Colbert Brings Back the Satirical Genius of Twain

It is no secret that Mark Twain likes to satirize racism. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are several scenes where African Americans are portrayed as less than human.  Mark Twain illustrates this to expose the wrongs that were going on in America in his time. A specific example of racism is when Aunt Sally is told about a steamboat explosion. When she is asks if anyone was hurt, she is told that that no one was hurt but it killed one slave. Given the way Twain creates Jim to be the better father and a better human in this story than Pap, it is clear that Twain thinks that the 1840s view of slaves was atrocious.

The comical newscast, The Colbert Report, recently satirized the way some police officers acted with unethical, unjust and brutal force. When the Associated Press reported how the police dealt with protesters participating in The Occupy Berkley movement, they said that officers removed the protesters from stairs and “nudged” them with batons. In actuality there is video footage of them striking and ramming peaceful protesters. Later in the report, Colbert exaggerates his satire and displays the most infamous scenes of racism he says, “nudging like the Rodney king nudging [extreme police brutality on an African American man] and how they set up that slip and slide in Birmingham [civil rights footage of several blacks swept away by high powered hoses]”.  Colbert says these things not because he is biased himself but to use comedy to urge people to wake up and notice the atrocity of racism.

Colbert on 60 minutes