things are changing in this country. >> i have many more hours to talk to boat of off. a good thing we have other opportunities, thanks for your time this morning. i really appreciate you both. that does it for me, thank you for watching. a very full and exciting cross connection with my friend tiffany cross begins right now. tiffany cross begins right now i never thought this day would come. but god is good. >> yes, he is. >> now friends, which you know him as ahmaud. he will now rest in peace. >> good morning, everybody. we begin the "cross connection"

with the case that undoubtedly dominated many discussions at the thanksgiving table this week. that's, of course, the guilty verdict for the murder of ahmaud aubrey. lawyers for travis and greg my mcmichael as well as william roddie brian plan to appeal the conviction. up next, a federal hate crime for intimidating aubrey because of his race and color. all this comes almost after a decade after the killing of trayvon martin. so these guilty verdicts are certainly a welcome change. but let's be honest, we have to remember all that it took to get here. the case faced an uphill battle to get to court. the when were not charged or arrested for month, until the video of the shooting was leevenlgd even the shoddy testimony by travis mcmichael and a strong presentation by the prosecution, this verdict was, quite honestly, still a question mark in a case that should have been opened and shut.

and we have to remember, there are many more trials to go. joining me now to discuss them, msnbc contributor brittany cunningham and former mayor of baltimore making her "cross connection" debut. brittany rollins. you all but delivered a sermon when i talked about this verdict. you know there is something about seeing this case or all these trials. you look at kevin strickland. you look at the two men who had their cases vacated in the malcolm x trial and julius jones in oklahoma. i'm curious your thoughts today if you think the rest of america seeing the disparate criminal justice system on display will have an impact on how we operate going forward? >> so tiffany, like i said last week, what remains true about all of the outcomes and cases you just listed is they are all markers along a particular river of justice, but only full

transformation of the entire system will actually change the direction of the current and the water. we're still in a place where we're going to see more kyle rittenhouses, we're going to see more travis mcmichaels. we're going to see more of this kind of activity from village laepts, from police officers, from an entire criminal legal system that is working specifically as it was designed. so until we see that full systemic transformation, we are promised. it's not possible. we are promised similar kind of engagements in the future. similar kind of harm and death and destruction. so these investigators, frankly, especially the one in the aubrey murder trial, that is the very least that the family was owed. what we cannot afford to do as americans is get comfortable and think that because some folks were exonerated 40, 50, 60 years later, one trial out of thousand this is year went in a particular direction to finally

hold white village laepts accountable, suddenly our job is done. our job is to maintain pressure on this system and require all of the power brokers at the local, state and federal level to stop what they're doing and stop business as usual and to make sure that this system actually works for all of us and not just those of us with the right skin color. >> we have such a long way to go with that, madam mayor, because you know like we said, there are so much that went into this case, even reaching a trial. but before i get into that, i want to ask you about the jury. you know, it was a concern, there was one black man on the jury. the assumption was deeply rooted in fact in recurrence in this country's history is that black people do not often get fair trial. particularly when it comes to all white juries. i want you to take a listen to the prosecutor and what she said about her tactic for prosecuting this case. >> the verdict today was a verdict based on the facts.

based on the evidence, and that was our goal was to bring that to that jury so they can do the right thing. ba us the jury system works in this country and when you present the truth to people and they can see it, they will do the right thing and that's what this jury did today in getting justice for ahmaud aubrey. >> so i have to take issue with that. i don't think the jury system in this country has routinely work. though she did a great job prosecuting the case. what happened here? finally these jurors see humanity like a famous scene in "a time to kill" or was it just the facts of the case? i do know race didn't really come up. >> i think she did a masterful job not just in presenting the facts of the case but really being in tune with the people she was speaking to i think so many people wanted the prosecutor to talk about race just you know all throughout the case. there were things that actually

could have been entered into evidence about i'm sorry about the mcmichaels and their social media posts, things like that, that she did not actually put into evidence and there was a lot of i think second guessing about her methods. but at the end of the day, she was keenly aware of the people she was speaking to. she wanted to make sure they were not racially charged, right. like this country is so polarized and these, the defense attorneys were doing everything they could to blow that racial racist dog whistle. i said they were blowing it until they were blue in the face. they were trying hard to get these jurors, you know, almost all white jurors to think of it as them against us and that prosecutor knew, if she played that game, she might lose. she stuck to the facts. she made it abundantly clear that these individuals hunt down ahmaud aubrey and shot him for

no reason. and did she bring up race at the appropriate time? i think she did. >> well, brittany, you heard the mayor say she thinks the prosecutor did a greatoshe knew who she was speaking to. the same can be said for defense. i want you unfortunately to take another listen to this disgusting vial except made by the defense lawyer for one of the defendants in the aubrey murder case. >> turning ahmaud aubrey into a victim after the choices that he made does not reflect the reality of what brought ahmaud aubrey to the shores. in his khaki shorts with no socks, to cover his long, dirty -- >> that was so incredibly disgusting, not surprising, but disgusting, nonetheless.

she said that because there was someone she thought this would resonate. we referred to him being referred to as a colored fella. we knew who travis mcmichaels were. they didn't hunt up other people with a pickup truck with guns in till. what do you think, she introduced this disgusting statement in the trial and lost. >> white folks know white folks really well to put it plainly. it's interesting, if you look back at the case of the beating of rodney king in l.a. in the '90s. he starts off with a white lawyer. the white lawyer makes a similar calculation. he says, we're not going to talk about race. we know this is what the community is the saying. this is the conversation that much of america is finally having and yet in order to win in the courtroom, criminally and potentially civilly, we need to make sure we actually don't put white jurors in the position where they have to make a choice

about race and racial commitment. right. so there were two things happening simultaneously. this defense lawyer knew that she might be able to appeal to somebody on the jury who maybe wasn't as explicitly racist as the mcmichaels but hold those sentiment and that dog whistle might give the right pitch to their ear. the prosecution also knew if they made this a choice for white jurors to stand up and be acome polices against white supremacy, too much of that might work against her. so this is quite telling not just about this jury but about this state of this country. even as we talk about black lives matter and a movement that saw historic levels of support last summer, we've seen that support wane and we know when it comes to an explicit demand, an explicit requirement that white people fully stands up against white supremacy, there is a chance that may not. frankly, the prosecution felt they couldn't risk that.

that should tell us a lot about the state of this country. >> i completely agree. there are other trials. i want to talk to you about ladies. there is the wright trial which reached a verdict this week. there is also kyle rittenhouse which resurfaced. we will talk about this on the other side. we will talk about this on the other side nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. ray loves vacations. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to. and... when he wants to. so ray... can be ray. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us

