able to achieve without also acknowledging the cataclysmic situation american women find themselves in today. one that threatens to wipe away many of the advancements we're supposedly celebrating. let's start with the unemployment crisis. the latest jobs report reveals that overall unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 6.2%. that number doesn't tell the whole story. for example, since the pandemic hit, the retail sector has lost nearly 363,000 jobs, 98% of which belong to women. pandemic related job losses are hitting women of color especially hard. we talk about that a lot. compared to this time last year, total employment for white women is down just over 5%. for black and latino women, that rate is nearly double. a bunch of factors continue to contribute to the disproportional impact on women of color, including an overrepresentation in industries that have been hit hardest such as hospitality and leisure. in addition, the coronavirus crisis is forcing an impossible choice on a cross-section of women tending to their children or their careers. the government doesn't account for those who have stopped looking for work all together. that hidden number is believed to be mostly women due to having to take on additional childcare responsibilities at home. the national women's law center says if those women were counted, the unemployment rate for women would be closer to 9%. for black and latino women specifically it would be even bleaker. skyrocketing as high as 14% and 13% respectively. without major action, fema workforce participation could face its steepest decline since world war ii. you will forgive me if i'm not in the most celebratory of moods, if i think the contributions of woman, half the population, should be recognized during all 12 months of the year and not just with a pat on the back and thumbs up and you go girl, but with policy that acknowledges that women are carrying this country through this crisis. a sociologist told a journalist, other countries have social safety nets. the u.s. has women. with me now the economy report with the 19th. erin haines is an msnbc. i'm happy to see you. your reporting reveals the economy is not bouncing back for everyone. who is being left behind? >> like you said, it's women. i look at these numbers every month. i think this month people were saying things look better. not when you lock at women and women of color especially. that's a big chasm. we like to look at trends. if you look at trends, it's women of color who continue to be left behind. when you look month to month are doing worse in some areas. i think that's really been the story of this pandemic, it's been unequal, uneven and women of color are baring that on their backs. >> there's a detail that i want to make sure we get to. if you can explain, there are jobs being added. we're also seeing job cuts in industries that predominantly are made up of women, such as education and nursing. is that right? >> that's right. i think that's an interesting part of all this. we added 379,000 jobs last month. we saw losses in particular fields where women are overrepresented. for example, health care added jobs. it lost 12,000 in the nursing field. who works in that field? it's predominantly women of color. the public sector lost 70,000 jobs last month. again, women of color, overrepresented in the public sector. while we are seeing some improvements. there was a lot of jobs that came back in hospitality, which is another billing one for women but also women of color, there are fields lagging. a lot of those are where this overrepresentation takes place. it's the reason we have been seeing what we have been seeing throughout this pandemic. >> erin, the ethos of my reporting and your reporting has been a through line, which is that we believe it's important to center the people who are being most impacted. when we talk about women of color being hit hard by this economic reality, what we are really talking about is the economy as a whole. how do you frame this question of what is happening to women, what is happening to women of color in the broader context of the u.s. economy? >> you know, unfortunately, just to your point, it's okay if you are not excited about women's history month in the midst of the one-year anniversary of this pandemic, because women, unfortunately, are making history as being the ones being disproportionately impacted by and responding to the coronavirus crisis. what we know and what we have to continue to say is that this -- these inequalities for women and especially for women of color and other marginalized folks were present long before the world health organization declared a pandemic in this country. >> right. >> these are things that were exacerbated by the events of the last year. frankly, unless they are addressed, there will not be a new normal for women or people of color. this is what so many of the voters, the majority of the electorate, namely women, the majority of the electorate that frankly put joe biden and kamala harris into office, this is what they said they wanted. they wanted a systemic solution to systemic problems to get to a new normal for them that does not replicate the problems of the pandemic and the problems that were present long before. >> for your "time" cover story, you spoke with women who described how wrong it felt to choose between their job and caring for their children. how are they