Trevor Noah hears you about all these individual “bad apples” in law enforcement, but he wants to know where all the “good apples” are.
“I’ve been watching these police encounters that have been all over the news over the past few days,” he said.
Noah said he “had one question nagging” him: “Where are the good apples?”
OK, fair question.
“Because we’re told time and time again that these incidents that Black Americans are experiencing are because of ‘bad apples,’” he continued. “Right? There are ‘bad apples’ in these police departments who are doing these things. They use chokeholds that are not allowed, they use excessive force, they’re violent in their words and their actions with the people they are meant to be protecting and serving. ‘These are bad apples, we’ve got to root them out of the force.’”
“If we’re meant to believe that the police system in America, the system of policing itself, is not fundamentally broken — then we would need to see good apples,” Noah said. “And by the way, I’m not saying there are no good policemen, don’t get me wrong. I’m asking where the good apples are. And why I mean by that is, where are the cops that are stopping the cop from putting their knee on George Floyd’s neck?”
“There’s not one cop on that scene,” he said. “There’s one cop that’s on trial, but there’s not one cop at that scene.”
Noah had other examples beyond George Floyd’s final moment.
Watch the video above.
The “Daily Show” host’s conclusion was that “the system is more power than any individual.”
“The system in policing is doing exactly what it’s meant to do in America,” Noah said. “And that is to keep poor people in their place.”
This all, by the way, went down before Wednesday’s actual “Daily Show.” Below, you can watch a very related segment from the actual Comedy Central episode.