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okay. back with me to talk more about the recent court cases and highlighting the long time treatment disparate of black victims, madam mayor, i want to go back to you on something. because i just want to point out to people how challenging it was for this case to even come to light. because this i think shows the problem is with the system. first you have the brunswick da jackie johnson who the mcmichaels called after the shooting. she has since been charged. she allegedly directed officers

not to arrest the men. an indictment says she showed favor and affection to the shooters and failed to treat aubrey's family with dignity. after her it goes to another da george farmhill, telling police he didn't see grounds for an arrest or even for the man that recorded it. more than two months passed before charges were filed. in his memo. he talked about aubrey's mental health, prior convictions. she under investigation. this shows this system that is the problem because you know you think about all the people where there was no cell phone or the da went unchecked where these murders have gone unpunished. can this system be changed? >> let's not even forget the first offense, which was ahmaud aubrey was ray live when the police first showed up at the scene and he was not tended to.

so i mean that to me just even brings the point home even stronger. i have to remain optimistic about our system because i know that there are good people at every level of government. there are good people that work in grass roots in the legal system that are working every day for change and i know that they are not working in vain. so i'm optimistic. i stay optimistic that we will change. but this, the way that this case was treated, it underscores for everyone to see how biased our system can be. when i listened to the police officers talk to the mcmichaels, give aid and comfort to the mcmichaels while ahmaud aubrey lay dying in the street, it goes to the inhumanity that was i

think echoed by the defense attorney in her disgusting description of ahmaud aubrey. so, yes, we have a lot -- we have made a lot of progress, true. i think the fact that in the deep south this majority white jury was able to reach a unanimous conclusion. we should not overlook that. but we definitely have a long way to go and thankfully soldiers are all levels that are working towards making justice and more normal part of our american experience. >> yeah. soldiers like you, brittany. i want to point out this is not over. it's much how people say we had a black president so that whole racism problem is solved. the position of these three men do not solve the system the you into it to right was held and it held far right leaders

accountable. they were liable for more than $25 million in damages. we don't know if they will see that money. in my neck of the woods, tlaernths richard books, in atlanta, he was the black man shot in a wendy's parking lot and police showed up. he had follow a tweet. he was on parole. went to run away and was confronted and was shot and lost his life. the officers one of them are reinstated and still working as a police officer in atlanta. brittany, this kind of makes your point, right? this is a system problem. there are more trials coming up. any thoughts on who mate happened in the brooks case given what we soo case? >> irrespective of the outcome, there are certain things we know will automatically be true. one is the very most that can be conferred in this court is

accountability. not justice. you can not confer justice from a system after someone is already harmed the injustice has already taken place. everything else is accountability. it matters that we, therefore, understand the system as the criminal legal system and many in the social justice community have been pushing for us to say for a long time. this is a criminal legal system that analyzes the law in a particular case and is influenced by a whole host of viruses, it's not a justice system. once again, if someone is already dead, harmed, justice cannot occur. we have to recognize this is clearly a legal system when we talk about the kind of cases we talk about before the break where multiple black men have been exonerated some post humiditiously, some after they died -- post humosly. they do little to prevent crime or do little to address the needs of incars res that would

have otherwise saved them before entering that system and it's incredibly expensive to the american taxpayer. abolitionists are challenging us to really be creative. they're challenging uss to say how do we create just institutions and just and safe communities from the very beginning so that we don't have to be looking at issues of a criminal legal system that has never treated us fairly on the back end? that has to be what our work is moving forward. >> absolutely, brittany. i have to say, i'm struck by the through line, right from kyle rittenhouse to the mcmichaels to all the other vigilantes, people feather fed a lie the country is yours, therefore, inhabitant tants are under your rule and beholden to your law. and that's just utterly ridiculous. i at least hope the aubrey case sends a strong message for folks

who want to follow in those footsteps. thank you and mayor stephanie rollins, great to have you make your debut on "cross connection." thank you for joining us. coming up, the latest in the january 6th investigation and how the gop wants american voters to forget january 6th ever happens. will it who,? we'll see. th ever happens will it who, we'll see.

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. >> i'm probably going to declare the test not because i've done anything wrong these people are criminals that have an axe to grind. >> i will make a decision based on the advice of my counsel, it's dangerous do not go into this forum. this is a partisan witch hunt. >> a partisan witch hunt, trump flunky alex jones and roger stone had two dozen subpoenas issued this week. these investigations into trump

world highest ranks and their connection to the capitol insurrection seems to grow by the hour. this week, the "wall street journal" described to be three other i-words they hope will distract voters ahead of next term, inflation and imflation igration and like a laser pen, it will likely work with their voters. joining me now professor of politics at morgan state university, msnbc political contributor and my nemesis. lucie called well, former strategist for joe walsh's 2020 presidential campaign. lucie, first of all, a happy belated thanksgiving to you my friends. lucie, there is not a republican party anymore. i love our conversations, you are just as outraged you see the party openly embrace a lot of things that they have been stressing for a long time.

i have to ask, though, you still talk to republicans, i imagine, i don't insurance how the go can run on anything, hey, guys, sorry we tried to overthrow the government and the will of the people and we're working on not being the party of white supremacy. yet i fear thesely the is will work with the base of their voters, what do you think? >> i think it's true. there is evidence to suggest. that's based on how democrats respond to these republican talking points. i mean, when you look at someone like steve bannon being indicted. he did it live stream, pled not guilty. he had tens of millions of people downloading his live stream all over the country because that is the power of the trump cult. right. i think that democrats often when they're addressing would be voters and no one will like to hear me say this, but everyone

has a vote that counts, they are treating moderate voters as though they are a part of the trump cult around you are either with the trump cult or are you not. i am as you say a former republican and my litmus test is do you completely repudiate trumpism that is today's republican party? unfortunately, the republicans i talk to those who say would be biden voters, they do not feel that way going into 2022. they're not thinking ability that as they think ahead to 2024. so this is a matter of appealing to their better angels. we're asking them to do something that's hard, to do something uncomfortable. you mentioned the identity politics. that's a huge issue. we need to run into those issues and say, why do you feel things are changing in the way your children are being taught in schools? how can we have a conversation about that? can we appeal to your sense of maybe a better way? because unfortunate lip, you are

with trump, against trump, with democracy, not for democracy. that's not working. so we have to appeal to these centrist voters. at the end of the day they're going to go turn out and vote. >> when we say things like nascar dads or soccer moms, all the euphemisms the media has for traditional white voters is also identity politics. it shouldn't be that hard. i understand the republican party has a lot of hard work to do. jason, what concerns me is what happens in 2022 when the next batch happens and the republican party doesn't want to accept those results even if you look at the state legislatures, they don't have the same security and protection capitol hill does and you know some of these, remember congress? they're not work around with secret service when they're in their districts. we've seen this open embrace of violence by the republican party. this is something our intel

