Steven Colbert: Take A Side, Mr. President: Nazis Or Not Nazis

Killer Mike Schools Stephen Colbert on Systemic Racism in America & How To End It

Rapper and activist Killer Mike of Run The Jewels stops by The Late Show to talk about racial justice, Bernie Sanders and formal sweats.



from: Ambrosia for Heads

On last night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Killer Mike (born Michael Render) dropped some knowledge on the state of race relations in this country, something he’s been doing for years through his music but which has only recently become something that mainstream media have begun to acknowledge. His visibility has grown exponentially thanks to the tremendous success of Run the Jewels, and his recent stint as guest speaker at an Atlanta, Georgia rally for Bernie Sanders was one of the most memorable Hip-Hop moments of 2015. Although his segment on last night’s show was only a few brief minutes, he managed to inundate audience members and a clearly appreciative Colbert of some very crystallized messages, and he held nothing back when it came to placing blame and calling for action.

After the general pleasantries about wardrobe and family, Colbert asked Render to comment on how the tragedies in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and North Charleston have changed anything in terms of the movement for racial justice and a national discourse. Before answering, Render pled that “White people who are watching, google Jane Elliott. She has an experiment called the blue eye/brown eye experiment. I encourage you all to just simply watch that, ’cause it’ll actually grow you.” He’s referring to an experiment in racism first conducted by former third-grade teacher Elliott in 1968, on the day following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. According to her website, the exercise “labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of being a minority.” Clearly, Render came into this interview armed with some serious heat, already schooling millions of Americans before even answering Colbert’s question.

However, Render quickly addresses the question at hand, saying “if White people are just now discovering that it’s bad for Black or working class people in America, they’re a lot more blind than I thought. And they’re a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought. The same problems that we’re discussing today we discussed in 1990, 1980, 1970, and 1960. And until we call a spade a spade and we say that this problem is coming from conditions that we’re creating or allowing to happen, as a White group of people who hold a certain amount of power…” Colbert then cuts in asking Render if he believes there is a systemic attempt in the United States to isolate poor and minority citizens and put them into communities that can be controlled. Render’s answer is immediate, as he briskly says “It’s not an attempt at all. It’s successful.” He goes on to support the statement with evidence, citing former Chicago mayor Richard Daley, who notoriously built highways in an effort to segregate his city. And the brain food does not stop there. Check out the rapid-fire education Render brought to the stage last night below.

Related: Killer Mike & Big Boi Are Helping Bring Hip-Hop’s First Amendment Rights to the Supreme Court (Audio)


Thanks Tristan!

Did you miss Henry Rollins on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert? here it is again!

Invoking blackface, conservative idiot whines that Stephen Colbert is racist towards conservatives!

from our friend Richard Metzger over at Dangerous Minds

 

I seldom write about political matters anymore on DM because there’s an assumption that if you hate Republicans then you must automatically be a Democrat and I got tired of offering the disclaimer that the only reason I would ever vote for a Democrat is to keep the Republican out of office. Not only that, once-reliable traffic-generators like “Glenn Beck says something OFF THE WALL (again)” or “Sarah Palin says something IDIOTIC (again)” don’t really bring in that much traffic anymore. Republicans are fucking idiots. If they weren’t, then they wouldn’t be Republicans. Most people who read this blog probably don’t need anyone, including me, explaining that to them. I prefer to ignore them.

Today, though, I’m making an exception for the #1 dumbest rightwing reaction to Stephen Colbert taking over for David Letterman. This is just too good.

Young Ben Shapiro was once the wimpy “boy wonder” to Andrew Breitbart’s blob-shaped crusader and he usually makes about as much sense as his blustery late mentor, except that no one takes him nearly as seriously. Lil’ Ben is now the editor of a silly blog called Truth Revolt that no one reads except for lefty bloggers who want to mock him. He’s written a new book called How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them and he’s proud of the fact that he was still a virgin on his wedding day.

Shapiro possesses pretty much the most punchable face I think I’ve ever seen. He fills me with visceral hatred. Which is kind of funny because in his latest Truth Revolt “think piece” Shapiro makes an inadvertently hilarious argument for the comedic genius, not to mention vital cultural importance of Stephen Colbert by complaining that:

“It is nearly impossible to watch an episode of The Colbert Report without coming away with a viscerally negative response to conservatives.”

