Much has been written about the recent cluster of police shootings in the United States, and even more will be now that five officers have been shot dead at a protest in Dallas. Once again, the nation has had to face its deep racial divisions and a troubled police force.
Emphasis on ‘the nation’. Social media has provided a platform for every voice to vie for attention, where a select few broadcasters once had the power to partake in national socio-political conversations. You needn’t look further than the #SayHisName hashtag to see public sentiment on the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Still, a few mainstays of popular political discourse have had their say on the matter, including The Daily Show.
It may have taken Trevor Noah a lil’ while to settle into the gig post-Jon Stewart, but his most recent take on the States’ police brutality is pretty bloody sharp. In a fired-up segment, the bloke even manages to draw an apt comparison between the leniency shown to police departments and the aftermath of gorilla Harambe’s death:
“Think of the most racist thing that people can call black people. They call them monkeys, baboons, gorillas.
And yet, when people watched the video of an actual gorilla being shot for dragging a child, not only was there more outrage for the gorilla, the organisation responsible for killing the gorilla admitted there were systemic problems that needed to be fixed.
That’s for a fucking gorilla. They’re making changes for a gorilla. One gorilla. One! It’s a truth, I shouldn’t even be afraid to say it, America has a problem within its police force.”
Ladies and gents, it’s highly unlikely you’ll hear a more salient point regarding the issue of police brutality and incompetence that also references a memed-to-death primate. Watch:
Trevor responds to the recent spate of police killings. https://t.co/8RB1p5klochttps://t.co/v4stixiWxx
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 8, 2016
Source: Comedy Central.
Photo: Comedy Central / Twitter.
