The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Celebrating and Honoring Juneteenth

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis apologizes for its Juneteenth-“inspired” watermelon salad and Dulcé Sloan explains exactly what Juneteenth is, why it's celebrated, and how it should be commemorated. Also, Roy Wood Jr. highlights stories of slaves who were able to escape from servitude and Pharrell Williams discusses his efforts towards making Juneteenth a national holiday via juneteenthpledge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Because Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, more people are celebrating than ever before. The only problem is not everyone knows the best way to celebrate. Walmart is under fire for selling Juneteenth products that some people say are tone-deaf and insensitive. The products have been lambasted by many online after pictures of Juneteenth ice cream and party supplies surfaced. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is apologizing after backlash to a Juneteenth food item in its cafeteria. The museum o'ceney the Juneteenth watermelon salad. The museum released a statement saying in part

as a museum we apologize and acknowledge the negative impact that stereotypes have on communities of color. Oh this shit pisses me off so much. How are you gonna make a Juneteenth ice cream? I hope they took it all off the shelves and they got rid of it. In fact I don't trust them. I hope they send it here to the Daily Show and I'll deal with it personally oh every single one of thiiiiiiiiii. their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm they's. I'll they'll they'll they'll they'll they'll they'll they'll they'll their. I'll. I'll. I'll. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I's. I'm. I'm. I'm the the the the to. I'm to. I'm to. I'm the to. I'm the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the here to the Daily Show and I'll deal with it personally. Oh, every single one of those ice cream. And any other ideas they have ice cream, they better send them here. Just what a randomness. What are you doing? What are you doing?

What are you doing? You know, apart from the watermelon, black people stereotypes, it's amazing to how America does this. Like, they turn every meaningful holiday into an excuse to spend money. Like, that's part of the problem here. You don't need to sell things for Juneteenth. Juneteenth wasn't even a mainstream thing last year. Think about it. But now already, they've turned it into a day of merch. And look, I mean, I'm not hating. We do it too, we too, we too, we do it too, we do it too, too, we do it too, too, we do it too, too, too, too, we do it too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to. to. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th the. the. the. the. th the the the the the the the the the the the the the to th to to to to too here on the show. Yeah, I mean this whole segment is brought to you by Taco Bell's brand new flaming Juneteenth Corditas. Taco Bell, emancipate your taste bonds!

Yeah! All right, that's it for the headlines, but before we go, let's check in on traffic with our very own Roy Wood Jr. Everybody! with our very own Roywood Jr. everybody! What's up, boy? What's up, yeah? Good to see you all, man. Good to see you. Good to be here, man. Let's jump into the traffic. Real quick though, before I do the traffic,

here's thing about that watermelon salad. Yes. First of all, this is part of the problem with them trying to get CRT out of schools, Donny just slapping it on all the food and trying to sneak black history on you. In the middle of the damn day, why you're trying to eat some salad? And that's just too much, man. So you don't want a Juneteen salad? No. What I feel, what I feel, dog, is it's a try, they, they, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th, their, th, th, th, tap, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha. tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is.. And, is, is, is, is a. And, is a. try, is. ttttttttttry, is. tttttttttttttttttry, try, is. And, is. Andtried. We tried to celebrate it collectively as a group. It didn't work. You gotta give back to black people.

This is just ours, and we'll just take it, and we'll just celebrate it by ourselves. With nobody else involved. It's just certain stuff. We just got to keep it black. We just got to keep June teams, got to keep Quons, we got to keep Essence Festival. We'll take Bobby Brown, and it's just certain stuff. It's ours. It's just ours.

So the holiday would only be for black Americans, then? No, it's not. It's like, it's our holiday. It's a separate, but it's equal. See, you're trying to throw me off. This is all I'm saying that. I didn't say anything. I just asked questions. All I'm saying is that you don't have to put history in everything. The salad looked good.

That's the thing that was so sad about it. Had the little feta cheese, they had the vinegar right in there. You didn't have to put Juneteenth on it all. That's all I can do. But it's cool. It's cool. I'm gonna do the traffic, man. I'm gonna do the traffic. Do we even have time for traffic? No, we...

I mean, it's traffic, man. If you don't have time, don't, it's messed up. If you know what that is, then you know not to go there. Don't go there. Back to you. You may remember that President Trump had to move his big rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma because it was originally scheduled on the same day as Juneteenth. Now, that was particularly awkward because Tulsa is the site of an infamous 1921 massacre of black people.

