The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Ben Crump - The Problem with Policing in America

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

"How can you feel in fear of your life when the person is running away from you?" Attorney Ben Crump discusses why the quick arrest of the officers in the Tyre Nichols case should be the blueprint moving forward, why people need to stop justifying unnecessary killings by the police, and whether or not there is incentive to reform policing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. So how to be a young anti-racist, that means you're already banned in Florida. So... It's funny when we talk about race, because we live in a country that... The Congress and Senate voted for a Juneteenth bill. But we're the same nation that doesn't want to talk about slavery. They'll have Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee on the same days. So I think when it comes to racism, I think that a lot of people believe that if they're

not actively saying the N-word or doing, or saying bigot things, that means they're not racist. So how can we start a conversation about being anti-racism when you're not quite sure how to quantify racism. We are but I don't think a lot of people are. And I think that's the very point because if you're not doing anything to challenge all of the injustice and all of the inequity in our society then what happens? It persists. So therefore you're reinforcing it. So therefore you're being racist. And so we're encouraging people to actively try to dismantle this structure, including young people.

But what is their incentive? Like, what would they be? Nick, what is there? If this system is working for you or not, it doesn't cause you any rough? You can sleep at night. Why would you want to change the system that doesn Right? It seems to be. Not me. It clearly is not working for you. One of this.

Yes. I think for me it's all about children, right? Like, even though this is a system that might seem like it's working for you, the world is actively changing. If your children are not prepared to live in a world and move through a world that have people that are different that are that are that are that are that are that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that are different that have people that are different from them in positions of power, they're going to be in trouble. Yeah, but then they try to remake the world. You see that. Literally, we're a nation that is run by the Flintstones and the Jetsons. And the fucks stones are winning.

You have to understand that. I don't believe a lot of white people are actively racist, but I do believe that the notions of white supremacists, they don't agree with their methods, but they agree with their goal, which is to keep white people in charge. And so if that is the premise, then what incentive seriously would there be to make these changes that only destabilize what you know works for you. I think one of the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the things the the the the the their their their their their their their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their their their. their their. I I their. I their. I their. their. I is their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th is is is is their is their is their is thi is thi is thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, the is the is the is the is thean is thean is toeananananananananananananananananananananananananananananananan is. I thi. I th one of the things we've been showing in studying racism is that it's actually harming white people too. It's not harming them at the level, it's harming people of color, but there are actually white people who are dying of police violence. They're not dying at the level of black and brown people,

but more white people are dying of police violence in this country than other countries. More white people are incarcerated in this country than other countries. More white people are struggling to vote in this country compared to other countries. There were five million about poor whites in 1860 whose poverty was directly connected to the enslavement of black people. But I think a lot of white people don't get this. When you poor, you a niggot chew. You are. You are. You are. You are. You are.

You are. Like, I don't think people understand. No, they don't. they don't. What hurts me, what is good for me is good for you. And I think that, but there is that thing where people will, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. their last dime to keep things a certain way as long as it hurts you. Like, look at what happened with the Obamacare Act. A lot of those people in those poor states are being hurt by that, but they don't care

as long as you are. Yeah. And but the sense of optimism is in what you said earlier, children, in the today, children, in their to to to to to to to to different thing, but, um, but in our children, we can see the potential of things that we hope to never, that we hope we could realize probably never will. So that is an angle, I think that it's probably substantive. Yeah, I think when it comes to children, I have two of my own, and it's important for me that they enter a world that they feel empowered to change, which is why we wrote this book, right? So Dr. Kendi wrote his memoir years ago, and I latched onto it, slid into his deans,

and asked if I could do a young reader's version, because it's important that young people have the tools. I get so many kids who are asking, well what do I do? How can I get into this fight, and do something about it. And so creating a text like How to be a Young Anti-Racist, we're giving them information, where they're learning these definitions, or learning what racism actually is.

Give me an example of what racism actually is. So racism is a system of ideas, so you have racist ideas, and they are basically, they're made to keep inequities going, right? So the whole purpose of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th......... the. the.. the. the. the. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. the whole purpose of a book like how to be a young anti-racist is to give young people terms that we can all agree on, that way we know what we're standing against. Like what? Like racism.

