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  • increase the number of illegal immigrants in America.

  • What? How could it possibly?

  • Here, I'll show you.

  • Just building a wall would be practically impossible.

  • This is where it would be.

  • (dog squeals)

  • It would have to stretch over 2,000 miles of rough terrain...

  • cutting through mountains,

  • rivers, villages

  • and even people's homes.

  • And all that destruction is monstrously expensive.

  • Just building the wall

  • would cost between $15 and $25 billion.

  • (woman gasps)

  • It would easily be one of the single most

  • expensive pieces of infrastructure

  • in American history costing as much as 20 Hoover Dams

  • or NASA's entire annual budget.

  • (man) That's one small step for man,

  • one giant wall for no reason.

  • Not to mention the astronomical cost

  • of staffing and maintaining the wall,

  • which taxpayers like you and your children

  • will be stuck paying forever.

  • I paid for the wall.

  • My father's father paid for the wall.

  • And one day you will pay for the wall.

  • Because this is Wall World.

  • Even just faking the wall for our show

  • was prohibitively expensive.

  • Looks like our CGI budget ran out.

  • Okay, yes, it may be expensive

  • but that doesn't change the fact

  • that once we build it, it will work.

  • Not like you think.

  • Increasing security at the border

  • will never stop illegal immigration.

  • Why not?

  • No one's getting passed me.

  • Yes, they are because it's estimated that

  • between 27% and 40% of all undocumented immigrants

  • in America came here on planes.

  • (plane passing)

  • I forgot about planes.

  • These immigrants didn't sneak over the border.

  • They came here legally through passport control,

  • then just overstayed their visas.

  • And guess what? A border wall's

  • not gonna stop 'em because, reminder...

  • You fools!

  • You forgot about planes!

  • We always forget about planes!

  • Even by your estimate of visa overstays,

  • the wall would still

  • stop about half

  • of America's 11 million illegal immigrants.

  • No, it wouldn't.

  • 'Cause of a little something called circular flow.

  • Here, I'll show you.

  • (dog yelps)

  • For decades, immigration to the U.S. was a circular flow.

  • People would come,

  • work for a bit

  • and then after they were done, go home to their families.

  • Meet Douglas Massey.

  • Thanks, Adam.

  • My arms were getting pretty tired waiting for my cue.

  • He's a professor at Princeton

  • and a pioneering researcher on this topic.

  • When the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations

  • drastically increased border

  • enforcement in response

  • to public opinion,

  • they stopped that circular flow.

  • Not by keeping people out, but by keeping people in.

  • (Douglas) As it got harder and harder to go back and forth,

  • people crossing

  • the border decided

  • they were much better off just staying in the U.S.

  • If I go back to Mexico now,

  • he won't let me back in the U.S.

  • I guess I'll just stay here...

  • in Tucson.

  • Ironically, this increase

  • in border enforcement

  • caused the number of undocumented immigrants

  • living in the United States to skyrocket by 248%.

  • It's counterintuitive, but building a wall

  • wouldn't stop people from coming in.

  • It would actually stop them from going back.

  • In fact, the whole idea of

  • building a border wall

  • is misguided.

  • The Mexican economy is doing quite well right now

  • and population growth has slowed way down.

  • So, there's not much pressure to emigrate.

  • The number of illegal border crossings

  • is actually at an all-time low.

  • If you're a professor, then why are you in the desert?

  • I'm not, I'm a mirage.

  • (gasping) Hey!

  • Look, humanity discovered vast deposits

  • of fuel buried deep within the earth.

  • We learned to extract it, burn it for energy,

  • and release it into the air,

  • and about 150 years ago,

  • we rebuilt our entire civilization

  • around that energy source.

  • We burn it to travel, we burn it to eat,

  • we burn it to live.

  • Fossil fuels brought about one of the greatest increases

  • in standard of living in human history.

  • We could never go back.

