CNN's Van Jones says 'white, liberal Hillary Clinton supporter' more worrisome than Ku Klux Klan
CNN commentator Van Jones slammed white liberals like Amy Cooper saying they are more worrisome than the Ku Klux Klan while America continued to witness violent protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis on May 25. In a segment on Friday, May 29, Jones made an explosive observation that all white people have a "virus" in their brain known as racism no matter how "well-intentioned" they are. Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, was pinned to the ground during a brutal arrest by a cop who pressed his knee against his neck for several minutes despite the man pleading for help. He subsequently died and the incident sparked massive protests and violence across the US.
“It's not the racist white person who is in the Ku Klux Klan that we have to worry about. It's the white liberal Hillary Clinton supporter walking her dog in Central Park who would tell you right now, you know, people like that – 'oh, I don't see race, race is no big deal to me, I see us all as the same, I give to charities',” Jones, an African-American, said. Jones was taking an indirect dig at Cooper, a white woman, labeled ‘Central Park Karen’ after she made a false call to New York City Police claiming an African-American man threatened her life while asking her to leash her dog as he bird-watched. A video of her call went viral. Cooper was sacked by her employer, Franklin Templeton, on Tuesday, May 26, and issued an apology later.
“But the minute she sees a black man who she does not respect or who she has a slight thought against, she weaponized race like she had been trained by the Aryan Nation. A Klan member could not have been better trained to pick up the phone and tell the police, "It's a black man, African-American man, come get him”,” Jones added.
'Most liberal, well-intentioned white person has virus in brain'
“So even the most liberal, well-intentioned white person has a virus in his or her brain that can be activated at an instant,” the 51-year-old commentator-author, who is also the co-founder of several social justice nonprofit organizations, said. Jones said he hasn’t seen black people becoming “this upset” in the last two decades. “If you are white and are you watching this, look in your own life,” Jones said, adding: “How are you choking off black dignity? Choking off black opportunity? Choking off black people from asking an opportunity to thrive?”
“Because it's not just that officer. This is a much deeper problem. How are all of us complicit in this? And how are all of us allowing this to happen?” a concerned Jones said. “I don't have an answer to that. I have not seen black people this upset in 20 years, maybe longer.” “What you’re seeing now is a curtain falling away. Those of us who have been burdened by this every minute, every second of our entire lives are fragile right now. We are tired," he said.
US witnesses massive protests, extremist groups suspected
Floyd’s death has ignited massive riots that have made the officials believe that extremist groups have played a role in fanning the protests whereby peaceful demonstrators have been pushed towards violence. They are also seeing if foreign adversaries are carrying out a misinformation campaign on social media to make things worse. As the protests spread fast from Minneapolis to the White House, New York City, and even to foreign shores, the roles of both the far-left and far-right extremists were being suspected.
President Donald Trump has also come under criticism for his violent rhetoric on the violence which many of his aides believe could escalate the tensions and hurt his own political prospects. Trump is set for his reelection bid in just over five months time. Trump’s controversial tweet saying “when looting starts, shooting starts” referring to the violent protests in Minneapolis in the wake of Floyd’s death was particularly objected to. Minneapolis saw days of continued violence with a police precinct set on fire on Thursday, May 28. On Friday, May 29, Derek Chauvin, the cop who carried out the brutal act on Floyd, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder after being fired from the Minneapolis police force. Three other officers -- Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng -- were also fired over Floyd's fatal arrest.