TDS Time Machine | Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Summary

The Daily Show: Ears Edition

TDS Time Machine | Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19, 2026)

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Overview

This special Martin Luther King Jr. Day edition, hosted by Trevor Noah, delivers The Daily Show’s trademark satirical look at how Americans commemorate the holiday while unpacking the complexities of Dr. King’s legacy. The episode combines street interviews, comedic segments, and an insightful discussion with Van Newkirk of The Atlantic, challenging common narratives about King and the Civil Rights Movement. In true Daily Show fashion, the tone is sharp, playful, and unflinching in confronting both historical amnesia and present-day backsliding.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How Americans Celebrate (or Don’t) MLK Day

[02:11–05:27]

• Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. take to the streets of New York, asking passersby how they plan to honor Dr. King’s legacy.
  • Most responses are awkward, ranging from “getting coffee” to general confusion about the significance of the day.
  • Noah humorously illustrates a lack of knowledge about MLK among the public, playfully quizzing people on his quotes and achievements.
    • “Name a famous MLK quote.”
    • “I have a dream.”
    • “And what does he say after that?”
    • “… I’m not sure.”
      — (Trevor Noah and participant, 03:33–03:41)
  • Roy Wood Jr. quips about “reparations” and the significance of choosing leisure (“freedom and liberty to go about and do what we want to do—that’s our celebration”).

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2. Deconstructing the Sanitized MLK

[05:27–08:03]

• Dulcé Sloan delivers a comedic monologue challenging the “whitewashed, Hallmark version” of MLK.
  • “The real Dr. King did not fit in any box. White moderates think he would have been on their side, but he thought they were worse for the civil rights movement than the Klan. And mattress stores are out here having MLK day sales—but Dr. King was anti-capitalist.”
    — (Dulcé Sloan, 06:21–06:35)
  • Sloan also pokes fun at King’s humanity, referencing alleged affairs to highlight activists’ imperfections: “It’s part of his legacy. A reminder that our heroes aren’t perfect; they’re people. And I’m not being disrespectful—just the opposite. MLK was out there getting it and probably still could.”
    — (Dulcé Sloan, 07:04–07:17)
  • She jokingly suggests that fighting for civil rights could become more popular if it was viewed as cool or glamorous.

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3. MLK Misunderstandings and Mishaps

[09:24–14:39]

• Roy Wood Jr. spotlights humorous and problematic ways people “honor” MLK:
  • Sales and promotions: A store advertises “MLK Day Sale: 25% off everything black.”
    • “Are you celebrating serious for MLK Day? 25% off for black clothes? What it should be is 100% off for black people. Free at last, free at last, pants, tops, and coats are free at last.”
      — (Roy Wood Jr., 10:38–10:53)
  • Cringe-worthy event marketing: MLK is photoshopped with a gold chain for a “Freedom to Twerk” party—which gets canceled after public backlash.
  • People using MLK’s image to promote unrelated agendas, such as "Gun Appreciation Day."
    • “I’m pretty sure on Dr. King’s list of priorities, giving slaves guns comes way below not having slaves in the first place.”
      — (Roy Wood Jr., 13:46–14:02)
  • Trevor asks how one should celebrate properly; Roy Wood Jr. clarifies:
    • “MLK was for racial equality, economic justice, and stood against the exploitation of the poor. ... And on that day, my friends, there will be twerking for everyone, everywhere.”
      — (Roy Wood Jr., 14:39–15:00)

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4. Van Newkirk Interview: Beyond the Myth

[15:35–25:12]

• (15:35–16:00) Trevor welcomes Van Newkirk of The Atlantic, discussing that issue’s deep dive into King’s legacy.

