pfizer plant in michigan. the first fda-authorized covid-19 vaccine is right now being loaded up. it will soon be at hospitals across the country. the trucks are moving out now. it is 7:09 -- 8:09 in the east. 7:09 houston time. it appears the first truck, a fedex truck, has left or leaving as we speak. it pulled out of the picture. the pfizer facility in michigan. that's the first truck. >> three months ago already represents an historic time for the country but a dark historied. the failed former president was calling the then president-elect joe biden ill legitimate. he was continuing his crusade against american democracy, and that weekend we woke up to the news that the u.s. supreme court had rejected another republican effort to delay the electoral college vote in more battle ground states their dear leader had lost and biden won. the effort to jurn turn the election had the support of 126 of the 196 republicans in the house of representatives at the time. the head of the texas gop responded by saying that succession was the next step forward. this is important to remember when republicans use their trademark gaslighting and soviet style what aboutisms and said they had nothing do with inciting the january 6th insurrection. we were in uncertainty about the future of democracy and our own lives as the pandemic was surging. deaths were rising exponentially doubling over a two week span to hit 3,000 a day at the time. we were seeing 230,000 new cases every day. to put it in perspective, right now we're seeing about 1500 people die every day from covid-19 and about 50,000 new cases a day. even with the crisis at fever pitch, even with all that death, 3,000 people every day three months ago, a 9/11-style loss every single day, the failed former president was focussed entirely on himself and on remaining in power. on thursday of this week, it was the one year anniversary of covid 189 being declared a global pandemic. president biden paid tribute to those lost. >> it's different for everyone, we all lost something. a collective suffering. a collective sacrifice. a year filled with the loss of life. a loss of living for all of us. >> during his first prime time address as president, biden spoke about another crucially important and deadly serious issue. >> vicious hate crimes against asian-americans, who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated. at this very moment, so many of them are fellow americans who are on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still -- still they're forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in america. it's wrong. it's un-american. it must stop. >> now there's a deep history of anti-asian sentiment and racism in america, and there's a lot of blame to go around, but there has been a very obvious and public front of racist anti-asian vitriol coming from one person from the very beginning of this pandemic. the former president who, from the start, weaponized racism, a defining characteristic of his presidency. used racist terms to describe the virus, quote, "the china virus" and, quote, "kung flu" racist claims i use to bear witness to the fact he said them but won't be used on the show again. it's an american tragedy how quickly it caught on. a new analysis for the center of hate and extremism revealed that hate crimes targeting asian people rose a shocking 150% from 2019 to 2020 in 16 of america's largest cities, which made even more upsetting considering the fact that hate crimes overall decreased by 7%. and this trend of an increase in hate crimes against asian-americans and pacific islanders has continued into 2021. for instance, last week authorities in a suburb of new york city arrested a man who allegedly spit and punched an 83-year-old korean-american woman in an unprovoked attack on a busy street. joining me now is nbc news correspondent vicky nguyen. she moderated a town hall which focussed on the hate aimed at asian-americans here in the united states. vicky, thank you for the depth to which you have gone into this issue. let's talk about this latest arrest in a suburb of new york city. it's just one instance. it's not just in rural areas. it's not just in coastal areas. this has been across the country. >> across the country, ali. good morning. i can spotlight for you three incidents just this past week where hate crimes were charged or the victims felt there was an anti-asian comment or racial slur made against them. let's start in san jose, california. a 26-year-old woman there waiting for a train when she is grabbed and dragged by her hair and sexually assaulted all while being called racial slurs. thankfully her boyfriend and bystanders were able to intervene and hold the suspect until police could arrive. he was arrested. the d.a. in santa clara county saying this is the community's nightmare. he said hate crimes are not someone else's problem. they're mine and yours. it will take all of us to continue front them. another in san francisco, the video captured -- it's gone viral. an uber driver from nepal. he picked up passengers and asked them to wear their masks. he said he wouldn't go any further if they wouldn't. that ended upturning into him getting his phone snatched. suffering a bunch of talking about and eventually being sprayed with mace. he said he felt he was targeted and some of the taunting came from his south asian descent. no hate crimes charged. finally this thursday in queens, new york. a woman is spat at multiple times, called the chinese virus. all this happening while she was holding her baby. >> this is remarkable but not new. this recent spate is new but we have a sad history with the anti-asian racism in this country. >> we absolutely do. it's something we talked about during the special "the racism virus." i want to highlight one of the stories shared. it was powerful. people fans of survivor may remember -- he won the entire thing in 2006 and the first asian-american winner. i met him back in 2006 or 2007 when he was on the speaking circuit. he spoke to the asian-american journalist association. he's confident, strong guy. he won the national television show. he gives his e-mail out to a room full of journalists and people don't do that. i used that e-mail to reach out to him after not talking over a decade to say we're doing this. have you