Story highlights Dean Obeidallah: Larry Wilmore's show was only late-night talk show using humor to offer a black perspective to broad audience

He says in a time of racial tensions in U.S., his show offered necessary platform for minority voices, issues. Netflix, Hulu, take note

Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM's radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @TheDeansreport. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Protesters are in the streets in Milwaukee, as years of racial tensions surface after a police shooting. A presidential candidate wants to push brown immigrants out of the country. An entire Black Lives Matter movement takes hold over the issue of police profiling and inequality — a reflection of how America is once again in the grips of a profound struggle over race.

So Comedy Central cancels Larry Wilmore's show?

Dean Obeidallah

It's a terrible idea. America needs Larry Wilmore on TV more today than ever. Wilmore, as the only African-American late-night comedy host, was also the only one in late night uniquely qualified to help people -- especially white people in America -- make sense of what is going on with non-white people in America. ("The Daily Show's" Trevor Noah is not African American, he was born and raised in South Africa and only moved to the United States in recent years.)

Photos: The changing face of late night James Corden's résumé isn't limited to "The Late Late Show," which he started hosting in March. He's a Tony winner and movie actor ("Into the Woods"), and CBS just announced he'll be hosting the 2016 Tony Awards. As "Late Late Show" host, Corden replaced Craig Ferguson, who left the show in December 2014. The face of late-night TV has changed considerably in recent years as many longtime hosts have moved on to other things. Here's a look at the leading players. Hide Caption 1 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Comedian Trevor Noah succeeded Jon Stewart as host of "The Daily Show" in September.

Hide Caption 2 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night With his barbed jokes about political hypocrisy, Jon Stewart won enormous acclaim over his 15-plus years hosting "The Daily Show." He announced in February that he was leaving the Comedy Central fake-news program this year to focus on other projects. His directing debut, "Rosewater," was released in late 2014. Hide Caption 3 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Stephen Colbert, a former "Daily Show" correspondent, took opinionated cable news network hosts' me-first, confrontational style and parodied it mercilessly on "The Colbert Report." He replaced David Letterman on "The Late Show" in September. Hide Caption 4 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Larry Wilmore took over Colbert's Comedy Central slot with "The Nightly Show," which premiered in January 2015. Prior to "Nightly," Wilmore was the "Daily Show's" "senior black correspondent." Hide Caption 5 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night John Oliver, another former "Daily Show" correspondent, went to HBO for his "Last Week Tonight" and has gained acclaim for his in-depth -- and still humorous -- looks at such issues as the Miss America pageant and Internet neutrality. Hide Caption 6 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Jimmy Fallon took over the "Tonight Show" from Jay Leno in 2014, and unlike the previous hand-off -- between Leno and Conan O'Brien -- the transition went very smoothly. Fallon has brought in a younger audience, and his bits often go viral. Hide Caption 7 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Jimmy Kimmel oversees ABC's late-night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which has gained popularity for such bits as "Mean Tweets" and his alleged triangle with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Hide Caption 8 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Conan O'Brien took over Letterman's NBC "Late Night" spot when Letterman departed for CBS and hosted the "Tonight Show" for about seven months in 2009. After leaving NBC, he joined TBS (like CNN, a part of Time Warner) and has been hosting "Conan" there since 2010. Hide Caption 9 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night Seth Meyers hosts "Late Night" on NBC. The show was taken over by Fallon after O'Brien left, and Meyers -- a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and "Weekend Update" anchor -- started hosting it in early 2014. Hide Caption 10 of 11 Photos: The changing face of late night David Letterman was the Grand Old Man of Late Night -- but he's now left the stage (and desk, chair and mic combination) to his younger colleagues. He signed off May 20, 2015. Hide Caption 11 of 11

But Comedy Central executives apparently believed that was not enough, announcing the cancellation of Wilmore show, effective this Thursday. True, the show's ratings were below than that of his predecessor, Stephen Colbert, in the time slot. But that only means the show was not a good fit for Comedy Central -- not that the show isn't a good fit for our nation on another cable network or on a digital platform.

Netflix or Hulu, are you listening?