinds of things that we'd like to see.
23:06For example, a standard basic standards and law, you know, for law enforcement that we see in state and local levels, there are standards and codes of conduct.
23:17They're not applying by these the these kinds of things are just basic.
23:23And again, as I said, warrants, judicial warrants versus just having some administrative warrant.
23:29There are some these are foundational things.
23:31I'm even concerned about the surveillance nature of what they're doing to Americans.
23:36The fact that they're using meta glasses and recording us and then using that information afterwards to put us on lists.
23:45That's that's that is that's that's not the country that we're supposed to be.
23:50And, you know, when you tie it to what is coming in the elections that all of these pieces are fitting together and it's incumbent upon us, not just in the House and the Senate, but the people.
24:04And that's why seeing what is happening across this country where people are rising up and saying enough is enough.
24:10That's the thing. That's the pressure that I think our Republican colleagues really need to make these common sense reforms.
24:16And let me just say one other thing. This is not the first time in our history where we have taken a look at an agency and said this is not meeting the mission.
24:26You could look at the Department of Justice during Watergate. You could look at this Department of Homeland Security.
24:32This is after the result of 9-11. And so, again, this agency is broken.
24:38It needs to be ripped down to the studs and start all over again to make sure that we really are doing what is in the best interest of this country are and our safety.
24:49Let me pivot for a moment to the Epstein files and what the Justice Department says was the final batch to be released this past Friday, though it's still not everything the DOJ promised more than a month after a congressional deadline.
25:06Tonight, many members of Congress are not happy with what they consider to be a lack of transparency from DOJ calling to see files in full and without heavy redactions.
25:21Senator, if this is the final word from the administration on Epstein, how do Democrats make sure this story doesn't go away?
25:30Well, you know, first of all, let's start with the victims. This process and how they have operated.
25:39Now, mind you, they said this president said they were going to release them has just caused more damage and trauma to probably so many of the individuals, the survivors who have who have made it through this.
25:53So that's number one to keep them top of mind. Number two, you know, the reality is for us, our whole goal as Democrats is about accountability.
26:06We've seen with this president that he is used to not being held accountable. And so I can tell you that we will not let up. We will not let up on pushing for transparency, on pushing for justice for those individuals who have gone through all of this.
26:24And you will see the drumbeat will continue and it will continue all the way into the election.
26:29Staying with that, Trump's announced his pick to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell in May, former Fed Governor Kevin Walsh, whose name popped up in the last batch of Epstein files.
26:43There's no evidence of any wrongdoing. But Walsh's father in law is a longtime Trump ally and mega donor who's pushed the president on taking over Greenland.
26:56All of this considered, how much scrutiny can Walsh expect to face from Senate Democrats?
27:03Well, you know, I serve on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and he will have to come before our committee during the nomination process.
27:16We have not seen any paperwork or anything like that.
27:20But what I can say is the Federal Reserve Board is critical to not only our economy, but to the global economy.
27:28And what this administration has done by way of really politicizing these organizations and these and trying to claw back the independence of organizations like this really will have an impact on what we say in these hearings and how how how we actually have this process.
27:51You know, you look at how the president has gone after Jerome Powell after Lisa Cook, who also a Federal Reserve Board member.
28:00And we know that the role of the Federal Reserve Board is really about making sure that we have low unemployment, make sure that we have interest rates at a place that makes sure that we have a strong economy.
28:14And so we on the committee, the Democrats on the committee, as well as our whole caucus will be looking at this because, again, it has major implications for not only this country, but for the world.
28:29All right. I'm out of time. I'm going to have to leave it there. Thank you for being with us, Senator Lisa.
28:34You remember, Reverend Al, just remember LBR from Delaware and celebrate history month.
28:43I just want to make sure everybody also recognizes there was a time when they didn't even teach it.
28:48They didn't teach it to us in school, but we made sure whether it's community centers, churches, wherever, even when people tried to erase us, we stayed strong and we kept the drumbeat going.