But in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump says that he had no idea Juneteenth was even a thing, and that he polled many people around him, and none of them had heard of Juneteen either. Now, I don't know why that's surprising. Of course, nobody around Trump had heard of Juneteen. Look at the people he has around him. Look at them. Mike Pence doesn't even know what a cayenne pepper is. You think he's going to know about black history? But to be fair, Trump is hardly alone. There are many Americans who don't know what Juneteenth is. And if you're one of those people, Dulce thay, Sloan, and th, and th, and 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, thi, thi, thin, thi, th, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, the the the the the the the the th, the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thiii. Look, thi. Look, thi. Look,'re one of those people, Dulce Sloan is here to explain it in her new segment, Dulcayan.

Tomorrow is June 10th, the day we celebrate slavery officially ending in America. Or if you're gone with the wind fan, a day of morning. Now you might be thinking the end of slavery. So this is about the Emancipation Proclamation. Nope. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 didn't end slavery. Slavery didn't even end when the Civil War was over in 1865. In reality it took two months after the Civil War ended for the Union Army to get into all the slave states and free the slaves. When he came to give out freedom, white people ran on CP time.

But on June 19, 1865, a Union General named Gordon Granger Occupied Texas, the last slave state and declared all of its slaves free. He's an American hero. And he looks like the barista in my coffee shop. I'm going to have to thank him the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the slaves the the the the to the to to to to the to be to be coffee shop. I'm going to have to thank him next time I order a Machiato. And freeing the slaves in Texas was especially important because although Texas was the last state to be emancipated, it had a ton of slaves. It was blacker than a family reunion in Wakanda.

That's because during the war, a lot of slave owners shipped their slaves to Texas for state keeping, knowing union troops couldn't reach that far. They were basically treating Texas like the couch cushions you hide your weed in when the cops come. Officer, I didn't know. I got this couch on Greg's list. It came with the weed. Of course, even though we celebrate Juneteenth as the end of slavery, it took many more months and a military occupation to actually enforce it. Because it's one th th th the the thi thi thi thi th thi th th th th th th th their their their their their th their thi th their thi thi the the the their to to to their their to their to to to to to 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 the. te. te. te. teasease. teaseasease. tease. tease. teasease. te. te. te. te. te. te. their took many more months and a military occupation to actually enforce it. Because it's one thing to tell people they can't have slaves, is another thing to go door to door like, hey, you paying these guys? Because if not, this better be a big ass sleepover. And all this still didn't free slaves in Union territories. That didn't happen until the 13th Amendment.

Yeah, that's right. There were union states with slaves. Imagine, living in New Jersey and being a slave, that's one human rights violation on top of another. Either way, black people in Texas recognized June 19th as the day they were liberated. They organized the first celebration of Juneteen, then over time it spread as black people migrated, and today is celebrated by black folks around the country. Juneteen celebrations have evolved and become a real way to pay homage to those who came before us. It is a representation of our freedom where we can all come together on one street,

close down the city to represent the culture. You see, that's why Juneteenth is my favorite Independence Day. It goes Juneteenth, Independence Day with Will Smith, then the 4th of July. I'm not a fan of fireworks. Sounds like someone's doing a drive-by on the sky. So if you ask me, we should make Juneteen a national holiday because everybody, everybody should celebrate the end of slavery, the beginning of freedom for black people, and the long march toward America's founding ideals. Also, we get the day off. I don't want to be stuck in an office in

June. Kevin keeps heating up fish in a microwave because he's a pescatarian and then he keeps cooking all these eggs. Today is a really special day in African American history. And to learn more about it, we turn to Roywood Jr. in another episode of CP Time. Welcome to CP Time. The only show that's for the culture. The month of June is a special time in America. It's the start of summer. It's the time allergies wreak havoc on our sinuses. And it's the month my hyperactive child is out of school and back in the house all day. The whole point of having kids is for them time allergies wreak havoc on our sinuses. And it's the month my hyperactive child is out of school and back in the house all day.

The whole point of having kids is for them to be somewhere else. If I knew my son was going to be around as much, I wouldn't have had them. June is also a special month for black people because it marks the holiday Junteenth, the holiday, Juneteenth, celebrating when slavery ended on June 19, 1865. Now many people think slavery was ended in 1863 by everyone's favorite exhausted magician Abraham Lincoln. But many slaves weren't actually freed until two and a half years later. Proving that even black people's freedom runs on CP time. So in celebration of Juneteenth, I'd like to talk about some of the slaves who celebrated their freedom early by escaping from slavery on their own.