agency have found it's a problem. how concerned should we be about that? >> well, tiffany, the biggest concern i have about 2022, i will beat this drum like whatever, i will beat this drum. if nothing is done about federal voting rights, it doesn't matter. if they do not, if democrats in the senate can't figure out what to do with the filibuster and implement some laws that can protect people's right to vote and have those votes counted, then all of this is sort of moot. that itself first thing. now the secondary issue as you said, yes, are we going to have some issues at the state level? very likely, in georgia, in north carolina, in florida. you are going to have issues where local people play with these and voting machines don't work in texas. if there is not federal law implemented, then there will be no remedy. that's the issue. we know what the republican game plan is going to be. but the democrats seem absolutely insistent on running a track race in sneakers while the republicans are on

motorcycles and so, until that gets fixed, i try not to get too caught up in the individual details of this level of violence or this level of threat. because if you don't use the power you have to guarantee free and open elections, it doesn't matter what they poll next year. >> that's a wonderful point, nathan, a lot of this is happening within the republican party, voter suppression schemes that senator rows the path. lucie, i want to talk about what's happening in the republican party. take a listen to this wild exchange between matt gaetz and marjorie taylor green, who apparently hasn't met a member of qanon she didn't like. >> kevin mccarthy has a problem in our conference. he doesn't have the full votes there. there are many of us very unhappy about the failure to hold republicans accountable while conservatives like america's paul go sar and many

others constantly take the abuse by the democrats. >> i have to tell you, look, there is a lot of voter suppression, people have to leapfrog over that, if thigh don't kevin mccarthy could be speaker of the house. more scary, trump could be a speaker of the house, particularly if they don't have to be a member of congress. they're both in the policy, sexism, violence, the january 6th investigation could go away. they isn't said anything about go sar who tweeted a murder fantasy of aoc. how concerned that trump could be figured out and pittsburgh car think a trump accolite at this point could be speaker? >> the core of the republican party, the power nucleus of the rnc may not love it when marjorie taylor green says the things she says or matt gaetz says the stuff he says or go sar

tweets the crazy stuff he tweets. they are the j off the means crowd. you see it with candidates who were one-time never trump folks who are now all in on maga. they're fine with saying the quiet part out loud. there is still a core of the republican party that perhaps doesn't stylistically love someone like paul go sar but is going to continue to hang with them because they are an ends justify the means party. it's headed nowhere good. it may be dwindling. we may see the republican party losing some of its influence. but it's not losing its influence fast enough. as jason said, democrats have to meet the moment in a way they have not been. >> and you know the republican party might be losing their influence but they're not losing power. jason, we're overtime. but i have to ask you the question. i think the vote down ballot, the republicans that said we didn't like trump's language, we like his policies.

these are things that perpetuate the system's systemic problem. if you have someone who will say will you jo vote for marco rubio or jd vans. jd vans or a herschel walker over rafael warknock, how can republicans leapfrog over them and get tout base and make sure the base can leapfrog over voter suppression schemes? i am just locked at this point. >> the dnc is now run by jamie harrison, who is the democrats in the white house let him do his job. he is the number one person, probably the best head of the dnc in fine e 15 years who knows what needs to be done to win in some of the bell states, despite he was not about it beat lindsey graham. the base is there. the enthusiasm is there. the argument is there. all you have to do is run an ad saying, hey this person didn't want you no get shots in the arm and this is in favor of people

get figure shot in the white house january 6th. it's a matter of having an organization from the too much. nobody in their right minds wants herschel walker and thinks marco rubio is better than val demings. if you have a party that isn't chasing around on silly identity politics, everybody knows is a dog whistle, instead of saying most kids are particularly happy to learn and have new friends come home an learn things. if you don't have a party organized directly, there is plenty of strong democratic politics, have you to have a strong unfettered hamtrunk dnc behind them. >> we're way over. i caught that sthal. i got it. we'll pick up on i.d. live after the show. lucie, thank you so much for making these conversations. don't make plans on saturday. i got your back. coming up, will this ever end? a new covid variant rears its ugly head. we will talk about that after the break. ugly head.

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. >> could the u.s. be headed for another lockdown with covid cases once again on the rise, spikes in the emergency room visits and death and the news of this scary new variant from south africa are a collective sigh of relief this holiday season might be a bit premature. joining me now dr. rob davidson, an er doctor and executive director of the committee to protect healthcare. he is in michigan, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. thank you so much, dr. davidson for being here. i am terrified. as you know the united states restricted travel from south africa and several other countries have been also restricting travel and hit with this sudden variant. how worried should which be about this? >> listen, i think we need to be concerned about new variants popping up. that's why we need to vaccinate the world. that's why our president has now again said that he supports

lifting these, the property rights of the vaccine-makers, because we need to get more vaccines in arms there. but we need to do it here as well. i'm in a county where only 42% of people have been vaccinated and unvaccinated people have filled up our hospital system in west michigan creating this complete gridlock, where we can't get people into the hospital that need to be there. >> that is i have to tell you, i got my booster shot this week and posted about it and the conspiracy theories and the lack of understanding about science because people say, well, if the vaccine protects you, why are you so concerned about me getting the vaccine? if you can if people think a google search matches your medical degree. can you explain why that is not the case, why unvaccinated people are helping this vaccine develop new variants and putting us all in danger? >> yeah, as long as these viruses, they don't know what variants or mu takes are. they are trying to survive by

any means necessary. so these mutations occur when the virus is being spread from person-to-person and the more unvaccinated people there are in any kind of space, you know, a building, a town in our case, in a county with 60% unvaccinated. the more uncertain, most countries in africa were 95 plus percent of people were unvaccinated. the more chance have you of a variant popping up that could evade vaccines, that could spread you know more easily or be more deadly. so it's why we are working so hard trying to get people vaccinated here. i know the committee for healthcare is doctors in every state comeping echomping at the bit to get people to fight the next wave, the next wave. >> i don't want to scare people. i do want to scare people. my producer tell me you lost a patient yesterday, very briefly, can you tell us about that patient? >> well, it was earlier in the

week in our department. i wasn't there at the time but talking with the nurses, it's a very strange situation when people come in who don't want to get vaccinated. we're frustrated. angry at fox news or basement groups or republican politicians who are pushing out conspiracy theories. but when the patients come in, it's like we revert back to your training and your compassion and a person in their 30s with a kid under six months who came in with an oxygen saturation in single digits. it should be around 90%. they were around 6% and say good-bye to their spouse when they're being i want baited and don't think i'll see you again and died later and a relatively healthy person. the staff had to go in the break room and cry it out and get back to it because more patients come in. if we can let people know, we are out there doing everything

we can on the front lines and we can't do anything if people aren't doing something to protect themselves. that's what we hope people continue to try to do. >> health officials are saying, regardless of your vaccination status. can you wear masks, a lot of cities here in d.c. indoor mask mandate has been listed n. new york, we don't have to wear a mask. just show proof of vaccination. with this new variant, i want you to listen to what dr. fauci said about it. i want to ask you about it on the other side. >> we have not detected it yet, when you have a virus showing this degree of transmissibility and having travel-related cases that they've noted in israel, belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, the it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over. the issue of blocking travel from a given country is to just give us time to assess it better. that's the reason for doing that. not any reason to panic.

