(upbeat music) (audience cheering)
- Madiba's light shone so brightly,
even from that narrow, Robben Island cell,
that in the late '70s,
he could inspire a young college student
on the other side of the world.
Mandela said, "Young people are capable when aroused
"of bringing down the towers of oppression
"and raising the banners of freedom."
Now is a good time to be aroused.
- Let's just acknowledged how dope you have to be
for people to keep throwing you birthdays after you're dead.
(audience laughs)
And because today marks 100 years since his birth,
I just wanted to spend a few minutes talking about the man.
Right, he joined politics when he was just 26 years old,
partly to fight racial inequality,
and also because he had just been kicked off
his parents' Obamacare.
(audience laughs) Now, at first,
at first the ANC fought for racial equality peacefully,
but the racist government only got more oppressive.
In fact in 1948, South Africa's government set up apartheid
which made legal racism the foundation
of the entire country.
Black people couldn't vote,
they had to live in certain areas,
and they were banned from playing sports with white people.
And I'm not gonna lie,
that last part I completely understand.
All right, I mean if your system
is based on white supremacy,
you can't have black people dunking all over your shit.
(audience laughs)
It just doesn't go with the narrative,
like white people are superior, ah!
Wait, I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready.
(audience laughs)
In fact, the government became so oppressive
that Mandela and the ANC decided to resort to violence.
They bombed power stations, post offices,
and I mean they did it when people weren't in there,
but still, they blew shit up.
And there were many people, not just in South Africa,
but around the world, who wanted him to respond
to the brutality of the government with civility,
to which Mandela replied, bullshit.
(audience laughs)
- There are many people who feel
that it is useless and futile for us
to continue talking peace and non-violence
against a government whose reply
is only savage attacks
on an unarmed and defenseless people.
- Now I know for a lot of people
seeing a young, radical Mandela, that's a bit of a shock.
Yeah, it's like finding out one of the Care Bears
mauled a hiker to death.
(audience laughs)
I mean, I'd expect that out of Tenderheart,
but you Funshine?
(audience laughs)
But you see, Nelson Mandela believed that violence
was necessary to fight a violent government.
And he paid a price for it.
In 1962, when Mandela was 44 years old,
the apartheid government arrested him,
and sentenced him to life in prison.
And what he said in the docks is legendary.
He said, "I've cherished the ideal
"of a democratic and free society.
"It is an ideal which I hope to live, and to achieve,
"but if needs be, it is an ideal
"for which I am prepared to die."
Now, Nelson Mandela's story up to that point was impressive,
but it's what he did after he came out of prison
that transformed him from a leader to a legend.
All right, because when he became South Africa's
first black president,
he reconciled the country, and he insisted
that white people be a part of it.
And you realize, this is a black country
and he's the first black president.
He could've easily just said,
"I'll give you white people a 10 minute headstart."
(audience laughs)
"You guys put me in prison for 30 years.
"I don't even know what a Walkman is!
(audience laughs)
"I just hope I get to meet Elvis, what?
"Five minute head start!"
(audience laughs)
(audience applauds)
So you see, this is just part of why
people like Barack Obama look up to Nelson Mandela.
This is a man who grew up in a country steeped in racism,
spent decades in prison fighting it,
and then dedicated his life to a world of racial progress.
And, most impressively, when he was asked
why he's not bitter, he had this to say.
- You end up coming out of prison,
and there is no bitterness.
How is there no bitterness?
- Well, I hated oppression.
And when I think about the past,
the type of things they did, I feel angry.
You have a limited time to stay on earth.
You must try and use that period
for the purpose of transforming your country.
- And that's why he's a legend.
(audience cheering)
You must remember, because of so many
of the struggle leaders in South Africa,
were either imprisoned or exiled,
the movement in South Africa was held together,
in large part, by women in the country,
and so it's weird for me, because I understand,
you travel the world, you understand that everywhere
feminism is different, and the idea of women is different,
but I grew up in a world that was very matriarchal,
and where women were the most dangerous
freedom fighters that existed.
That is true.
You read up on Winnie Mandela,
like Nelson Mandela was an icon,
but the police in the country were afraid of Winnie Mandela.
They were, and we had a phrase in South Africa that was,
we still use it today, which was,
(speaks in foreign language)
which means "You strike a woman, you strike a rock."
And that's what I grew up learning.
(audience cheering)
Kudos, man.
It was fire.
It was fire, and a lot of the time
my mom would strike me with a rock.
(audience laughs) (audience applauds)
- [Announcer] February 1, 1965.
It's the Black History Monty Daily Show.
(audience laughs)
- Welcome to "The Daily Show."
I'm Trevor Noah.
My guest tonight, up and coming comedian Bill Cosby.
(audience laughs)
This guy's jokes are gonna knock you out.
(audience laughs)
But we begin in Selma, Alabama.
