The Daily Show's new South Africa correspondent schools America over race, poverty
On Thursday night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart introduced a new contributor from South Africa, Trevor Noah. Then Stewart and the rest of us went to class. "I never thought I'd be more afraid of police in America than South Africa," Noah started out. "It kind of makes me a little nostalgic for the old days back home." Stewart protested, but that was just the beginning. Noah joked about his friends in South Africa warning him about getting Ebola in America, then proceeded to poke fun at Americans' ignorance of Africa.
"To a lot of Americans, Africa is just one giant village full of AIDS, huts, and starving children, who you can save for 5 cents a day," Noah said. To show the other side, he challenged Stewart to a game called "Spot the Africa" — "This doesn't involve me identifying anything on a map, right?" Stewart asked. "No, no, I wouldn't do that to you," Noah mocked. The real schooling started next, with Noah roping in Nicholas Kristof to explain how in many ways, current-day black Americas are worse off than blacks in Apartheid South Africa. Watch, learn, and hopefully laugh below. --Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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