Having a term at definition for racism helps them see, okay, this is what we're trying to fight. Because one of the things that happens is people who have historically been racist refused to define that term. Of course, why would you? Because it allows them to exonerate themselves consistently and constantly. And even young people, therefore don't know what it is, so they can't even assess themselves and guide themselves. How would they know? We have a lot of people who are raised by people who moved out of places that black people are moving into. Right? That was that was predicate. Thea. T, th. T, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, their, th, th, th, th, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, and tho, and thi, and thi, and even thi, and even tho, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and even, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even even th. And, thi, they, thi, thi, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. thi. thea. And, and thi. And, and thi. And, and thi. And, and thi. And, and thi. We're going to move out of places that black people are moving into. But those are the people who have the conversation with the people who are now having the

conversation with the people. So if they don't think the thing that they did was racist, that's a level of obliviousness that you can't quite quantify. It is. And indeed, I, you is consistent and constant and insidious. You know, it does give me hope when I see people, like your book beat my book on the New York Times bestsellers. Sorry. Get the today.

Get the shit. No, I'm just going to say. And it's interesting because it came along at a time and you had written it a good while back, but it resurfaced when the George Floyd protest was coming on. There really seemed a moment and that seemed these inflexing points when we can generally, well people are really open to listen, but the problem is it's so fast. You can only get attention so fast and then we're on to the next thing. And I think that's not even a purposeful, I think it it it it is it's just it's just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just, I the thi.

fast and then we're on to the next thing. And I think that's not even a purpose for I think it's just the function of how we live. But if you could say a substantive thing that people could do every day, like in practice, every day, where they could be an example, because every time somebody says something, that somebody deems hurtful, they automatically stop. I don't want to hear it anymore. I'm tired of thi. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. th. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thin. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin' thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin thin thin thin thin thin. thin. thin. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. trying to not be a slave as not, we haven't had to put as much Albert group into that. But books like this and having conversation where people don't turn off are really the crux of what we need to be doing. And for young people it's so much easier to learn, like it's got to be easier to learn a love language, right? It's got to be easier to learn. And what do I, because I get angry.

Yeah. When black people do it, it's called Anger, when white people do it, it's called Righteous Indignation. But it's really hard to come from a place of anger and try to be, try to cheat somebody something. Yeah, at least on me, the onus has to be lowering, the temperature, the temperature, the temperature, the temperature, the temperature, to be, to be, to be, the to be, to be, the to be, the to be, the to be, to be, the the to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, to, to, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to, to, toe, to, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, to be. And, to be. And, to be, to be, to be, to be, the the the the the the the the the the toe, their.s.e, the the toe.s.s. the toe. the toe. toe. toe. the toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe.e.e.e. Yeah. So I think at least on me the onus has to be lowering the temperature and listening right? Yeah and I mean look the book is really all about first turning inward. I think part of the issue is that we don't do a good job of humanizing ourselves. We don't give ourselves the space to be angry. We don't give ourselves the space to be sad. We don right? Like we do, we're all you do.

But even that, you know, the fact that you're like, I'm angry and I don't, you know, I don't know how I feel about being angry. Like, it makes sense that we're angry. So, taking the time to look inward and figure out, the beauty of howthat he was holding. So taking that and distilling it down for young people so that they can see, oh dang,

this thing that I'm thinking is probably a little racist. We had an event last night in Atlanta and our teen moderator, that was the first question she asked us. She was like, I of the ways that I have racist ideas and it made me feel away about myself, what am I supposed to do? So then having that self-compassion where you can see, okay, yes, I am a product of a racist environment.

I probably have some racist ideas. Taking the time to give yourself some grace, you'll give other, you'll give other, you'll give other people some grace, too. And that's how we kind to get the the the their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th, th, tho, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi point where we're working together to dismantle things. At least sharing each other. Yeah. The thing that's so frustrated for me is our stories tend to start in the middle. Like we were something before this. And our story seemed to start in the middle. So, and it's just like even what's going on in Florida, you don't even want us to learn our history. There was a time time the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th is the is the the time the is the is their. their. their. their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is th is th is th is th. thi is thi is te is tie is tie. te is te is time. time. te is te is te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te is te is te is te is to learn about enslaved people. Yeah. So it just... You're spitting, boy.

No, no, no, no. No, no, no. That's it. And you would have heard that had you not beat me on the New York Times bestseller list. And I think, I think that we have a lot to learn about how things work and to really have constructive conversations because it's so much more fulfilling to me to shout at somebody but it doesn't really accomplish anything. And I'm really very proud that you write books like this and

I think the younger you start, I mean you gotta not be an anti-racist baby. You have the babies too? You have the baby? Yeah, we got the things. What the f really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really, what the f the f the f the f the f the f the f the f the f the f, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. tho, tho, th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. things, things, things, things, things, things, things, things, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tha, tha, tho, tho, tho, tho, the, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. You have the babies too? You have the baby? Yeah. What the fuck is a baby gonna do? Like, hey look you learn it somewhere. You either learn to love people or you learn to hate them, right? Like. I don't want chocolate milk. I want... I want... I don't be a young antiaceans. Workbook are available now.