Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark Thompson

Markos joins for Thursday Kos

The Poor People's Campaign Moral Poverty Action Congress held a panel entitled, "Poverty Kills: The Moral Mandate for Ending Poverty in America," on Juneteenth 2023. Moderated by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, panelists included:

Dr. David Brady

Dr. Valerie Wilson

Dr. Gregg Gonsalves

Valerie Eguavoen

and

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

AFL-CIO Chief Economist and Howard University Economics Chair Dr. William E. Spriggs joined Make It Plain for the final time May 8, 2023, before his passing, June 6, 2023.

Ever the teacher, he compared African American unemployment to the NBA not allowing Black players. And he wished for Affirmative Action to continue.

Bill was a revolutionary on behalf of labor rights, civil rights, economic justice, education and freedom. And a beloved, faithful friend.

God will certainly seat Bill at His Right Hand. Let us all pray for his immediate family, his AFLCIO and Howard families, and for ourselves, as he had no peer.

Àṣẹ ☥ & Amen † 🙏🏿

• Rev. Mark Thompson

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona joins to discuss student debt and Affirmative Action before SCOTUS, and also on access to affordable high speed internet for students. And Markos for Thursday Kos on Trump before Federal Court.

Attorney Elie Mystal and US Intelligence veteran Malcolm Nance preview Trump's arraignment today and his imminent trial.

In an emotional interview which originally aired in 2013 during the 50th year commemoration of Medgar Evers martyrdom, NAACP Chairman Emeritus Myrlie Evers recounted the climate in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963, her husband's relationship with Dr. King, the details of her husband's assassination and, announced for the first time publicly, the NAACP's apology for denying her husband protection.

"This is something that I have just revealed publicly in this 50th Anniversary, where representatives from the NAACP national office were visiting {Jackson, MS], and some of the leaders asked for support, financial support to help hire someone or ones to be with Medgar to better secure his safety. And I know the quote from memory from that time, and it was, 'We have better things to do with our money than to pay someone to be with him.' That I will never forget. That I have not revealed until this time and this moment. And I'm glad that I have the strength to say it, because it speaks to the difficulty that we as people had during that particular time and how everybody did not think the same way. I know Medgar, in his fatigue, came home that night after that discussion, and sat down and cried. He was very hurt by it, but he had made his decision. And the message was that the national NAACP did not care about him. They just wanted more memberships and what not. Being his wife and the mother of his children, I asked God to help me relieve that from my heart. But up until this point I have never been able to let go of that," she says.

She described an NAACP Board luncheon in Jackson. "At that luncheon that was held with the Board members, [NAACP President Ben Jealous] put his speech aside, and he stood there and he said, 'I have an apology to make.' And he apologized to me and my daughter and other family members for what the Association leadership, top leadership said to Medgar and the way they treated him. And how very shortly after that, just a few days, he was taken from us. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place at that time. Because people didn't know. It's something only a few of us knew. I never wanted to hurt the organization in any way."

Media Matters Senior Fellow Matt Gertz joins to discuss his latest piece.

Markos forecasts turbulence in the Republican Primary on Thursday Kos.

Coverage of the rally and testimony at Atlanta City Council Hearing before vote to approve Cop City.

Markos joins for Thursday Kos.