Gun Policy and Civil Rights:

• Newkirk critiques arming teachers:
  • “Giving teachers guns, especially in a system with a history of racism, goes against the very spirit of the Second Amendment, which was supposed to empower the people against the tyranny of the state.”
    — (Van Newkirk, 16:24–16:59)
• Satirical riff: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. So, you give the killing guns.”—(Trevor Noah, 17:16–17:22)

The Misunderstood King:

• Newkirk points out how politicians and the general public often misrepresent King, quoting only select lines from the “I Have a Dream” speech while ignoring his stances on the Vietnam War, white moderate complacency, economic inequality, and anti-racism.
• Quoting the Atlantic article:
  • “In the official story told to children, King’s assassination is the transformational tragedy in a victorious struggle to overcome. But in the true accounting, his assassination was one of a host of reactionary assaults by a country against a revolution. And those assaults were astonishingly successful.”
    — (Van Newkirk, 18:52–19:36)
• They discuss the myth of Civil Rights “victory”:
  • “How did we win if Dr. King was assassinated while protesting? ... Black homeownership rates, segregation in schools haven’t gone anywhere in 50 years.”
    — (Van Newkirk, 20:25–21:06)
• Newkirk highlights the erasure of women from Civil Rights history:
  • “Coretta Scott King wasn’t just a sidekick… she was politically ahead of him on issues like the Vietnam War and shaped many of his ideas. ... Rosa Parks wasn’t just a tired lady; she organized anti-sexual assault campaigns and the very networks that made boycott actions possible.”
    — (Van Newkirk, 22:34–23:40)
• Trevor asks how King would see today’s America:
  • “The mountaintop in that speech wasn’t the place where we need to be in terms of race. The mountaintop was having the vision to see where we needed to go. ... King would be protesting regardless of whatever situation is on the ground right now in America.”
    — (Van Newkirk, 24:09–24:36)

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5. MLK Day in the Culture Wars

[25:51–31:33]

• Comedian commentary addresses the irony and uphill battle of establishing MLK Day as a national holiday—taking 15 years after King’s death and facing resistance, even from President Ronald Reagan.
  • “Fine, have your little holiday, okay? ... No wonder Reagan got Alzheimer’s. He was like, I’ll make it a holiday but I wanna forget that shit immediately.”
    — (Comedian, 27:57–28:10)
• The rise of publicly racist rhetoric—examples include inflammatory political texts and online posts.
  • “MAGA conservatives have traded in their dog whistle for a racism bullhorn.”
    — (Comedian, 29:31)
  • “White men are better at all of these tasks than the allegedly underprivileged communities that are replacing them.”—highlighting the overt racism in some current discourses.
• Concludes with satire about politicians suggesting replacing MLK Day with “Trump’s birthday” as a federal holiday.
  • “Replacing MLK Day with a holiday honoring Trump would be insulting, racist, and unnecessary. But you know what? A day off is a day off, okay?”
    — (Comedian, 31:04–31:20)
  • “We’ll call it prune teeth.”—(Comedian, 31:20)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “I have a dream that one day white people will actually know what's in that damn speech.”
  — Trevor Noah, 04:19
• “If he showed up on my Bumble, I'd take him to the mountaintop in the valley low.”
  — Dulcé Sloan, 07:21
• “Celebrating MLK Day with a sale is like commemorating Samuel L. Jackson Day by whispering—that’s not what the man stands for.”
  — Roy Wood Jr., 11:02
• “The gap between blacks and whites now in terms of wealth is just so staggering... How do you even build policy, bridge that gap? Education has risen, but our kids are now in schools that are as segregated as they were in 1970.”
  — Van Newkirk, 21:06–21:29
• “Coretta Scott King, not just as King’s helpmate but as someone who was an activist in her own right... Those [movement organizing] structures actually King relied on were built by Black women against sexual assault.”
  — Van Newkirk, 22:57–23:40
• “White people barely apologize for being black on Halloween. The only sorry I've ever gotten from a white person was, Oh, sorry, I thought you worked here.”
  — Comedian, 29:45–29:54

