Welcome back to the show.
-Thank you, man, for having me. -So good to have you here.
You-you, interestingly, you were talking
-about Peter Strzok, who raised half a million dollars. -Right.
You know, the kid that... the cop that shot Darren Wilson
raised one point... uh, that shot Mike Brown,
Darren Wilson, raised $1.2 million.
Wait, the cop raised $1.2 million?
-$1.2 million. -For what?
(chuckles): For killing... for killing Michael Brown.
His GoFundMe made $1.2 million.
-Geez. -So if you think hating Trump is bad,
hating a black dude is way more lucrative.
-That's a perfect segue to get into this book. -That's... yeah.
-Yeah. -Because that's basically
-what this book is all about. -Mm-hmm.
How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People.
-Yeah. -Where did the book come from?
Well, I was on Megyn Kelly's show,
remember, when she was at Fox,
before she stopped being a racist and moved to NBC.
(laughter)
(mouthing)
(cheering and applause)
And we had this heated argument,
uh, you know, because there's never been...
I think America has never seen a young black man or woman
killed by the police that we're so appalled
that we're driven to action.
And it was a very frustrating conversation.
Rather than get frustrated, I just...
I wrote a book about it.
And you wrote the book from the perspective
of somebody who's taking the advice
-that you've seen doled out by white people -Right.
repeatedly after a shooting or after an incident.
It's always advice
-on what black people are doing wrong. -Right.
Well, white people have been giving us advice
-since we first got here, so, uh, you know, -Right.
I figure they're adept at it.
Um, but it's, like, when I hear these things,
like these nonsensical arguments,
like white supremacists just, "We want our country back."
Like, as I recall, when you had the country to yourself,
you invited us to the party.
Like, we didn't-- we didn't...
we didn't book a cruise here 'cause we heard they was hiring.
"Oh, yeah!
Get on the boat. They're hiring in America."
It's just, you know, people have these warped notions
of what they would do,
and if you would just cooperate or if you would...
But I think that ultimately, people just aren't comfortable,
uncomfortable with black people
or people of color being killed by the police.
They just... I think that they think
that that's how it's supposed to go.
No one likes to see a cow mutilated,
but they don't mind eating a steak.
Do you think that... I mean, that speaks to,
in many ways, you know, Black Lives Matter
-and what the conversation was about it. -Sure.
That we've gotten so used to seeing black bodies traumatized
that as people, you know, both black and white,
we have lost the notion of what the value of a black person is.
-Well... -Like, to a certain extent, like, you know...
I don't know that we can say America ever had it.
-'Cause, like, that's... -Oh, that's interesting.
That's really... Like, even now
when the football players are on the strike,
everybody goes, "Don't do that when we're...
There's a time and a place to do it."
But the only time white people watch black people
is if we're singing, dancing, running a football.
Like, that's, like...
The-the other times, they're not gonna pay particular--
particularly pay attention to us.
And I think nobody has more invested
in, uh, black people, uh,
being treated fairly than football players. Like--
'Cause if you're big, you're black, you're fast,
you're strong, that gre-- that works great on Sunday.
-But on Monday? -(laughs)
That's like-- you're in the wrong place.
-It's the reason they acquit. -Right.
You had-- you had an encounter with the police
-when you were, what, eight years old? -Eight.
-Eight years old. -That was your first-- that was
-your first encounter with the police? -I was eight years old.
I grew up on 135th and Avalon. I'm coming from, um--
I'm coming, um, uh, from, uh, school,
getting a free lunch in the summer.
And the police pull up, and they pull up me--
to me and my friend and are asking us questions
about a cat that live in my neighborhood.
And they're like, "Where is he?" And, like, we don't know.
And they're like, "Put your hands on the car."
And I said, "Sir, this car is hot."
And he said, "Nigger, if you take your hands off this car,
I'm-a blow your head off." Now, at eight years old.
Flash to, um, you know, a couple of weeks ago,
when a young kid in Chicago, ten years old,
-is handcuffed and peeing on himself. -Right.
Uh, and-and I think that that was my first experience,
you know-- and I'll never forget it,
-and I'm sure he never will either. -Right.
And that-that shapes a relationship that people have.
And-and, you know, it's funny, I always try and have
this conversation with people, where I go,
the shootings that you see are generally, like, a last straw.
-That's-that's, like, the final step. -Mm-hmm.
But there is so much along the way.
You see so many people having these interactions with police.
When-when you move through the book
and when you-- when you talk about these things,
there's-there's one theme I notice you have
and that is talking about police interacting
with black people who have disabilities,
-with black people who may have mental disabilities -Sure. Sure.
or mental issues. And in the book,
you talk about-- you-you dedicate the book to your son.
Yes, who-- my son has Asperger's syndrome.
And he's a very fit kid. And, uh, you know--
and my-my concern-- I think, like, when people say--
like, people always say, teach your children to be afra--
to-to respect the police.
I think black people teach their kids to-to fear the police.
It's like they're going outside, "I want you to--
"Don't look 'em in the eye. Don't move fast.
Don't-don't run." "Dad, I'm not going
on safari." "No, you're going to the driveway."
-Right, right, right. -So, uh, I think that-that we-we try
to instill a sense of fear in them,
because we don't want anything to happen to 'em.
But you're more likely to be hurt or killed
or have a negative interaction with the police
if you're mentally, emotionally, or physically handicapped.
-That's just-- they get shot more. -Why do you think
that worries you more for your son,
as-as someone who has Asperger's?
Because I think that sometimes my son has
a hard time listening to me.
I think-- I think, first off, when you're--
when you're a young man,
uh, you can't listen to instructions anyway.
