Melissa Harris-Perry

I remember reading a blog post by a fellow student the other week about the hope for broadcast news with the airing of a new talk show on MSNBC, hosted by political scientist professor Melissa Harris-Perry.  There was a sense of optimism by many in the political science field, who felt that this was a good thing for  broadcast television news.  I happened to stumble across a clip of her show, as I scanned the Huffington Post home page the other day.  As one of very few (if not the only) black women political science professors with their own television show, naturally we can expect some of her content to be different than a news talk show consisting of three old white dudes.  This was evident in a piece she did about the successful film touted for Oscar glory, "The Help".

Her argument is that "The Help", is a "Disney-fication" of the historical period dominated by Jim Crow laws and that the reality of black maids' employment was "much closer to a horror film than a lighthearted drama. Just ask those who found themselves at the mercy of Jim Crow justice, at the end of the lynch mob's rope or a burning torch...for black maids, the threat of rape was always a clear and present danger."

I am not focusing on the Huffington Post article's coverage, but of the actual video from the show, which can be viewed in its entirety here.

What is refreshing here, is not just the actual experise and relevance of Harris-Perry's guests (rather than your typical political pundit), or the intelligent social critique of the piece, but also of the genuine discussion and argument-formulation that goes on during the discussion.  There is no simple pro- or anti- side one can quickly take, and the guests engage in what seems to be a genuine and semi-formal dialogue about the topic.  Harris-Perry clearly has an opinion on the matter, and does not shy away from sharing that.  However, she does so with civility and respect, often acknowledging the other guests' differing points of view.  Not only is this show positive in engaging topics that might not be completely in line with the status-quo, but the way in which civil political discourse is encouraged makes this show stand out when it comes to responsible news commentary.