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Street Interviews – MLK Day Awareness: [02:11–05:27]
• Dulcé Sloan Monologue on “Real” MLK: [05:27–08:03]
• Roy Wood Jr.: MLK Day Commercialization and Faux Tributes: [09:24–14:39]
• Van Newkirk Interview – Myths and Realities of King’s Legacy: [15:35–25:12]
• History and Irony of Establishing MLK Day; Culture War Attacks: [25:51–31:33]

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Conclusion

The episode masterfully blends on-the-street humor, pointed commentary, and academic insights to challenge sanitized stories about Dr. King and explore his enduring relevance. By juxtaposing casual public ignorance, corporate exploitation, and political antagonism with historical rigor and personal anecdotes, The Daily Show uses satire to remind listeners: honoring MLK means facing uncomfortable truths and continuing his fight for justice—not just getting a three-day weekend.

Transcript

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[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Since the Daily show finally hired a black host, we can properly celebrate Martin Luther King Day by asking New Yorkers how they celebrate his legacy.

[Guest/Participant]

Shut up.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Don't interrupt me on Martin Luther King Day. That ain't cool. So let's do this. Do y' all know what today is?

[Guest/Participant]

We're Lost, We're Lost day.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Do you know what day it is today?

It's Monday.

What you do today?

[Guest/Participant]

Well, today we just woke up, just.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Checked out of our hotel, check out our hotel.

[Guest/Participant]

We're going to go get coffee and we're going to walk around.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

So which one of those Celebrates Martin Luther King Day.

Well, none of what we've talked about so far.

You started to push us for Martin. So this ain't reparations, but this is enough. That's right.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Give me one hand once. Yeah, that's right.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

What y' all doing to celebrate? MLK came to New York. Came to New York.

[Guest/Participant]

That's it.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's all y' all gonna do.

[Guest/Participant]

Saw some shows, ate some food, did some shopping.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

All right, I'm gonna come back to y' all on Juneteenth. And y' all better have done better, don't you? Like when he, like, you know, refused to move to the back of the bus?

[Guest/Comedian]

Mm.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I can remember snippets through the world news.

He didn't refuse. That was Rosa Parks.

[Guest/Participant]

Was it?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Name a famous MLK quote.

[Guest/Participant]

I have a dream.

[Guest/Comedian]

I have a dream.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I have a dream.

And what does he say after that?

I'm not sure.

Name a famous MLK quote. Besides, I have a dream.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Besides, I have a dream.

[Guest/Comedian]

Um.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I will pay you $1 million if you could tell me something else that Martin Luther King said he told.

His children he loved them.

Millionaires.

[Guest/Participant]

So, lady, you do not know.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

He said to his children.

[Guest/Participant]

Can we Google it? No, the. I have a dream that one day.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

That's all I got.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I have a dream that one day white people will actually know what's in that damn speech. Okay, just name five black people.

[Guest/Comedian]

Eddie Murphy.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's the only black person you know.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Eddie Murphy.

[Guest/Participant]

Byron Leftwich.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Who the is Myron Ledwich?

[Guest/Participant]

Byron Leftwich is in the NFL as an offensive line coach.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Don't nobody know him. He's making up names now. So how you celebrate Martin Luther King?

Um, not too sure.

So that's what he died for, man. For you just to be out here just not doing nothing on this date. Nah, I'm just kidding. You can do whatever you want, man.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

You black.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

We're gonna go see the Lion King, okay? It's got King in the fire, guys on his hill. I mean, that's as close as you can get. I'll take it.

[Guest/Participant]

The freedom and liberty to go about.

[Guest/Comedian]

And do what we want to do. That's our celebration.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's a quote from a black woman right there. That's right.

[Guest/Participant]

She earned that.

[Guest/Comedian]

She earned that to do what we want to do.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's right.

[Guest/Participant]

I'm just. It's your birthday.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

How old are you? I'm 50.

[Guest/Participant]

What?

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Guest/Participant]

Black.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Don't crack it.

[Guest/Participant]

Don't crack.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

You still need lotion though.

For more on Dr. King's legacy, we turn now to Dulce Sloan, everybody.

