Donald Trump's beef with the NFL
has left a lot of people with a lot of questions.
But the question that has come up for me, once again, is,
when is the right time for black people to protest?
Everyone has a different answer.
For me, it's, uh, right before lunch,
because that's when I'm hangry, right?
And after lunch, I get the itis. I'm not effective.
Uh, but if you want to know when black people should protest,
you've got to go right to the source,
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
I think what the president is saying
is that the owner should have a rule
that players should have to stand in respect
for the national anthem.
This isn't about Democrats.
It's not about Republicans.
It's not about race.
It's not about free speech.
They can do free speech on their own time.
Is it not about their First Amendment rights?
No, it's not. They-they have the right
to have their First Amendment off the field.
-(laughter) -It's a...
it's-it's a little weird getting free speech advice
from a guy who doesn't speak freely.
My words are trapped in a prison of teeth.
Grr.
But, okay, fine.
I hear what Mnuchin is saying.
He's not against the players protesting--
he just doesn't like it when they do it on the field,
you know, when everyone's watching. Yeah.
Do it somewhere else.
Can you imagine Mnuchin giving that advice to Rosa Parks?
He would just be like, "Hey, Rosa,
"why are you protesting on the bus, huh?
"People have places to be!
"Take the bus to your house,
"sit down on your couch and protest from home.
-Boom! Racism solved! It's solved." -(laughter)
And you know what? And you know what?
So, the Trump administration is okay with protesting, right?
They're okay... as long as, uh, it's on your time,
unless you're ESPN commentator Jemele Hill
criticizing the president on your private Twitter feed.
Then, that's a fireable offense, too, right?
Although I do understand where Trump is coming from,
because Twitter is his workplace,
-so it's a different thing. -(laughter)
But I get it. I get it. You do it not in public.
Here's another example. Over the weekend,
Stevie Wonder took a knee on his own time
-in his own show. -(crowd cheering)
And even then, even then,
a former Republican congressman tweeted,
"Stevie Wonder takes a knee for the Anthem during a concert.
Another ungrateful black multimillionaire."
(audience groans and gasps)
Ungrateful to whom?
I'm fascinated by that concept. People always say that.
Ungrateful to whom?
This idea that black people should be grateful
is some sneaky-ass racism.
Yeah, because when a white billionaire
spends a year screaming that America is a disaster,
he's in touch with the country.
But when a black man kneels quietly,
he should be grateful for the successes
America has allowed him to have?
-WOMAN: Oh! -MAN: Boo!
How is that ungrateful? I don't understand.
You know what would be ungrateful?
What would be ungrateful is
if Stevie Wonder got his sight back,
and then started complaining about colors.
-That would be ungrateful. -(laughter)
-If he was like, "Hey, man." -(applause)
If he was just like, "Hey, man,
-what the (bleep) is up with pink?" -(laughter)
"That's a garbage-ass color."
It'd be like, "All right, Stevie.
You're being ungrateful, Stevie. You're being ungrateful."
(laughter)
Yeah, it almost feels like white people earn the money,
but black people are given it.
They play a game for a living, they make millions of dollars.
They're ungrateful millennial millionaires
who won't stand for their own anthem.
I wish some of these players
who get on one knee during "The National Anthem"
would get on both knees and thank God
they live in the United States of America.
They're not only free to earn millions of dollars every year,
but they're also free from the worry
of being shot in the head for taking a knee
like they would be if they were in North Korea.
Okay, wait, wait.
You think black Americans are free from the worry
of being shot by agents of the state?
That's the whole thing
-that they're protesting in the first place. -(laughter)
-That's exactly what they're protesting. -(cheers, applause)
In fact, in fact,
if black Americans went to North Korea,
they wouldn't get shot just for being black.
Just ask Ambassador Dennis Rodman.
-It wouldn't happen! -(laughter)
(applause)
So... so again, when is the right time to protest?
Well, according to Trump's press secretary,
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, it's not the when that's a problem.
It's the how that black people are getting wrong.
I think if this is... the debate is really,
for them, about police brutality,
they should probably protest the officers on the field
that are protecting them, instead of the American flag.
Oh, I see.
Oh, don't protest the flag.
Protest the police officers that are on the field.
So if you do that, then no one will complain?
-Is that...? -No, no. That's not what I'm saying.
I was kind of pointing out the hypocrisy...
Oh, wait. You were just being sarcastic.
Well, that's a great use of The White House.
-Nicely done. Nicely done. -(laughter)
Yeah, but, you see, you still haven't told us
the right way for black people to protest.
Um, I mean, we know it's wrong to do it in the streets,
it's wrong to do it in the tweets.
You cannot do it on the field.
-You cannot do it if you've kneeled. -(laughter)
And don't do it if you're rich, you ungrateful son of a bitch,
because there's one thing that's a fact--
you cannot protest if you're black.