>> i have to tell you, i'm a bit panicked doctor again for the people out there who are saying, well, the people are vaccinated are still going to the hospital. your last final appeal for these folks, yes, we have this new variant out here. if you are not vaccinated, it can impact you in a very drastically different way than it will impact me. >> it absolutely is true. i had a patient who had a vaccine dose more than six months ago, due for a booster, had to get a procedure. we had to test them. they ended up testing positive for covid. he wasn't sick at all. he said why did i get vaccinated in the first place? i said, listen, are you not on a vent later. i had people right around him, that's not you, you are doing fine. the vaccine means you are going to be okay even if you happen to capture the virus or test positive, the vast majority of people will not end up in the hospital or dying from covid. that's why we got to do first

vax fakes, second dose, boosters, wearing the masks doing everything we can to stop the spread so we can, you know, see our way through this and finally put it in the rear view mirror. >> yeah, you know what's more deadly than covid, ignorance, thank you, you have to come back and good luck to you for all you do in the emergency room. coming up in the next hour, emmy and tony winning legends debbie allen, living conditions at a dorm, howard university students got what they want. we think. two of those students who led the protest will join me next. you don't want to miss it. stay tuned. you don't want to miss it. stay tuned it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin.

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we won. >> howard university students followed a long tradition of student-led protests and told their administration to put up and they have finally been heard, striking a deal after weeks of protesting what they call unlivable conditions in the dorm. some have been camped unlivable conditions in the dorms. some had been sleeping on air mattresses after facing mold, rodents, bugs and flooding. joining me now proving that the future is indeed female, student leader and freshman chandler robinson, and president of the howard university naacp chapter and co-organizer of the black burn takeover howard university junior channing hill. first, let me just say really quickly we did reach out to wayne frederick, and i just want to play his response. we have not gotten a response on reports of some of the things you guys allege. i want to play his response to

you and then we'll talk about it. >> i am pleased to share with you today that through ongoing dialogue and a desire to hear and address their concerns, the student protesters have agreed to end the black burn occupation and leaving the building. i also expect non-student protesters to depart the surrounding area and to end the occupation of the campus. this is a welcomed development and necessary conclusion to a challenging few weeks for everyone involved. this type of protest to occupy a building in a negative effect of doing so were felt throughout campus. >> so channing, have you spoken with president frederick? what was that conversation like, and are you satisfied with where things stand now? >> so i have spoken to president frederick before the occupation ended, actually. it was disheartening. it was almost scary.

you realized you were talking to a man who was president of a university and you got the feeling he did not care about the experiences he had on the campus, on our campus. how do i feel, though? i feel empowered. i feel as if me as a junior as if the freshman that were in the rooms, the sophomores that were in the room were able to speak truth to power and see a return on that, to see their student body rewarded, to see the community stand up and tell them that you are walking in the foot steps of those who have come before you, and your doing what you're supposed to do, and that can never be negative, like president frederick tried to paint it to be. >> wow, chandler, i'll ask you how you feel about the deal you

reached and were all your demands met. >> thankfully i am very caught up in my studies now, i've been able to catch up in all my classes. i believed i was very nervous about having to catch up in all of our classes. i was tired at the end of the protest because, again, 34 days is a very long time to not only be in any building but to constantly be fighting for basic human rights. it's a very fight or flight state of mind that we were in for a very long time, so i was relieved to be able to leave the building and i was very happy with the agreement that we reached. i'm happy to be home, very happy after thanksgiving, very good to see my family, very, very happy. >> great, well, i just want to say, chandler, i'm going to stick with you for a second here. i don't want people to take fwrae this conversation that hbcus are problematic. you ladies pay a lot of money to attend the school. the cost of tuition and the cost

of educating a student are not the same. it costs more to educate a student, and one of the challenges is alumni giveback at hbcus. now you ladies are still enrolled at howard, so i'm curious your thoughts on alumni giveback, and as people who are currently enrolled when you graduate and go on to do all the wonderful things and make all the big money, when you get that bag, are you going to give back to howard to help address some of these challenges when it comes to educating students and housing even? >> of course, of course. >> and channing, i think channing, you might be at work right now, same for you? >> of course i'll give back as much as i can. i don't necessarily believe that alumni giveback is the sole issue. >> definitely not. >> and even a major issue at howard. if we're talking about students not having the resources, not

being automobile to a access th same standard of living, i think that finger needs to be pointed at the federal funds. >> good point, hbcu funding and build back better will offer tuition subsiies to students who attend hbcus whose families make below $125,00. very good point. thank you for making both of your points beautifully, and would love to have you back on the show as these challenges -- if they resurface. you all have an open invitation here. in the next hour, the gop continues to play dirty politics. i've got my rock star panel to dig into that. plus, an asteroid is headed our way, seriously, that's a true story. my astro physicist friends joins us to talk about that. you don't want to miss the next hour. see you then. ss the next hour see you then but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2,

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all right, welcome back to "the cross connection," everybody. these days there seems to be so little that republicans won't do or say in the sloppy mess of gutter politics that has come to define their party. take one lauren q.boebert of colorado. this thursday sarah palin drew widespread condemnation after this video surfaced of boebert surfaced at a recent campaign

event. these comments are disgusting. i think it's really important that you hear directly from her what she said. >> and he and i were leaving the capitol, we're going back to my office, and we get in the elevator and i see a capitol police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. i see threat all over his face, and he's reach. the door's shutting, like i can't open it. what's happening? i looked to my left and there she is, ilhan omar and i said, well, she doesn't have a back pack, we should be fine. [ laughter ] >> okay, nobody believes your story. congresswoman omar shot back on thursday night calling boebert a buffoon and revealing boebert doesn't even make eye contact with her in the capitol before finally on friday, boebert posted a lackluster twitter

policy that i have doubts that she wrote saying, quote, there are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction. news flash, the unnecessary distraction is boebert herself. i want to bring in my panel, david johns, executive director of the national black justice coalition, and brad jenkins, returning champ founder and ceo of enfranchisement and former white house associate director of public engagement. very happy to have you all here. felice, you're the only woman on the panel. i'll start with you. this boebert apology i don't buy it for one second. you heard the laughter and applause that came after her disgusting remark and the gop does not seem to be interested at all in distancing themselves from the party of white supremacist, and this is not something new. it predates trump. this has been going on a long time, but now the quiet part is on full display, and it seems to be celebrated by them. >> exactly. this is celebrated by them, and