[Guest/Participant]

Hey, Mom.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Dulce.

If.

If.

[Guest/Comedian]

If Martin Luther King were here, where.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Do you think he would stand on the government shutdown?

[Guest/Participant]

I think he would stand inside. Cause it's too damn cold. Why is Martin Luther King Day on the coldest day of the year? I mean, why can't we celebrate him in July? Then we can, you know, march outside and have a cookout.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Yeah, but then it wouldn't be on his birthday.

[Guest/Participant]

Oh, so a black man can't have two birthdays? It's 2019, Trevor. I thought we'd move past this. What?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I didn't know there was a civil rights. Anyway, never mind.

[Guest/Comedian]

What?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Okay, while you're indoors today, what do you think and what are you remembering about Dr. King's legacy?

[Guest/Participant]

You know what I wanna remember the real Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Not the whitewashed Hallmark version. Because every year people talk about the same stuff. The I have a Dream speech, the march on Washington. How he had the voice of a Scooby Doo ghost. I have a dream. And I would have gotten away with.

[Guest/Comedian]

It too, if it weren't for those.

[Guest/Participant]

Meddling K. But the real Dr. King did not fit in any box. White moderates think he would have been on their side, but he thought they were worse for the civil rights movement than the Klan. And mattress stores are out here having MLK day sales. But Dr. King was anti capitalist. And even though he was a reverend and a man of God, he allegedly had a whole bunch of affairs.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Whoa, hold on, hold on. Even if that's true, I mean, that he had affairs, isn't it disrespectful to mention that on his birthday?

[Guest/Participant]

I don't think so. It's part of his legacy. A reminder that our heroes aren't perfect, they're people. And I'm not being disrespectful, Just the opposite. MLK was out there getting it and probably still could. I mean, if he showed up on my Bumble, I'd take him to the mountaintop in the valley load.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I've never thought of MLK on Bumble.

[Guest/Participant]

Well, he wouldn't be on Tinder. That man had class. If everyone knew that fighting for civil rights could get you some, a lot more people would fight for equality, equal pay, voting rights. And whoever can stop black people from getting shot by the police will tonight.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Okay.

[Guest/Participant]

I'll show up. I'll show up. All right, now, first you get a million in the streets, then you get a million in the sheets.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Don't say Sloan, everybody.

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[Host (Trevor Noah)]

What is Martin Luther King Day and how should people celebrate it? Well, for more on this, we turn to a man who has had many dreams that no one wants to hear about.

[Guest/Comedian]

Roywood Jr. Everybody.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Welcome, boy.

[Guest/Participant]

Welcome.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Good to have you.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Good to see you. Good to see you, Mandela. Look, MLK Day is a. It's a special day for America, and it's a special day for me as someone who has been mistaken for Martin Luther King Jr. Many times. But. But as we get further and further away from his life, it's easy to forget what he was really about. Which means sometimes people celebrate him in a really up way. So today I'd like to show y' all some of my favorite MLK ups like this one.

[Guest/Participant]

The holiday didn't go as planned for some Today. A business in Duluth, Minnesota, created controversy when promoting a sale in honor of the civil rights leader. The sign posted at the shop read, MLK Day Sale. 25% off everything black. But the owner says it was just misinterpreted. 25% off everything black. He was black.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

He was proud.

[Guest/Comedian]

He looked good.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

We were celebrating that.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Are you celebrating serious for MLK Day? 25% off for black clothes. What it should be is 100% off for black people. Free at last. Free at last, pants tops and coats are free. At last.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Yeah, Roy. You know what makes it worse is that if you read Dr. King's speeches, you'll see that he was opposed to consumerism and wasteful capitalism.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

That's right. Celebrating MLK Day with a sale. It's like commemorating Samuel L. Jackson Day by whispering, that's not what the band stands for. It's not like in the middle of his mountaintop speech, Dr. King just broke off. Remember me with savings too insane to be believed. I might not get to that stove with you, but my eyes have seen the power of the discount. Come on, Coretta, let's roll.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

You know, it actually. It actually is unfortunate because it seems like some white people are out of touch with Dr. Cain's legacy.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Oh, it's not just a white thing. In fact, Dr. King might actually be proud that on his special day, people of all colors and backgrounds have been up.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

As we pause to honor Dr. King this year, a flyer for a local event that bears his image is causing quite a stir. But as NBC 25's Walter Smith tells us right now, the party is now canceled. The party promoters nowhere to be found.