  • But by burning this incredible fuel source,

  • we are also inexorably heating the earth.

  • 2015 was the hottest year

  • since we started keeping records in 1880.

  • And thanks to rising ocean temperatures,

  • average sea levels have already risen

  • about eight inches.

  • And we're in for a lot worse.

  • This is Dale Jamieson.

  • He's a professor of Environmental Studies at NYU.

  • Wayne, we've already done so much damage to the atmosphere

  • that we'll be lucky if we can hold the warming

  • to two degrees Celsius.

  • Two degrees?

  • Well, that's just the difference

  • between a jacket and a slightly lighter jacket.

  • Not to the earth, it isn't.

  • Just two degrees of warming could cause huge draughts,

  • massive wildfires, the loss of many species,

  • the collapse of our agricultural productivity,

  • and the rising sea levels

  • could make our coastal cities uninhabitable.

  • And remember, two degrees of warming

  • is the best we can realistically hope for.

  • The question isn't, will warming happen?

  • The question is, how bad will it be?

  • That's terrible.

  • Isn't there something

  • I can do?

  • The sad truth is that we've already put

  • so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

  • that we're more than halfway towards

  • that two-degree centigrade limit.

  • And right now, companies and countries already own

  • enough fossil fuel in reserves

  • to meet that limit five times over.

  • Five times over?

  • To keep it in the ground,

  • they'd have to give up trillions of dollars

  • and we'd have to change our entire way of life.

  • And what happens

  • if we burn it?

  • What happens to our planet then?

  • I don't know, but it won't be our planet anymore.

  • What happens to our planetible.?

  • What could be the downside?

  • Oh, there are a ton.

  • For starters, how 'bout the fact that this place

  • rips off folks like you every day.

  • Whatever.

  • I know the hospital is expensive,

  • but it is worth it if I get the best treatment.

  • No, it isn't.

  • American health care is not the best in the world.

  • But despite that, we spend more per person annually

  • on health care than any other developed nation.

  • And a big part of the reason for that

  • is that American hospitals overcharge patients massively.

  • (music playing, cheering and applause)

  • This neck brace is worth $20.

  • But the hospital charged him... $154.

  • This I.V. bag cost less than a buck.

  • But she was charged $137.

  • These are real prices, folks.

  • Hold up.

  • Wildly inflated

  • health care costs?

  • This sounds like the work

  • of politicians to me.

  • Was it Obamacare?

  • Trump Aid, McConnell Med?

  • What did you do?!

  • I'm not a politician.

  • I'm just a boring white guy.

  • Why does this keep happening?

  • Sorry, Rachel, but this time,

  • it's not the politicians' fault.

  • The problem starts with something called

  • the "Chargemaster."

  • The Chargemaster is a secret document full of insane prices

  • that hospitals use to charge us whatever they want.

  • Let's go on a trip through the history of medical billing.

  • Well, I'd rather not.

  • (Adam) A hundred years ago, hospital

  • pricing was pretty simple.

  • We take the cost of providing care

  • and add a little on top to make a profit.

  • One amputation costs us five bucks.

  • So we'll charge you 6.50.

  • But after the rise of insurance companies,

  • hospital billing got complicated, in part because

  • these gigantic corporations demanded gigantic discounts.

  • We send you thousands of patients every day.

  • So, we want... half off all your prices.

  • We can't afford that.

  • So, to please these powerful insurance companies,

  • hospitals cooked up a plan.

  • I've got it.

  • We'll make up a really, high fake price,

  • and then give you a discount off that.

  • Hey, as long as I get to tell my boss we got it cheaper.

  • (laughter)

  • (laughter)

  • (Adam) And in less than a century,

  • health care prices went from reasonable to nonsensical.

  • Let's make one Tylenol $37.

  • Three stitches, $2200.

  • Ooh, here's a pitch.

  • What if we made

  • rectal exams 69--

  • Nah, that's too silly even for me.

