Plus stephen welcomes killer mike and chris hayes. Featuring jon batiste and stay homin. And now, live on tape from a safe distance, its Stephen Colbert stephen hey. Thank you. Youre very nice. I am. Stephen thank you very much. Welcome to a late show. Im your host Stephen Colbert. Well, were back after ten days off, and i never imagined that, after ten days, a Global Pandemic would not be the lead story. Remember when we were all afraid of our groceries . I miss those days. No, the story that has pushed 100,000 covid deaths below the fold is americas preexisting condition racism. Protests against Police Targeting black people have broken out in dozens of cities. So april was Global Pandemic, may is mass civil unrest, i assume june is plague of locusts, and then in july, pleated pants are coming back. Its not just the u. S. Citizens protesting racism in the United States. Protesters gathered in london, toronto, even berlin. You know its bad when germany thinks your countrys racist. Thats like jamaica telling you to put down the bong. These protests were sparked last monday by the extrajudicial execution of a man named george floyd face down in a street in minneapolis. Floyd died after a Police Officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Now, in civilized countries, thats called murder. The culprit is minneapolis Police Officer and cop whos so dirty even his badge is crooked, Derek Chauvin. Adding to the outrage is that it took four days to arrest the officer. Even though theres video of him doing it it would be the shortest episode of law and order ever in the criminal Justice System the people are represented by two separate but equally important groups the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. Who in this case are the police because cmon, we all saw the video what are you waiting for . Thats it. Im going to the protest. Do the dun dun. dun dun stephen even after chauvin was arrested, he was charged with thirddegree murder. Thats a pretty light charge. Its like prosecuting Jeffrey Dahmer for a bad case of the munchies. We find the defendant hangry. Plus, the other three officers involved have not been charged with a crime. So if youre wondering why people are so upset, its because this is so upsetting. Also, its not an isolated incident. On the very same day that floyd was killed, there was another viral video of a white woman named amy cooper, who was confronted by a black birdwatcher who asked her to put her dog on a leash in central park, so she responded by doing this im taking a picture and calling the cops. Please call the cops. Please call the cops. Im going to tell them theres an African AmericanMan Threatening my life. There is an African American man. I am in central park. He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog. dog yelps im sorry i cant hear. Im being threatened by a man please send the cops immediately stephen she knows exactly what shes doing and why that man should be afraid of the police. A brilliant performance. She should win the white lady oscar. Also known as the oscar. Floyds death comes on the heels of breonna taylor, and ahmaud arbery, and also has an eerie similarity to eric garner in 2014. In that same year, there was the case of Michael Brown in ferguson. Tamir rice in cleveland. All those, echo emmett till and the scottsboro boys, which happened in the context of jim crow; which was a soft relaunch of slavery. So you really got to go back to the triangle trade, which stems from mans inhumanity to man and our essential fallen nature. So, maybe start with the garden of eden. Actually, in the beginning, there was a single point of all matter and energy under tremendous pressure, but you know theres always a few bad atoms, and the whole thing exploded. Now, in times like these, we need empathetic and moral leadership. Unfortunately, we have donald trump. Normally, during national unrest, president s step up and address the nations pain. Following the death of Michael Brown, president obama met with activists in the white house. President clinton comforted the nation with a moving address after the Oklahoma City bombing, even richard nixon, in 1970, made a surprise trip where he spoke to students protesting the vietnam war. Who can forget his stirring words weve got to come together and defeat our common enemy the jews i wrote down on this list. Stephen trump cant even match the courage of a nixon. Because as the protests raged on, trumps advisers discussed the prospect of an Oval Office Address in an attempt to ease tensions, but the idea was quickly scrapped for lack of policy proposals and the president s own seeming disinterest in delivering a message of unity. as white house aide okay, mr. President , we were thinking a short, powerful speech from the resolute desk where you call for racial healing and whats that, sir . You want to act it out with a box of aunt jemima . You know what, lets just scrap this. Today, trump got on a call with the nations governors to discuss the ongoing protests, and he read straight from the authoritarian playbook you have to dominate. If you dont dominate, youre wasting your time. Theyre going to run over you. Youre going to look like a bunch of jerks. Stephen wise and comforting words. It reminds me of what mr. Rogers said about times of tragedy look for the dominators. as mr. Rogers oh, you will be my neighbor, you jerk. That was will rogers dominating someone. Then trump said something really scary youve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for ten years and youll never see this stuff again. Stephen so people are upset about systemic racism and a society that overpolices and imprisons black people, and trumps solution is to do more of that. You know what they say, those who dont learn from history are donald trump. So donald trump is the big tough guy gonna dominate the opposition. Pew pew pew naturally, on friday, as protests raged nearby, trump took shelter in the white house bunker. Well, if history has taught us anything its that things always work well for strongmen who retreat to underground bunkers. Mr. President , this is your moment youre always calling to beat up protestors at your rallies you could shut this whole thing down just pop a couple hydroxies and come out of the white house swinging a five iron with a Confederate Flag taped to it. Instead, he tweeted, great job last night at the white house by the u. S. Secret service. