- Video
- Image
Jon Stewart to Eric Garner: You Think pain and grief are hard to digest 0:23
- Play video
Jon Stewart opened Wednesday nights Daily Show dropping the comedy to tackle the utterly depressing non-indictment in the Eric Garner case. Courtesy The Daily Show/Comedy Channel.
- news.com.au
- 05 Dec 2014
- News
THE DAILY SHOW host Jon Stewart has spoken honestly about the recent racial tensions in America Source: Supplied
Jon Stewart has reacted to a grand jury’s decision not to indict the New York police officer who held an unarmed man, Eric Garner, in a choke hold that led to his death.
Stewart is baffled, and angry.
“I don’t know, I honestly don’t know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more f**ing time. But I would really settle for less f**ing tragedy to be honest with you, “ he said on his show.
MORE: Eric Garner not indicted
Stewart called out apparent injustices he thought were present in the Garner case.
“You know what I think is so utterly depressing, is that none of the ambiguities that existed in the Ferguson case exist in the Staten Island case and yet the outcome is exactly the same.”
The New York City grand jury let off Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks during a press conference next to Civil Rights Leaders at National Action Network in Harlem following a grand jury decision not to indict a New York City police officer in the death of Eric Garner. Photo: Source: AFP
The decision added to tensions that have simmered in the city since the death of Garner — a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Missouri.
FERGUSON: Cop Darren Wilson will not be charged over shooting of Michael Brown
One of the main factors that differed in the cases was a video shot by an onlooker, and widely viewed on the internet, showing the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him. That point was not lost on Stewart.
Eric Garner tragically choked to death by NYPD Officer 1:44
- Play video
WARNING: Graphic Content. In this horrific vision captured by a witness, New York local Eric Garner is choked to death by an NYPD Officer
- news.com.au
- 04 Dec 2014
- News/World
“Here there is none of that, the coroner called it homicide, the guy’s not acting threatening and we know that not through witness testimony, not through unreliable bystanders but because we are f*cking watching it, someone taped it,” he said.
That view is shared by many others, including comedian Chris Rock.
This one was on film. http://t.co/Zm7DKL09ok
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) December 3, 2014 Stewart ended the segment by stating he still had not had a chance to process the news, but made a powerful statement calling out American racism.
“Damn, we are definitely not living in a post racist society, and I can imagine there are a lot of people wondering how much of a society we are living in at all.”
