Jon Stewart on Charleston shooting: ‘We still won’t do jack s—‘

The mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday night rendered Jon Stewart unable to do his job Thursday, as he acknowledged to the Daily Show audience at the opening of his monologue.

“I’ve got nothing for you in terms of jokes and sounds because of what happened in South Carolina,” a visibly shaken Stewart told viewers before launching into an emotional reflection on the massacre at the historic Emanuel AME church that left nine people dead in its wake.

{mosads}”I honestly have nothing other than sadness that once again we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence that we do to each other and the nexus of a gaping racial wound that will not heal yet we pretend doesn’t exist,” Stewart exclaimed. “I’m confident though that by acknowledging it — by staring into — we still won’t do jack s—.”

Stewart, holding back tears at times, went on to slam those who claim that a motive cannot be found in the actions of the shooter.

“Nine people were shot in a black church by a white guy who hated them who wanted to start some sort of civil war,” Stewart recapped. “The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina. And the roads are named for Confederate generals. And the white guy is the one who feels like his country is being taken away from him.

“We’re bringing it on ourselves. And that’s the thing: Al Qaeda, ISIS, they’re not s— compared to the damage we can do to ourselves on a regular basis.”