Jon Stewart Adds 1 More Thing To The List Of Innocent Things Black People Do That Look Suspicious
A volunteer tries to get out the vote — literally furthering democracy! — and police try to paint him as a gang member. "Pointergate" is just the pettiest episode of an extremely serious and ongoing race issue in America.
How did a get-out-the-vote volunteer get mistaken for a gang member, and a mayor called a gangbanger?
We can break it down into three easy steps:
Step 1: Someone speaks truth to power
First, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges speaks out against instances where bad cops within the department have broken community trust in the police as a whole.
Step 2: People try to make a difference
Before the election, Hodges joins a volunteer get-out-the-vote effort and poses with a volunteer, a young black man.
You can literally watch them figuring out how they should pose for the picture together.
Step 3: Ridiculous revenge plot time
The local news team and the police then put this on television with a super-racist spin for maximum damage and revenge. Too crazy to be true?
But that sure is what it looks like.
So poor Jon Stewart has to dust off his list of Innocent Things Black People Do That Look Suspicious.
And he had to add this to the end of it:
He tells the whole story in classic "Daily Show" fashion here: