On the show today, we’ll be doing a special two-part look at race, prisons and how together we can heal a very fractured system.  We’re going to lead today’s conversation with three of the most influential voices on this issue in America today: criminologist and co-chair of John Jay College’s National Network for Safe Communities David Kennedy, civil rights leader and CEO & Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Dr. Ben Chavis, and attorney Jami Floyd, who has extensively covered some of the trials and cases we’ll mention on the show.

For a full preview, check out out blog post “A Time To Heal: America’s Relationship with Young Black Men.”

Here’s what else is coming up on the show today:  we’ll kick things off with our Friday Megapanel of Dr. Peter Morici (@pmorici1), Toure (@toure) and Krystal Ball (@krystalball1).  It’s more election year politicking — this time, the house pushing through a bill to extend lower interest rates on federal student loans.  With millions of students depending on these loans, and jobs for grads more scarce than ever, what are the consequences of this?  We’ll also talk about the latest numbers on hiring — with big multinationals (like Caterpillar, Kraft Foods and Wal-Mart) creating more jobs than any other sector, why are three quarters of them overseas?

The Specialist:  The new film Knife Flight pulls back the curtain on the underworld of political operatives, shining a light on the people paid to stay in the shadows, and willing to do whatever it takes to get their candidate elected.  We’ll talk to the film’s co-writer Chris Lehane, the political strategist on which the movie is based, as well as director Bill Guttentag. Here’s the trailer:

Then, we’ll wrap up the week with a Daily Rant from the one and only Toure (@toure).

That’s it for today — as always, join us on Twitter @DylanRatigan to keep up with the show as it’s happening.  See you at 4PM ET!