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldnt have felt more safe, adding, nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had, they would dot dot dot dot dot dot dot been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, i have ever seen. Thats when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many secret Service Agents just waiting for action. we put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it. i dont know why theyre not letting him give that reassuring speech from the oval office as trump my fellow americans let me send a clear message to the people protesting Police BrutalityLaw Enforcement is just a bunch of cool guys who cant wait for things to get messy. They see you as target practice and i would truly enjoy watching you get eaten by vicious dogs. Now lets all come together in peace. S come buy guns, my lord come buy guns s the protests at the white house were specifically in response to this tweet these thugs are dishonoring the memory of george floyd, and i wont let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you kind of an unnerving way to end a threat. Its like that scene in taken i will look for you, i will find you, and i will kill you. Thank you, stay safe everyone stephen trump also had some moresuccinct thoughts, tweeting, so terrible where are the arrests and long term jail sentences . We tried, sir, but Susan Collins voted to acquit you. But while trump is hiding, its good to see average citizens stepping up and filling in the void. Yesterday in queens, police knelt with protesters, while in flint, michigan, the sheriff joined the march. In brooklyn, protesters protected a target from looters. In kentucky, this group of white women formed a line to protect black protesters from police, in louisville, protesters formed a human barrier to protect a cop who got separated from his unit. And in minneapolis, a group of mennonites showed up to support the protest. Mennonites think americas too racist, and they live in 1840 we make a lot of jokes about donald trump because he is a dull and dark corrupting force that is undermining america moral leadership around the world and sewing hatred and fear among his own citizens. So thats fun. And during this covid crisis, the president abdicated his responsibility of leading the people to understand the need to do the right thing and yet largely people did the right thing for himself and each other. My hope is that American People will do the same thing now. Because theyre going to have to. My hope is the American People will do the same thing now. They have to. For too long, those of us with opportunity and privilege have failed in our responsibility to look at the truth squarely and name the system of racial oppression that artificially divides us and benefits those already in positions of relative power. Its perfectly understandabl not to want to do this. Its human. No one wants to lose privileges or position, especially when fear of that loss is stoked by our political leaders for their own supposed advantage. And i say supposed advantage because, if you deny the human rights and dignity of any people, you will ultimately destroy your society and civilization that you claim to protect. 58 years ago, john kennedy said, those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Not only is addressing systemic racial and economic injustice the right thing to do, its the safest, most conservative, most selfserving thing to do. Contents under pressure will eventually explode. That is not a threat, thats a law of nature. It is time to ask ourselves, as its always the time to ask ourselves, what kind of nation do we want to live in . That requires moral leadership. So take it upon yourself to be a leader and set an example of the kind of country you want to live in. That might mean going to a protest or making a donation or having a tense conversation about race. Because youre not going to get that from the white house, we need to step up and provide it ourselves. America is now byop be your own president. Weve got a show for you tonight. Ill be talking to killer mike and chris hayes. You may have seen killer mikes powerful speech he made in atlanta friday and also nbcs chris hayes. First, well talk with our friend jon batiste. Stick around. Oh, we love our new home. Neighborhoods great. Amazing school district. The hoa has been very involved. These shrubs arent board approved. You need to break down your cardboard. Thank you. Violation. Violation. I see youve met cynthia. At least geico makes bundling our home and Car Insurance easy. And it does help us save a bunch of money. Two inches over regulation. Thanks, cynthia. For bundling made easy, go to geico. Com and we want you to know that the starbucks app is the easiest way to find your store, order ahead, pay, and pick up your favorites. We cant wait to see you again. Thats a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. Our gummies contain a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no nextday grogginess. Zzzquil pure zzzs. Naturally superior sleep. But a slice is just right. Thats why fidelity offers dollarbased trading. Buy what you want based upon how much you want to spend, even if its just a slice of a share. Stephen welcome back to a late show, everybody. Before we go on, lets say hello to my friend and