Slaves like Henry Box Brown, a Virginia slave who snuck inside of a wooden crate and shipped himself to Philadelphia where he could live as a free man. The trip took 27 grueling hours. It could have been same day, but Box Brown couldn't afford Amazon Prime. Luckily, Henry arrived safely in Philadelphia and turned his story into a stage act. Every night, Henry would climb into that same wooden crate to reenact the arduous journey that carried him to freedom, which was brave of him. I don't know if I could relive a traumatic experience like that over and over again. And I've had bad experiences with packages.

Back in the day, I used to work for a moving company. One time I moved all of a customer's possessions to the wrong apartment. My customer thought I was a thief, and the people in the apartment thought I was a reverse burglar. Everyone was equally upset. Another slave who took his freedom into his own hands was Louis Williams. He actually escaped slavery not once, but twice. After his first escape, he was caught and brought to trial, but he got a look-alike to switch places with him in the courtroom. And by the time the courts realized what had happened, Lewis had escaped again. Although that look-alike was probably just a random black guy

for being real about it, because Lewis knew that those white folks couldn't tell black people apart. Just the other day, I was mistaken for Forrest Whitaker, which would normally be flattering. But unfortunately, Mr. Whitaker owed this gentleman a substantial amount of money. He won't my ass, Forrest. You owe me. But maybe the most heartwarming escape is that of William and Ellen Craft, two slaves who got married and decided to run away. Because Ellen had light skin, they hatched a plan where she dressed in men's clothing, wrapped her head in bandages, and posed as an injured white man.

William then posed as her servant and the two boarded a train north. Now being on a train full of white man must have been scary, but I can only assume that Ellen practiced her white man small talk. Well yes, fellow white person, I too am afraid of the sun. Sunblock, some block, some block, SPF, UV, some block, some block. So the next time June 19th comes, remember these stories of heroic slaves, which I plan to do with the Juneteenth celebration in Bloomington, Indiana this evening.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get that fast and airfare is ridiculous. But thankfully, Box Brown is an innovator. I'm Roywood Jr. This has been CP time. And remember, before the culture. Somebody come push me to the post office. Just need to get me a couple of snaps and some audit trip dip and some pretzels. I'll be on my way, yes?

And, um. Thank you very much, my friend. This is a task. to the daily social distancing show. Thank you very much, my friend. This has been quite the Daily Social Distancing Show. Thank you. And happy social distancing to you. Thank you very much, my friend. This has been quite the year for many human beings, arguably the worst year for many, and for some,

a year that many people have written off. Forrell Williams isn't one of those people. You've said, I know it's 2020. I'm going to stay at home as much as I can, but I'm the tham, but I'm tham, but I'm tham, but I'm the th, but I'm thu as tho, but I'm the thu an thi, but I'm the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the thi, the the thi, the going to still do things and do things you have. You have a new skinline, you have a new podcast and a podcast network. You've also got new music that you're working on, and I think, and then we've got some initiatives that are probably going to change the face of how corporate America works. So let's start with the most important one, Riana's new album. I know everyone's waiting for the vaccine vaccine but the other half of the country's waiting for Riana's new album. What can you tell us about it? There's nothing I could say.

Damn it, Farrell, I knew you're going to say that to me. This interview is over. No, man, because this funny because once they, once, once like, I get asked this question, then I feel like the other interviews that follow, they'll ask for more details of... I feel you. I'm just so not at liberty to say, but man, I can tell you that she's making some amazing music,

and we're incredibly honored to be a part of that conversation. Something I've always admired about you as a person, is that like, when you you speak to be heard and most of the time I find you listening. Tell me what Farrell is doing in the podcast space. Why did you choose to jump into it and what is the new network going to be about? So we started out with Apple some years back and just took a little break from it. And when we came back, man, there's so many their their their their their their, their, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be, I, to to be a to be a their, to be a to be a little, to be a little, to be a little, their, their, to be, to be, 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, thi., thi., today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, their, the., their, the, it was like, man, there are so many other ideas that I can't do or be on. And I'm not, you know, quite frankly, not the right person for these things. I just wanted to like enlist really big personalities that could tell big and great stories for the network.

And then the reason why we're back at it with other toeaton for the show is, man, I've th. I I as crash courses into these other people's lives. So I don't want to have somebody on that I can't learn something from. Howard Stern's a genius. That's why he does what he does. Right, right. It's like the best, right? But for me, I use them as an opportunity in the platform for me to just, for me to go to college, you know, in that person's universe. Truly one of the most impressive initiatives that I've seen Farrell Williams working on,

and I know you worked on this for a while, was your program to reward and inspire black excellence. Talk me through what this initiative is and how you're hoping to inspire black and brown kids and young adults to become the leaders and the visionaries of tomorrow. In a nutshell, we don't have enough of a voice in our country because we don't own enough.