If you aren't familiar with Selma,
it's a small southern city located 10 miles east
of No Negroes Please, and five miles north of Say, Boy!
(audience laughs)
And it's also where today, recent Nobel Peace Prize winner
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got into some legal trouble.
- [Reporter] Dateline Selma, civil rights leader
the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested today
while attempting to lead a mass march of 300 Negroes
on the Dallas County courthouse
to protest voter registration procedures.
The Negroes were taken into custody
on charges of parading without a permit.
- For more, we go to our
junior civil rights correspondent, Roy Wood Sr.
Now Roy, what did you see out there?
- I saw a bunch of (bleep) Trevor!
(audience laughs)
Proud Negro men and women being arrested for no reason!
- Well now Roy, the police said there was a reason.
They were parading without a permit.
- Oh, oh, I'm sorry.
Did the Klan fill out their paperwork
before marching in my neighborhood?
(audience laughs)
When have you ever seen white people arrested
for parading without a permit?
- Well Roy, that's just the world we live in.
Black people aren't ever gonna get the same treatment
as white people, and that's never gonna change.
- Actually Trevor, I don't agree.
You have to look at the bright side of things.
Yeah, maybe the cops arrested Dr. King
and a bunch of our brothers and sisters,
but they did it this time without violence, that's progress.
I mean, 40 years ago white man
wouldn't even give a black man a glass of water.
Now, not only can we have water,
we can get it whether we want it or not!
(audience laughs)
- I mean I guess you could call that progress.
- Oh, I do call that progress.
We've gone from lynchin's to beatings,
now to peaceful arrests.
In fact, I heard Dr. King is coming back right here
next month to Selma to march across that bridge
and that parade of progress we're making,
I betcha it's gonna be a fun day marching arm and arm
with the police, and one day they'll make a movie about it.
And it'll be called
"Selma: The Day When Nothin' Happened at All."
(audience laughs)
(audience applauds)
- For more on Dr. King's legacy,
we turn now to Dulce Sloan, everybody!
(audience cheering)
- Hello!
- Dulce, what do you think, and what are you remembering
about Dr. King's legacy?
- You know what I wanna remember?
The real Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King,
not the whitewashed Hallmark version,
because every year people talk about the same stuff.
The "I Have a Dream" speech, the march on Washington,
how he had the voice of a "Scooby-Doo" ghost.
I have a dream!
And I woulda gotten away with it too
if it weren't for those meddling kids!
(audience laughs)
But the real Dr. King did not fit in any box.
White moderates think he would've been on their side,
but he thought they were worse
for the Civil Rights Movement than the Klan,
and mattress stores are out here having MLK Day sales,
but Dr. King was anti-capitalist,
and even though he was a reverend and a man of God,
he allegedly had a whole bunch of affairs.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on.
Even if that's true, I mean that he had affairs,
isn't it disrespectful to mention that on his birthday?
- I don't think so, it's part of his legacy.
A reminder that our heroes aren't perfect, they're people.
And I'm not being disrespectful.
(audience applauds)
Just the opposite.
MLK was out there gettin' it.
(audience laughs)
And probably still could!
I mean, if he showed up on my Bumble,
I'd take him to the mountaintop, and the valley low!
- I've never thought of MLK on Bumble.
- Well, he wouldn't be on Tinder!
That man had class.
(audience laughs)
If everyone knew that fighting for civil rights
could get you some?
A lot more people would fight for equality.
Equal pay, voting rights, and whoever can stop
black people from gettin' shot by the police
will (bleep) tonight, okay?
(audience cheering)
- This week marked a milestone in civil rights history.
The 50th anniversary of Franklin's first appearance
in the comic strip "Peanuts."
Now, now it seems like a joke,
but the reason this was a landmark
is that before Franklin appeared,
newspaper comic strips were segregated, right?
Black comic strips were always separate
from white comic strips.
In fact, if you even tried to put the pages
of the newspaper together,
the police would just break down your door,
and you'd be like what?
And they'd be like well, well, well,
we got a troublemaker over here.
So, the character of Franklin was a pretty big deal,
and what's really fascinating is his origin story.
- [Narrator] April 1968, Martin Luther King
had been shot and killed.
American cities burned in rage.
In California, a 42 year old teacher
and mother of three felt helpless.
- And I remember sitting in suburbia,
saying is there anything I can do?
- [Narrator] Harriet Glickman wanted to reach
someone with influence.
She wrote to Charles Schulz, his "Peanuts" comic strip
was read by nearly 100 million people each week.
Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, they were all white.
Glickman told Schulz, he should integrate.
- Okay, that was pretty dope of that lady, but.
(audience cheering)
Yeah, but,
but at the same time,
also kind of a weird reaction to a tragedy.