experienced discrimination or bullying that you could talk about? you know, you had a high profile role as an asian-american man on this show. it would mean a lot to us. and, you know, he signed up immediately and listened to the story that he shared about his childhood. >> i was in the bathroom and what they were trying to do is grab us and hold us against the wall and take turns pissing us. i developed a condition which is known as shy bladder syndrome for most of my life, i could never go to the bathroom in public places. this ended up dominating every aspect of my life. my entire day would be planned whether i would go to a bathroom. i wouldn't often to go to parties or to the mall or movies because i was afraid i wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom. i think a lot of my trauma got me to -- why i felt this way, why i felt alienated and thing are a lot of reasons for this. i felt the absence of asian-american role models in the media played a large role in it. >> so powerful what he had to say. i've heard from people on twitter saying it made them feel seen and heard because they had experienced similar things in their childhood. they also felt inspired to see that even though something he struggled with in his life, he managed to succeed despite that bullying and discrimination that he faced at such a young age. but, ali, those are some of the kinds of stories and the vulnerability that people showed in talking about their experiences, their history with this anti-asian sentiment and how triggering some of the recent trauma has been for folks. ali? >> vicky, thank you to you and your team for reporting in depth on this. this is a remarkable, a sad story, but one empowered to do something about. we thank you for that. vicky nguyen, nbc news investigative correspondent. joining me now is johanna hayes of connecticut. a member of the house education and labor committee and a member of the congressional black caucus. someone who -- to whom the last story would be relatable and understandable. the bullying of children and the lifelong effect it has on them combined with this racism. the good news, congresswoman, is we can change this, right? we now don't have that and we can do things to change trajectory? >> absolutely, ali. good morning. thank you for having me. and we've already started to do something. one of the thins that i heard in the last segment was the lack of asian-american role models. in this congress, we have several asian-americans and right now we have anti-hate legislation that says, you know, we can't change people's hearts and minds, but we can change the law to make things like this a crime. >> you are a former teacher. you were teacher of the year in 2016. talk to us a little bit about the effect of it. we saw the video of people being kicked and spit on and, you know, we've got surveillance video of this stuff. but the effect it has on kids is really dramatic. people like you have fought for years to try and make sure that kids find school to be a safe environment. once it starts getting in their environment, the damage could take decades to undo. >> well so much of it has to do with creating a school environment where kids already feel safe. that comes from diverse perspectives. from having educators from all backgrounds, all walks of life, and really creating safe spaces, and making this unacceptable. it should never happen in schools. in fact, part of the legislation that i had included in the american rescue plan is the language from the save education jobs act to make sure we have social workers and counsellors that remain in schools so when kids are feeling like this, there is someone on the ground that will support their mental health and wellness. >> i want to ask you about another topic from the rescue act. we had news last night the department of homeland security is directing fema to help with the surge of unaccompanied minor children. this continues to happen and we're still detaining minor children, which, again, it is the same -- it's not the same kind of thing but it's trauma that is very hard to undo. what is your take on how we should be handling or congress should be handling this constant and ongoing detext of people who cross the southern border. >> it's definitely trauma and congress we have to address immigration on a broader scale. it doesn't matter the administration. i hear people say, well, this was started under the obama administration or it goes back even farther. it doesn't matter the administration it started under or that it's proceeding. our job right now is to look at this problem and address it. i'm very happy that the president -- president biden, is attempting to take a humane approach. the problem is so monumental we have to get at the root cause of it and really address immigration as a whole in this country. >> congresswoman, good to see you. thank you for joining us this morning. the jahana hayes, teacher of the year in 2016. a certain host of another next gave us a lesson in male fragility. our women warriors took to twitter to make a mockery of that man who has never serve decade in his life. here is one from the u.s. marine corps.. this is what it looks like in today's armed forces, tucker carlson. get right before you get left, boomer. and senator tammy duckworth of illinois an iraq veteran said "eff tucker carlson." my thoughts on this next. later, i'll speak to the cousin of george floyd who faced derek chauvin in the courtroom last week. o faced derek chauvin in the courtroom last week start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x 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nonsense, this is a good time for us to reconsider our prejudices and our bad habits. or not. on tuesday, while most of the country was minding its own business, a certain former bow-tieing wearing host thought it would be a good time to anchor explain how president biden is making a, quote, "mockery of the armed forces with his eftds to recruit and keep women in the servic." it was in biden's nominating two female generals to four-star generals putting them on track to become the second and third women in the history of the united states armed forces. the aforementioned fox news anchor took issue with biden's comments saying, quote, "we have new hair styles and maternity