[Guest/Participant]

This poster has a lot of people shaking their heads in disgust. It shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wearing a gold chain promoting a party called Freedom to Twerk. It was supposed to take place at this club, but it's been canceled. The owner says he's disgusted and there'll be no twerking here.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

There will be no twerking here. Sound like Gandalf in a Tyler Perry movie. There will be no twerking here. And then, you know, the strippers fly all over the place. Also, how are you gonna photoshop Dr. King with gold chains to try and make him look cool? He was already cool. Look at these. Look at these real pictures of Dr. King from back in the day. Look at him playing pool in a suit in a civil rights fresh from a march. That shot's so cool, it doesn't matter if he misses. And here he is making the library look cool, standing in front of books like they stacks of money. But this is my favorite. Martin Luther King wearing sunglasses inside. Trevor. He could have taken that call in private, but he left the door open for the haters. But maybe, maybe the most popular activity on MLK Day is using his legacy to push your own agenda. And no one has done it in a more interesting fashion than this guy.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I believe that Gun Appreciation Day honors the legacy of Dr. King. And the truth is, I think Martin Luther King would agree with Me, if he were alive today, that if, if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Okay, okay, hold up. I'm pretty sure on Dr. King's list of priorities, giving slaves guns comes way below not having slaves in the first place. The logic, the logic makes no sense. This makes no sense. How would you do that? Like, do you think the slave owners would have just had a little chit chat? Well, shit, we set them free. Oh no, don't set them free. Let's make it interesting. Give them shotguns. Now I will say this. If slaves did have guns, the movie Roots would have only been 15 minutes long. Your name is Toby. Oh, or whatever you want us to call you. That's cool. What is it cool?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

So, so, Roy, we've seen people mess it up, you know, with sales or, you know, with their own agendas. But what is the proper way to celebrate Dr. King's legacy?

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Listen, man, it's simple. MLK was for racial equality, economic justice, and stood against the exploitation of the poor. And he did so because he knew that one day our great nation would rise above bigotry, injustice and poverty. And on that day, my friends, there will be twerking for everyone everywhere.

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[Host (Trevor Noah)]

My guest tonight is an amazing writer at the Atlantic who helped produce a special commemorative issue of the magazine called King A Look at the Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Please welcome Van Newkirk. Welcome to the show.

[Guest/Participant]

Thanks for having me, man.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I've been a fan of your writing for so long. You touch on so many different topics, you know, from Black Panther through to racism in America, the Second Amendment. One of the more interesting conversations that I, I, I got started because of your writing was specifically about teachers being armed. And you argued that in, in its very essence, it Goes against the Second Amendment. Why would you make that argument?

[Guest/Participant]

Yeah, so the Second Amendment is supposed to be this thing that protects people from the government. The whole entire ethos of it is you get people, you give them guns, and you give them guns so they can build a militia to protect themselves against tyranny.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Right.

[Guest/Participant]

And so you have teachers who are state agents. Right. Paid by the state, who are taking care of our kids, who have sometimes done bad things to those kids, and you're giving them guns. So especially in Florida, you have a guy who was known to use the N word with his students and was suspended for doing it. You give that guy a gun.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Right.

[Guest/Participant]

For what Right?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's the tyrannical government. Yeah, I. I never thought of that as an idea. I go like. But, you know, it's. It's one of those ideas where people go like, this seems like a good idea because everything leads to more guns. You go, like, just give the people more guns and then it solves the guns. Because if everyone has a gun, then I guess it means no one has a gun. I don't know how it works.