I mean, Martin Luther King is dead,
there's chaos in the streets, and her first reaction
is maybe Charlie Brown can help.
(audience laughs)
For more on this civil rights trailblazer,
we turn now to our very own Roy Wood Jr. everybody!
(audience cheering)
- What's happenin' man?
- Roy, no matter who you are,
you've gotta love Franklin, right?
- Oh man, love him, are you kidding man?
Franklin was a straight up G!
Integrated the shit outta "Peanuts."
- Yeah, and it must have been a pretty big moment
for you as a kid when he first appeared in the strip.
- First appeared?
That was in 1968.
How old do you think I am?
(audience laughs)
- 50, 40?
60?
- I'm 39, Trevor!
(audience laughs)
39!
Here's the thing, newspaper Franklin was great.
Newspaper Franklin was great, you can't argue that,
but when they put him on TV, it was a different story.
All of the sudden, they made him a stereotype.
♪ You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around ♪
♪ That's what it's all about ♪
(audience laughs)
(hip hop music)
♪ It's all about all the calls we've done ♪
♪ You'll be shakin' in your shoes ♪
♪ We're the team invincible ♪
♪ And we're not gonna lose ♪
(audience laughing)
(audience cheering)
- Why?
Why couldn't Franklin just do the hokey pokey, Trevor?
You tellin' me black kids can't put they left foot in,
and take they left foot out?
It looked like Franklin was auditioning for "House Party 2."
(audience laughs)
- Yeah, but Roy, but Roy, it's still cool
to have him in there, even if he had one dance break.
- It was every time with this kid.
Any time you walked down the street in Peanutsville,
you might run into Franklin and his homeboy pop locking,
and even when he's hanging out with his friends,
everyone else gets a normal handshake,
but no, not Franklin.
He gotta slap skin.
See what I mean?
All the other Peanuts are just kids,
but Franklin's runnin' around Peanutville
like a damn baby Shaft.
(audience laughs)
He's a tiny, bad mother--
- Shut your mouth!
- I'm talkin' about Franklin.
Look, I just don't want him to be
the other kid all the time.
Even at Thanksgiving, yeah they invited him,
but look where they put him!
(audience laughs)
He's by himself!
Even the dog gets to sit with the kids.
Why is the dog even at the damn table?
It's cool though, Franklin, Franklin,
look man, Franklin, they did you a favor.
You don't want none of that
bland ass white people turkey anyway.
(audience laughs) (audience applauds)
- Today was a day when we got some really sad news
that Aretha Franklin passed away.
That was, yeah that was,
that was rough for a lot of people,
and not just because of the music, because of who she was.
I remember I used to sing the songs with my mom,
so I grew up, most of the time it was just me and my mom,
and so I used to sing all the songs
not really knowing what they meant, per se,
so as a little kid I was confident like.
♪ You make me feel like a natural woman ♪
(audience laughs)
And then I got older and I was just like, whoa, wait,
what was I doing?
I was like Mom, why didn't you stop me?
And she's like, 'cause you looked like a natural woman.
You were doing so well.
(audience laughs)
But what I loved is like, Aretha Franklin,
and you see everybody talking about this
is it's one of those examples
where you see an artist who uses their platform
to go beyond just making money and doing what they do.
You read these beautiful stories about how Aretha Franklin
had it in her contract that she wouldn't perform
for segregated audiences.
All right, so if audiences were segregated by race,
she was like no, I'm not gonna perform.
You know, she was one of the first people
who supported Angela Davis from the Black Panthers.
She fought for Martin Luther King,
like this is at a time when it wasn't cool to do that.
It was risky to you and your livelihood.
You saw what happened with Nina Simone, you know?
And she was out there, and she was doing it.
And she was making songs that at the time,
were crazy when you think of how women
were situated in society.
I mean, the Me Too Movement has shown
that we still have a long way to go,
but at that time it was pretty much
like women, just keep quiet,
and she was out there and "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" was,
I mean I remember that as well.
My mom used to say that to me,
if I'd ever like say something, back chat or whatever,
and then my mom would be like, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T!"
Then she'd play the song,
and I'd be like yeah, "R-P-S-P-E-P-T."
Find out what, and she was,
you know what I loved about Aretha as well,
like the stories that she was gangsta.
Like she full on, she only performed
when she had her money in cash before the gig.
Always.
Like her whole life, 'til now, 'til she was like,
where's the money?
She was the original "bitch better have my money."
(audience laughs)
Money before the gig, then I sing.
I sometimes think to myself
like the guy's backstage counting it,
and she's doing it word by word.
♪ You and I ♪
♪ So exciting ♪
♪ Hum ha ♪
So yeah man, she'll be missed, she will be.
Everything we see today, in so many ways,
in the music, in music,
male and female, is because of her.
So, Aretha Franklin, rest in peace man.
It's a beautiful, beautiful story.