fighting back? >> the women that i spoke to for this story are suing their employers. these are women who asked to take time off, to take family leave, or to even just work from home in order to care for their children when they lost day care, they lost school. their employer said, no. some retaliated against them and fired them. these women are suing. they are lucky to be able to have that option. most women in the country are not covered by the federal act that was passed last year that would allow them to have mandated paid parental leave. these are some of the few women who actually are able to fight back. now they are taking their argument to the courts. >> unbelievable. i do want to say that there is relief that is being offered to all americans. there's some relief in this new bill that is really targeted at women. can you talk to me about what is in there that is intended to take on some of the challenges that we have laid out? >> you know, i think what's interesting about this relief package is that a lot of it would address a lot of the issues that women are facing. we were talking about public sector jobs earlier. there's $350 billion in funding for state and local government. that's going to help some of the jobs stay in place. there's some $30 billion in rent relief. black women are the womens most affected by eviction. that's going to help women of color. there's the $1,400 checks. there's an expansion of the child tax credit. poorest families can get access to that. it's $3,600. there are a number of planks in this bill that are really going to help those most affected by this economic downturn. that's going to be women. a lot of these try to get at some of the really -- areas of duress that a lot of women have been feeling this year. >> as much as is in this legislation, there's stuff that did not make it in, including a propoal that would have offered 14 weeks of paid sick and family and medical leave including workers caring for children after a day care center closed. your sense of the appetite that democrats have to continue to push these policies, where they see the next opportunity to advance them. >> democrats, especially women democrats, whether we are talking about the women in congress or the women activists i'm speaking to are absolutely not going back. they are going to continue to build on the momentum they feel they have coming out of november 2020 to keep pushing for issues like that expanded paid leave, like the $15 minimum wage that we know would help women and people of color and like the extending the moratorium on evictions, which we know would help keep women of color, in particular, housed as they continue to navigate this crisis and get towards a new normal as the rest of the country is reopening. what we know is that women and people of color continue to be left behind in this recovery. now that so many of them voted for these folks and got them into office, they are now focused on governing to create the kind of policies that are driving the agenda that is affecting their daily realities. >> the women that you interviewed for your piece that have turned to litigation, what are they hoping comes of all of this? do they feel in addition to their own cases, there is a policy window that needs to be opened? >> they definitely do. they don't know where their cases are going. it's totally new law to have even emergency federally mandated paid parental leave for a limited amount of people in the country. that expired at the end of 2020. it will be a few years before they see what happens with their cases. there's no guarantee that they are going to win. they are hoping, one of the reasons they spoke to me, i think, is because they are hoping that people in d.c. will read this story and see that women are being left behind by not being able to take leave for their families right now while schools and day cares continue to be closed or remote. it's impossible to choose between paying to feed your children and caring for your children. that's not a choice we should ask women to make. >> thank you all so much for laying this out so clearly. today's silent protests in minneapolis ahead of the trial of the officer accused of killing george floyd. unfinished business. congressman jim clyburn is here with how to carry on the mission of john lewis, protecting the right to vote. first, a look at the other big stories we are watching this hour at msnbc. very good sunday to you. we will start with breaking news. two prominent new york state lawmakers want governor cuomo to resign. andrea stewart-cousins and carl hasty. this comes hours after cuomo again said he would not resign. this weekend, two more former aides accused him of inappropriate behavior. cuomo denies the allegations. pope francis wrapped up his trip to iraq today. he visited the city of mosul, which was previously occupied by isis. speaking in a square surrounded by four churches left in ruins, the pope prayed for all that suffered at the hands of the extremist group. texas officials will not retroactively reduce extremely high electricity bills totaling $16 billion during last month's freeze. some customers were charged more than 50 times normal prices. some monthly bills topping $10,000. more "american voices" right after this short break. short bk how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? 