So I don't even know if it has anything to do
with him having a mental disability.
A kid. But, um-- but I-I--
The fear is that you don't want them to see that as defiance.
-Right. -And defiance cost-- Like, in America,
it's okay for somebody to get killed if-if they're defiant.
They'll go, "Well, why-why did you-- why didn't you just do
-what they said? Why defy 'em? Why did you talk?" -Right.
And, uh, you never want to-to--
I don't want to be one of those guys
who's showing pictures so I can humanize my son.
Um, and so I always try to s-- incense a-a--
a sense of fear in him.
But, ultimately, the book is just, um--
you know, it really is not an indictment of society.
-It's an inspection. -When you look at the book
-from cover to cover, -Mm-hmm.
what do you hope people will take away from it?
'Cause some might say, "But, like, D.L.,
"I-I already know this-this morbid world
"that we're living in. I already know the harsh realities.
"Like, what am I getting from the book
that I may not be getting from everyone else's conversations?"
Well, first off, a laugh, 'cause it's very fu-funny.
I know it doesn't seem like it right now. Not quite.
But-but, second,
I think that you'll-you'll recognize some things.
The-the only way that we can guarantee
that they are not these--
Like, we can't keep having these kinds of things happen,
and everybody kind of go, "That's the way things are,"
um, because we can't pretend to be a society...
You can't say in a society that, um, we're all about justice,
and you're innocent till proven guilty,
but an officer can summarily
slaughter someone on the streets,
and no one be about to account to it.
Even if we know that they did it...
Like, Philando Castile-- he didn't break the law.
-We saw what happened. -Right.
We weren't uncomfortable with him.
I tell you what. The most dangerous place
for black people to live is in white people's imagination.
Like, it's never the guy they see.
It's not the black guy. It's the black guy in Chicago.
-It's the black guy they saw on the news. -Right.
It's the black guy on the video.
Like, I'm scared of the black dude in their imagination.
-And like, I hope... -That's a...
-I hope I never meet him. -You know what.
That's a powerful observation, because, I mean,
that really is it.
-It's more the idea of the black man... Right.
...than the actual black man.
It's an idea that's been perpetuated
-through whatever it may be. -Even if you look at...
The news or screen or...
...what happened with Trump and Obama.
Everything they said about him was made up.
He doesn't belong here, he's a Muslim,
he wasn't born here, he hates America,
-he's really a terrorist. -Right.
And people believed it.
They believed it because the idea of us
is much more impactful and fearful
than the reality of us, and you get to do it. You get to...
Like, if there's a shooting in Chicago, they'll say,
"Well, you know, 75 people were killed in Chicago,
and that's an indicator."
Well, most black people don't live in Chicago,
but that is what we get indicted with.
Right, right, right.
A bunch of white kids get killed with opiate,
-we don't say they're all white kids. -Right.
But you get to paint us with one brush,
and it becomes our story.
And, like, I remember Stephon Clark got shot in Sacramento,
and they pointed to Chicago.
I go, "Huh. I need a new Schoolhouse Rock edition,
'cause I don't even know..." -(laughter)
Like, I didn't even know they were that close.
How do you... how do you... how do you use comedy?
I mean, all comedians have different tools
and, you know, coping mechanisms,
but it's interesting that you say there's funny in the book.
Like, how do you... how do you respond to someone who says,
"But D.L., is there anything funny in this?"
No, but it's ironic. It's ironic.
Just like the things you hear.
Like, now there's this argument.
First off, this whole week has been hilarious to me.
Like, Omarosa is dropping more tapes than Lil Wayne.
-Right. -Like she... she's... I'm like, damn.
(laughter, applause, cheering)
But...
But there's an argument
as to whether Trump really said the "N" word on tape.
Like... like, that's what we need,
'cause we heard him admit to sexual assault on tape.
-Right. -Um, we heard him.
And I always make the point that,
like, white people are in a poor position
to judge what racism is, 'cause they've been so horrible
-at it before, like... -Right. Right, right.
Slavery wasn't racist, Jim Crow wasn't racist.
Those monuments to racists weren't racists.
So that's like a rapist decide what rape is.
-Do you know what I mean? You can't, and... -Right.
Which is what the kid from Stanford tried to do, actually.
-Right. Right. -Yeah.
He said it was "outercourse" funny enough.
And they... and they get to do... and just like all these...
Like, now they're saying...
Like, whenever the "N" word argument comes up,
white people say, "Well, you say it in hip-hop all the time."
Like, hip... Like, the "N" word has been
in the American lexicon since the early 1700s.
Hip-hop been around since 1975.
Like, what came first-- "nigga" or The Sugarhill Gang?
-Like, you know that... -(laughter)
Like, I don't get how even that's a real argument.
Right, right, right.
But they're gonna have that argument.
Well, you see it all the time.
Like, as if the phra...
Not only am I certain that Donald Trump has said it.
I'm certain that if the tape comes out,
it'll be his camp... his reelection campaign slogan.
(laughter, groaning)
I'm serious. I...
There's nothing that he could say
about somebody of color, or that you could...
There's nothing so horrible...
Like, I can't stand Omarosa.
I think she's a horrible human being,
but you can't call her a dog. You could...
If she ev... You can't... you can't...
(applause)
There is a way to have discourse and disagreements with people
without being so barbaric.
And I think when that all goes out the window,
when you're another, when you're a person of color,
you get to say and do whatever you want,
and in the end people go, "Oh, that's all right."
-Damn. -Yeah.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Thank you, man. Thank you.
(applause and cheering)
How Not to Get Shot is available now.
D.L. and The Comedy Get Down are performing in Los Angeles
on August 17. Check the man out.
D.L. Hughley, everybody.