[Guest/Participant]

Well, I give my gun a gun.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Yeah, you give your gun a gun. That's the most important. Cause guns don't kill people.

[Guest/Participant]

Right.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

People kill people.

[Guest/Participant]

So you give the killing guns.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I don't think a gun has ever. A gun has killed a gun. I saw that in a movie once. The gun shot the gun and the gun.

[Guest/Participant]

Yeah.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

No one talks about gun. On gun violence.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

You, you. You.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

You have an interesting way of looking at the world. And this issue of the Atlantic, I think, looks at Martin Luther King from so many different places and through so many different lenses, which I really found interesting. Martin Luther King is one of those figures in America that I've always felt is mythologized and oftentimes misunderstood. And it feels like you've captured that in this article. Why did you think it was necessary to have an entire article about Martin Luther King Jr.

[Guest/Participant]

So what we wanna do is challenge people. You know, we want people to read every single article in this issue and come away thinking about something new, right? Something they had never thought about, something they never even fathomed about Dr. King. And what that does as a whole is so many times politicians bring up people who will have an agenda, bring up Dr. King. They quote the dream speech. They do the same thing, okay? He want us to live in a colorblind society where our kids can go to school together. They quote this one part, but they don't quote the part about him being against the Vietnam War. It don't say his speech, his letter from Birmingham jail, where he talks about the white moderate. And nobody asks themselves, am I the white moderate?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Right.

[Guest/Participant]

So nobody. Everybody now is pro king and not racist. But nobody's reading King now for how to be anti racist.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

It's interesting that you say that, because there was a specific article or piece of it that connected with me written by you in this. And it was specifically about the idea of Martin Luther King and his assassination. And you say here in the official story told to children, King's assassination is the transformational tragedy in a victorious struggle to overcome. But in the true accounting, his assassination was one of a host of reactionary assaults by a country against a revolution. And those assaults were astonishingly successful. Yeah, that's an interesting point of view. Cause many people feel like Martin Luther King being assassinated was the beginning of the great journey that got black people to where they needed to be. And you're arguing that it ended a revolution that was starting. How? How do you prove that? Or why do you believe that?

[Guest/Participant]

So I remember when I was in school and I had a teacher who told me straight up that the Civil Rights movement was victorious, that we won, that we. We won. And what I could never reconcile was, how did we win if Dr. King was assassinated while protesting? How did we win the Civil Rights movement? How are we victorious if, while protesting for higher wages for sanitation workers in Memphis, he was assassinated and his poor people's movement was derailed? So I always want to revisit that point. So when I wrote that essay, I was listening to Nina Simone's song, why the King of Love Is Dead. She wrote it three days after he was assassinated. And she is talking about will the country stand or fall? She's talking about a country that seemed then on the verge of an apocalypse.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Right.

[Guest/Participant]

And so I really wanted to go back to that moment and see how we get from that moment where you're talking about the end of the world, the black community in shambles and tears and unrest and riots, and how you go from there to here in 50 years and say, we won. How does that happen?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

People would say, but, Van, look at how much progress black people have made since Martin Luther King. Surely things have gotten better. Black people on the up in America.

[Guest/Participant]

Well, some studies are showing that that may not be the case. So we've got some studies out from the Economic Policy Institute that are saying that black wealth, black homeownership rates, segregation in schools haven't gone anywhere in 50 years.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

In 50 years.

[Guest/Participant]

In 50 years. So what are we talking about here? We're saying that the gap between blacks and whites now in terms of wealth is just so staggering that it's. How do you even build policy, bridge that gap? Education has risen, but our kids are now in schools that are as segregated as they were in 1970. So what are we talking about?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's an interesting point of view. And I guess I know a lot of people argue back on that, and they'll say, well, I mean, Obama became president fan. So I mean, that's. That's progress, isn't it?

[Guest/Participant]

Yeah. Obama was president eight years. And now will we ever have another black president?

