Jon Stewart on Eric Garner Case: “We’re Not Living in a Post-Racial Society”

An uncharacteristically sober Jon Stewart struggled to find any comedic spin to put on the news that the police officer who killed Eric Garner using a choke hold would not be indicted.

“I honestly don’t know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more f—king time,” Stewart said. “I would settle for less tragedy than comedy, honestly.” 

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He showed footage of Garner taken just before his death to illustrate that the idea of having police officers wear cameras might not do much good, since we had footage of the incident in this case, and no charges were brought.

“We are definitely not living in a post-racial society. And I bet there are a lot of people out there wondering how much of a society we are living in at all,” Stewart said. “I don’t know what to say. It just happened, so I have not had a chance to digest it.”

New York Police Department officer Daniel Pantaleo killed Garner during an attempted arrest in July. Garner repeatedly said that he could not breathe as Pantaleo continued to hold him in a choke hold. 

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Stewart ended the discussion of the Garner case by simply screaming “F—k!” Wrath-of-Khan style while raising his arms in the air in frustration.

The Daily Show was off the air last week when the news that the Ferguson police officer who killed Michael Brown was not indicted. Stewart managed to find a little humor while talking about that case by riffing on the petty fights that had erupted in the media in the week since. 

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