Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah returned from a two-week hiatus on Monday, and there was nothing to talk about. If only.
In an extended and emotional hour-long episode, host Noah discussed the recent protests against police brutality. “Never before in American history has there been an uprising like this, exactly like this, where you have huge numbers of people coming out every single day, in every single state in the country,” he said, later adding, “With all these protests sweeping across America, people have been comparing this moment to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. And much like the 1960s, law enforcement officers have met these calls to end police brutality with even more police brutality.”
Noah spotlighted the video showing 75-year-old peaceful protester Martin Gugino being violently shoved to the ground by two police officers (he’s currently hospitalized in serious but stable condition, even if a certain mush-brained someone thinks it’s all a hoax). “I don’t care how many times I see that video; I will never get used to it,” the Daily Show host said. “Because it’s bad enough that these cops push an old man who is walking over to them. But the fact that they walk over him, they walk past him while he’s bleeding out on the sidewalk. Who are you protecting and serving, if not that old man?”
And to disprove the “bad apple” theory, Noah showed footage of the two cops getting cheered by their fellow officers after being released on bail. “What are they cheering for? Something I think people need to understand about the police is that in a way, they have the same code that a gang does in that above all, you are loyal to your crew,” he said. “That is a culture that is within every police department. That’s the heart of this issue.”
“If good police are willing to look the other way or even join in when the bad police abuse their powers, you can make new rules and regulations all you want but if it won’t matter. America’s not going to be able to fix this problem until we have police whose first priority is protecting and serving the people instead of protecting and serving themselves.”
You can watch clips from the episode below.
