MSNBC’s Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle expressed their gratitude for the contributions made by each panelist on Tuesday afternoon during a discussion that labeled Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as racist.
Michael Eric Dyson, Elise Jordan, and Caleb Bedillion were on the show discussing the Mississippi runoff election, which went in Hyde-Smith’s favor Tuesday night. She had been facing backlash since early November after she apparently joked that she would “be on the front row” if a young man she knew invited her to a public hanging. She has since apologized for the comment.
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“In Mississippi, with the history, the ghosts of Mississippi, the blood of Mississippi from its rivers where Emmett Till died, where Medgar Evers died, where those three civil rights workers, two Jews and a black person died, we have to come to grips with it in 2018,” Dyson began.
“Cindy Hyde-Smith is a racist, a white nationalist, a white supremacist,” he continued. “And it is a shame that white Mississippians would exonerate her in advance, and excuse her for the intimidating hatred that she expresses and god forbid that she would therefore be elected to go to the Senate of the United States to do more damage to the Mississippians and America in general.” (RELATED: ‘Find A Spine’ – Fireworks Explode During CNN Debate About Racism And Trump)
“Elise, do we understand white Mississippians because so many would not characterize themselves as that,” Ruhle asked. “They would say they’re simply trying to live their best lives. But I remember when Roy Moore and Doug Jones were running and you had said the young people of that state, the young members of the GOP are saying this isn’t who we are, this isn’t the future. Was that unique to that state? What do you see across in Mississippi?”
Jordan added, “Well I’m hearing this from my young friends in Mississippi who were raised Republican, have always voted Republican, but see how harmful racism is for the state.”
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Dyson continued, “This president has proved, until we overcome the bigotry and hatred that is spewed from the mouth of this predator and bigot-in-chief, we will not be able to overcome the things that divide us.”
“What a great conversation. What a great, smart conversation,” Velshi added before giving the last word to Jordan. She labeled the controversy surrounding Hyde-Smith as an “unfortunate episode.”
“Well we appreciate your contribution to this conversation,” Velshi concluded.