In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, there have been a lot of pained reactions, but last week one of them gained more traction than the others.
BARACK OBAMA (7/19/2013): Trayvon Martin could've been me 35 years ago. ... There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race. I haven't seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations. ... On the other hand, in families and churches and workplaces, there's the possibility that people are a little bit more honest.
Sure, there's also the possibility that Britain will sink, everyone will die, and I will be the next boy-king! But OK, if it's a conversation about race you want, it's a conversation about race you'll have. We have Senior Black Correspondent Larry Wilmore with us. Larry. Let's do it. Let's have a conversation about race.
LARRY WILMORE: Fuck you, Oliver.
JOHN OLIVER: Whoa! Larry! Whoa!
LARRY WILMORE: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you invited me here to have a conversation about race.
JOHN OLIVER: Yeah. That's how you have a conversation about race, is it?
LARRY WILMORE: John, that's how everyone has a conversation about race. I mean, haven't you been listening since the President's speech?
TUCKER CARLSON (7/21/2013): America's first black president, coming out in public, and basically calling America racist.
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON (7/15/2013): You know how you felt on 9/11? Yeah, that's how we feel when it comes to race.
MONICA CROWLEY (7/22/2013): The so-called black leaders in this country are running a cult of victimhood.
REV. JESSE LEE PETERSON (7/22/2013): These folks are going to be angry about one thug getting killed.
CORNEL WEST (7/22/2013): President Obama is a global George Zimmerman.
BILL O'REILLY (7/22/2013): White people don't force black people to have babies out of wedlock.
LARRY WILMORE: True...? Just like no one's forcing Bill O'Reilly to be such an asshole. (wild audience cheering and applause) It's true.
JOHN OLIVER: That's technically true.
LARRY WILMORE: I guess my point, John, we can't have a conversation when we're not even on the same page. Or even in the same book!
JOHN OLIVER: True. Or even in the same library, no?
LARRY WILMORE: You're not supposed to talk in the library, John. Or maybe that's how they do it in the white libraries.
JOHN OLIVER: Oh. Really, Larry? You think the white libraries will be noisier than the black libraries.
LARRY WILMORE: You're right, John, I stand corrected. We talk a lot. Yeah. Look, the point is, white and black people view the racial problem in totally different ways. So let's have the conversation, but start with looking at some numbers.
JOHN OLIVER: Oh good. That's a good idea, actually, because words are dangerous, whereas numbers, of course, aren't racist.
LARRY WILMORE: Well, whole numbers might not be racist. Fractions are. (audience laughter leading into applause)
JOHN OLIVER: What do you mean? Really?
LARRY WILMORE: 3/5s, John.
JOHN OLIVER: 3/5s, 3/5s. That is a pretty fucking racist fraction right there.
LARRY WILMORE: It is, very. All right, consider this. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, a majority of whites see America as colorblind, whereas a majority of blacks see white people as crazy.
JOHN OLIVER: How can that discrepancy be there?
LARRY WILMORE: John, because white people tend to look at race relations through rose-colored glasses. And black people resent the use of the word "colored" in that last sentence.
JOHN OLIVER: But, with such different perspectives, no wonder we see the Zimmerman verdict differently.
LARRY WILMORE: Yeah. Again it comes back to numbers. White people see this as one trial. Black people see it as yet another one.
JOHN OLIVER: Right, and that's why half the country thinks this verdict was about race, and half thinks it had nothing to do with it.
LARRY WILMORE: I don't think it's about race.
JOHN OLIVER: Wait, hold on. Which half are you in?
LARRY WILMORE: The third half. John, the real outrage of the Trayvon Martin case is that an adult shot and killed a child, and there were no consequences. Look, we don't know for sure what made George Zimmerman shoot an unarmed teenager. Maybe it was the racism in his head, maybe it was the laws in his state. But it was definitely the gun in his hand.
JOHN OLIVER: So, we should be having a conversation about guns, then.
LARRY WILMORE: Fuck you, Oliver! Oh sorry, that's generally how these conversations start.
JOHN OLIVER: Thank you, Larry. Larry Wilmore everyone, we'll be right back.
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