flight suits. pregnant women will fight our wars. it's a mockery of the u.s. military." for the record, inconvenient though that fact may be for the other host, designing maternity flight suits and proper-fitting body armor was started before the biden administration came into office. this would be a good time to note the news anchor in quest as much military experience as i have curling my hair. his words are ignorant and prompted responses from many including pentagon press secretary john kirby who knows a thing or two about the armed forces to describe the diversity of our military as one of our greatest strengths. he added the pentagon isn't looking to take personal advice from a tv news host. american women have been proudly and honorably serving in the u.s. armed forces since the revolutionary war as nurses and doctors and engineers and pilots and soldiers. it was never a question about their commitment or their abilities. the question has been about whether the men who controlled government and the military would get out of the way and let the women who do choose to stand in harm's way in our defense do so. women's history month is an opportunity to look at some of our biases and make some changes. like that other tv host, i've also never served in the military in defense of my country. to 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what concerns did you have? >> well, my concern is i would hope that we would get a jury of george's peers because what we want to see is we want to see a jury of -- 12 people who can be fair and impartial. i would hope there can be people impartial. we know everybody has seen the video or some sort of media attachment of what happened to george, i'm hoping there are people who can put their opinions aside and make the right decision. >> and if you look at that evidence, and this is one of the things i remember from the days right after george's death in minneapolis, talking to people who took to the streets to protest. a lot of people said what more do you need? we had several angles of video rolling of what happened. no resistance on the part of george floyd. no meaningful resistance on the part of george floyd and this watching him die at the hands much police. what -- if an impartial jury looks at the evidence, what are you thinking they'll take away from it? >> what i'm thinking they'll take away from it is what i see and the rest of the world is seeing is that george was murdered. what happened to him that day it shouldn't have happened. there's no reason for that to occur the way it did. eight minutes 46 seconds with the knee on his neck was excessive. it was more than what it took. i just think that everyone who saw that will see the same thing that i saw. >> it's got to be horrible to relive this in court. it always is for the family of someone who has been killed, particularly someone brutally killed like george. does it help you or harder that the world is watching this with you? >> it helps in a lot of ways because we've gained so much support from people around the world and our community and our state and even in minneapolis and around the world. it's hard but when you're going through something like this but we have learned to accept this is where we are and we appreciate the support. >> beyond this case, which drew such attention to the similar cases and the things going on that weren't video taped and black people in this country have been complaining about for a long time, do you think that it can lead to material change? we've got the george floyd policing bill, which was passed by the house, but didn't go through the senate, this would ban choke holds at least at a federal level. it may not have an effect in a place like minneapolis but at least on a federal level it would ban certain no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level. it doesn't necessarily change something in these 18,000 police forces around the country, which is where so many of these terrible things happen. >> we definitely hope to see actual change come from this. at this point, we know that we can never get george back. so at the very least, hopefully we can save some other lives. so ultimately, yes, we would love to see actionable change and actual police reform that bans choke holds and other things that we view as police brutality, at this point. >> we were talking -- i was speaking to one of the family's lawyers about the settlement paid by the city of minneapolis to the family. one of the points he made is that, a., it causes people to value black lives. so when you say black lives matter or black lives are valuable, when you have to pay out a lot of money because the city killed -- took a black life, that adds something to the equation. the other thing he talked about is police chiefs around the country will have to think about the fact they're going to cost their cities and taxpayers and their forces money if they don't do the right thing. do you think it helps? do you think the settlement will have impact on policing in minneapolis and other places? >> i think it should! it should. if it causes people to think about their actions before they've made them, absolutely. if it's going to make officers look at accountability, yes. ting would be worthwhile. >> tera brown, i know it's been almost ten months but the pain won't go away. thank you for talking to us. i'm sorry for what you have to go through in the following weeks but the nation and the world will have their eyes on you. tera brown is the cousin of george floyd and director of george floyd foundation. there won't be fire works at mount rushmore this year. a victory for native tribes because a covid super spreader is being avoided and the land mount rushmore sits is native land. i'll explain. you can listen to "velshi" on pod cast form whenever you get your pod cast. back after a quick break. you gt your pod cast. back after a quick break when you buy this plant at walmart, they can buy more plants from metrolina greenhouses so abe and art can grow more plants. so they can hire vilma... and wendy... and me. so, more people can go to work. so, more days can start with kisses. when you buy this plant at walmart. ♪♪ you may have many reasons for waiting to go to your doctor right now. but if you're experiencing leg pain, swelling, or