Justice

Jon Stewart's Opening Monologue on Eric Garner Was Pretty Damn Powerful Last Night

December 4th 2014

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart admitted he couldn't even make the Eric Garner decision funny last night, unlike some of the fallout from Ferguson, which gave him moments for sarcasm.

He broke his comedian character, lamenting "I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more f**king time. But I would really settle for less tragedy to be really f**king honest with you.”

Garner was suffocated to death while being subdued by police on a sidewalk in Staten Island for selling cigarettes. The graphic video of his death was captured on tape by a bystander at the scene and went viral shortly after its release.

"You know what I think is so utterly depressing is that none of the ambiguities that exist in the Ferguson case exist in the Staten Island case. Yet the outcome is exactly the same. No crime, no trial, all harm, no foul." 

Recently, President Obama asked Congress for $263 million in funding for police body cameras. The program would last for three years and would provide localities with half of the funds to purchase the equipment. This would equip America's police officers with 50,000 additional body cameras, nearly doubling the current number. While body cameras would be a step in the right direction for those who are demanding more police accountability, the Garner case makes it clear they are not a cure-all. Garner's death was caught on tape and provoked national outrage, yet there will be no criminal charges

"We are definitely not living in a post racial society, and I can imagine there are a lot of people out there wondering how much a society we are living in at all," concluded Stewart solemnly. 

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