Near the end of today's show, Melissa made an impassioned point in the conversation we had today about the issue of welfare, and how race is intertwined with that issue in our politics. The panel -- which also included business author Monica Mehta, columnist Bob Franken, Wake Forest professor David Coates, and writer/commentator Nancy Giles -- had been debating the specific issue of class mobility, and America's embarrassing lack of it.
Economist Howard Steven Friedman noted earlier this week at the Huffington Post that class mobility is inextricably linked to the cost of education, and Giles made a similar point, including health care in that calculus. Mehta interrupted, noting that such education and health care wouldn't have been possible without risk, presumably from those "job creators" Republicans like Mitt Romney always tell us about.
I say presumably, because at that point, Melissa interjected with this:
“What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously! What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. I live in a neighborhood where people have to figure out how to get their kid into school because maybe it will be a good school and maybe it won’t. I am sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No. There is a huge safety net that whenever you fail will catch you and catch you and catch you. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people. And when we won’t, because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness.”
We'll have more on this welfare, race, and poverty discussion throughout the week, but for right now, we'll leave it there. It should be noted that Melissa offered an apology for "losing my temper" in that discussion. (Judging by the praise folks in #nerdland on Twitter and Facebook are lavishing on Melissa for saying what she did, it's up to you as to whether or not you wish to accept that apology.)
See the segment in full here, and below.
Melissa Harris-Perry and her panelists share a heated conversation on how many Americans link their perceptions on welfare to African-Americans, and later, they discuss the importance of the social safety net.
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No apology necessary as far as I am concerned. You spoke the TRUTH!
Is it being poor that is risky or is it that the government, police, home owners and Joe on the street are still allowing thugs to take over the American streets and they do nothing to stop it.
I'm sure there will be a day when my big mouth will get me shot, but please hear this. I grew up poor! Not middle class, not lower middle class. POOR! WE had a trouble maker who lived just up the street from us and my dad decided he was not going to tolerate it any longer.
Dad put a stop to it. American's need to stop cowering down to bullies. Every time I hear about a child being killed in a drive by shooting it makes me sick to my stomach and angry in my entire being.
AMERICA stop allowing this to happen. WE either the law has got to stop this or the military or the home owner. I don't believe in being a vigilanty with a gun if I don't have to be but a CAMERA is a great tool. Put this garbage behind bars and then we will not fear for our children.
I agree! Dr.Melissa Harris-Perry owes NO ONE an apology! She knows the truth, she lives the truth, and she has stated the truth in such a way that we all should applaud her for her passion and her contributions, all placed in the right place and on the right side of history! Thank you, Dr. Harris-Perry!
MHP,was right,no apology neccessary ,.I HAVE TO ADMIT IT,I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS NICE,WHEN IT CAME TO MONICA !!!!!I ll try to be nice and say she must ,just be naive............
Thank you MHP, you deeply touched my heart, as I am one of the Poor in this country, as a 66 year old woman on a very limited income that just barely covers my ability keep my independence! With a deep desire to be working for the at least the next 10 years of my life the down turn of 2008 has kept me out of the work force, even with a very strong resume in the culinary field. So the picture of the Poor is a very broad one with many colors to it. Thank you MHP we need your voice!!!
I am glad MHP reacted the way she did. I appreciate the emotional reaction and the sentiment. No one talks about how hard it is to be poor. I too was fed up with Monica and wanted to yell at her myself.
She made a mistake by apologizing. One apologize when one makes a mistake or when one is wrong. She defeated the strength of her comment, which was weak as far as I'm concerned, perhaps to play up to the people that financed this. The news have owners and those owners want safety nets for themselves and the money that could help the poor for their pockets.
Ms Harris-Perry is gulilty of only one thing, reporting on reality. Some American lives are not pretty. Some don't make for great "feel good" pieces. Most are just squeeking by the next 24 hours with the hope the kids make it home from school, something can be fixed for dinner, and the car will make it one more day. Wondering how to invest liquid cash reserves is not on the list.
Risk? How is a parent living paycheck to paycheck compare starting a business, to a parent worried about the risk of themselves or their children waiting at a bus stop? Why is losing money on a business venture more paramount than the fear of a fellow American feeling the relief of each family member walking through the front door at the end of day?
Melissa should lose her temper more often .. that was THE best speech about the poor I have ever heard .. bravo!
People need to stop tippy-toeing around the issues of poverty and break the inaccuracy of the claim that the poor are lazy and underserving cause if they were not, they wouldn't be poor
Oh, Melissa, you go, go, go, go, go, go, GO! Gogogogogogogogogogooooooo!!!!! C'est magnifique!! You really do tell it LIKE IT IS!! Hip-hip-hooRAY!!!!!!!