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Will you ever have another president? Is the question I ask. Um, here. Here's something that I. That I really connected with. And I guess because of South Africa's history and also because it is International Women's Day, is this beautiful quote in the. In the article. Women have been the backbone of the whole civil rights movement. This popular narrative of the civil rights movement too often relies on great men, the great men version of history. King, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Stokely Carmichael, other names, you know. And it ignores the importance of women who also organized and led the movement, and shows how their contributions have been sidelined, hidden in plain sight. That is a powerful narrative that many people forget, and that is Coretta Scott King wasn't just a sidekick. She wasn't just the woman at home. Why do you think it's so important to acknowledge these women and what were they instrumental in doing in many movements?

[Guest/Participant]

Yeah, I learned a lot reading that essay from Gene Theo Harris. She was talking about Coretta, Coretta Scott King, and how Martin's development politically came from conversation with Coretta. So a lot of what he was doing was sort of mansplaining Coretta. Right. He was going out and saying, okay, she was against the Vietnam War years before he was.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Wow.

[Guest/Participant]

She. When they were courting each other in. When they were still dating, she was the one who was sort of giving him these economic ideas, passing him along text about what to read and how to learn and grow. So you look at. If you look at Coretta, Coretta Scott King, not just as King's. Help me, as someone who was an activist in her own right, Right. You start looking at just all these other women in the movement who did so much. Rosa Parks, who was an operative. We're taught in school that she was a tired old lady who sat down. She was out there. She built the same organizing structures that actually King relied on when he was doing the boycotts, wow. Those were built by black women against sexual assault.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That's powerful.

[Guest/Participant]

Those same things. Yeah.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

And so when you. When you look at these stories, how do you think it plays out? Because Martin Luther King exists in a place where some people use him to stage a protest and others go, we should use him to sell trucks in America. Um, everyone sees him in a different light. If Martin Luther King were around today, from what you have read and what you've learned, like, how happy do you think he would be? Would he think people have reached a mountaintop?

[Guest/Participant]

I think from reading him, his thing was never being satisfied with where we are because there's always space. The mountaintop in that speech wasn't the place where we need to be in terms of race. The mountaintop was having the vision to see where we needed to go. And I think that vision was that the road is ever everlasting, Right? The moral arc of the universe is always bending towards justice, and we bend it. So I think King would. He would be protesting regardless of whatever situation is on the ground right now in America. He would be protesting because that's what he does. That's what an activist does. They were always agitated. And so that's what I want people to take away from the magazine, is that his activism was always agitating, was always moving forward and progressing. And you see in the last year of his life, before he was assassinated, right, he sat down and thought, how do I move this forward? And he came forward with the most ambitious program to fight poverty, to fight militarism, and to fight racism across the globe. And that was King.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

That was King. It's an amazing article. Thank you so much for being here.

[Guest/Comedian]

That's an amazing issue of the Atlantic.

[Guest/Participant]

King.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Guest/Comedian]

Hello, Hello, Hello, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is right around the corner, which means two things. One, if Al Sharpton sees his shadow, six more weeks are winner. That's right. And two, we're about to get the worst party flyers you've ever seen. That's real, by the way. Okay. And the party wasn't nearly as fun as they made it look. Personally, I'm gonna be celebrating it like it's the last MLK Day, because the way things are going, it might be.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

NBC News has learned that the Defense Intelligence Agency has ordered a pause on all events related to MLK Day or Black History Month.

[Guest/Participant]

National Park Service will no longer offer free admission on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, nor on Juneteenth.

[Guest/Comedian]

That's right. The national parks are going from free at last, free at last. A bitch better have my money. And I know some white people out there are like, why do you black people don't go camping? First of all, that's racist, okay? And second, you're correct. But when white people go get a free day in the parks, we finally get to experience what it's like to be in an empty Whole Foods.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Okay?

[Guest/Comedian]

What I'm worried about is that this backsliding on MLK Day is just the first step toward getting rid of it altogether. Because if you don't know, it was a hard fight to get to national holiday in the first place. It took 15 years after Dr. King's death to become a law. And some of you may be thinking, 15 years, but that I'm Just a Bill song only took three minutes.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Guest/Comedian]

Cause he was a white bill, all right? They never told you that he was a bill to resegregate golf courses. And you should see that bill's friend. Dude's been waiting on the capitol steps for 20 years. And when Ronald Reagan was finally in the signing of the bill in 1983, you could tell he was a little salty about it. Just two weeks ago, Mr. Reagan said.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

He would have liked an unofficial holiday.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

I would have preferred that. But since they seem bent on making it a national holiday, I believe the symbolism of that day is important enough that I would. I'll sign that legislation when it reaches my desk.

[Guest/Comedian]

Yeah, that's the tone of voice that means, fine, have your little holiday, okay? I'll tell the CIA to gift rap some crack as a present. No wonder Reagan got Alzheimer's. He was like, I'll make it a holiday, but I wanna forget that shit immediately. But even if Reagan caved, a lot of Republicans had a dream that one day they could turn people against Dr. King. And that dream still lives on. Racist text messages allegedly sent by President.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Trump's handpicked nominee to lead the Office of special counsel.

[Guest/Comedian]

One from January of last year, quote, MLK Jr. Was the 1960s, George Floyd. And his holiday should be ended. And tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Martin Luther King, Jr. Whose whole life was a diddy party. Orgies and smoking and fighting and whipping up on women. Martin Luther King, Jr. Make a Diddy party look like a Catholic convent school.

[Guest/Comedian]

Lord have mercy, white people, if that guy is your one black friend, it does not count.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

Okay?

[Guest/Comedian]

A diddy party. Like, whatever his faults, Dr. King wasn't diddy by any stretch. But also, if Diddy manages to pass the Civil Rights Act, I'd let a few things slide. Not the domestic violence, but 1,000 bottles of baby oil. Sure, that bill would have slid right through Congress. All right, the surprising thing about the rights defamation of MLK is just how unsurprising it is. MAGA conservatives have traded in their dog whistle for a racism bullhorn.

[Guest/Participant]

Elon Musk endorses a post on X calling for, quote, white solidarity.

[Guest/Comedian]

White men are better at all of these tasks than the allegedly underprivileged communities that are replacing them.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part, and we would live in paradise. It's that simple. It's literally that simple.

[Guest/Comedian]

Yeah, I'm sorry, but when I hear pure, unadulterated racism like that, you know, as a man from South Carolina, it just makes me a little homesick, all right? I mean, they cooked up that hate speech just like my Scrum Thurman used to make it, all right? And even if you called him out on it, these races have friends in high places in the United States of America. You don't have to apologize for being white anymore. When the have white people ever apologized for being white? Okay, what are we talking about? Come on, man. White people barely apologize for being black on Halloween. The only sorry I've ever gotten from a white person was, oh, sorry, I thought you worked here. All right, but there's still one reason to have hope that we can preserve MLK Day. Because all of us, regardless of race, color, or creed, enjoy that sweet three day weekend.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

All right?

[Guest/Comedian]

And if MLK Day goes away, what are they gonna replace it with? Congresswoman Claudia Tenney of New York introduced.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Legislation to make Trump's birthday a federal holiday.

[Guest/Comedian]

You gotta be kidding me. Yeah. Yeah. Replacing MLK Day with a holiday honoring Trump would be insulting, racist, and unnecessary. But you know what? A day off is a day off, okay? I mean it. We've all seen Trump's face. We'll call it prune teeth.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

All right?

[Guest/Comedian]

But, hey, that's just my opinion.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

Explore more shows from the Daily show podcast universe by searching the Daily show.

[Guest/Comedian]

Wherever you get your podcasts watch Watch the Daily show weeknights at 1110 Central.

[Host (Trevor Noah)]

On Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount.

[Guest/Comedian]

Plus.

[Guest/Comedian (Roy Wood Jr.)]

This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

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