  • ♪♪

  • These crazily inflated prices

  • are kept in the hospital's

  • Chargemaster.

  • (coughs)

  • It's actually a computer file. But the book is more dramatic.

  • $7 for a single alcohol swab? That's ridiculous.

  • And true.

  • Well, I only pay my premium.

  • If they wanna rip off my insurance company with their fake prices, what do I care?

  • If you ever lose insurance, you'll care.

  • Because here's the really evil part.

  • If you don't have insurance,

  • you actually get charged these fake prices.

  • (studio audience cheering and applauding)

  • Let's see, heart X-rays.

  • That'll be $33,000.

  • I can't afford that.

  • No problem, we'll just garnish your wages.

  • Oh, bogus.

  • Wait, they actually charge people without insurance

  • fake prices?

  • Yeah.

  • That is terrible.

  • Well, thankfully, I have insurance,

  • so the Chargemaster doesn't affect me.

  • Unfortunately, it does.

  • Even if you're insured, you can get billed

  • Chargemaster prices if you go out-of-network.

  • And anything can be

  • out-of-network.

  • The hospital you go to, the equipment used to treat you.

  • Even the doctors you see.

  • Arrow specialist.

  • Out-of-network, I am very expensive.

  • Hospitals make a ton of money

  • overcharging

  • out-of-network patients.

  • It's a real cash cow and we all get milked.

  • (cow mooing)

  • Worse, every hospital has its own Chargemaster.

  • A treatment that costs 7,000 at one hospital

  • could cost a hundred grand down the road.

  • And you can't comparison shop

  • when you're dying.

  • Which hospital do you want? 271 00:10:33,032 --> 00:10:33,000 Money Bags Medical

  • or St. Vincent's Discount Sick House?

  • Money Bags it is.

  • Plus, since your insurance company faces inflated costs,

  • That can trickle down to you in the form of... higher premiums.

  • Oh, surprisingly painless.

  • Wait till you get the bill.

  • (cow mooing)

  • How do they Listen, Drew Carey, get away all you adults

  • always tell us the same thing--

  • Weed's gonna kill us, it's a gateway drug.

  • Lying isn't funny.

  • Oh, no, for most people, weed is essentially harmless.

  • Whoa-kay, no way, Jose.

  • Look, I know this stuff

  • is a little overboard, but...

  • you can't tell kids weed isn't bad!

  • Of course I can. It's true.

  • And we've known it for decades.

  • Counting deaths from the substance alone,

  • alcohol kills 88,000 people a year.

  • Tobacco kills 480,000.

  • And marijuana kills absolutely no one.

  • (buzzer)

  • Uh, according to curriculum,

  • marijuana can get you hooked on harder substances.

  • It's a gateway drug.

  • Yeah, educators have been saying that for years,

  • but it's not true.

  • Most people who try marijuana

  • don't even continue smoking marijuana.

  • This dude knows what's up.

  • Now, that doesn't mean that it's perfectly safe.

  • Dude, I thought you were cool.

  • Oh, I wish! If you're under 25,

  • smoking weed can lead to memory problems

  • and poor

  • cognitive functioning.

  • But if you're an adult,

  • and your brain

  • has finished developing,

  • it's really your choice.

  • Adam, wrong way. Also, not in a school.

  • Sorry, I usually only smoke at parties,

  • and I'm rarely invited to them.

  • Yeah, wonder why.

  • The truth is, if you know the risks

  • and you use it in moderation, weed is no big deal.

  • And, in fact, humans have been using it for millennia.

  • Humans started growing cannabis

  • as a crop

  • over 8,000 years ago.

  • This crop will feed our family for a year,

  • and this crop will make movies way funnier.

  • (Adam) In 440 BCE, Herodotus wrote about

  • the ancient tradition of cannabis steam baths.

  • Fellow citizens,

  • as a wise man

  • once told me, VapeLife!

