For anyone other than Republicans (or members of whatever party just wants to sit idly by and watch the world burn), a trip to the Republican National Convention would either be an exercise in self-flagellation, or a great place to mine for comedy. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee went for the latter, of course, dedicating two episodes to the perilous journey there for the host and writers, as well as conversations with average Americans who don’t quite seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. Last night’s episode saw the “Sam Squad” on a mission to find someone who could utter those three little words (black) people would love to hear.
The Full Frontal staff, sans Bee, interviewed attendees and candidates to see who could bring themselves to say, or even repeat, the words “black lives matter.” And virtually no one could, even those who seemingly agreed with the sentiment, because they didn’t want to be seen as tacitly endorsing the Black Lives Matter movement. Of course, no one who said they didn’t support Black Lives Matter even seemed to know what the movement was about. One candidate for state senate firmly declined to process any information on Black Lives Matter, possibly because he was consumed with doubts about having worn a blue tie of all things to the RNC.
But for every rigid naysayer, the show found several more people who didn’t interrupt every utterance of “black lives matter” with an “all lives matter” chant, people who admitted to being ignorant of the movement’s background. One woman even told a Full Frontal staffer that she was concerned with saying the “wrong” thing to black people and upsetting them, something she worries about all of the time. Yes, living in constant fear that you’ll say or do something to inadvertently provoke someone must be quite the burden to bear.