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Michael Eric Dyson said black Americans have historically served as the "measure and magnitude" of American democracy in commentary on the filibuster Monday on MSNBC. Dyson told MSNBC host Tiffany Cross, guest host for MSNBC's Joy Reid, that white people are feeling a "kind of schizophrenia" because they are used to seeing blacks as a measuring tool for democracy.

"This is a prelude to the kiss-off of an American democracy. To a certain degree, the apocalypse is before us. We speak in these apocalyptic terms," Dyson described support of the filibuster. "People who are not used to being trampled on, who are not used to being assaulted, who are not used to being attacked then feel themselves for the first time under even the briefest and the most cursory form of assault feel what we've been talking about all along."

"We have been the measure and magnitude of American democracy," Dyson said of black people. "What black people have done with this country, what we've done with resources has not only made our culture better but our country better and so now people who are not used to seeing black people be the indices, the index, the measure of who we are as a nation feel a kind of schizophrenia. On the one hand, they think we lost our minds and on the other hand, they know they lost theirs."

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: This is a prelude to the kiss-off of an American democracy. To a certain degree, the apocalypse is before us. We speak in these apocalyptic terms. People call us exaggerators, 'Oh my God, won't you stop over-responding.' And yet the bottom line is that as you said, people who are not used to being trampled on, who are not used to being assaulted, who are not used to being attacked then feel themselves for the first time under even the briefest and the most cursory form of assault feel what we've been talking about all along.

On the other hand, many who have not been in the ditch with us, many who have not been in the trenches with us don't understand the necessity of the warning, don't understand the degree to which we say to America we have been the bellwether and the benchmark. We have been the measure and magnitude of American democracy. What black people have done with this country, what we've done with resources has not only made our culture better but our country better and so now people who are not used to seeing black people be the indices, the index, the measure of who we are as a nation feel a kind of schizophrenia. On the one hand, they think we lost our minds and on the other hand, they know they lost theirs.

And so the truth about American democracy is it is only as good as we're willing to fight for. It is only ever been what we have made it to be. This may be an exaggerated point, a kind of serious inflection point but the truth is Martin Luther King Jr. in fighting Bull Connor was fighting for the future of democracy and when we understand the degree to which we have been willing to fight for it, it reminds us that democracy is in our grasp but only if we continue to fight for it in the most fundamental fashion.

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Michael Eric Dyson: Blacks Have Been "The Index" To Measure American Democracy, Made Culture Better - RealClearPolitics