  • (laughing)

  • And in America, for many years

  • marijuana was available

  • in over-the-counter medications.

  • Step right up and try

  • Professor Horkorium's Rejuvenating Tincture!

  • Now with the Arab hashish.

  • For most of America's history,

  • weed was legal. No one cared about it.

  • All right, so what changed?

  • I mean, there must be some reason we banned it.

  • Oh, there is. And it's real weird.

  • Enter Harry Anslinger, commissioner of

  • the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

  • and a staunch prohibitionist.

  • Our funding has been cut! They'll shut me down

  • if I don't find

  • a new chemical to demonize.

  • Let's see, what are people scared of for no good reason?

  • A-ha! Mexicans!

  • And Mexicans smoke marijuana!

  • That's it! Hey, racist mob...

  • (all) Hmm?

  • Marijuana makes Mexicans thirst for white blood.

  • Spread the word!

  • (mob shouting)

  • Anslinger used that racism to fuel

  • a propaganda campaign against the drug,

  • testifying before Congress...

  • Marijuana is an addictive drug

  • which produces in its users

  • insanity, criminality,

  • and death!

  • (Adam) Soon, the "Marijuana causes violence" meme

  • was everywhere, from newspapers to movies...

  • Just a young boy. Under the influence of the drug,

  • he killed his entire family with an axe.

  • ...to subtle political cartoons.

  • (man)

  • Nazi propaganda.

  • What does that even mean?

  • Why would he just say the words, "Nazi propaganda"?

  • Honestly, no idea. But, it worked.

  • In 1937, Congress banned marijuana

  • and later, with Anslinger's help,

  • they passed the first

  • mandatory minimum sentencing laws

  • which made it so that your first time

  • getting caught with this

  • could put you away from two to ten years.

  • Mm, thank you, that's what I thought.

  • (Adam) And the true irony is,

  • the government knew Anslinger's claims were false.

  • Scientists proved marijuana wasn't connected to violence

  • or insanity in the '40s.

  • And in 1973,

  • a bipartisan commission

  • recommended Nixon decriminalize it.

  • But, Nixon being Nixon...

  • Mr. President, literally everyone agrees,

  • marijuana is safe.

  • Out! Get out!

  • I have zero chill!

  • The war on drugs

  • begins now!

  • I don't understand. If he knew it was safe,

  • why would he be so tough

  • on it?

  • Well, why don't you ask

  • Nixon's aide, John Ehrlichman.

  • He said, in 1994...

  • We knew we couldn't

  • make it illegal

  • to be either against the war or black,

  • but by getting the public to associate the hippies

  • with marijuana

  • and blacks with heroin...

  • Did we know we were lying about the drugs?

  • That's a real quote?

  • Yeah.

  • That's a real quote.

  • Nixon started the war on drugs

  • to bully his political enemies and minorities.

  • His own aide admitted it.

  • I can't believe I've been teaching this to children.

  • At lea has devastas

  • on prisoners' mental health.

  • (Kendra's voice)

  • In solitary, you're kept alone

  • for 23 hours a day

  • in a room the size of a king-size bed.

  • Well, that doesn't sound

  • so bad.

  • Me and Murph share a queen.

  • Wait, where are those voices coming from?

  • Oh, no, oh, gosh. I'm seeing things.

  • It's an archaic and cruel form of punishment

  • that started in the 1800s.

  • Eh, something to watch,

  • I guess.

  • Solitary confinement was conceived by Quakers,

  • who thought prisoners would use the time

  • to reflect and study the Bible.

  • You know, I've been meaning to read this.

  • But even they decided

  • it was too cruel to use.

  • The Supreme Court at the time declared...

  • "Prisoners subject to solitary confinement

  • became violently insane; others committed suicide."

  • Ugh. We gotta stop doing this.

  • Stop, stop!

  • (Adam) We did stop.

  • Solitary confinement fell out of use

  • in the U.S. for a century,

  • but a few decades ago, we brought it back,

  • and it's been destroying minds ever since.

