amna: And speaking of our
political and cultural divides,
a clash that erupted at the
state level this week went viral
and captured some of the
national debate around these
issues.
John yang has the details.
John: Amna, this all began late
last week when Michigan state
senator Lana Theis, a
Republican, delivered an opening
invocation that said children
are under attack.
Three Democrats walked out of
the chamber, including senator
Mallory Mcmorrow.
On Monday, Theis sent out a
fundraising email that included
the unfounded allegation that
Mcmorrow wants to "Groom and
sexualize kindergarteners."
Theis also attacked her for what
Theis called race-based
education.
The next day, Mcmorrow took to
the senate floor to fire back.
>> So who am I?
I am a straight, white,
Christian, married, suburban mom
who knows that the very notion
that learning about slavery or
redlining or systemic racism
somehow means that children are
being taught to feel bad or hate
themselves because they are
white is absolute nonsense.
I want every child to feel seen,
heard, and supported, not
marginalized and targeted if
they are not straight, white,
and Christian.
John: Videos of the speech were
posted on social media and have
gotten millions of views.
Senator Mcmorrow joins me now
from her home in suburban
Detroit.
Thank you for joining us.
I want to break down a couple of
things you said in your speech.
You said you represent what you
call the biggest threat to the
hollow, hateful scheme of
Republicans.
Help us understand what you mean
by those phrases.
Sen. Mcmorrow: These attacks we
have seen about grooming or
marginalization, they impact the
lgbtq community, the black
community, it is really
targeting marginalized people.
What I meant when I said I am
the biggest threat is I am not a
member of a marginalized
community.
I am a straight, white, married
Christian suburban mom.
If more people like me who are
not in a minority group or under
attack stand up and call it out
as hateful, hollow nonsense, we
take away its power.
John: Talk a little bit about
how you decided to respond and
how you decided to respond in
this way.
Sen. Mcmorrow: I sat on it for a
day.
I read about the fundraising
email in the morning and took
the day to put my thoughts
together.
Initially, I was disgusted and
you want to hit back in the
moment, but I thought about if I
felt as horrible as I did on
Monday, how much worse it must
feel every Sigel day -- every
single day if you are the parent
of a trans child, if you are a
member of the gay community who
gets called a pedophile or
groomer every single day, and I
realized that we have to do a
lot more.
John: Why do you think the
Republicans are doing this sort
of thing in general and why do
you think they're singling you
out?
Sen. Mcmorrow: [Sighs]
It's pulling this language from
qanon conspiracy's.
It started in the darkest
corners of the internet.
This idea that the government is
run by a satanist cabal of
pedophiles, and we saw what
happens when a gunman opened
fire at a pizza parlor in D.C.,
believing that there were
pedophiles there trapping
children in the basement based
on this line.
But now this conspiracy is being
pulled out in the open and it is
being used by one of our
country's two major political
parties as the official policy
, the official attack, and we
have to stop it.
Why me specifically is yes, I'm
one of the people who walked out
of this speech.
But also I'm not particularly
shy about expressing my opinions
about these things.
I host a live stream every week
and I talked about why I walked
out of the invocation.
So I think it was a signal to
anybody like me who dares to
stand up with the marginalized
community that we're going to
paint you was one of them.
You're no longer one of us.
You are one of them.
You are, you know, something
dark and dirty and evil, and we
have to take our identities
back.
John: You talked about the
incident here in Washington,
D.C. Where someone did show up
with a rifle at a place where
conspiracy theorists had these
unfounded allegations that there
was a child trafficking ring
going on in a pizza restaurant
in Washington.
Are you concerned at being
singled out in this way?
Are you concerned about about
your safety?
Sen. Mcmorrow: You have to be.
And I think that that was one of
the most hurtful things about
the email that went out about me
is clearly there was no thought
from senator Theis as to what
the consequences might be.
That was really scary for for my
friends and my family.
But again, I am generally ok.
Doing well.
My family is happy and healthy.
We have resources that I know a
lot of others don't.
And there's there's a sense of
privilege to be able to use my
position for people who are
regularly under attack who don't
have the protections that I do
who are in real danger.
If people like me don't take a
little bit of that risk and take
the hit and try to push back.
John: Since you have gotten a
lot of attention for your
pushback, senator Theis tweeted,
"While senator Mcmorrow is on
MSNBC preaching to her choir
I'll keep my focus on Michigan
, parents who Democrats are
seeking to undermine as the
primary decision makers in the
education of their children."
What do you say to that?
Sen. Mcmorrow: It's just sad.
It's sad and pathetic that she's
doubling down one other parents
-- I am a parent saying that you
do not speak for all parents and
I know that there are thousands
of not millions just like me who
don't want our kids to grow up
in a place that is hateful and
malicious towards anybody who is
different.
John: Michigan state senator
Mallory Mcmorrow, thank you very
much.
Sen. Mcmorrow: Thank you.