yours, mr. Jon batiste. Hello, jon. Jon hello, stephen. Whats going on with you . Stephen oh, with me . Uh, doing a show about uh sad and crazy things. How are you feeling . Jon um, im feeling a lot of pain and, um, thinking about a lot of Different Things but, in general, im feeling optimistic. Stephen what makes you optimistic, jon . Jon well, obviously, the tragedies and the riots in the recent time have caused a lot f pain and brought up a lot of generational trauma in particular that black people feel and i relate to that deeply, but i do think this moment is a moment that allows us to address it in a real way. The things that weve faced in this country have given us so many issues that we havent decided as a people to atone for and, really, to atone for our original sin together is the only way. Black history is american history. All lives matter and thats why black lives matter, and this is what this moment is bringing forth, is bringing to bear in opportunity for us to really, in a very real way, address the things that have led us to this point. Stephen well, why do you think this moment right now is bringing this to a boil, or bringing us this opportunity right now . Jon i think that my generation and people of all generations, but, in particular, the next generation is indicative of the fact that time is speeding up as its catching up. Peoples minds are changing, Technology Allows us to do more in a 24huer period weve ever been able to do, and people are seeing things like the tragic execution of george floyd on their phone and capturing it and are really able to see things people have been going through and dealing with, similar to the reckoning with the metoo move the. Peoples minds are changing and theres a real opportunity to look in the mirror for those of us who may not understand our role in whats happening and have a moral awakening as well, an elevation of our spiritual consciousness, if you will. Stephen thank you, jon. Jon batiste, everybody. My first guest is a grammy awardwinning rapper and activist. Please welcome to a late show, killer mike. Hey, mike. How you doing . Stephen well, mike, im so glad you could be here. I really wanted to talk to you as soon as i saw the speech you gave in atlanta on friday, and i know that millions of people saw it, it was very powerful, addressing your feelings on the moment. I understand that you didnt originally particularly want to be there or intended to give that speech. Tell me how that came about and what your intention was and what you hope people heard. Well, t. I. And i, we bought a 50yearold blackowned restaurant in the neighborhood we grew up in called bankhead seafood. Were Business Partners and we rolled it out with the food truck. The food truck rolls out, one of the partners pops out and smiles and hugs people and kissed babies and stuff. I had done that the whole day, then rapper noriega calls and says, im in town from miami and want fish. So we went to the studio so he could get fish and smoke joints. And he came up and said i got a call from the mayors assistant that the staged protest which we support the staged protest was turning into a riotous protest and he wanted us to come and quell the violence she didnt want to see happening. He said, are you going to go . I said absolutely not. But i went with tip to support him because you dont let friends go into places that would hurt themselves. So i ended up saying what was purely on my heart. I was talking in that speech for that testimony specifically to atlanta. If you look at the 60s and 70s, black cities like washington, d. C. , chicago, detroit, even parts of los angeles, black parts of lamb l. A. And miami, they were prosperous, fruitful, through red lining and not developing those places, a lot of cities have fallen, and atlanta has managed to grow. We have black leadership, majority black citizens here. We live and coexist with others, but we manage to find it. Now, its not perfect. Now, i just wand to say that to the city that not everything is right but just in a way i didnt want us to lose hope and destroy what we have because hope exists here and i wanted, you know, the black officers to be aware that this was in no way that this was in no way unappreciating what they do, but, at the same time, i wanted the protesters and even the rioters because a lot are just young, frustrated people to know we can do it different in this city. That was the only reason i spoke because i was talking directly to than the. It resonates bigger, but i think black america should treat atlanta like a land where anything is possible for us. Because its not perfect, but anything has proven possible here, you know. And not only in terms of civil rights with dr. King, in terms of black Financial Leadership with Citizens Trust bank, or the Russell Foundation which is one of the largest black Real Estate Developers in the country. This is just a place where hope is possible in a way that its not other places. Well, i think that i know youre speaking specifically to the situation in atlanta and what you hope for your hometown. But as you say, it did resonate, because everybody wants that sense of hope. Absolutely. They deserve it. And you said yourself that you hate that you dont have the answer, i think is what you said. Yeah. I do not, but im going to tell you this, and its for people listening, the new georgia project, live free, the florida rights restoration coalition, movement for black lives, next level boys academy, park kids, people doing work on an everyday basis on the ground. So i need for people to understand i am a mobilizer, i will try my best to mobilize people to get into action, but the organizers are on the ground where you live. Those organizations i named and many across the country need your help and need boots on the ground. So theres nothing wrong with the anger and emotion and passion overspi