Trevor Noah’s ‘Between the Scenes’ Video Explaining Black Reparations to a White Man Will Clear Everything Up For You

There’s a long-standing tradition in the United States called “people of color explain how racism works to ignorant white people.” The Daily Show host Trevor Noah is the latest to fall victim to this unfortunate scenario. On an installment of Between the Scenes, a (presumably) white audience member posed this query: “Do you think reparations should go to just one group or should it target people in the same, kind of, like, socio-economic group?”

The question-asker went on to explain that white people have been “disenfranchised” recently, which is when Noah cut him off. “If you are not careful, what you then do is you combine everybody’s suffering into the same ball and you make it seem like all injustices have the same weighting, and they don’t. Just like crimes, you know? Theft isn’t the same as murder. We don’t try them the same way,” Noah explained.

Reparations aren’t comparable to, say, the stimulus checks that the government handed out because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reparations are, as the term implies, about repairing a wrong from the past. In this case, slavery. Noah reminded the man that black people lived and died as slaves in this country. He also calmly and patiently unpacked how being unable to own land or receive bank loans and being subjected to Jim Crow laws have “crippled” black folks for generations. Hence, the need for reparations.

Of course, there will always be those white people suffering economically (though something tells us a gentleman who’s in the audience of The Daily Show probably isn’t hurting for cash) that complain that their white privilege hasn’t done their bank account any favors. Regarding that notion, Noah acknowledged, “It is hard to accept that you have benefits because of the color of your skin if you cannot see the benefits that you have.”

And we’ve come full circle. As long as certain white people don’t remove their blinders (or even realize they have them on), it’ll take many more lectures like Noah’s to change their minds. Is he exhausted yet? Because we sure are.

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