Trevor Noah on Philando Castile and the catch-22 of being Black

The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah has what I feel is the most poignant take on the shooting of an innocent Black man and the exoneration of the officer who murdered him.

Transcript:

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TREVOR NOAH: Yesterday on the show, we spoke about the killing of Philando Castile, right, and the verdict that exonerated the police officer who shot him. And, honestly, I thought that I felt all I could feel about this story, until I got home, and I watched a newly released video. And if you’ve already watched this video, you don’t have to watch it again. I wouldn’t say anyone has to watch this video, but if you haven’t seen it, it is graphic. And you probably should watch it. And we’re gonna play it for you now.

CNN NEWS [06/21/17]: Authorities have released dashcam video revealing the chilling moments that led to a police officer shooting and killing Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year in Minnesota. The video comes just four days after a jury found the police officer not guilty of manslaughter.

[VIDEO: Police dashcam footage of Castile traffic stop (07/06/16)]

OFFICER JERONIMO YANEZ: Do you have your license and insurance?

[Video skip]

PHILANDO CASTILE: Sir, I have to tell you I do have a – a firearm on me.

YANEZ: Okay. Don’t reach for it then.

CASTILE: I’m –

YANEZ: Don’t pull it out.

CASTILE: I’m not pulling it out.

YANEZ: Don’t pull it out!

[Yanez draws his firearm and fires seven rounds into the car. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, screams.]

DIAMOND REYNOLDS: Fuck! You just killed my boyfriend!

[Castile is heard making pained sounds.]

REYNOLDS: He wasn’t reaching –

YANEZ: DON’T PULL IT OUT!

REYNOLDS: He wasn’t.

YANEZ: DON’T MOVE! [FUCK]!

REYNOLDS: Oh man.

YANEZ: [FUCK]!

REYNOLDS: Oh my God.

YANEZ: DON’T MOVE! DON’T MOVE!

REYNOLDS: Oh my God, I’m shaking!

[Castile and Reynolds’s four-year-old daughter opens the rear door and exits the car.]

YANEZ: DON’T MOVE!

REYNOLDS: Don’t move, baby.

YANEZ: CODE THREE! GET THE BABY GIRL OUTTA HERE!

[Yanez’s partner picks up the little girl and steps back.]

YANEZ: OH, FUCK!

NOAH: I won’t lie to you. When I watched this video, it broke me. Like, it-it just, it broke me. You see so many of these videos, and you start to get numb, but this one … Seeing the child, that little girl, getting out of the car after watching a man get killed, it broke my heart into little pieces. Like, I thought of every joke people make about, “Oh, the most confusing day in the hood is Father’s Day. People don’t know where their parents are. Ha-ha. Black dads, Black –”

That’s a Black dad that’s gone. That’s a child that grows up not knowing what it’s like to have somebody in their life. Like, you watch that video –

And you know, you know what’s the most painful thing, is for years, for years people said that there’s a simple solution to police shootings: Just give the police body cameras. Film everything, then there’ll be no question about what happened, yeah. And Black people have already taken that initiative, right? Thanks to cellphones, every Black person has a body cam now.

Black people have been saying for years, “Just give us, just give us an indictment. Just an indictment. You know what? Just get us in front of a jury. Just in front of a jury of our peers, of our fellow citizens. We’ll show them the video, the evidence, and then they will see it and justice will be served.”

And Black people finally get there, and it’s like, “Wait, what? Nothing?”

You hear the stories, but you watch that, and – forget race. Are we all watching the same video? The video where a law-abiding man followed the officer’s instructions to the letter of the law, and was killed regardless? People watched that video, and then voted to acquit?

And the saddest thing is that wasn’t the only video that they watched.

[VIDEO: Diamond Reynolds’s Facebook livestream of the shooting aftermath]

REYNOLDS: You told him get his ID, sir, his driver’s license.

[Video skip]

YANEZ: Keep your hands where they are, please!

REYNOLDS: Yes, I will, sir. I’ll keep my hands where they are.

Please, Officer, don’t tell me that you just did this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir.

NOAH: “You shot four bullets into him, sir.” It’s [fucking] mind-blowing that Diamond Reynolds has just seen her boyfriend shot in front of her – she still has the presence of mind to be deferential to the policeman. In that moment, the cop has panicked, but clearly, Black people never forget their training. Still, in that moment, the Black person is saying, “Sir, I respect you, sir. I understand what I need to do, sir.” The same thing Philando Castile did.

But still, according to the law, the jury had to make a decision. And that decision is, “do you think this policeman was justified in thinking that his life was in danger?” And their opinion, having watched that video, having listened to that exchange, they still said, “Yes, yes, I can see why that cop was afraid.”

But why? Let’s be honest. Just, why? Why would you say he was afraid? Was it because Philando Castile was being polite? Was it because he was following the officer’s instructions? Was it because he was in the car with his family? Or was it because Philando Castile was Black?

It’s one thing to have the system against you – the district attorneys, the police unions, the courts – that’s one thing. But when a jury of your peers, your community, sees this evidence and decides that even this is self-defense … that is truly depressing.

Because what they’re basically saying is … in America, it is officially reasonable to be afraid of a person just because they are Black.

Those who deny the extent (or even the existence) of systemic racism in the US are quick to offer advice to Black people on how to avoid a violent altercation with police. But Castile, as in so many cases, is a man who literally did nothing wrong by any moral or legal standard. Law-abiding citizen with (as far as I know) a clean record. Legally licensed to carry. Calm demeanor. Informs the officer up-front about having a firearm on him. Complies with the officer’s demands.

Gets shot five times anyway, right in front of his girlfriend and four-year-old daughter.

There is nothing a Black person can do to avoid getting shot when their Blackness, itself, is the reason they get shot.