Celebs clearly weren’t happy with the recent ruling on the Breonna Taylor shooting from March 13. Predictably, neither was Black Lives Matter, though it doesn’t seem to take much to get those riots started. For his part, Daily Show host Trevor Noah added fuel to the proverbial and literal fire by adding his own two cents to the ruling.
On Thursday, Trevor Noah used his show to lament the “disappointing but predictable” decision to not charge any officers with the murder of Breonna Taylor. As usual, he denounces the police, the justice system, and pretty much all of America as hateful and culpable in what he like every other celebrity believes to be an unfair judgement. What becomes more disappointing but predictable is the way he frames the ruling, claiming a cop can now “just barge into your house and shoot you.”
Black people definitely aren't winning because they've basically been told that a cop can just barge into your house and shoot you. And not only that, they can say that they were defending themselves in your house. And as if that wasn't wild enough, they only get in trouble for the shots that they missed? If only the criminal justice system valued Black people as much as drywall.
Anybody who spends more than five minutes looking into the case could discover that this was not a case of a cop barging in and shooting people. From the actual reports, law enforcement obtained a warrant for Taylor’s home regarding alleged drug dealing from her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover. Although they received a no-knock warrant, they knocked before entering her apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker responded to their entry by firing at the officers, leading the three cops to return fire which caused Taylor’s death. While it can still be labelled a tragedy, the scenario is a far cry from cops barging in and shooting people.
To be fair, Noah does acknowledge the difficulties in being a police officer. He even references the two Louisville police officers shot as a result of the violent protesting. However, he quickly pivots to painting BLM protesters as the real victims lest we forget what side he’s on:
Black Lives Matter’s not winning when this happens because now people are framing them as a violent population. “Oh look the cops got shot, it’s because of Black Lives Matter.” No, it’s not because of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter repeatedly said they're a nonviolent organization. People say then why don't you control your members. Because unlike the police force they don't have a membership structure or a record of their employees. Anyone can march in the street and claim they're part of "Black Lives Matter." We don't know if someone is. Someone can break a window and say it's "Black Lives Matter." We don't know. But what we do know is a policeman is a policeman. They can be held accountable. They're part of a structure. When they're not held accountable, only chaos will ensue.
Finally, he denounces the idea that justice is or can be served in this case. He ends his diatribe stating “And you know what, yesterday got to me was especially the part where the Kentucky A.G. said to people angry about this situation that mob justice is not justice. Then what happens when justice is not justice? Think about it, what part of this was justice?”
It’s strange how he can begin claiming that the criminal justice system doesn’t value black people while ignoring the obvious fact that the Kentucky Attorney General who made this decision is, in fact, black himself. But that’s been a pattern for Noah over these past few years. He ignores the details that destroy his narrative and disparages the strawmen that’s left. And he wonders why support for BLM is dropping by the day.