i think what is quite ironic here in the words of famed rapper offset of the migos this woman clearly will do anything for clout. spew these very vitriolic, islam phobic comments about his colleague. this was done on multiple occasions. she previously did it on the house floor referring to her as part of the jihad squad, right? we are a country with over 3 million muslim americans, right? and colorado has hundreds of thousands of muslim americans who call it home. so with that i wonder, you know, where is the accountability, where is the leadership? where is kevin mccarthy, you know, and him being silent and not only, you know, saying that this is not okay but stopping the behavior, he is complicit in

this islamophobia. so ultimately this has to be stopped. apology or not, you know, this must be stopped, and really we must -- we need for officials to really do what's right. >> yeah, i agree. brad, you know, felice brought up migos, i'll continue with that, they walk it like they talk it, you know. they do not make any apologies for this kind of language. they've openly embraced kyle rittenhouse as their young champion. i want you to take a listen to kyle rittenhouse in an interview where he really paints himself as quite a victim here. we'll talk about it after. >> i'm hoping that people go back and understand the facts and be like, watch the trial, watch the prosecutorial misconduct that i believe happened, and realize that i was an innocent 17-year-old who was violently attacked and defended

myself. >> i have to say this case very well scripted but "usa today" ran an article about him posing with the proud boys leader at a bar the same day he entered his not guilty plea. there were white supremacist outside the courthouse cheering him on. he had tucker carlson cameras embedded with him. he's gone to meet donald trump. his exclusive debut in television has been exclusively on fox news. there is a reason why people look at him a certain way that he was so concerned about buildings that he took an ar-15 to the streets. your thoughts on the gop openly embracing people like him, boebert, gosar, and the list goes on and on and on. >> tiffany, i mean, honestly, it's just so depressing, right? it really is. the so-called party of lincoln, when they have a member of congress who has to make up a racist anecdote. i mean, that's when you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, and i think it was just perfectly put.

where is the leadership? there is none, right? there is none. this is an institution. this is not just your racist uncle who lives down the street or who's, you know, with you during thanksgiving dinner. this is a member of congress, and she is, again, doing this in the face of anti-muslim rhetoric, the violence against muslim community continues. muslim families are continually mistreated, discriminated against and bullied, and this kind of rhetoric fuels that. it's completely unacceptable, and she should be censured. >> yeah, completely. it's not just her, like i said, david. this is the entire party. there was an oklahoma gop leader this week who's calling for the removal of ronald mcdonald -- mcdonald, mcdaniel because she has launched a vertical of the gop to support lgbtq policies, and he -- this leader said it

was flat out incompatible with the pillars -- the gop is flat out incompatible with the pillars of the lgbtq movement, and they want to clear the way of those who are either too incompetent or too selfish to defend liberty in our judeo christian founding. the ugliness that has been done under the guise of christian conservative that to the gop has now perverted, quite frankly and co-opted. i'm curious your thoughts on this landscape. >> yes, first, it's always good to be with you, friend, and if this was instagram, i would double tap the comments. acknowledging that we're having this conversation after indigenous people's day and for many of us who don't celebrate it as anything having to do with the lies that we're told about and by christopher columbus, we should all be aware of the ways in which white supremacy hides behind assigned systems and symbols that show up in the dog whistles that we're talking

about today. i spent yesterday celebrating the birthday of my nephew, happy birthday nalo, and i had the opportunity to read the 1619 project with a group of babies. it reminded me of my time teaching kindergarten and third grade. i've never met a child, one, who asked to be born or that is not a genius, and i think it invited us to think about the contradiction of talking about the imports of not lauding liars or celebrating bigots, at a time we tell children they should be better. and so my hope is in the children that i saw in that space who may at some point identify as lgbtq ai plus, we all have an obligation or responsibility as adults many of whom invited them to come into this world to do better. >> yeah, do better. we have to do better. since you talked about babies, david, i know that's your whole thing, teach the babies. i want to move to a new wrinkle

in family planning. the "new york times" reported that climate catastrophes, political uncertainty and chaos from the pandemic are pushing some would be parents to rethink their plans to have kids. brad, i believe you are the sole parent on the panel. one thing that was striking to me about this is the number one reason people said is they're expensive, that children are expensive, and when you think about the wealth gap and people of color despite the fact that the screen you're looking at represents the rising majority of this country, we'll be the dominant people by 2044, how this impacts our family planning. how expensive are those little ones, brad? >> oh, man, hot tip, y'all. kids are expensive. kids are very expensive. and look, i think this younger generation, they know it. reading that report i was thinking, look, if we really want to turn the tide, if we really want to get younger people to start making babies, i think president biden can cancel some student loan debt because that is the biggest challenge right now. young people do not have the

ability to imagine a future where they can purchase a home and they can start a family. so let's just get this done. call on president biden, call on the administration. let's cancel some student loan debt. let's get money back in the hands of young people. the one thing i will say, though, as a parent, i was looking at the statistics. not all stats are bad. i think the one stat that was good is that a generation ago or even just 15 years ago, the rate of very young people having kids was high, right? children, i call them children, but quite -- you know, teenagers having babies, you know, young women in their early 20s and that has dropped precipitously and that is because of family planning. that is because of access to women's health. a cause for concern for economic security for this new generation, i do think that younger people are smarter. they understand that starting a family is a huge decision, and they want to make sure that they have the financial security to

do it. >> yeah, i completely get that point. the marriage is also -- marriage is declining as well. felice, you don't have children. i hate to put you on the spot to talk about your personal business, but i'm curious as you make these decisions how much of a factor is, you know, marriage, partnership, economics and political discord, how much does that factor into your life choices? >> yes, you are putting me on the spot. no, but you know, as, you know a as woman, as a millennial, i decided -- i decided to prioritize my career, my education, and that was a very clear decision for me. so that's not to say that i won't have, you know, children in the future, but you know, as was mentioned, kids are expensive. and i'm trying to secure that bag, right? so i'm trying to work towards building a future for my

children. certainly the pandemic was a factor. people decided not to have jobs -- excuse me, not to have babies because they lost jobs during the pandemic, and you know, i also, aside from the financial part, i understand that as a black woman i will give birth to a black baby in this world. so what does that mean? what type of world will my future child inherit? i'm talking about the environment. i'm talking about politics. i'm talking about race. we are living in a world where black and brown people are chilled by the state -- excuse me, unarmed black and brown people are killed by the state, by private citizens, et cetera. and to be honest, that's a scary prospect. so these are all the things that i have to consider in making my decision as to whether or not to pro create. >> yeah, and you're an afro latino woman, so there's the discrimination on the latino

population experiences in this country as well. david, we're running out of time. i want to ask you about a different topic. very curious your thoughts. we all have our iphones on us all the time, which is fine until, that is, your employer has to call you on a holiday or at 9:00 at night, but a new law passed this month in portugal and it bans bosses from contacting employees outside of working hours, and it really shows just what a real work life balance might look like. i've got to say, david, i'm not sure something like that would work in the united states. i don't know. i mean, you have to respect people's boundaries, but i'm curious how you navigate something like that if you could only talk to your colleagues, co-workers and bosses during a certain time period. does that work? >> i think it works depending on the industry you're in. i want to name connected in a previous conversation we were all having is the privilege. so much of what we're discussing right now is what affects privileged people, those of us

