Tulane professor--and MSNBC host--Melissa Harris-Perry had some advice for the class of 2013 in her Sunday Footnote. Read More
Most Recent
Slashing benefits for the hungry? Try focusing on jobs instead
12:04 PM on 5/18/2013
Try taking the Food Stamp challenge, Congress—that means eating on a budget of about one dollar per person, per meal. Then maybe you'll have different feelings about cutting billions of dollars in funding to programs that feed the hungry. Read More
Remembering Huey Long’s radical vision for fixing poverty
1:51 PM on 5/12/2013
If we should be forgetting Governor Jindal, maybe we should be remembering another Louisiana governor, Huey Long. Read More
Military sexual assault survivors need more than sound and fury
10:37 AM on 5/11/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was plenty furious after this week's release of a new Defense Department report on sexual assault in the military. He must lead the change that is desperately needed. Read More
President Bush, a library exhibit can’t fix your Katrina decisions
10:48 AM on 5/4/2013
Congratulations on the opening of your library, Mr. President, but your Katrina debacle cannot be reduced down to a multiple-choice test. Read More
If only Congress considered unemployment as urgent as flight delays
12:42 PM on 4/27/2013
Our Congress will show up in response to the most visible and vocal victims of their policy-making. But what about when no one's watching? Read More
The Newtown and Boston distinction: Understanding our different reactions
12:22 PM on 4/21/2013
Unlike in the Boston bombing case where federal agencies quickly sprang to action and lawmakers talked about the legislative implications, the response to Newtown can be described as inaction. Read More
African-Americans don’t need a history lesson from Rand Paul
11:18 AM on 4/13/2013
In her weekly Open Letter, host Melissa Harris-Perry addresses Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky after his Wednesday speech at Howard University--which some found awkward and condescending. Read More
Why caring for children is not just a parent’s job
1:14 PM on 4/9/2013
What I thought was an uncontroversial comment in an MSNBC "Lean Forward" ad--on my desire for Americans to see children as everyone's responsibility--has created a bit of a tempest in the right's teapot. Allow me to double down--and tell me your own stories. Read More
Tying welfare benefits to school grades teaches the wrong lesson
1:59 PM on 4/6/2013
The sponsors of the Tennessee education bill, which proposes to dock welfare benefits to the state's poorest families if their children fail to make the grade in school, need a lesson on the very real educational impediments for students coming from impoverished households. Read More
‘Buddy’ Caldwell, lay off the Angola 3 already
2:14 PM on 3/30/2013
Melissa Harris-Perry's "Open Letter" is to Louisiana attorney general James "Buddy" Caldwell, who showed why the Angola 3 case is about more than the murder of one man--it's about the inhumanity exhibited for more than 40 years. Read More
My open letter to the Steubenville survivor
11:16 AM on 3/23/2013
While many focus on the "ruined" lives of the young men convicted of rape in Steubenville, Ohio, host Melissa Harris-Perry has a heartfelt message for the 16-year-old survivor of the assault. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg, stop shaming teen parents
3:07 PM on 3/9/2013
American teen-pregnancy rates are at historic lows. So why in the world, as the crisis is abating and fewer teens are facing the challenges of early child-rearing, would the city of New York spend $400,000 on a campaign to publicly shame teen parents, Mr. Mayor? Read More
Voting is no ‘racial entitlement,’ Justice Scalia
11:14 AM on 3/2/2013
Host Melissa Harris-Perry offers a stern, historical retort to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's remark that perpetual renewal of the Voting Rights Act is a "racial entitlement." Read More
The naked truth about body image
12:54 PM on 2/24/2013
Distressing numbers come to us from the National Eating Disorders Association who have set aside this week as National Eating Disorder Awareness week, and they point to the ongoing crisis of self-hate and self-abuse that impacts many young women. Read More
Violence Against Women Act isn’t just a good bill in name only
2:27 PM on 2/23/2013
In her weekly open letter, host Melissa Harris-Perry addresses a Congressman who dismisses the Violence Against Women Act as having "a motherhood-and-apple-pie title." Read More
Why we need an inclusive Pope for a modern world
10:49 AM on 2/16/2013
In her weekly Open Letter, host Melissa Harris-Perry asks the cardinals charged with electing Pope Benedict XVI's successor to make a choice that acknowledges the diverse and complicated lives of Catholics worldwide, and "honors the best of the faith that animates their work." Read More
Alabama pardon for ‘Scottsboro Boys’ now 82 years overdue
11:28 AM on 2/9/2013
For too long, the "Scottsboro Boys" case has been a blight on our legal system and it's time to correct that wrong, so my letter this week goes to Alabama's Gov. Robert Bentley. Read More
No honor in Boy Scouts’ discrimination
4:55 PM on 2/2/2013
You can imagine my excitement when the Boy Scouts of America announced they may do away with their sexual orientation restriction... but only sort of. Which is why my letter this week is to Chief Scout Executive Wayne Brock. Read More
Why ending affirmative action makes America less secure
2:12 PM on 1/26/2013
Host Melissa Harris-Perry's letter this week is to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as he considers a challenge to the affirmative action program at the University of Texas. Read More
