On Wednesday night’s The Daily Show this week, host Jon Stewart got serious when he opened his show discussing the grand jury decision to not?indict a New York Police Department police officer in the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner.
Steward said this:
?I honestly don’t know what to say,? the comedian said after talking about how humor was a ?catharsis? to process ?undigested emotions.?
?If comedy is tragedy plus time I need more fucking time,? Stewart said.
?But I would really settle for less fucking tragedy.?
He compared Garner’s death to what happened in Ferguson to Michael Brown, and noted that there should be no confusion. He pointed out the obvious; “in Ferguson, there was at least conflicting witness testimony, conflicting forensics, and a specter of police self-defense.” (BuzzFeed)
?What is so utterly depressing is that none of the ambiguities that existed in the Ferguson case exist in the Staten Island case. And yet the outcome is exactly the same.?
?But here, there is none of that,? he said. ?The coroner called it a homicide. The guy’s not acting threatening and we know that not through witness testimony or unreliable bystanders, but because we are fucking watching it.??
He concluded:
?We are definitely not living in a post-racial society,? Stewart concluded.
Jon encapsulated (and showed) the frustration that so many of us are feeling — not just in his words, but in his body language. Just pure rage and frustration. Watch below.