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>> yeah. no different than it has been. >> i was going to say that. >> it's like nothing new. same pain. that's why the hopelessness starts setting in. we keep seeing the same results over and over with the trials. >> reporter: tomorrow is really just the start of what is going to be a long process. only eight potential jurors will be interviewed each day. the judge has slated three weeks for jury selection. then opening arguments are scheduled to begin on march 29th. >> shaq, thank you. the marches in minneapolis come just days after the house passed the george floyd justice in policing act. it would change legal protections that shield police officers from lawsuits known as qualified immunity and make it easier to prosecute them for wrongdoing. it would also impose a new set of restrictions on the use of deadly force and effectively ban chokeholds. the floyd family attorney addressed the legislation this weekend. >> they keep saying, qualified immunity, you can't do that because that denies justice to police officers. nobody is trying to deny justice to police officers. this bill won't deny them from having their day in court. >> it will not. >> what it will do is allow black families who are grieving and heartbroken to have their day in court, too. >> an activist and the politics editor and an associate professor. she's the author of "black ethics." prosecutors have pushed to add a third degree murder charge. adding this could potentially delay the trial. why does the state think that is worth the risk? >> i'm curious whether or not the state think that this should be a new precedent. we have seen rampant police violence across the country. it does not seem to be slowing down, sadly. there are too many grieving black families, whether their loved ones are murdered on camera or off. keith ellison has been in this position for some time. i know he is thinking about all minnesotans right now, but especially those who have been dealing with the fallout of the killing of george floyd on camera for the world to see. moving forward though, i think in shaq's reporting is the importance of jury selection in moving this forward as well. it's so important that more people sign up to be jurors. i know there's a reputation of, nobody wants to give up time to sit on a jury. this is the reason why we should do our civic duty, to make sure there's justice served. we cannot have one group of people taking the time to do this. it's a right and privilege. we need a more diverse jury pool, especially since prosecutors have the power to throw out certain names or certain individuals just preemptively. we need to make sure we have quality and quantity of black jurors and people who are allies who believe in justice, also to make sure we move forward in this trial. >> shaq spoke to protesters in minneapolis. here is their response to the citywide security measures ahead of the trial. >> if they find him guilty, why are we putting barbed wire around buildings? they're doing that to keep us out if it comes out he is innocent. >> there's no reason to blocks around public property if you think the decision that's going to come from it is on line for black people. they are telling us that they might have him go innocent or with a lesser sentence. >> your take on the precautions? >> i agree with the protesters. there's no one better to tell you what the feeling on the ground is than them. we have to recognize that there were insurrectionist at the capitol ten minutes from where i live on january 6th who told us they were coming and the same kinds of precautions were not taken. there's a clear narrative communicated about perceived and assumed criminality of mostly black people when you board up businesses and you put up fences like the ones that have been put up in minneapolis that is very different than the narrative that we see from actually violent people when those people are white. i think it's deeply unfortunate that the city of minneapolis is choosing to perpetuate that narrative. if they had nothing to worry about, they wouldn't be putting up these kinds of setups. what i think is even more important though is to realize that it is easier to perpetuate a narrative of criminality about black protesters than it is to continue to take on a system that continues to prove itself unsafe and unjust for black people and people of color in minneapolis and around this country. it's a deeply unfortunate choice. yes, protesters and folks in the community are right to believe that there is -- there is worry about the outcome of the trial. >> i want to pick up on what she was saying about the perception of criminality, assumed criminality. you have former national youth poet laureate amanda goreman who dazzled everyone with the poem she read at president biden's swearing in. she said this week a security guard followed her home because she looked, quote, suspicious. we still have so much work to do. >> yes, indeed. i know there are stories for days. i have been there some of the most prestigious institutions and been racially profiled even with an i.d. i think that there is a presumed not just criminality but the larger question of, can black people ever be equal citizens in this country? we see it time and time again. this idea of linked fate that we talk about in political science all the time. the reason why blacks and various classes are linked together is because it doesn't matter if you are drivin