The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Between the Scenes - Who Should Benefit from Reparations?

Episode Date: March 30, 2019

An audience member's provocative question about reparations leads Trevor to discuss the legacy of U.S. slavery and the combined injustices that have afflicted black Americans. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio, on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You guys have any questions before we move on, anything you want to chat about?

No, we're good. Yes, sir. You think that like reparations should just go to like one like group or like should it target like people that are in the same kind of like socioeconomic like group? That's an interesting question. What do you mean by that if I? Well, there are like white people that have like disenfranchised like recently? R Recently is the key. Recently is the key. The country like de-industrialized, right? So like a lot of people in like manufacturing jobs and stuff, right? But so so to your question, to your question, I think you have to understand what the word reparations means first.

So reparations, you are repairing something that you have broken. You are paying for something that you were supposed to pay for. I'm not saying that there aren't are the the their are their are their are their are their are their are tha are thoer are thoe are to pay for. I'm not saying that there aren't people living in America today who are suffering and are going through pain and strife because of what's happening when it comes to machines, taking jobs, factories becoming industrialized, etc. But reparations is a specific conversation about a specific time in America, and that is black people were slaves. You know what I mean? I've even heard people say like oh, but there was some of the Irish who were indentures like yeah Slavory look at the numbers look at the time look at the level of work You could not work toward your freedom for most black people in America

This was a time when you were that was it you lived and died as a slave and so that's what reparations is about And so I hear what you're saying, but I thin. that's that's that's that's th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the number. Look the number. Look the number. Look the number. Look the number. Look the number. Look the number. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. 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 that that ti. toda. tha. tha. the the tha. the the the the tha. the the the tha. the number. the number. the number. the but I think that's a completely separate conversation that needs to be had about the now. Because if you are not careful, what you then do is you combine everybody's suffering into the same ball and you make it seem like all injustices have the same waiting, and they don't, just like crimes. You know, theft isn't the same as murder. We don't try them the same way. And as much as there is a white person who's suffering today, I feel for anybody who's suffering, because I know what it's like to be poor,

I know what it's like to suffer. I didn't come from a wealthy family. We struggled when I was growing up. But I also understand that there are levels of that suffering. And so sometimes white people, it people, it does, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it You know, white people like, I wish I could activate my white privilege. I wish I could do it right now. White privilege! Give me something. I get that.

I get that. Trust me, I get it. It is hard to accept that you have benefits because of the color of your skin. If you cannot see the benefits that you have, but the thing of it as privileged then, think of it like a handicap, right? In golf, they acknowledge that you are in a position where you need so many advantages to be competitive in the game, right? So what they say is you have a handicap of 15, so that means like you're going to be hitting from this tea and you get more chances to get the ball in because we understand the position you injustices that have held black people back in America amount to an insurmountable, like you look at, you look at black people's freedom, you look at black people's land, just land.

Just land alone. The amount of wealth you can acquire over time if you own land is exponential, because you have the land, you have the fact that you can borrow based on the land, you have the fact that you can use the money that you have borrowed to grow more wealth, you can use it to grow your family's wealth. Just taking that away from black people alone is crippling them. And so you combine that with slavery and then you look at Jim Crow laws. And their thea that's their lives to be given to live, to, to, their, to, to, to, to, to, to, their, to, to, to, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, to grow, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, too, their, too, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, on top of that, when they started getting the loans from American banks, American banks were found to be giving them higher interest rates when in fact they were the same risk

as many of the other races that they were giving loans too. So when you combine all of those things, I think it's safe, it's like, you, American government, meet the black people. That's it. Have that conversation. The Daily Show with Covernoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app.

Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And subscribe to to to to to to to to to the the the daily the daily the daily the daily to the daily the daily the daily to the daily thiiiooo, thi. thi. thi. tho, thoomomomomomom, thoomome, tho, tho, thoome, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, the, the, tho, tho, tho, tho. It doesn't, thea. It doesn't thea. It's, toooooooooooooooooooooooooo. thea. Itea. the. the. the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the Weekly Show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.