You know, and our dollar, our currency, the African American and African diaspora dollars, why? Because we don't own enough businesses to keep our money. our dollar, our currency, the African-American and African diaspora dollar, stays in its community for six hours. Why? Because we don't own enough businesses to keep our money and currency circulating, right? So it's our theory that if we can find a way to galvanize as many black entrepreneurs as possible, then all of a sudden the community, you know, has proportionate access to education, proportionate access to health care, and proportionate

access to representation and legislation. And so we felt like the best way to get that going was to launch these prizes with historic black colleges and universities, HBCUs. You know, we are less than 13% you know in this country and we're north of 30 million. But our influence, you would think we were half this country, you know what I'm saying? Right. Well, when we start to have more ownership, we have more of a voice, and then we have more of the American pie chart, and that's literally what we want to do with black ambition. I'm like, super excited because, because, man, these, these, these, these, these, these, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and, thi, and, thi, thi, and, and, th American pie, the pie chart. And that's literally what we want to do with black ambition. I'm like super excited because man these are the HBCUs. They need to be lifted.

And I don't feel like the schools get the love and appreciation. The institutions, the black institutions don't get that love. Well here's an opportunity for us to give them some limelight and in his partnership. There's also, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful movements that you've been spearheading, which has been the Juneteenth Pledge, where you've said, as black Americans, for many, many, many decades, people have said, hey guys, why is Juneteenth not celebrated as a day when we can say that unanimously black people in this country received their freedom and some critics have obviously said well You've got fourth of July and it's like yeah, but for for everyone to be free You kicked off the Juneteen's pledge and you you realize something really smart you said look you may not get the government to initiate it

But most people work for a company and so companies can make this a public holiday that is paid. How much progress have you made and why do you think it's so important to do this? Everything boils down to what we're buying, especially if COVID has not taught us anything beyond the fact that we haven't been selfless enough with each other and wearing our mask. It's also taught us that people are buying. You know what I'm saying? And before, we have been more of a consumer base than anything else. And I think the smart companies are recognizing that. They know that the consumer base is paying attention,

and they have opinions, and they vote, and they activate, if you will, with their dollar. So to see these companies come on and and just jump in like that, that's just been great. I want to just tell you some of the people who have taken the pledge as Adidas, Nike, Levi's Target. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Walmart is coming. I'll say that right now. Come on Walmart. Come on Walmart. It's important that the big behemoths, you know, get involved. Right.

And I remember when we spoke about this a while ago, you were like, you're, ma'am. We've got to get your people involved. And I'm excited. We've been keeping it under wraps for a while. I was waiting for you to come on the show. But Viacom CBS, our parent company, so everything from Nickelodeon through to MTV, they're joining in.

They've signed this pledge as to the that we can get as many of these corporations together so that everyone in the country at some point goes like, all right, man, this is the day when we celebrate the promise of freedom that was denied from so many for so long. So yeah. Absolutely. And you guys, if don't have to be a big behemoth like what Trevor and I are talking about because we want all the big guys too. But the small businesses, man, this is the thing is is that I love Fourth of July.

I do. Red, white and blue, you know, burgers, like, you're chips. Like, who doesn't love that? Fireworks. It's great. But my ancestors fought in that war when they were not free. You know, and they fought in that war willingly. Like, they wanted their, what should have just simply been their white brothers and sisters, but it was their masters at the time, for the most part. They wanted them, they wanted to see them have their independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence independence their independence their independence their independence their independence their independence to have to have to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their war war war war, their war, their war, their war, their war, their war, their their to to the, they wanted to see them have their independence. And like, the thing is, if, if Juneteenth is the official day when all Americans were free, and shout to our, you know, First Nations brothers and sisters, because they haven't been treated so well. But Juneteenth is pretty much when everybody was supposed to be free.

So I feel like it's something that all Americans should be celebrating, right? You know, because by the way, we were set free in 1863, but, you know, they didn't choose to acknowledge it until 1865. So you got to understand that, that is a, it was long overdue then and it's long overdue now. I feel you there, ma'am. Farah Williams, congratulations on everything that you are doing. Until I chat to you again, my friend. Look off to yourself. Stay grateful. Thank you so much for everything, man. Everything that you're doing. It's awesome. I appreciate you, my dude. Explore more shows from the Daily Show from the Daily Show podcast universe

by searching the Daily Show, where you get your podcast. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.