We hope that you're actually tuned into "Up w/ Chris Hayes" at the moment as you wait for us to get started this morning. But you should also check out the amazing conversation Melissa was a part of during last Saturday's show, along with Atlantic senior editor Ta-Nehisi Coates, WBAI DJ and ill doctrine videoblogger Jay Smooth, and comedian W. Kamau Bell, host of the new hit FX series "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell."
The conversation focused to a great degree on Ta-Nehisi's epic essay in this month's Atlantic magazine, "Fear of a Black President," birtherism, racial solidarity in political criticism, Shirley Sherrod, "The Audacity of Hope," and other assorted topics, all discussed by a panel of incredible minds. (Any collision of such minds creates a little bit of friction, and the conversation was hardly without contention or acrimony -- so don't be surprised when things get a little heated.)
We'd love your feedback on this, so go to town in the comments below. Let's keep that conversation rolling, because we all know that the issues they discussed presented themselves in full during this week's Republican National Convention, and still require solutions and intelligent debate. We don't just count on folks who get to be on TV to provide those.
We'll look forward to you joining us at 10am ET on msnbc. Get the conversation going here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland.