If you want to see what the pure frustration of explaining the realities of racism to a person who doesn’t fully understand them looks like, look no further than DL Hughley’s recent appearance on FOX News.
The actor and comedian appeared after former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman on a Wednesday night segment of “The Kelly File” to discuss police brutality and the shooting of Philando Castile with host Megyn Kelly.
Hughley started off by calling out Fuhrman for suggesting Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds lied about the events of the shooting, given that Fuhrman perjured himself during the OJ Simpson trial.
When asked about the “inconsistencies” in Reynolds’ story, Hughley replied, “It is my belief that no matter what happens, no matter what we see, the cops are given the presumption of innocence. If that same tape showed a suspect doing something, that would be all the prosecution would need, and they would say ‘the evidence is all right here.’”
After a heated debate, wherein Kelly questioned whether Philando Castile might have threatened the officer who killed him and later brought up reports that Michael Brown had threatened Darren Wilson before his death, Hughley dropped a bomb:
“The only place racism doesn’t exist is Fox News and the police department,” Hughley said. “That’s absolutely true.”
“That’s insulting,” Kelly responded, “You just insulted millions of people watching this channel.”
“And I’m insulted by the things I hear on this network, so we’re even,” Hughley replied. “I couldn’t care less about insulting people that insult me on a daily basis.”
Kelly conceded that white people and black people view the issue of police brutality differently, but that using the term “racism” shuts down dialogue.
“It’s very dangerous when you get to the point where you paint an entire group with the same brush based on the bad actions of a few,” Kelly added.
“That is amazing to hear on this network,” Hughley replied. “That really is.”
And therein lies the frustration ― during the entire debate, Kelly is willing to concede that “whites and blacks” see things differently, but is not willing to concede that the reason they do is because black people experience racism on a daily basis and white people don’t. The irony of asking Hughley not to “paint an entire group with the same brush” seems completely lost on Kelly, and the look on Hughley’s face by the end of the segment says it all:
Watch the entire debate above.
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