who have iphones, phones that might be subsidized by our employers. lgbtq ia plus folks are least likely to have the kind of jobs where their bosses are giving them phones or others are expecting boundaries around work life balance. they're also more likely to care for other people's children, to have children and families of their own, and to be long-term caregivers. and so what i hope happens is that these conversations about the musings of privileged people who often have the ability to host brunches and meditate at yoga while many people are going to work, invite us to have a conversation so that we can work better collectively so everybody can thrive. so we can all enjoy this planet and do so in ways that are much more fair and equitable. >> i don't know how you balance that with ambition as well. ceos typically work about ten hours a day. and i think sometimes in major cities people wear like a badge

of honor. i want to work ceo hours. ten-hour days is probably the most i can manage. i wanted to get everybody's take on this. we're way over time because you guys were too fabulous and had so many wonderful opinions. you'll have to come back, david john, felice leone and brad jenkins. my next two guests know all about that. stay with us. t two guests know about that stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪ downy's been taking you back, since way back. with freshness and softness you never forget. feel the difference with downy. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪

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all right. voting rights, abortion rights, critical race theory, and even the redrawing of congressional maps are all examples of legislation used to fuel republican voters. but guess where these policies are birthed? not only capitol hill but in state legislatures all across the country where some local lawmakers earn as little as $100 a year. now, the low pay not only creates barriers for more diverse representation in state houses, but it even trickles

down to the kind of poliies we're seeing being created. joining me texas state representative jasmine crockett and barbara rodriguez, state house reporter for the 19th. i read your reporting on this issue, and it was quite eye opening to make the connection between the low pay that state lawmakers earn and the policies that we're seeing being introduced. talk a little bit about your reporting here and what you discovered because $100 a year is obviously drastically unlivable. >> that's right. i had a piece that i published a few days ago that highlighted a report by this organization, new american leaders that looked at the fact that depending on where you are in the country, lawmakers are making a wide range of salaries. you noted new hampshire with $100 a year. that's a really extreme example, but if you look at just any other state house, you're looking at a range of salaries.

$10,000, $15,000, you know, part of the dynamic is the fact that state houses are mostly part-time, but you know, you can ask any state lawmaker including representative crockett and they'll note the fact that the work is year round. >> i will ask senator crockett that right now. your job, one is challenging enough as it is. we talked about what happens in the texas state house, but also you've been there to hold the line on very important issues especially when it comes to voting rights, which required you to leave the state so republicans wouldn't have a quorum. those things impact your work and your lifestyle. what do you want people to know about the work of state representatives? >> yeah, so first of all, it's good to be with both of you this morning, a real treat for me. we get paid $600 a month in the texas state house and so it comes out to about $7,200 a year. that's obviously not a livable

wage. we are supposed to be a part-time legislature. we are only supposed to be in 140 days once every two years. we saw this cycle we were going to be in cycle for approximately ten months so we were in from january until october doing the work and now that we're out, we're still working. there's so much to be done in our community, especially when it comes to covid and things like, that but more importantly, you have to think about who it is that can actually afford to go to the state house. you know, it is sad that i am the youngest african american sitting in the state house right now at the age of 40. that is a problem. we aren't able to get diverse voices into the state house. we can't get policies like a proposal made that no teacher is paid less than $70,000 a year. we can't get anywhere on those types of bills because the people who are there are quite wealthy. the only people they tend to look out for are the wealthy. when we look at the state of

texas, we know the majority of the state of texas is not full of wealthy people. >> right. i think that's such an important point, jasmine, you know, if you could only make $600 a month, then this is a job exclusively designed for people who are independently wealthy, retired perhaps, don't have children. so barbara, i think it makes the point that this is why a majority of state houses are occupied by mostly white men. i think it's also worth making the point that 30 of the state houses in this country are under republican control, which feeds the policies that we're seeing around abortion rights, around critical race theory, so people who don't look like the policies they're enacting, they're not members of the community of these policy, yet they have an adverse impact on how we live our lives. what do you think the pay -- what impact does the pay have on more women and people of color running for office? >> so listening to the representative, i heard that dynamic, too, of just the impact that it has on who is deciding

to run for office, and i spoke to lawmakers who made the decision not to seek re-election. they were early in their political careers in state houses but realized that it just was not financially feasible for them to stay in the state house, that it was putting them into a form of poverty, and so there are a wide range of data points that show, as you noted that state houses are predominantly white and male and that has potentially an impact on what policy is advancing. it's not reflective of the demographics of the respective state. and so there's a real discussion to be had here about the root causes of the lack of representative governments one would say in state houses. >> yeah, and so jasmine, i think that brings me back to you because it baffles me that you're the youngest. you said you were 40. you look 30, but i think more

importantly, you know, how do you address this? because state budgets are stretched thin. republican lawmakers, you know, people who didn't vote for it they will control where this money goes. how do you then go to your constituents and say we need to be paid more money when school is dilapidated, and people don't want to hear my lawmakers want to make more money. most people have no idea how much their state representatives earn. how do you fix this? >> honest ly there is no fix. we are the fixers, which is why the system is problematic. the very people that could make a fix for this. they don't want to make a fix for this. they don't want to incentivize everyday voices to show up to the state house. i think that's one reason that i've been this anomaly this session. we really haven't been able to have somebody like me in the state house because of the barriers that exist for most

people. when we start talking about money, let's talk about priorities. that also is reflected when we're talking about who's able to show up. in the state of texas, we have continually added money to the border, talking about a border wall, something that is a federal issue. we continue to add literally billions of dollars to border security and things like that and attempting to act as if we have some huge invasion, yet we're not taking care of our teachers. we had teachers die in the middle of the pandemic, literally it became a life or death situation for so many of our teachers to show up to work to make sure they could educate our young people, yet we don't prioritize them. we don't prioritize making sure that our kiddos are going to be safer and can actually survive the school year. so it comes down to priorities. if you really want to make sure that we have a government that is reflective of the people themselves, then, yeah, we have the money to do it because it's all about choosing where you spend your dollars.

>> well, state representative jasmine crockett, this is why it's a treat for me every time you're on the show. you always keep it a buck. i'll have to have you back soon. barbara rodriguez, thanks for making your cross connection debut. a mission to destroy a killer asteroid and save earth. it's actually real life. stay with us. we're talking about that next. . stay with us we're talking about that next. no mess. just the soothing vicks' vapor for the whole family. introducing new vicks vapostick. like pulsing, electric shocks, sharp, stabbing pains, or an intense burning sensation. what is this nightmare? it's how some people describe... shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways. if you've had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you.

