Trevor Noah slams Kenosha police for conflicting response to Jacob Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse: 'To some, black skin is the most threatening weapon'

‘Whatever happened to warning shots? Or tackling a suspect?’

Trevor Noah delivered a powerful segment addressing Jacob Blake and the Kanosha shooting on Wednesday.

The host spoke out on his show, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, touching themes such as police violence and racism.

He began by mentioning the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, commenting: “There was definitely a sense that this could be a moment of systemic change.”

“But as we’ve been reminded of yet again, there’s still a long way to go,” he added.

The segment then cut to news reports about Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old father of six who was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.

“No matter how many times I watch these videos, I’ll never get used to how quickly police go from issuing commands to using deadly force,” Noah said.

“Whatever happened to warning shots? Or tackling a suspect?”

Later on in the clip, he addresses an attack that took place on Tuesday, when authorities say a 17-year-old police admirer from a nearby Illinois community killed two demonstrators and wounded a third in wild shootings that were largely caught on cellphone video and posted online.

Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Illinois on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide in shootings late Tuesday.

Rittenhouse, who walked the streets with other civilians armed with long guns, was assigned a public defender in Illinois for a hearing Friday on his transfer to Wisconsin. Under Wisconsin law, anyone 17 or older is treated as an adult in the criminal justice system.

“It made me wonder – it really made me wonder why some people get shot seven times in the back while other people are treated like human beings and reasoned with and taken into custody with no bullets in their bodies,” Noah said.

“...How come Jacob Blake was seen as a deadly threat for a theoretical gun that he might have and might try to commit a crime with, but this gunman who was armed and had already shot people – who had shown that he is a threat – was arrested the next day, given full due process of the law, and generally treated like a human being whose life matters?”

Pointing out that his questions are largely rhetorical, Noah added: “The gun doesn’t matter as much as who’s holding the gun. Because to some people, black skin is the most threatening weapon of all.”

Additional reporting by AP