The Daily Show: Ears Edition - White Supremacy in America Compilation

Episode Date: April 4, 2021

The Daily Show explores the ever-present and growing problem of white supremacy in the U.S., featuring interviews with W. Kamau Bell, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ijeoma Oluo and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th. One of the main questions many people may have, and you see this unfortunately all too often,

is people saying, why do you have to keep trudging this up? Can't we just move on? It's been 400 years now, can't we just move on? Can't we just move on? theyres, what do you hope? What do you to the conversation? What do you try? to be, they go, Nicole, I'm white and I have nothing to do with this and I don't know what you want me to do.

What would you hope people take away? That's a great question. Let me just say, for the record, nobody wants to get over slavery more than black folks. It's not. It's not. Haasherty to benefit, right? The fact that our nation can't get over slavery is not benefited black people for a single day. But that's the problem. We've never dealt with the harm that was done.

I'm 43 years old and my father was born into a Mississippi where black people couldn't use public facilities. That was all perfectly legal. We're not far removed from this past at all. And there's never been any effort to redress that harm that what I hope that people will take from the magazine, every single story in the magazine starts with America today and shows how these things about American life that you think are unrelated to slavery actually are.

I hope by confronting that truth, maybe we can finally start to repair the harm that was done and then finally start to live up to be the country of our ideals. There's been so much talk about history and heritage. People talking about monuments in America, people talking about the history of America, but in many ways, Brian, you would argue that the history people wish to remember of America is not really the full story. What is your project about? Well, it's about confronting the fact

that we're not really free in America. I think we're burdened by a history of racial inequality that we have not addressed. And it's become like smog in the air, and we all breathe it in. And it doesn't take much to expose these conflicts and tensions. And so we're trying trying trying trying trying to to to to to to to to to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change to change 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. th. th. th. th. I I I an an an an th. th. th. th. th. theanan. thean. thean. thean. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. try. thau. thau. thau. thau. to toean. to to to to We want to talk about some things that haven't been talked about. I think we need to talk about the fact that we're a post-genocide society. Before white settlers came to this continent, there were millions of native people who

were slaughtered through famine and war and disease, but we didn't call it a genocide. We said those people arelavement and for me the great evil of American slavery wasn't involuntary servitude it wasn't forced labor it was this ideology of white supremacy this idea that black people aren't like white people and we never really addressed that if you read the 13th amendment it talks about dealing with involuntary servitude in forced labor but it doesn't talk about ending this ideology of white supremacy. And because of that, I don't think slavery ended in 1865. I think it evolved.

And it turned into decades of terrace of their teaerism and violence. We don't understand that history, and that's why we started this project. Between the end of the Civil War and They were burned alive. They were hanged. They were brutalized. We're not interested in talking about this history because we want to punish America. I think we want to liberate America. We want to get us to the place where we can actually look at one another without this narrative of racial difference, this ideology of white supremacy, In many ways you argue that Obama's presidency and black leadership in any way, shape or

form is in some way contributing to white supremacy, which is a very complicated argument. What do you mean when you say that in the book? I wouldn't quite put it. I would say, it's not, you know, I don't think Obama did anything but be a human being and, you know, going to the office and just happen to be somebody to check black on the census form. It's the reaction to that, right? It's always the reaction to the ordinaryness, to the bourgeoisness, to the middle classness of normal everyday black people and how well that accords with what this country claims the supposions of white............. So, threat because it automatically undermines the suppositions of white supremacy which says that black people you know don't take care of their kids black people you know are you know always you

killing each other and then up and jail like there's a kind of moral judgment that can always be made on black people. This goes back to you know justifications to slavery and black folks who present themselves, you know, in a particular way as undermining that, you know, it's always a threat to the thinking about white superiors. I think that's why folks were so offended by Obama. And I think that contributed to the birtherism, you know, all the sort of weird conspiracy theories that, you know, sprung up around them. The KKKKK Grand Wizard Emeritus, David Duke, told, told, 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, thi, thi, that, thi, thi, thi, that, that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that, that, that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th, th. th. th. thi. thi. thin, thin, thin, thin, threat. thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, that's that's thin, David Duke, he told his followers to vote for Donald Trump. And Donald Trump was coy about disavowing Duke's support, right?

So by the way, this is David Duke over here, this guy here. Yeah, this is him sporting his casual look. Yeah, it's just like, no hood, please, Mr. Wizard was my father. My friends call me grand. Now, obviously a Grand Wizard of the KKK praising the Republican frontrunner is going to stir up a lot of emotion, and we saw that on CNN as a Trump supporter and a Democrat faced off as the Super Tuesday results were coming in. Racial tensions, front and center in this year's race.

