The person who wrote those columns is not the person I got to know sitting across from her at a table in Tampa at Hooters, Capehart says of Reids previous LGBTQ remarks. I don't know that person. I don't know that person who wrote those pieces.

Look, he continues, do you know how many people would be out of my life if I did not, one learn to forgive, and two, give them the room to evolve?

Over the past few months, Reid has witnessed an entire nations belief system on race radically evolve. Following the killing of George Floyd in May and the worldwide protests that followed, America seems ready, finally ready, to take in the very things shes spoken on for years. Before the hoodie became a menacing totem for the alt-right in Florida, Reid fretted over her childrens clothes. She wasnt worried about other kids. She feared something else.

I think it's important to have somebody who looks like you, who can empathize with what you feel, Reid says. For the most part white Americans traditionally been very trusting of the police. The police are Barney Fife. Theyre your friend. They get your cat out of a tree.

Im a law abiding-citizen, she continues. Ive never been arrested or committed a crime. But when I see those blue lights, I feel sick. I feel my heart racing. Even though I know I havent done anything wrong, Im afraid of the police. Im successful. I work at a great company. I have health benefits. And Im afraid of the police.

Matthews swift retirement proved shock to the network. It also offered a reset. It allowed room for something, someone different in different times. In the months that followed, Reid was one of a series of people who held down the 7 p.m. hour as MSNBC sought out a replacement. But there remained no clear choice.

When Caesar Conde, the newly-minted chairman of the NBCUniversal News group called in mid-June, Reid says she thought little of it. After all, Conde, who took over in May, was speaking to a lot of people at the network. In that chat she laid out whats needed with coverage should either Trump or Joe Biden win in November. In one scenario, the press needed to be more proactive when faced with a nation teetering on the edge of authoritarianism. In another, they would see a new president walking into country crippled by a health crisis and social division. One that faces certain economic hardship and a lost standing in the world. Still, she told Conde, the media needed to hold a President Biden accountable, to make sure he met the demands of a country demanding systemic change.

Here is the original post:

MSNBC's Joy Reid Makes Cable Network History With the Debut of "The ReidOut" - Vogue