28:58And so I want to also end by saying happy black history month and stay strong.
29:03And thank you LBR from Rochester for reminding every LBR from from Delaware for reminding us about black history again as I open the show with that.
29:16Thank you for being with us.
29:17Just ahead, rising up for our heritage as the administration takes a literal crowbar to black history.
29:26A house divided against itself cannot stand.
29:35Abraham Lincoln was paraphrasing the Bible when he uttered those words while running for Senate in 1858.
29:43They continue to ring true as our nation stands at a craft as a crossroads at the start of black history month 2026.
29:54Since returning to office for his second term a year ago, President Trump has torn open a rupture in our nation between what he and his supporters believe they can do under the guise of law and order.
30:10And what many Americans believe is morally right.
30:14He has divided our country with mass deportations, with his dismantling of civil rights infrastructure that Dr.
30:22Martin Luther King Jr.
30:23And others fought so hard to build.
30:26And with his undermining of confidence in our elections, the one institution that makes all of our other rights possible.
30:36All of this is shocking and upsetting.
30:39But none of it is new.
30:41They represent a continuation and escalation of the internal battle that has raged in this country from the very beginning.
30:50That's why it's no surprise that while Trump has tried to divide our country, he has also sought to erase black history by banning it from high school textbooks, by removing it from government websites, by literally taking a crowbar to a slavery exhibit at the president's house in Philadelphia just over a week ago.
31:13Trump fears black history because it represents the road map to a more perfect union for everyone.
31:20The America we were promised by the founders that has not yet been fully realized.
31:27A country where all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
31:37So many of us dream of that nation.
31:40Unfortunately, many others fear it.
31:43If we ever want to get there, we all need to rise up and protect our black history, no matter the cost.
31:54Welcome back to Politics Nation on MSNOW.
32:00The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun.
32:04And as President Trump plunges our country into a new civil rights crisis with his mass deportation, our long history of struggle could help light the way forward.
32:17Joining me now, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and MSNOW political analyst Eugene Robinson.
32:24His brand new book, Freedom Lost, Freedom Won, A Personal History of America, comes out this Tuesday.
32:32Eugene, we're going to get to the core of your book in a minute.
32:36But the themes of it are intensely relevant to what's happening in the country right now.
32:42Martin Luther King once said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
32:48But we sometimes forget there are peaks and valleys along the journey.
32:53With that in mind, how do you frame what's happening right now in our larger historical narrative about the country?
33:01It's a valley.
33:03Good evening, Rev.
33:05It is.
33:06This is one of those moments.
33:09Again and again and again, we have seen these moments when African Americans and other marginalized groups fight and struggle and often die to win a greater measure of the freedom and opportunity that America promises.
33:30And then it is taken away.
33:35It is curtailed.
33:37It is pushed back.
33:39And the struggle has to begin anew and has to be reinforced and it's time for another push.
33:51And we're definitely in one of those moments.
33:54I mean, I do not think it is an accident that we see the election of the first black president of the United States, Barack Obama, followed immediately by the election of Donald Trump.
34:08And the rise of this this this this mega coalition that wants to take us back to a past when when the country did not celebrate its diversity, when the when the country did not offer that freedom and opportunity to as many people as as as it should.
34:31Now, today is the start of Black History Month.
34:35Earlier, we were discussing how Trump has literally taken a crowbar to slavery exhibits and has eroded the civil liberties black people have fought for for decades.
34:47Talk about the importance of protecting and preserving black history from Trump.
34:53What can the average American do?
34:56Well, first of all, this will not succeed.
35:00This attempt to erase black history will not succeed because the history is the history.
35:07And and in fact, over decades, a lot of this history was what was not really known.
35:16A lot of it had to be rediscovered.
35:17But we know it now and we we have recovered it.
35:20And it will it will it will live on whether or not this administration does ridiculous things like taking down and taking down a sign about slavery at at the presidential center, which is which is just absurd as if it didn't happen.