Two of our commentators get into a fiery debate on the issue. Commentators, Jeffrey Lord, and Van Jones got into this heated debate over Donald Trump and the KKK. When he is playing funny with the Klan, that is not cool. This is what liberals do, you were dividing people by race. The Klan killed people by race and he had the opportunity and he did it. They did it to further the progressive agenda. What the fuck? What the fuck? Why are you you you? You you you you you you you you you you the the the the th you have you have you have you have you have you have you have you have the the th th the th th th th th th th. You have the the th. You have the the the the th. You have the the the thi. You have thi thi th. You their th. You their their th. You their 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. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the the the. the the the the. the. the. th did it they did it to further the progressive agenda. What the fuck? Why were you so afraid of what he was saying and why why are you so afraid of the rhetoric that's being

perpetuated? Well I think that America needs to wake the hell up. Wake the hell up! This is real. This is a real thing. I think you've had people, everybody says, you know, the Republicans or the establishment, like why didn't they take Trump more seriously? Yeah. The whole society is making the same exact mistake. I think we have the rise of a right-wing, authoritarian movement,

and I think this guy is likely to become President of the United States if we don't put screwing around. White nationalists descending on Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee. In Charlottesville, Virginia, where protests are turning violence. At least one person is dead after a car, plowed into a group of counter-protesters. President Trump turns an infrastructure event into a rambling rant, blaming both sides for the violence.

You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either. First of all, a racist neo-Nazi killed a peacefully protesting woman with his car. Then the president of the United States defended the neo-Nazis who that dude was marching with.

And this is the thing, it's not once, but twice. Like, Donald Trump said it. Then three days later, he came back and said, hey, hey, you know how I said that Nazi-defeating thing? Well, I just realized that I messed up. I didn't defend them enough. Yeah, my support was here and I was trying to get it here. Yeah. And I'm not going to lie, I don't know about you, but it seemed for a moment that, okay,

this was it. This was clearly not what presidents do. You know, after tragic national events, a leader, even a mediocre leader says the things to unite the country, to calm the tensions, not inflame them, and especially not express sympathy for Nazi sympathizers. But today in America, we're not even at that point. Seven months into his term, 41 months to go, by the way, and the President of the United States has officially legitimized white supremacists, basically saying, we need to see things from the Nazi's point of view, you know, march a mile in their boots. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change.

Like none of this stuff gets looked at that's what's the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their. their. It's incredible their. It's incredible. It's incredible. their. the's thea. thoes. thoes. thoes. thease. thoesk. thoesk. thoesk. thoesk. thoes. toease. toease. toease. toease. thoes. their. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. Very. toe. It. It. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's to. It's to. It's to. It's to. It's to. It's toe. It's t. It's t. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. So. So. It's. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. So. It's t. It's th. It's that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at that's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we've seen in Portland? I'm willing to do anything I want to see peace. Do it, say it. Do it. Say it. Do you want to call them? What do you want to call him? Give me a name? White supremacists ss to to the to the to the to the to to the to the the to the the to to the thoo- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s. tho-s. tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho-s tho-s tho-s. thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-s. to to call him, what do you want to call him? Give me a name, give me a white supremacists and right pro-provences and right-proud boys, stand back and stand by, but I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got

to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. Wow, there you have it, folks. Trump had an opportunity to be like, white-I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to opportunity to be like, white supremacists, I don't fuck with you. Instead, he's like, stand by guys, I never know when I'm going to need you. Telling white supremacists to stand down and telling them to stand by are not the same thing. That one little word makes a huge difference. Like the difference between a blowout and a blow job. Do not ask for the wrong one at Supercuts.

Again, to the staff at Supercuts, I apologize. I hadn't slept and I didn't read the menu properly. And even for that non-condemnation, Trump had to be dragged into it. Like, no president should ever have to be pressured this hard into condemning white supremacists. It's the easiest thing. Trump did it so grudgingly, he was like one of those guys who refuses to make real apologies. What, I'm supposed to apologize for tailgating at your dad's funeral?

Fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you're unable to have a good time. Some of us are still living. And by the way, You know that you've truly botched your condemnation of a hate group when that hate group says, Thank you for the endorsements. The proud boy is a far-right extremist group immediately celebrating the president's comments on social media.