  • Destroying minds?

  • I mean, that sounds a little hyperbolic.

  • Yeah, maybe. What do I know?

  • I'm just a hallucination.

  • Hello?

  • Adam?

  • Is anyone here?

  • (Adam's voice) Humans are social animals,

  • and a prolonged lack of social contact

  • can cause serious and permanent brain damage.

  • People held in solitary hallucinate,

  • fall into depression,

  • and lose the ability to keep track

  • of how much time has passed.

  • How long have I been in here?

  • Oh, I'm really losing it.

  • Psst! Emily, you okay in there?

  • Kendra! Oh, thank God!

  • Why am I even here?

  • I thought solitary was for the worst of the worst.

  • Nope, solitary confinement

  • is routinely used in our prison system.

  • It's basically given to anyone

  • the guards don't want to deal with.

  • The mentally ill.

  • LGBT.

  • I wouldn't eat dinner.

  • (all)

  • We had it coming!

  • Man, if I'm gonna hallucinate

  • a Tony award-winning musical,

  • why couldn't it be "Hamilton"?

  • Solitary confinement is given

  • to between 80,000 to 100,000 people a year.

  • There are actually entire prisons

  • made up of nothing but solitary cells.

  • They're called supermax prisons.

  • Enormous complexes

  • full of people held in tiny cages like animals,

  • slowly being driven insane.

  • (Kendra) They may be criminals,

  • but they don't deserve this.

  • Ooh, it's okay, heh.

  • (gasps) Ah, wait.

  • Is that formula?

  • No, tell me you're breastfeeding.

  • Oh, um, well, I tried.

  • But he kind of was having a hard time latching at the hospital,

  • and the nurse says it was okay that I supplement, so...

  • Um, formula is toxic. You have to breastfeed.

  • Ugh, no way.

  • I hate when people breastfeed in public.

  • Do that at home, nobody wants to see that.

  • Um, excuse me?

  • It's totally natural, women have been doing it

  • Tell them which one is right.

  • Oh, oh, no way am I getting in the middle of this.

  • I heard formula has autism in it.

  • (woman)

  • That's it!

  • (both)

  • Hi, Miss Murphy.

  • Hey, Patti.

  • How many kids

  • do you knuckYou, you're gonnm

  • where and when she can feed her baby?

  • Get a life!

  • Breastfeeding is normal,

  • natural, and great.

  • Preach, sister.

  • And you, how dare you judge how a mom feeds her kid.

  • Formula isn't just healthy and safe,

  • it's a literal lifesaver.

  • Emily, let me show you.

  • Okay.

  • Knowledge from a primary source.

  • (squeals)

  • Before formula,

  • the only way to feed your baby

  • was to breastfeed.

  • And forget about getting anything else done

  • because breastfeeding takes 35 hours a week.

  • What? That's like a full-time job.

  • And the worst thing is, if you couldn't breastfeed,

  • there weren't any other good options.

  • (Irish accent) My teat's all tapped.

  • Looks like bread soaked in water

  • for you little spud.

  • This is a real thing people did.

  • Babies grew up malnourished or died

  • if their moms couldn't breastfeed.

  • Oh, that's horrible.

  • Then, in 1865,

  • this friggin' Albert Einstein

  • named Justus von Liebig,

  • invented baby formula.

  • Ma'am, your babe shall no longer dine on duck food.

  • Instead, he will dine... on science.

  • Formula allowed women to leave the house

  • or join the workforce.

  • But most importantly, it saved babies' lives.

  • Look out, world,

  • here we come!

  • e.

  • Okay, but isn't formula just a bunch of chemicals?

  • Well, yeah, Emily, it is,

  • because literally everything is a bunch of chemicals.

  • Breast milk is also chemicals.

  • The question is whether those chemicals

  • are nutritionally different.

  • And the answer is no.