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did you guys know that right now there are roughly 25,000 asteroids in space, and it's possible that any one of them could come barrelling towards planet earth and the big bang theory may take on a whole new meaning. in an attempt to avoid that, nasa embarked on a mission this week designed to potentially save earth from a killer asteroid by crashing a spacecraft into it. turns out, there's a lot more happening in outer space these days, so we brought in our own real life space genius.

joining me now hakeem aluceae, astro physicist and author of "a quantum life". i have so many questions, i'm going to jump right into it. first of all, i'm kind of a nerd about all this stuff. i did not know there are over 25,000 asteroids right now, and it does, it really sounds like the plot in armageddon. how concerned should we be that these asteroids could come hit planet earth at any time? and does this whole plan of crashing into it actually work? >> well, first of all, thank you, tiffany, for having me. i'm a nerd all the time, and i'm very happy to geek out with you this morning. the first thing i want to say is don't be concerned about all, but yet be very concerned, and the reason why i say that is because there is no imminent danger. there is no asteroid that we know of that is large enough to do great damage to us that's headed our way. when we use a phrase like a potentially hazardous asteroid,

that does not mean that it is hazardous, right? that means that in some very deep future because its orbit crosses the earth's orbit that in the very deep future, we may have an earth encounter. now let's get the numbers here. the 25,000 or 27,000 you mentioned are the asteroids that we have identified that are crossing earth's orbit. we estimate that there are millions of asteroids out there, but luckily we have a new instrument that's about to come online. it's called the vera reuben telescope. it's going to discover many, many, many more asteroids. here's the thing, it's not just asteroids that may impact earth. we've gotten serious about finding the asteroids, but there's objects from outside our solar system. if one of those came from the direction of the sun during the daytime, it would be difficult to catch. we have outer solar system

objects, so we really need to map out and find out where everything is and then we can protect earth the best. >> i don't even know how you do that, like how you track an asteroid, you know, like they're not -- they're don't have little trackers in them. i have other things i want to ask you before you explain how to track an asteroid because i'm sure you could do that in ten seconds or less. i want to know about living in outer space because right now i'm really mad at michael strahan, and the reason is because he gets to go to outer space while i'm stuck here on earth. take a quick listen to what he says about his space travel, and then i'll get your reaction. >> innovators have been risk takers, you know, the wright brothers. how would we live without a plane now, we don't think about things like that, and i believe this is the way of being innovative, creative pioneers in aviation, now space travel. it's going to take a while, but i do believe that it will bring a lot of technological breakthroughs and also innovations to us here on earth,

and i just wanted to be a part of it. >> nobody needs you throwing and flexing on us with your space travel, michael strahan. good for you. my question to you, hakeem, how long before we can all go there? will space travel always exclusively be for the wealthy or famous, if you go, guess what, i'm coming too. i'm tagging along. >> if i have a way, you definitely have a ticket. >> thank you. >> now, how far we are from that day i do not know. i cannot answer that question, and i don't think anyone else can either. i think that what's happening here is pretty strategic, right? if you're going to make space travel something that everybody is going to do, people are going to need to be able to trust it. they're going to need to know that it's safe. i think what jeff bezos and blue origin are doing is very great marketing here, right? because michael strahan is on board, we're going to be paying attention. because we had good old captain

kirk william shatner go up, we paid attention. because we had wally funk, we paid attention. as long as they are happening and they're happening more often, then that does bring the price down. that's what we've seen with spacex and blue origin is that with their reusable booster rockets, they've brought the cost of access to space very much lower, and what they're doing is creating a new infrastructure. so yeah, you have the very rich paying the very brilliant engineers to bring all of this about and hopefully someday all of us citizens can take advantage of it. but will we, right? so it all depends on what you mean. if you want to take a joyride, that's one thing. but if you want to send technology to space and use it for economy or managing your land or your water, right, well, this brings the cost of that down. so it's all good as far as i'm concerned. >> yeah, and we hope since they can figure out space travel, maybe jeff bezos can figure out better working conditions for the folks at amazon. i want to talk about somebody else going to space.

that is jessica watkins, a 33-year-old black woman making history. i'm so thrilled about it. i wanted to get your take on this. i'm really happy to have you on the show. i think it's so important for people to see what they desire to become. but i'm disappointed to see that the number of students of color who pursue s.t.e.m. careers have gone down significantly, and there are people who study but then they don't do their degree completion, and you know, the department of labor says the need for this field is going to continue to increase. you're a brilliant person who studied s.t.e.m. what's your thought about this, and what's your advice to young students who see you and say, wow, i want to be him. i want to do what he does. >> yeah, so you know, tiffany, there are so many things that are combined to create this sort of situation, right? so first of all, what the world is coming to realize is the huge

opportunity that a s.t.e.m. education and a career in stem represents, and so what the headline says is that the proportion of students. so if you see members from one community streaming in and other communities not doing so, then their proportion is going to go down. but look, let's look at s.t.e.m., right? we have to darn near pay students and in many cases we do pay students to pursue careers in s.t.e.m. because everybody's afraid of stem. why is everybody afraid of s.t.e.m.? because most people going to college and when they're seeking a major, what do they ask themselves? they ask themselves, hey, what is it that doesn't have much math but i enjoy it and i can make money in it. we have a huge problem that starts way before that. and i'm going to tell you this, if you have a good education in math, it happens for one or two reasons. one, it's in your home, right? your parents, your family, or, two, you are lucky. this idea that, oh, the school is going to bring everybody up. we are so far away from that.

that is just not the case, and so the first thing i would say, if you are interested in being in s.t.e.m., you have to get over your fear of s.t.e.m., and you have to get over your fear of mathematics. and then you have to get well-trained at mathematics, and luckily today we have the internet, right? you may not have that person living in your home, but you may be able to find the right person for you on the internet to give you those fundamentals so that when you step into the university, you're not virtually destroyed like i was, right? >> exactly. >> i had a very poor -- >> ma'am? >> no, i was -- -- i had a very poor education, right? that's a huge problem. there's a huge variation. by the time we get them in a university, we have to do a lot of repair. >> yeah. well, we are way over time. i knew this was going to happen with you because i had so many questions for you. thank you for weighing in, i had a terrible math education, which is why i'm on this side of the screen and you're on that one. you have to come back, that's the only way to fix this. coming up, the water crisis in jackson, mississippi.