redness, don't wait to see your doctor. these could be symptoms of deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot which could travel to your lungs and lead to a pulmonary embolism. which could cause chest pain or discomfort, or difficulty breathing—and be deadly. your symptoms could mean something serious, so this is no time to wait. talk to a doctor right away, by phone, online, or in-person. talk to a doctor right away, by phone, online, starting today, nobody has to settle for less than the very best. because only verizon gives you 5g from america's most reliable network at no extra cost. and plans to mix and match, so you only pay for what you need. the plan is so reasonable, they can stay on for the rest of their lives. aww... and on top of that, nobody gives you more entertainment you love like disney+, hulu and espn+ on select unlimited plans. you even get one of our best 5g phones on us when you buy one. and it all starts at just $35. only from verizon. tonight i'll be eating a calzone from doughballs in aurora. (doorbell) rock on. tonight i'll be eating lobster thermidor au gratin. really? sh-yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt. make it two calzones! you're not using too much are you hon? charmin ultra soft is so soft sh-yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt. you'll have to remind your family they can use less. charmin ultra soft is twice as absorbent so you can use less. enjoy the go with charmin. the national park service has denied south dakota's request to hold a fourth of july firework display at mount rushmore saying, quote, "potential risks to the park itself and the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event." in addition, the parks many triable partners oppose fireworks at the memorial. it wasn't enough for them to postpone the event last year. the celebration went on in what could be considered a government-sponsored super spreader campaign event for the former president where neither mask wearing or social distancing were enforced. south dakota has the second highest number of covid-19 cases per capita of all 50 states. the governor has never enforced a mask mandate. holding an event of this size yet again could accelerate community spread of the virus in a state already hard hit by covid, a community which has many native americans who have been disproportionately affected by covid. nearly four times more likely to be hospitalized from covid than white americans and about 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease, according to the cdc. holding a celebration with fireworks at the memorial is also an insult to native tribes in the area, as mount rushmore was carved out of stolen land. the black hills were taken by the u.s. government in the 1800s where the monument was build. in 1980, the supreme court upheld a claim that the united states broke its treaty obligations with respect to the land and they offered a monetary settlement. the tribe maintains they don't want the money. they want their land back. i was able to visit the area nearby mount rushmore when i traveled to south dakota during the height of the pandemic and talked to different native people about the covid threat and their ancestral roots in the state. and one is the thunder valley community development corporation and attorney general for the tribe on the pine ridge indian reservation where i was. good to see you. how important or is it important at all that the national parks told the state of south dakota you can't do this on july 4th? >> i think it's a tremendous step in the right direction and a good indication, a hopeful indication of things to come from the national park service and the bureau of indian affairs. the national park service has a long history with indian country and sovereign triable nations and this is hopefully cocurrent management of the spaces and eventual transfer of ownership to the rightful owners. >> when i was in south dakota last year, on the pine ridge reservation, there were roadblocks erected because the state would not enforce any kind of covid restrictions but covid was disproportionately affecting members of the reservation and neighboring reservations. so people on the reservations set up their own roadblocks to ensure people were not coming in and spreading covid. what is the situation with covid and the disagreements with the states? the governor wanted the roadblocks removed. >> she failed in trying to violate triable sovereignty. roadblocks remained in place on several jurisdictions here, including pine ridge where thunder valley is located. it was a lot of credit to our leaders, the triable governments who took the stand and knew their sovereign and inherit rights to protect their nations, according to their constitution and natural laws. so it's really good to see our communities come together for the protection of our people. right now we're still being affected by covid and the deaths and infection rates but one positive rate is the vaccination. the vaccination rate is higher than in most areas across the country when it comes to triable nations. that's a positive sign. >> and, in fact, we're watching video on the left side of the screen of arrests made last year by native protesters at mount rushmore as the president was going there. we are maybe less than 36 hours away from a vote for new mexico congresswoman deb haaland to become the sbooer your secretary. we talked about how important this would be for native people in america. partially because so much native land is administered by the federal government through the department of the interior. you said at the time, in december, that her nomination is a truly a sign that the status quo of white men making decisions is going to change. in particular, white men making decisions for indian people. >> correct. and it is my hope that once we have someone that thinks from a different world view, from a different perspective not this white colonial mind set that we can talk about how to start dismantling these archaic systems that have never been about the people or the protection of the land. you know, the bureau of indian affairs is a part of the department of interior. to have an entire department put in place to manage the affairs of an entire group of people is insulting and racist. i'm excited to have these conversations begin about how do we dismantle the systems that don't do justice for the people. that don't do justice for the land. and it's so important to have somebody like deb in these positions not just for indigenous people but all people. as the original owners of the land, we know how to best protect her and ensure she's here for generations to come. >> thank you for joining us, as always. 