  • Meet professor and lactation expert Courtney Jung.

  • Hi, Emily.

  • Hi!

  • Patti's right.

  • Formula is a safe and nutritionally complete

  • alternative to breast milk.

  • For things like IQ, asthma, allergies, eczema,

  • once you account for income and education,

  • there's almost no difference

  • between breastfeeding and formula feeding.

  • The evidence that breastfeeding

  • makes a difference

  • is just inconclusive.

  • Oh, yeah. I formula-fed Murph.

  • I breastfed his brother Durph,

  • and they're both idiots.

  • (Murph) Aw, Mom!

  • Durph just threw a bocce ball at me!

  • Hey, dude, look hesae

  • and nutritious alternative to breastfeeding.

  • If you want or need to feed your baby formula,

  • do it with confidence.

  • Wow. Thank you.

  • Thanks, Professor Jung.

  • No, wait!

  • (can clangs)

  • What about places where they don't have access to clean water?

  • Good question, hairball.

  • Mixing contaminated water with formula can be harmful.

  • But if you use clean water

  • and sterilized bottles,

  • it's a completely safe and nutritious option.

  • Oh.

  • Not so fast.

  • I read mommy blogs, like, for fun.

  • And they say that breastfeeding actually makes your baby

  • love you more because it releases a bonding chemical

  • called oxytocin.

  • Oh, oh, can I take this one?

  • Go ahead.

  • Oxytocin is a hormone

  • that gets released

  • when you do things like hug or cuddle.

  • That's why the media loves to call it "the love hormone."

  • ♪♪

  • But that same hormone is also released

  • when you do things like

  • fire a gun or watch porn.

  • (gunshot)

  • That's because hormones

  • are complim 2008,

  • there is no convincing support for a connection between

  • breastfeeding and the quality of the mother-infant relationship.

  • Hmph!

  • Breastfeeding is a great way

  • to bond with your baby.

  • But it's not the only one.

  • And the fact is

  • not all women can do it.

  • 15% of moms can't breastfeed,

  • not to mention the parents

  • who foster and adopt.

  • So, the next time someone

  • tries to guilt trip you

  • or any other parent about how they feed their baby,

  • you tell them they can eat my feet.

  • Thanks, Patti.

  • you tell them Christopher Columbus,et.t

  • the heroic explorer who discovered America

  • and proved the Earth was round.

  • Actually, Columbus was an incompetent buffoon

  • who never even set foot in America.

  • (deflating)

  • Hush, hush.

  • We all know Columbus wasn't perfect.

  • That's an understatement.

  • The real story of Columbus is even worse

  • and weirder than you think.

  • All aboard the Magic Van!

  • (horn honks)

  • First of all, Columbus couldn't have discovered

  • that the Earth was round

  • because in his time, it was already common knowledge.

  • Globes for sale.

  • Perfectly ordinary globes for sale.

  • Whoa.

  • What?

  • Then why did it take until 1492

  • for anyone to sail the ocean blue?

  • Simple, back then they didn't know the Americas existed.

  • So navigators thought there was no way

  • a ship could make it all the way from Europe to Asia.

  • So Columbus set sail because he was brave.

  • Nope, he set sail because he was a doofus

  • who was terrible at math.

  • Instead of trusting the experts,

  • Columbus believed the Earth was thousands of miles smaller

  • than it actually was.

  • Fools, all of them!

  • My math says the Earth is teeny tiny

  • and shaped like a pear.

  • And at the top,

  • it has a succulent nipple.

  • He actually believed that?

  • Yes, I actually believe this.

  • I can sail from Europe to India

  • in a matter of days.

  • That's extremely wrong.

  • It took years for Columbus to convince the king and queen

  • his plan didn't suck.

  • But competition in the spice trade was getting intense.

  • So Ferdinand and Isabella were desperate to find

  • a new way to get their fix.

  • The Earth is tiny and also a pear.

  • Give me money, please.

