Jon Stewart reads Fox News the riot act on Ferguson and race

On Tuesday night, Jon Stewart returned to the Daily Show desk from a "particularly nice vacation" to discuss the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He apparently wanted to have that "national conversation on race" that Bill Clinton tried to start in 1997, and he wanted to have it with Fox News, whose hosts and guests have been particularly skeptical that race played any role in a white police officer shooting an unarmed black teenager — or that America's history with racism had anything to do with the reaction in Ferguson.

It's a pretty pretty comprehensive rebuttal of various Fox News arguments, and a pretty heartfelt segment from Stewart, especially near the end. "Race is there, and it's a constant," he said, reminding Fox News' indignant white personalities that black Americans are humiliated or worse every day. "You're tired of hearing about it? Imagine how f--king exhausting it is living it." The segment ends with a few minutes of tragicomic relief from Stewart and "Senior Missouri Correspondent" Michael Che. --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.