What an amazing and beautiful expression of your concern for the risks faced by the American poor. There is a difference between "risk" by choice as promoted by those that really have no "risk" (i.e. the "entrepreneurs" and the "job creators", etc.) and those whose very existence in life is a risk. How we came to honor those who risk only portions of their wealth in hopes of more wealth for themselves has come to overshadow the daily risk of survival of the poor is beyond me, but it is certainly a troublesome, frightening and ugly American trait. Such truths can only be expressed with passion and a clearly audible voice. Otherwise the plight of our disgraceful moral center as a country will we lost in the din of the battle for the top. Thank you, thank you, thank you. With all my heart. Thank you.
Excellent comment and observation, a point that cannot be made enough!
Melissa, Seriously, run for US Senate from Louisiana, that speech on the poor was EPIC and amazing!!! Please edit a segment with just the speech on the poor, only about a minute but if you gave that speech before a crowd, you would get a 5 minute standing ovation. Could you imagine if you had done this speech in front of 10,000 occupy wall street protestors? This will go viral.
Noooooooooooo but only because she'd have to leave her show. She reaches so many on the national scene. What a great broadcaster/teacher she has become. She can't leave just yet.
There's no need to apologize. Your passion is a great motivator. I AGREE with you. America has multiple safety nets for the wealthy, but have demonized the poor. The "others." Americans have the capacity to do better but for selfish reasons won't. Just in case, Melissa, you don't hear this today, "I am proud of you and you are a great person."
-from a support in Toledo, OH
Thank you for posting this! Serious truth-telling going on here.
Monica is making the assumption she understand and can relate to the poverty culture as being not deserving because they are not driven, steadfast, focused and disciplined. Yes, those are qualities that can lead to great entrepreneurs but people are diverse and dont have all those skills from the start and end up in poverty either from birth or circumstances because they didn't have the "tools" to succeed at this time but that's why it sometimes takes others to help but sometimes others and even policy falls short, its a belief Monica has based on false assumptions of knowing the culture of poverty and more so of minorities and whats worse is when the minorities that make it out forget how they got their and no longer wish to offer the same assistance to others because its called welfare to undeserving people who rest on their laurels...so to speak...Entrepreneurs needs the working class and not everybody wants to be an entrepreneur but fairness they do...everyone would like to see that...
I had to re-watch this because when I heard it live this morning, I got the order wrong of one of the things Mehta said that made me angry, and that was when she was extolling the risk-taking entrepreneurial folks at the expense of others. She said that when people get some help or money assistance "some of us go to Dairy Queen and some of start businesses".
In my memory, MHP's remonstration started after that, but in fact Mehta said this afterwards. (When your head is exploding, things can get mixed up.) This made me so furious. What if you don't want to start a small business? What if - God help you and your modest little life - you'd like to work for a small business in your community? Work hard, help it grow, get a fair paycheck, then clock out at the end of the day and go home to your family, or to your other job, or to your evening class or your novel-in-progress, or yes, just to the damn Dairy Queen.
People like Mehta have no respect for those of us who aren't driven to rise to the top, but who are happy to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Jeez, as you say, Sportrac, small business owners need workers. Workers need pay so that they can go down the street and patronize another small businesses for the items they need or want in their daily lives. In Mehta's vision, I see a Main Street peppered by small storefronts with lonely sole proprietors, looking wistfully out at all their neighbors who might be shopping - *consuming!* - but don't have any money, and there's Mehta mocking them for not having the ingenuity to start yet another small business.
First I loved what Melissa has to say. I was cheering her on -- and praying that her passion would not be deemed as too much for TV that would get her off the air. I was sad when she apologized -- because no apology was needed and because it indicated that somehow her remarks were out of line. Melissa's remarks and her tone and passion were right on point.
As for Mehta, I took the "Dairy Queen" comment as some people go to work at Dairy Queen and some start a small business. An even greater insult to workers -- as if they were somehow less worthy.
I could not figure out the cold, dispassionate entitlement attitude of Ms. Mehta. She seems like the rest of the "drawbridge Republicans" who think since their lives are just fine, they can just pull up the drawbridge and let no one else into their prosperous castle. I wonder how she came to have this attitude?
No apology was necessary. That woman (Monica Mehta) was making me mad by not wanting to hear any reality other than her own. THANK YOU, Melissa, for showing her (and others like her) that the disadvantages to being poor outweigh any slight discomfort the wealthy might feel when they take their "risks". Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
please do not apologize for saying the truth, i know we don't hear it often so it seems so explosive, but the aversion to reality needs to stop
Apologize for passion? I don't think so. MHP has chosen to remain of the people, to speak for the people and we as citizens must do all we can to make sure that our government remains by {al of} the people.
I love your show and was so proud of you. You said what a lot of us would like to shout from the roof tops. The poor need compasionate voices. Thank God for you and keep up the good work, no need to apologize.
BRAVO Melissa. Don't apogize for speaking the truth. We are fortunate to have you.
Keep up the excellent reporting.
A devoted fan.