Sharply observed, fuckwit! Give that man a Kewpie Doll…

But in the wake of all the conservative hand-wringing about Colbert replacing Letterman (Rush Limbaugh said that CBS was declaring “war” on the heartland with this pick) Babyface Ben sees something far more sinister going on:  Colbert IS a racist! He’s a racist against conservatives!

Blackface, which has an ugly history dating back to at least the fifteenth century according to historian John Strausbaugh, was used to portray demeaning and horrifying stereotypes of blacks. Such stereotypical imitation has not been limited to blacks, of course; actors tasked with playing stereotypical Jew Shylock often donned a fake nose and red wig, as did actors who were supposed to play Barabas in The Jew of Malta. Such stereotypical potrayals [sic] create a false sense of blacks, or Jews, or whomever becomes the target of such nastiness.

And this is precisely what Colbert does with regard to politics: he engages in Conservativeface. He needs no makeup or bulbous appendage to play a conservative – after all, conservatives come in every shape and size. Instead, he acts as though he is a conservative – an idiotic, racist, sexist, bigoted, brutal conservative. He out-Archie Bunkers Archie Bunker. His audience laughs and scoffs at brutal religious “Colbert” who wishes to persecute gays; they chortle at evil sexist “Colbert” who thinks men are victims of sexism. This is the purpose of Colbert’s routine. His show is about pure hatred for conservatives in the same way that blackface was about pure hatred of blacks. In order to justify their racism, racists had to create a false perception of blacks; in the same way, Colbert and his audience can justify their racism only by creating a false perception of conservatives.

No, no Ben, you’re confused. Colbert gives a very, very, very accurate portrayal of conservatives. Didn’t you just write:

“It is nearly impossible to watch an episode of The Colbert Report without coming away with a viscerally negative response to conservatives.”

It’s because conservatives are assholes, Ben. Like you. Someone who doesn’t get the fucking joke..

The comments below Shapiro’s logic-addled rant are as delicious as you might expect:

The only thing this article accomplished is making me think that I might not be too sad if society as a whole started systematically disenfranchising and dehumanizing conservatives. After all, if this guy is that attached to the blackface metaphor he should at least get to experience it for real firsthand.

Here’s another:

Is this an article or a rationalization? Sounds like more right wing sour grapes to me. Colbert’s character is successful because it is such a dead-on satire. You can listen to Rush and Fox News and conclude that Colbert is misrepresenting them as somehow worse, or more extreme than they really are? Laughable. Go re-examine your life. You’re on the wrong side.

Tee-hee. Expecting self-awareness from the likes of lil’ Ben seems a tad far-fetched, though.

Oh, brother. There’s this thing called satire and it always exagerrates its subject. That’s how it works. Minstrel shows weren’t satire. They were mockery and cultural appropriation. Is Mr Shapiro claiming that people are born conservative and Mr Colbert is stereotyping the entire conservative “race?”

Or…

BUT WHOOOOO WILL THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRE INDUSTRIALISTS AND UNEDUCATED SOUTHERN WHITE BIGOTS??

What about?

it’s almost as if you’re providing the source material for him to be successful…oh wait, you have

Here’s another good one:

You just compared the schtick of a comedian on a comedy network to the institutional and societal approved degradation of a entire race of people. Which in addition to being monumentally stupid is also precisely why folks like Colbert mock conservatives, your feigned attempts at equivocating always shines a light on the underbelly of your magnificent ignorance.

Not sure if Ben Shapiro and Truth Revolt are important enough targets for Colbert and his writers to take notice of—some attention from him is what Shapiro seems to be aiming for with this insipid drivel—but it would be amusing to hear their take on how the author of How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them scored such a humiliating own goal.

Meanwhile, Colbert did what he does best on last night’s program, totally pwning “Papa Bear”:

 

 

Donald Trump's October SurpriseVia The Daily Show & Colbert Report

As usual, awesome commentary from Jon Stewart...




Excellent Colbert Report bonus: