Princeton professor and Nation contributor Melissa
Harris-Lacewell talks to Keith Olbermann about the racist
undercurrent of the anti-healthcare reform crowds, the “birthers”
and “deathers,” and the recent trend of hanging public officials in
effigy. With the arrest of a man with a loaded gun at a town hall with
President Obama in New Hampshire Tuesday, the fear of violence is
growing, and Harris-Lacewell agrees with Congressman John Dingell that
the tactics being used are similar to those seen in the sixties during
the civil
rights movement. She points out, though, that despite the threats
and intimidation used in the sixties, Congress and the President did
pass civil rights legislation, and that the continuing struggle is not
a reason to lose hope.

—Sarah Jaffe

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