20 was fulled a lot of memories for us, but for me, one of the finest is the few days i spent on the pine ridge reservation in south dakota. good to see you. the executive director of the thunder valley community development corporation which is located on the pine ridge reservation. women's rights under attack across the state. republican states see an opportunity to strike down roe v. wade. the governor of arkansas signed a bill to ban all abortions. it may be the beginning. l abort. it may be the beginning. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? 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(trill sound) i had saved up some money and then found the home of my dreams. but my home of my dreams needed some work sofi was the first lender that even offered a personal loan. i didn't even know that was an option. the personal loan let us renovate our single family house into a multi-unit home. and i get to live in this beautiful house with this beautiful kitchen and it's all thanks to sofi. sure, your health insurance tells you to see a doctor but, um, look around. these days it's not that easy. you're telling me. but humana helps make it easy. human care gives you tons of ways to talk to your doctor: phone, computer, in person, or tablet. hey jean! hi! this is just a quick follow up. your numbers are looking great. you don't even have to put on shoes. ooo! easy peasy. you like that, huh? mhm. humana. a more human way to healthcare. many breathe a sigh of relief after democrats won back the presidency in both chambers in congress in the last election cycle working to protect the human rights and liberties to which so many are accustomed. there's more than one way to attack the rights, with the supreme court stacked with trump appointees, republicans in state legislatures across the country see an opening to chip away at long-protected rights. law makers in at least 14 states have proposed banning abortions so far this year, and one has actually already done it. last week, the governor of arkansas signed into law a ban of nearly all abortions in the state, including in cases of rape or incest. under this law, women would be forced -- they would be subjected to forced childbirth. arkansas republicans know this law is blatantly unconstitutional and will immediately be challenged on those grounds. their hope they can appeal it all the way up to the supreme court and unconstitutional. and that this new conserative supreme court will strike down the women's bodily autonomy. it is the intent to set the stage for the supreme court to overopportunity current case law. overturning roe v. wade has long been a republican agenda. 61% of americans think abortion should be legal in most or all cases. these numbers have been consistent. but in the obama era republican lead states have been working to enact anti-abortion laws. you can see this chart, there was a huge spike in the number of anti-abortion laws passed after the 2010 midterms. already this year 11 antiabortion laws have been enacted. that abortion ban will be challenged in court. the aclu has plans to sue the state before the new law can take effect. megan burrows joins. now, thank you for being with us. how does this work in your opinion. the governor is saying they know it is unconstitutional. they know it is against the standing laws but they're putting it in place and probably glad that the aclu is first up to challenge them. >> that's exactly right as the state legislatures that sponsored this bill have indicated. it is clearly unconstitutional under nearly five decades of finding supreme course precedent, but these anti-abortion politicians are using it to bring the supreme case up to the course and getting an opportunity to overturn roe v. wade. >> how does this work for you? is there anything you can do challenging this case that prevents that outcome? ultimately certain things have to happen for it to be kicked up to the next case. they're hoping that keeps getting kicked up until the supreme court. does that change how you think about it strategically? >> i think it affects the arguments that we make. i think as you know the current law is that abortion is protected by roe v. wade and a state cannot provide abortion prior to viability. so we argue from the law that there are no facts relevant to the states to bring into this case because the precedent is clear on this matter, and it takes a very long time for ka case to make it's way through lower courts to the supreme court and the state indicated intent to. but there are many other laws that have been challenged over past years. bands and other restrictions and they are already working their way through the court system up to the supreme court as well. >> this one is robinson v marshall. you had more on the trump administration's ban, so there are cases that can be won. how feofful should people be? that if one of these cases, one of the several test cases that they want the supreme court to hear, how fearful should they be that this could overturn the protections afforded by roe v wade? >> i think we know that former president trump vowed to appoint justices to the supreme court that would overturn roe v. wade. i think it is important to know that they remain good law right now. as you noted earlier as well, they support roe v. wade and support for abortion, and we will continue to fight, but i think it is also important for people that care about this to not hang all of their hopes on the supreme course and to push their elected officials to enact proactive legislation for trying to enshine it in state constitution, federal law, state law as well and aimed at making the right meaningful as well. so regardless of where they be able to they are able to access fundamental health care. >> this marks one year since the coronavirus pandemic claimed america. 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