Durban – South African comedian and host of the US talk show, The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, has called out American police following the arrest of a 17-year-old allegedly responsible for the deaths of two people during protests in the wake of the shooting of Kenosha man, Jacob Blake.
Blake was shot several times and according to reports, is now paralysed from the waist down after an altercation with police at the weekend.
In a video that has been shared thousands of times on various social media platforms, police are seen walking behind Blake as he walks towards a vehicle. As he is reaching into the vehicle, he is shot from behind at least seven times.
Riots have broken out in the US after the video went viral.
According to the Washington Post, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was then arrested and charged with homicide after two people were killed in a round of demonstrations. Washington Post stated that “the shooting came as self-declared militia members and armed counter-protesters have appeared in the city, which is reeling from days of unrest.”
Taking to The Daily Show’s social media, Noah slammed police for how they handled the teenager’s arrest.
Noah goes on to compare incidents in the past and the glaring differences in how police treat black and white suspects.
Why do the police decide that some threats must be extinguished, while other threats get defused? We know the answer. pic.twitter.com/3GpyT8zEhf
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) August 27, 2020
“While what happened with those shootings last night is tragic, what happened afterward is illuminating because it made me wonder, it really made me wonder why some people get shot seven times in the back while other people are treated like human beings and reasoned with and taken into custody with no bullets in their bodies.
How come Jacob Blake was seen as a threat for a theoretical gun that he might have and might try to commit a crime with, but this gunman who was armed and who had already shot people, who had shown that he is a threat, was arrested the next day, given full due process of the law and generally treated like a human being whose life matters?
“How did Dylan Roof shoot up a church, James Holmes shoot up a movie theater, and both live to tell about it? Why is it that the police decide some threats must be distinguished immediately, while other threats get the privilege of being defused?
“I’m asking these as questions but I feel like we know the answer. The answer is that the gun doesn’t matter as much as who’s holding the gun, because for some people black skin is the most threatening weapon of all.”
Rittenhouse has been charged with first degree intentional homicide. It is unclear if he was being charged for one or both of the shootings.
IOL