Norma
melissa you don't owe anyone an apology for saying what is true. that young lady has clearly drank the republican kool-aid, and i'm assuming her next stop will be the fox news channel. bravo melissa for saying what was right!
"You made my day" Melissa Harris Perry. You are able to articulate what so many of us believe and feel. Thank you!
The content of this segment required a great deal of reflection by the viewer. That is what makes the comments by Melissa and the guests so outstanding. This segment would make the perfect introduction to a discussion on the evolving ethical and moral position of our society, as established by economy, politics, opportunity, security, and mobility, in the United States. It is a conversation that is long overdue.
The more that I listen to MH-P, the more that I am impressed, and gain respect for what she stands for.
You really told the truth
Please don't bring Monica Mehta back. She is inconsiderate and wrongheaded and spews disinformation, while shutting out the voices of people with something valid to say. All morning long I was yelling at the TV and skipping to TCM to avoid her. I wanted you to shut her up ... and then you did. In the best possible way. Thank you for that.
You're right about Monica, I wanted her gone after the first segment. She was constantly interrupting, acting like it was her program. I don't understand the need to bring Republicans on, they have Fox News to speak their lies and hate talk.
Amen! As a retired professor myself, I first noted her interruption of Dr. Coates -- and the look on his face -- followed by her interrupting all the others. I still can't believe how skilled Melissa was in moderating the discussion -- where I'd have simply stopped, looked hard at Ms. Mehta for a moment, then reminded her that constant interruptions were bully tactics, not appropriate to civil discourse or debate. You know, it's a whole lot more encouraging to me to hear and see younger folk (cf. the other four at that table this morning) coming into their own with at least as many smarts and skills -- and as firm a sense of justice -- as the icons of my youth. There's great promise there for all our futures.
I agree--hooray for Melissa! I'd have exploded at that woman/Monica much earlier & nowhere near as nicely. I believe that Monica was rude & combative throughout the entire show (& she still didn't get it after Melissa's justifiable rant). Hopefully, she will not be back.
Surrounded by a brand of people that tell so much lies with a straight face, your truth is got to hurt real bad. And when they can't argue against your point, they sure will argue against your tone, your passion, your attitude, your personality, who you are, not the issues. Because they are bankrupt on the issues.
Melissa,
I've watched the segment, "What's riskier than being poor in America?", four times. The first time during your shows broadcast and three times on-line. Thank you for being you.
I watch your show every week and you tell the truth. The discussions today were so good except for Monica Mehta who was just a continuation of the RNC and their so called "truth". She said nothing that was true and I'm sooooo glad you finally really called her out on it! Way to go Melissa!! Keep up the great work you are doing.
Please do not apologize! You spoke the truth. I am thrilled that you had the opportunity to make your voice heard. More---Please.
You didn't lose your temper. You were angry, and your anger was righteous. And, I think, necessary.
I like to think left wingers can win on the basis of logic, belief in science, and embrace of knowledge for its own sake. But the financial mass accumulated by the right wing, in combination with cunning and a sense of desperation, poses what I'm coming to see as an existential threat to our body politic.
As wonderful a family man, as upstanding a member of his religious community, as shrewd a businessman as Mitt Romney is, whatever good there ever was about him as a politician has apparently been extinguished largely through his own assiduous efforts. He is the standard bearer of a party that prides itself on having big ideas, one of those being that it's politically useful to claim to have big ideas but not to be too explicit about what those ideas are. Mitt Romney understands this as apparently Todd Akin doesn't.
It certainly doesn't look like the GOP is dealing with ideas in any large philosophical or theoretical sense. Their big idea, practically speaking, is that they can make "welfare" an issue where no issue existed that any sensible person could see, and get enough people riled up or bummed out about it to flip a crucial few per cent of the electorate your way in an election.
So much for "ideas" in a campaign of unparalleled ("breathtaking" was a word I saw in The American Conservative website, and not quoting some left-winger) cynicism and mendacity.
So Melissa, when you fired back on the "idea" of "risk takers" losing out to Obaminations of some sort, your eloquence was much more than well chosen words. It was passionate.
If people who truly respect American ideas are to prevail against a right wing that has become more id at its core than anything else, I believe they will only do so if their passion is a match for whatever fuels the relentless operatives and demagogues who poison American democracy even as they piously proclaim American values.
I'd say you done yourself proud.
Thank you for this. May I suggest that you take the MHP show on the road and broadcast a weekend from your neighborhood. Show viewers up close and personal the risks of living poor in America. I would also suggest that you bring along Monica Mehta for an excursion.
I love your show, so glad someone will speak up for the poor. no need to apologize. Keep up the good work and be encourage. There are so many working poor that do not have a voice, we do not want a hand out, just a level playing field.
No apologies necessary. You are a truth teller, and I am so glad you are here to contribute to the national conversation. One little suggestion. Expect your guests to take turns talking because the audience misses some of the comments. Good luck with your home renovations!