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imagine life with no water, nothing in the faucet to quench your thirst, no working indoor plumbing or even clean water to bathe in. well, that's exactly the reality for over 150,000 residents in jackson, mississippi, earlier this year. this includes hundreds of school children who still have to leave their classrooms to use the restrooms outside. the city is grappling with crumbling pipes that are more than 100 years old and republican state lawmakers hold the pursestrings of the federal funding that the state is expected to receive from the infrastructure bill. with no long-term solution in sight, jackson residents continue to suffer. joining me now is the mayor of jackson, mississippi, chock way la mum baa. i'm so happy to have you with me. this is your second time on the show talking about a water crisis in jackson. what i found very disturbing about this is that the republican governor there,

governor tate reeves said that perhaps jackson should get its citizens to pay their water bill before they start asking for money. these are his constituents who are suffering without water. just the disrespect, the disrespect. so first question to you, how are your constituents doing? what are they doing for water and what do you need right now? >> absolutely, well, at this point in time our constituents do have water service. however, i do continue to remind everyone that jackson is still in a state of crisis or a state of emergency because the systems we have are the systems we have until we can replace them. so it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when, and just to give your listeners a bit of context, in jackson, mississippi, the city did make a failed purchase many years ago of water meters that led to stranded bills, and so to the extent that residents are not paying water bills and this is a circumstance that is being

corrected, it is at no fault due to the residents. it is, in fact, that failed purchase that we are rectifying with no -- new water meetings. a failure to provide water, a failure to update this infrastructure is bordering on a human rights crisis. >> it is, and listen, i do want to tell our viewers that bif, the bipartisan infrastructure bill will send $459 million to the state of mississippi, however, that's for the entire state. the water crisis in jackson alone is looking closer to a billion dollars. i also want to point out that the only republican to vote for bif was senator roger wicker, yet, these people, republican lawmakers will control where this money goes. i also want to point out a lawmaker, delbert hoseman. it seems it me, correct me if i'm wrong, that he wants control of the airport in jackson and that he's kind of dangling this control out there since he controls budget in the state house, has a way to offer help.

if you help me, i'll help you. it sounds like quid pro quo. am i misreading that? >> absolutely. not only has the allocation of resources to the cities like jackson been inequitable, but often any suggestion of receiving resources is done so on a paternalistic basis, and we need people, we need people in our state legislature, our state leadership to understand that these are not democratic or republican issues. when you don't have water in your home, we're talking about children. we're talking about lives left in the balance, and so as we look at the success of our economy as a state, locally as a city, it should be based less on, you know, what is the state of industry in our city and more based on what are the social sustainable development goals that we are achieving for people, whether there is sustainable and dependable infrastructure and whether that

infrastructure is equitable as well. >> right. and i have to tell you, i have been to your town. i've been to jackson, mississippi, many times. sewage gets dumped by the billions into the local rivers, and so it's just striking to me that this, you know, christian conservative people who call themselves pro-lifers, the all lives matter crowd, who claim to care so much for children don't really care about little black babies have to run outside to the the restroom, and it's disgusting to have a handle there. if there's any way we can be helpful here at "the cross connection" we'd like to do that. coming up next, the legendary debbie allen joins me live with a very important message. you don't want to miss it. stay tuned. ssage. you don't want to miss it. stay tuned

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let's discuss another ongoing epidemic that impacts millions of people in this country. that is aids.

world aids day is this wednesday, and roughly 1.2 million people in the u.s. live with hiv, and it's been 40 years since the first aids cases were reported, and through scientific research we've been able to learn more about the virus and developing antiretro viral drugs to treat the disease, but just like covid-19 we still have a long way to go to get it under control. joining me now, i am so thrilled, she's an emmy and tony award winning actress and partner of the aids health care foundation, ms. madame royalty debbie allen. ms. allen, i'm so thrilled to have you here. you have no idea. i can't geek out over a different world just yet. we have to talk about why you're here, and that's to talk about aids. you've said that aids hits you very personally. this is a cause that you take on personally. tell me why that is. >> oh, tiffany, first of all, thank you for having me. i'm very happy to see you. i watch you all the time. thank you for all the

information you give us all the time. but aids hit me hard, i lost half of my dance company "fame," my boys to aids, and that was so painful and so hard to watch without having any help. it was at a time where we didn't know what to do. there was no medication like there is now, and there was such fear and such shame and now times have changed, and you know, since the moment magic johnson stepped forward, i actually was on his board for quite a few years to help him with helping people to become aware and so aids health care foundation, this global organization that's been functioning for more than three decades led by michael weinstein is doing such a tremendous job to improve the quality of life of people that are suffering with hiv, people who need to

know about it because young people now kind of like not in the world of understanding that this is among us. you know, we're dealing with covid right now. as a child, we were dealing with pneumonia and polio, polio was it for me when i was a kid, but the aids virus is a global pandemic and is still upon us, and right now aids health care foundation is supporting more than 1.6 million people and helping them in the quality of their lives. so the celebration on december 1st is to celebrate the facts and the information and what we know as a community and bring attention and advocacy so people will not forget that this is still among us, just like covid does not seem like it's going to go away. there's a new variant every time we look up. aids is still with us, and we

need to bring attention. so we're really excited that christina aguilera and jennifer hudson were so generous to give us their time, and this a free concert at the forum in l.a. and i can't tell you how excited we are, debbie allen dance academy. of course we always dance. we've done three of these incredible celebrations. we produced one at the apollo a couple of years ago where we celebrated icons that we've lost in the world of dance. we celebrated with mariah carey a couple of years before that. this is an ongoing problem and aids health care foundation is one of the leading organizations to help. >> that is so exciting. you talked about jennifer hudson and christina aguilera and of course the debbie allen dance academy. i didn't realize you started in middle school. who knew about this entree in academia.

i want to get in a quick question, when i was very little i used to watch you on "fame" and when i got a little older i was obsessed with "a different world" and i thought it was amazing this brilliant black woman was behind pulling this all together. you gave all of us the best holiday advice. i'm sure you know it, i wonder if you might say it for us, channel that character to relax, relate, and release. can i get one from you, ms. allen before we let you go. >> yes, relax, relate, release, and also i want to tell you that we're going to stream our hot chocolate nutcracker for global families around the world in december. go on our website, the debbie allen dance academy, and you'll find out all about it, and the mild school is my passion. it is the most glorious dream come true. we'll talk about that another time. >> yes, you have to come back. it's great that we ran out of time because it means you absolutely have to come back. hopefully we can be on set with each other very soon. i'll be tuned in wednesday for

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all right, everybody. that's our show for today. thanks so much for watching. i will be back next saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. for now you can stay tuned for the illustrious alex witt. i have been sitting on this set. i ate too much at thanksgiving. i've been sucking it in. i've got spanks on.

i can't wait to get off this set and toss it to you, my friend. >> you looked so good, okay, wait is she on a diet or something? you looked absolutely fabulous today. the spanx worked. let me tell you, debbie allen and of course the space geek that you are, kindred spirits, my friend. i love that asteroid story. >> we have to lunch and cocktail. >> we do, we do. we're going to do that. okay, thank you so much. we'll see you again, have a good weekend. >> bye. and a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. it is high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. we have some breaking news to share. sounding the alarm, the omicron variant of coronavirus fueling new fears of another global surge as now two cases are confirmed in the uk. scientists are rushing to determine how effective current vaccines are against it as