This Saturday, Melissa Harris-Perry takes a look at both sides in the presidential race before she heads to Iowa for Sunday coverage of the Iowa caucuses.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are now neck and neck among Iowa democratic caucus goers. We'll tune into both candidates’ closing arguments before the Iowa caucus on Monday.
Then we'll take another look at the dire situation in Flint, Michigan. How did a Michigan emergency management law contribute to the decision to switch the source of Flint's water supply? We'll talk to Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO of the NAACP, about a 15-point plan to address Flint's water crisis that he presented to Governor Rick Snyder.
This week, the nation made great progress in prison reform. President Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. And the Supreme Court, which had already ruled that mandatory life without parole for juveniles is unconstitutional, has now decided that the ruling applies retroactively potentially impacting the lives of hundreds of inmates across the country.
And Super Bowl buzz is hitting #nerdland early. We'll talk about Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers quarterback, who is set to become the sixth- African American quarterback in fifty years to start in the Super Bowl.
Joining our Saturday morning conversation will be:
- Symone Sanders, National Press Secretary, Bernie Sanders Campaign
- Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow, Media Matters for America
- Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO, NAACP
- Karla Holloway, Prof of English, Law, African-American Studies, Duke Univ.
- Jamilah LeMieux, Ebony Digital Senior Editor
- Maria Hinojosa, "Executive Producer & Anchor of NPR's Latino USA"
- Victoria E. Arteaga, Immigration Lawyer Member, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, in Flint, MI
- Boris Epshteyn, Republican Strategist
- Elise Jordan, NBC News/MSNBC Political Analyst
- Beth Fouhy, Senior Editor, msnbc.com
- Glenn Martin, President and Founder, JustLeadership USA
- Ari Melber, MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent
To prep for our discussions, feel free to check out:
- Trump Strong in Three Early States as Clinton and Sanders Battle: Poll
- Bernie Sanders' Political Revolution
- How Geography Favors Hillary Clinton in Iowa
- Anger in Michigan Over Appointing Emergency Managers
- Does Michigan's Emergency-Manager Law Disenfranchise Black Citizens?
- Three Takeaways From the Iowa GOP Debate Without Trump
- Barack Obama: Why we must rethink solitary confinement
Be sure to read what we’ve linked above, and watch Melissa Harris-Perry Saturday at 10am ET on MSNBC. Join the conversation—share your thoughts about these issues on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nerdland.