  • This man is an idiot.

  • (sniffing) I don't care.

  • Fine, give this moron the bare minimum,

  • 90 dumb men and three dumb ships.

  • If you die, who cares?

  • Right, and that's when Columbus showed them all

  • and became a hero.

  • But--

  • You know what happens to mouthy students?

  • They get extra credit?

  • I turn them into iguanas.

  • Say hi, Edward.

  • (straining) Kill me.

  • (gulps)

  • Now, children, that's the Nina, the Pinta,

  • and the Santa Maria,

  • the ships Columbus sailed to discover America.

  • I'm really sorry, Ms. Dazzle,

  • but Columbus never set foot in America.

  • Of all the modern-day countries Columbus made it to,

  • like Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic,

  • none of them were in the United States.

  • Okay, fine.

  • Then, uh, Columbus discovered Haiti

  • and the Dominican Republic.

  • Sure, he did.

  • If you don't count the quarter-million Taino people

  • that lived there already.

  • Uh, occupied. Someone lives here.

  • Right, I know this part.

  • He thought he made it to India.

  • Aha, this is India and these people are Indians.

  • I will be rich in spices and gold.

  • (laughs) What a silly mistake.

  • Yes, if by "silly," you mean brutal,

  • and by "a mistake," you mean one of several.

  • The Taino treated Columbus and his crew

  • with the utmost hospitality.

  • Hug?

  • (groans)

  • We need reinforcements!

  • Columbus repaid their kindness

  • by returning with 17 ships and 1,200 men

  • so he could enslave the Taino and steal their gold.

  • There was only one problem, they didn't have any.

  • You, gold. Now!

  • Oh, I want to help, but what is gold?

  • (Adam)

  • This infuriated Columbus.

  • And soon, he and his crew began to slaughter them.

  • (people screaming)

  • This is very inappropriate

  • for me to see.

  • (Adam) Columbus's regime was so senselessly brutal

  • that by 1542, the Taino population on the island

  • had fallen to 200.

  • (groans)

  • I can't believe it.

  • I had no clue that Columbus was this cruel.

  • But after this, he must've gone on to do great things, hmm?

  • Nope, this was literally all he did.

  • He didn't discover America

  • and he didn't prove the Earth was round.

  • He just bounced around the Caribbean,

  • slaughtered a bunch of innocent people,

  • and died thinking he had made it to India.

  • Hashtag, no regrets.

  • (groans)

  • Holy crow.

  • Then why do we learn about this guy in school?

  • Oh, great question.

  • For centuries, Columbus was a historical footnote.

  • But that changed in 1828 when Washington Irving,

  • the author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

  • and other tall tales,

  • wrote the first English-language biography of Columbus.

  • "Columbus was a murderous failure"?

  • That ain't gonna sell copies.

  • Let's say he was a brave genius who proved the Earth was round

  • and discovered America.

  • Hmm, seems believable.

  • And Irving's myth caught on bil hasd

  • to control and criminalize

  • people of color.

  • (cash register cha-ching)

  • (Adam) In the early years of our country,

  • many colonies and states had laws

  • barring Native Americans and free black people

  • from buying or owning guns.

  • (alarm sounding)

  • What? But I have a receipt.

  • (Adam) And racist fears of black people

  • have continued to inform our gun control laws.

  • In 1960s California, the Black Panthers

  • resisted police violence in Oakland

  • by patrolling the city with guns.

  • We have a right to protect our communities

  • against police officers abusing their power.

  • Defending yourself against a tyrannical government,

  • I'm all about that.

  • Well, state lawmakers responded

  • by passing a bill that banned open carry.

  • The bill applied to all Californians

  • but it was meant to blatantly target the Black Panthers.

  • And that bill was signed by then California governor

  • and NRA member, Ronald Reagan.

  • I'm just not comfortable with certain people carrying guns.

  • (chuckles) For, uh... reasons.

  • Oh...