35:39It happened. We know it happened.
35:41And and it's also so counterproductive.
35:46It's ridiculous because African-American history is American history, period.
35:52This country would not be the same country without the presence and the contributions and the work and the and the brains and the and without black Americans.
36:08It simply would not be the same country.
36:12It's one big strand of the braided history of this of this nation.
36:19And and so to to say you're going to erase black history is is really to say that you're not going to know American history.
36:30And that that cannot that cannot succeed, cannot be allowed to succeed.
36:37And I don't think it will be allowed to succeed.
36:40As a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist yourself, you've tried to help us understand our democracy through the written words.
36:48Journalist and journalism is now under threat evidenced by the arrest of journalists like Don Lemon in Georgia Fort and the raid on the home of a Washington Post reporter.
37:01What are your thoughts on this?
37:03Well, I've been a journalist my entire adult life and and I've never seen this.
37:10I've never seen an attack on not just on reporters.
37:17Nixon had his enemies list and he hated the press.
37:20And a lot of presidents have not liked reporters in general or specific reporters.
37:27But there hasn't been a president, certainly in my lifetime, who has tried to attack journalism.
37:36The act of journalism.
37:38Don Lemon was covering a protest.
37:42Don Lemon and and and Ms. Fort were covering a protest.
37:48That's what we do.
37:49That's why they were in that church.
37:51And the notion that you can be arrested for that is a direct assault on on the First Amendment.
37:59You know, it was Thomas Jefferson who said, you know, given a choice of government without newspapers or newspapers without the government, I would choose the latter because he knew how important it is.
38:13The public's right to know what is what is happening, what is going on, especially what its government is doing, is supreme.
38:22And that's why it's protected in the First Amendment.
38:24And this was, I think, designed to have a chilling effect on journalists.
38:29And it cannot be allowed to.
38:31I need to ask you this, Eugene.
38:34And your latest book, Freedom Loss, Freedom One, is intensely personal, focusing on America's racial history through the lens of your own family history, starting with your great grandfather's freedom from enslavement and threading its way to your story today.
38:53Why did you write this now?
38:55And what do you want readers to take away from it?
38:58You know, I wrote this book.
39:01I grew up in the house that my great grandfather built.
39:04And he was a sort of reconstruction era success story in South Carolina.
39:10And so he was a prominent Republican Party official.
39:14And, you know, he gave speeches.
39:18He had letters, financial documents and everything.
39:20And he was a pack rat.
39:21He kept everything in the house.
39:23So I had this unusually detailed paper trail about my family.
39:30And then his father, the father of the man you see on the screen, was named Henry Fordham.
39:38And he, my great, great grandfather, in Charleston, South Carolina, was enslaved, was sold to a plantation owner in 1829, was sold again to a businessman in 1848, and managed to buy his own freedom in 1851, before the Civil War.
39:58And because of this circumstance, I realized that I had a sort of long paper trail that many African Americans don't have, because we simply weren't counted.
40:15We weren't accounted for, but some free African Americans were.
40:22And so I always had this material.
40:26Why did why did I do it now?
40:28Because of that cycle we were talking about, because we are in one of those moments when progress, there's an attempt to reverse progress that had been made.
40:41And I realized, looking back over all this material, that that had happened again and again and again, most famously, Reconstruction and then Jim Crow.
40:52But there were other examples of when it happened before, and I thought that that whole history then became relevant to what's happening right now.
41:02It is really very important.
41:04It is really very important.
41:05I know I found my great grandfather was a slave in Edgefield, South Carolina.
41:09Eugene Robinson, thank you for being with us.
41:12The book, Freedom Lost, Freedom to Won, A Personal History of America, available everywhere books are sold, starting Tuesday.
41:23That does it for me.
41:30Thanks for watching.
41:31I'll see you back here next weekend at 5 p.m. Eastern.
41:34The weekend primetime starts after a short break.
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