- Madiba's light shone so brightly,

even from that narrow, Robben Island cell,

that in the late '70s,

he could inspire a young college student

on the other side of the world.

Mandela said, "Young people are capable when aroused

"of bringing down the towers of oppression

"and raising the banners of freedom."

Now is a good time to be aroused.

- Let's just acknowledged how dope you have to be

for people to keep throwing you birthdays after you're dead.

(audience laughs)

And because today marks 100 years since his birth,

I just wanted to spend a few minutes talking about the man.

Right, he joined politics when he was just 26 years old,

partly to fight racial inequality,

and also because he had just been kicked off

his parents' Obamacare.

(audience laughs) Now, at first,

at first the ANC fought for racial equality peacefully,

but the racist government only got more oppressive.

In fact in 1948, South Africa's government set up apartheid

which made legal racism the foundation

of the entire country.

Black people couldn't vote,

they had to live in certain areas,

and they were banned from playing sports with white people.

And I'm not gonna lie,

that last part I completely understand.

All right, I mean if your system

is based on white supremacy,

you can't have black people dunking all over your shit.

(audience laughs)

It just doesn't go with the narrative,

like white people are superior, ah!

Wait, I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready.

(audience laughs)

In fact, the government became so oppressive

that Mandela and the ANC decided to resort to violence.

They bombed power stations, post offices,

and I mean they did it when people weren't in there,

but still, they blew shit up.

And there were many people, not just in South Africa,

but around the world, who wanted him to respond

to the brutality of the government with civility,

to which Mandela replied, bullshit.

(audience laughs)

- There are many people who feel

that it is useless and futile for us

to continue talking peace and non-violence

against a government whose reply

is only savage attacks

on an unarmed and defenseless people.

- Now I know for a lot of people

seeing a young, radical Mandela, that's a bit of a shock.

Yeah, it's like finding out one of the Care Bears

mauled a hiker to death.

(audience laughs)

I mean, I'd expect that out of Tenderheart,

but you Funshine?

(audience laughs)

But you see, Nelson Mandela believed that violence

was necessary to fight a violent government.

And he paid a price for it.

In 1962, when Mandela was 44 years old,

the apartheid government arrested him,

and sentenced him to life in prison.

And what he said in the docks is legendary.

He said, "I've cherished the ideal

"of a democratic and free society.

"It is an ideal which I hope to live, and to achieve,

"but if needs be, it is an ideal

"for which I am prepared to die."

Now, Nelson Mandela's story up to that point was impressive,

but it's what he did after he came out of prison

that transformed him from a leader to a legend.

All right, because when he became South Africa's

first black president,

he reconciled the country, and he insisted

that white people be a part of it.

And you realize, this is a black country

and he's the first black president.

He could've easily just said,

"I'll give you white people a 10 minute headstart."

(audience laughs)

"You guys put me in prison for 30 years.

"I don't even know what a Walkman is!

(audience laughs)

"I just hope I get to meet Elvis, what?

"Five minute head start!"

(audience laughs)

(audience applauds)

So you see, this is just part of why

people like Barack Obama look up to Nelson Mandela.

This is a man who grew up in a country steeped in racism,

spent decades in prison fighting it,

and then dedicated his life to a world of racial progress.

And, most impressively, when he was asked

why he's not bitter, he had this to say.

- You end up coming out of prison,

and there is no bitterness.

How is there no bitterness?

- Well, I hated oppression.

And when I think about the past,

the type of things they did, I feel angry.

You have a limited time to stay on earth.

You must try and use that period

for the purpose of transforming your country.

- And that's why he's a legend.

(audience cheering)

You must remember, because of so many

of the struggle leaders in South Africa,

were either imprisoned or exiled,

the movement in South Africa was held together,

in large part, by women in the country,

and so it's weird for me, because I understand,

you travel the world, you understand that everywhere

feminism is different, and the idea of women is different,

but I grew up in a world that was very matriarchal,

and where women were the most dangerous

freedom fighters that existed.

That is true.

You read up on Winnie Mandela,

like Nelson Mandela was an icon,

but the police in the country were afraid of Winnie Mandela.

They were, and we had a phrase in South Africa that was,

we still use it today, which was,

(speaks in foreign language)

which means "You strike a woman, you strike a rock."

And that's what I grew up learning.

(audience cheering)

Kudos, man.

It was fire.

