After making a powerful statement on the lack of an indictment in Eric Garner’s death Wednesday night, Jon Stewart returned to his usual tricks on Thursday, savaging the hacks on the wrong side of the issue.
While NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo escaped charges, Stewart had a field day with the fact that Ramsey Orta, the man who captured Garner’s death on video, was indicted on gun charges—charges Orta says were “falsely mounted” by police because he filmed the altercation between Pantaleo and Garner. Stewart, predictably, found that hilarious.
As politicians, so-called experts, and talking heads on cable news tried to justify Garner’s death, including by saying that the chokehold wasn’t really a chokehold, Stewart did what he does best: call them all out for their utter absurdity.
“Maybe that’s just how much racial progress America has made,” he said. “You know, it used to be black people were only three-fifths of a person. Now they’re like six.”
If Garner’s death wasn’t the product of a justice system “applied unequally and with prejudice,” then Stewart doesn’t know what to call it.
Screengrab via The Daily Show