They went nuts on social media celebrating. They put out those words as a rallying cry. Stand back, by. Within minutes, the group's members were posting on private social media, calling Trump's comments, quote, historic. The New York Times reports that some group members labeled it as a tacit endorsement of their violent tactics, while another posted the group was already seeing a spike in new recruits. Yes, thanks to Donald Trump's failed condemnation, this hate group is now seeing an increase in recruits. Yes, thanks to Donald Trump's failed condemnation,

this hate group is now seeing an increase in recruits, which means in the history of television, that might be one of the worst answers ever given. The proud boys liked Donald Trump's answer so much, that they're even adopting it as their new slogan. And that actually might piss off Trump, because the one thing he definitely believes in is getting royalties. Well, well, well, nobody should be advocating the supremacy

of the white man without giving Danny's cut. I don't know why at this point, people are still acting surprised when he refuses to denounce white supremacists. Because as you may remember, this is not exactly a new thing for him. I think there's blame on both sides. You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. Don't you see today white nationalism that a rising threat around the world?

I don't really. There are white supremacist groups and individuals like that who support you, some of whom you've even retweeted. Well, that I know nothing about. I mean, I don't know about retweeting. I mean, you retweet somebody who turns out to be a white supremacist. I know nothing about these groups that are supporting me. Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don't want his vote, or that of other white supremacists. You wouldn't want me to condemn a

group that I know nothing about. I have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. But you may have groups in there that are totally fine and it would be very unfair. So give me th me the list me me me me the list me the list me th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, th. thin, thin, thin, the, thin. the, the, thin, thin' thin' thin' thoom. thoom. thoom. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I, th. I, th. I th. I's th. I's th. I's th. I'm to. to. tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I'll let you know. Okay, I mean I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, but... I don't know, honestly, I don't know David Duke. I don't believe I've ever met him. I pretty sure I didn't meet him and I just don't know anything about him. Yeah, it's actually hard to keep track of all the times that Trump's truedusts truuuuuuuuu. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru-a. tru-I. tru-I. tru-I. tru, I tru-I. tru, I don't tru, I don't tru, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly tru-I tru-I tru-I the tru, honestly, honestly tru. tru. tru, honestly, honestly tru, honestly tru, honestly tru, honestly tru, honestly tru, honestly tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. tru. I tru-I tru-I tru-I tru-I tru-I tru-I thr-I thr-I thacists is paying taxes. So look, I get why his supporters want to act like Trump's proud boys moment last night was some kind of accidental or unintentional gaff. But if you see someone making the same mistake over and over again, well at some point

you have to accept that it's not a mistake, it's their belief. Let me ask you this. You, um, you talk to some people who, and, and, and, and, and, to to to to to to the show, the show, to the show, to the show, to their to their to their their to to to to their to to to to to toe, toe, toe, toe, their belief. Let me ask you this. You talk to some people who, without your show, I don't think you'd ever talk to you, you know, like whether it's like people who are in the clan, used to be in the clan, very racist, very homophobic, very anything, and I'm not going to lie. And I'm not going to lie. You seem to get along well with them as human beings. Like you seem to like, and you are very black as they are now, I mean like, you know what I'm saying? It's not like you're sneaking in. You're a black person.

When I sit down with a white. Exactly. You come in as a black man. They see you as a black man. And then you seem to get a huge. I'm huge. I'm 90, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, th....... th. th. th. th.. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. You know, you know, you, you, you, you, people post the show or has it just like, are you just like, do you get to know them as human beings or are they just cordial to you as Kamalbao as an individual and they're not now like cool with black people?

Yeah, I mean certainly it's not, I always say it's not American History X where I do laundry with them for an hour and then they come out and go man they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they th and go they they th and go th and they they th and they th and they they they the they they the the. they're the. the. the. the, the, the, the, are just the, are the, are th. the, are 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, to to the are to the are to the to to to to to the the to the to the the the be a racist anymore. It's not quite that easy, if only it was. But I do think people go, oh, this is not what I expected, I see this guy differently. It's not going to happen in one day or one conversation. The thing I understand about this whole racism discussion is that in the whole ending of racism, it's a long struggle and it takes time. But. But. But. But do the the whole the whole the whole th, but do tho thi. But do thi. But thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thin thi thin thin, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thin, I thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, I do thi, I do thi, I do thi, I do thi, I do thi, I do thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thin, I I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, I thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, theeeeeean, thin.. I thin. I the is thin, the istime. But do you think from your experience that some of it could be helped by the conversations or is that just like a hopeful mythical world that we sometimes dream of? I mean some of it can be helped by the conversation but if those people don't go into the voting booth and vote based on what they learned in the conversation, then it's just a conversation.

So I think sometimes we over prioritized the conversation. So I think sometimes we over-prioritize the conversation. Like, me and that race had a conversation. That felt good, but it's actually like about how people evolve over time. And I think that's, the conversation is a part of that. Your writing has, I mean, made a lot of people feel uncomfortable. A lot of white men, in particular uncomfortable. And that was before your current book, Mediocer, which is about the th – th – the th – the the th – the the th – th – the the th – the the th – the th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, 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, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is just, is just, is just, is just, is just, is just, is just, is just, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi.. It's, thi. It's, thi. It's, thi. It's, thi. It's, thi. It's, thi. It current book, Mediocar, which is about the dangers of white male mediocrity. Talk me through what that means. Absolutely.

So this was a book kind of written out of frustration. If you write on issues of race and gender in America, especially since 2016, you see all these think pieces. Why is Chad so angry? Why is this white man so upset? And what I wanted people to look at was the political structure behind the time that we're in. I want people to understand that this rise in like, you know, hate-filled, racist, violent, white-male, political ideology is by design. And so I want to people to look at that because we have to change how we act and what we value as a society if we th..... th. th. th. th. And th. And th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho, thi. thi. And, thi. tho, tho, the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their people to look at that because we have to change how we act and what we

value as a society if we want to solve this problem. So that's really what we're looking at is a history in America of how we have actually made it beneficial or at least seem beneficial to white men to act like the only definition of success is power over women and people of color and really what it's cost us over multiple generations. When you when you look at this conversation though I mean obviously there's so much resistance there are a lot of white men who are like I have nothing so thiaugh, some, there are a lot of white men who are like nothing so I have nothing so theat. So how do you

say that I have any of this medi, where is this white power that you are speaking of? How do you try, and if you even do try, explain that to white people in those situations? Because oftentimes I find that will be some of the base that is riled up where they're told you have this privilege and these positions, and they go, but I don't see it. Absolutely. And I think it's important to recognize, first and foremost, privilege is relative, right? So if you're standing, if you're an average, everyday white man standing a room with Oprah Winfrey, chances are, in many areas, she has more privilege than you, but if she is standing next to a white millionaire or billionaire, chances are she has less privilege. It's situational depending on

where you're at. But I think it's really important to recognize that white supremacy in this country is a pyramid scheme. So it's really the idea you play along and you will have more. You will have more than black people, more than women. Often it doesn't work out that way. And that's part of why we see the anger is that people bought into this system. They're playing along. They've been promised and they voted accordingly. They've spent their money accordingly, that their greatness is coming. And when it doesn't, who do they blame? Often people like me, people like you, because they've been told you're supposed to be better off. And so a lot of that anger that says, I don't have that, I don't have it,

ignores the fact that you weren't probably ever going to get it it to get it, but it And that becomes a political problem, and it becomes a part of the violence that often some white men end up supporting. There's no denying, as America becomes more and more diverse, the group of white men that we are talking about are going to become more and more resistant because they're going, oh, I'm losing my grip on, as you said, that promise of my place in America. So how do we get to a place where we invite people into the conversation without pandering but still invites people in and going like oh no hey this is for everybody's benefit it's not about you losing and me winning it's about everybody winning as opposed to

buying into the permit scheme. You know it's definitely something I talk about a bit in the book right the real harm that this actually does to white men the system being told that you know your pay their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to be. to be. their their to be. toe out out out out out out. told. told. told. told. told. told. told. told. told. told. toe out. I. I. I toe out. I toe. I toe. I 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. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I the th. I 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 theoeoeo. the. the. the. the. a bit in the book, right? The real harm that this actually does to white men, the system, being told that your payout coming in it never does, and the sense of failure that often accompanies white men when they've bought into this. But I think it's also really important to recognize that I personally am not writing to create kinder, gentler white men.

I'm writing because I am a black woman being harmed by this system and the way it works. But I do hear from white men who say, you know, you've named a thing I couldn't name. You've named a disappointment. A constant, you know, yearning for more that I couldn't name. But I don't expect that, you know, a white man who's angry and, you know, is completely a political opposite for me is going to pick up my book. But what I do the that people who know something's wrong are going to start looking at our values or systems and changing it. And then the white men who come up in these systems come up differently, right? The way in which the power that this violence has is lessened. And that's really what my goal is.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. thoo. to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple Podcasts starting September

17. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.