It was fire, and a lot of the time

my mom would strike me with a rock.

(audience laughs) (audience applauds)

- [Announcer] February 1, 1965.

It's the Black History Monty Daily Show.

(audience laughs)

- Welcome to "The Daily Show."

I'm Trevor Noah.

My guest tonight, up and coming comedian Bill Cosby.

(audience laughs)

This guy's jokes are gonna knock you out.

(audience laughs)

But we begin in Selma, Alabama.

If you aren't familiar with Selma,

it's a small southern city located 10 miles east

of No Negroes Please, and five miles north of Say, Boy!

(audience laughs)

And it's also where today, recent Nobel Peace Prize winner

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got into some legal trouble.

- [Reporter] Dateline Selma, civil rights leader

the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested today

while attempting to lead a mass march of 300 Negroes

on the Dallas County courthouse

to protest voter registration procedures.

The Negroes were taken into custody

on charges of parading without a permit.

- For more, we go to our

junior civil rights correspondent, Roy Wood Sr.

Now Roy, what did you see out there?

- I saw a bunch of (bleep) Trevor!

(audience laughs)

Proud Negro men and women being arrested for no reason!

- Well now Roy, the police said there was a reason.

They were parading without a permit.

- Oh, oh, I'm sorry.

Did the Klan fill out their paperwork

before marching in my neighborhood?

(audience laughs)

When have you ever seen white people arrested

for parading without a permit?

- Well Roy, that's just the world we live in.

Black people aren't ever gonna get the same treatment

as white people, and that's never gonna change.

- Actually Trevor, I don't agree.

You have to look at the bright side of things.

Yeah, maybe the cops arrested Dr. King

and a bunch of our brothers and sisters,

but they did it this time without violence, that's progress.

I mean, 40 years ago white man

wouldn't even give a black man a glass of water.

Now, not only can we have water,

we can get it whether we want it or not!

(audience laughs)

- I mean I guess you could call that progress.

- Oh, I do call that progress.

We've gone from lynchin's to beatings,

now to peaceful arrests.

In fact, I heard Dr. King is coming back right here

next month to Selma to march across that bridge

and that parade of progress we're making,

I betcha it's gonna be a fun day marching arm and arm

with the police, and one day they'll make a movie about it.

And it'll be called

"Selma: The Day When Nothin' Happened at All."

(audience laughs)

(audience applauds)

- For more on Dr. King's legacy,

we turn now to Dulce Sloan, everybody!

(audience cheering)

- Hello!

- Dulce, what do you think, and what are you remembering

about Dr. King's legacy?

- You know what I wanna remember?

The real Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King,

not the whitewashed Hallmark version,

because every year people talk about the same stuff.

The "I Have a Dream" speech, the march on Washington,

how he had the voice of a "Scooby-Doo" ghost.

I have a dream!

And I woulda gotten away with it too

if it weren't for those meddling kids!

(audience laughs)

But the real Dr. King did not fit in any box.

White moderates think he would've been on their side,

but he thought they were worse

for the Civil Rights Movement than the Klan,

and mattress stores are out here having MLK Day sales,

but Dr. King was anti-capitalist,

and even though he was a reverend and a man of God,

he allegedly had a whole bunch of affairs.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on.

Even if that's true, I mean that he had affairs,

isn't it disrespectful to mention that on his birthday?

- I don't think so, it's part of his legacy.

A reminder that our heroes aren't perfect, they're people.

And I'm not being disrespectful.

(audience applauds)

Just the opposite.

MLK was out there gettin' it.

(audience laughs)

And probably still could!

I mean, if he showed up on my Bumble,

I'd take him to the mountaintop, and the valley low!

- I've never thought of MLK on Bumble.

- Well, he wouldn't be on Tinder!

That man had class.

(audience laughs)

If everyone knew that fighting for civil rights

could get you some?

A lot more people would fight for equality.

Equal pay, voting rights, and whoever can stop

black people from gettin' shot by the police

will (bleep) tonight, okay?

(audience cheering)

- This week marked a milestone in civil rights history.

The 50th anniversary of Franklin's first appearance

in the comic strip "Peanuts."

Now, now it seems like a joke,

but the reason this was a landmark

is that before Franklin appeared,

newspaper comic strips were segregated, right?

Black comic strips were always separate

from white comic strips.

In fact, if you even tried to put the pages