  • Eva.

  • Oh!

  • Babe, I'm so sorry.

  • I had no idea gun control used to be so racist.

  • Is that what you told her?

  • Well, I wasn't done.

  • So, not my responsibility to teach white people

  • they own racist ass history.

  • All right, white Urkel, I'll take it from here.

  • Please do.

  • And thanks for the compliment.

  • Sarah, even today a lot of gun control laws

  • really end up being about controlling black people.

  • In the mid-2000s,

  • the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

  • performed 10 years of stings to combat gun crime.

  • A full analysis found that

  • 91% of people arrested

  • were people of color.

  • And we're not just talking about the red states.

  • For years, New York City had an official policy

  • to stop black and brown people on the street

  • just to see if they might have guns or drugs.

  • Stop!

  • (police siren whoops)

  • Sir, you're in a public place

  • and you look... you know, dangerous.

  • What? Oh. Sir?

  • Records show that these stops almost never found guns.

  • Between '04 and 2012,

  • 4.4 million people were stopped,

  • but only 1.5% of them had weapons.

  • Men in my family have gotten jaywalking tickets

  • from the NYPD after they didn't find anything

  • in the stop and frisk.

  • They weren't stopping criminals,

  • they were just stopping black people.

  • Eva, I'm sorry. I had no idea.

  • You've never talked about it.

  • It's not her responsibility to talk about it,

  • it's our responsibility as a country.

  • This is James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize winner

  • and author of the book "Locking Up Our Own."

  • There's a connection between the overly punitive

  • gun sentencing laws that were passed in the 1970s,

  • 1980s, and 1990s

  • and the current crisis of mass incarceration.

  • Instead of national gun control laws

  • that could stop the flood of available guns,

  • we have local laws that penalize possession.

  • And those laws are mostly passed in cities.

  • So, the result is that guns are everywhere,

  • violence is rampant, and the only people

  • who go to prison for possessing guns

  • are poor people of color in our nation's cities.

  • Black people face the highest rates of deaths by guns.

  • But instead of protecting the families and neighborhoods

  • who face the most gun violence,

  • our current gun laws just double down on destroying them.

  • And that's why we shouldn't talk about new gun penalties

  • without first talking about

  • how we transform our criminal legal system.

  • All right, Adam, I got to get to my Thanksgiving dinner.

  • Well, I think we all learned

  • a valuable lesson about gun control.

  • No, Dan.

  • There's something you need to realize too.

  • Gun rights don't protect black people either.

  • Take the stand your ground law

  • the NRA pushed legislators to pass in Florida.

  • It says use of deadly force is justified to defend yourself

  • in your home or car even if you can run away.

  • But in practice, not everyone gets to use it.

  • Marissa Alexander was sentenced

  • to 20 years in prison

  • just for firing a warning shot

  • to defend herself against her abusive husband.

  • Stand your ground didn't help her.

  • Or look at what happened to Philando Castile.

  • During a routine traffic pullover,

  • he informed the police officer that he had his gun on him.

  • And the cop shot and killed him in front of his girlfriend

  • and her four-year-old daughter.

  • But I drive with my weapon every day.

  • That's not against the law.

  • Okay, so imagine I'm a police officer

  • pulling you over and you're Philando Castile.

  • Do you have your license and insurance?

  • Yes, officer, I do have to tell you

  • I do have a firearm on me.

  • Okay, don't reach for it then.

  • I'm... I'm--

  • Don't pull it out.

  • I'm not pulling it out.

  • He's not pulling it out.

  • Don't pull it out.

  • Bang!

  • That is the exact moment Philando Castile was shot.

  • He did everything that responsible gun owners

  • are supposed to do.

  • And the NRA didn't come to his defense.

  • For all their talk about protecting gun rights,

  • they sure are quiet when black people are gunned down

  • for exercising them.

  • So, Dan, I'm frustrated

increase the number of illegal immigrants in America.

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