Chris Rock: ‘Black People Are Being Abused by a Group of People that Are Mentally Handicapped’

Actor-comedian Chris Rock Says we’re living in an America where “mentally handicapped” people “beat” black people down and he insists that the election of Barack Obama was good for white people but not black Americans.

In an extensive interview with the New York Times, the Fargo star spoke about the coronavirus pandemic, his family, his latest dramatic role, and politics, and racism. The Times asked if he thought thought race relations have gotten any better in America.

“[Racism is] real. It’s not going away,” Rock told the paper. The actor and standup comedy icon went on to insist that Barack Obama’s election to the White House was great for white people in America but not necessarily great for black people. “I said this before, but Obama becoming the president, it’s progress for white people. It’s not progress for Black people. It’s the Jackie Robinson thing. It’s written like he broke a barrier, as if there weren’t Black people that could play before him. And that’s how white people have learned about racism. They think, when these people work hard enough, they’ll be like Jackie.”

But Rock says there is a “real” narrative that people refuse to learn.

“And the real narrative should be that these people, the Black people, are being abused by a group of people that are mentally handicapped. And we’re trying to get them past their mental handicaps to see that all people are equal,” Rock said.

“Humanity isn’t progress,” Rock continued, “it’s only progress for the person that’s taking your humanity. If a woman’s in an abusive relationship and her husband stops beating her, you wouldn’t say she’s made progress, right? But that’s what we do with Black people. We’re constantly told that we’re making progress. The relationship we’re in — the arranged marriage that we’re in — it’s that we’re getting beat less.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Chris Rock called out Democratic party leaders, saying they “let the pandemic come in” while they pursued a campaign to impeach President Donald Trump.

Chis Rock will next appear in the new season of the FX series, Fargo, set to debut on Sept. 27.

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