'Even the most well-intentioned white person has a virus in his or her brain': CNN's Van Jones says it's the 'white, liberal Hillary Clinton supporter' who is more worrisome than the KKK after Central Park Karen called the cops on black bird watcher
- CNN's Van Jones said white liberals like Amy Cooper, dubbed Central Park Karen, are more worrisome than members of the Ku Klux Klan
- Jones said it's people like Cooper who would 'tell you right now..."oh, I don't see race, race is no big deal to me, I see us all as the same, I give to charities"'
- He said those same people would weaponize race quickly the minute they see a black man they don't respect or who she has a slight thought against'
- His comments comes days after George Floyd was killed while in police custody
- Video of the 46-year-old's arrest shows a cop kneeling on his neck before death
- Former police officer Derek Chauvin was later charged with third degree murder
- Protests and riots have gripped major cities in United States since Floyd's death
CNN's Van Jones has continued to weigh in on the racism that plagues America amid the riots and protests that have gripped the country following the death of George Floyd, saying that white liberals like Amy Cooper are more worrisome than the Ku Klux Klan.
During a recent segment, Jones said all white people of having a 'virus' in their brain known as racism no matter how 'well-intentioned' they may be.
'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 was referring to Cooper, a white woman dubbed 'Central Park Karen', after she made a false call to New York City police, claiming that an African American, who asked her to leash her dog while he was bird watching, threatened her life.
'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."
'So even the most liberal, well-intentioned white person has a virus in his or her brain that can be activated at an instant,' Jones, who is the co-founder of several social justice nonprofit organizations, said.
CNN's Van Jones has continued to weigh in on the racism that plagues America amid the riots and protests that have gripped the country following the death of George Floyd, saying that white liberals like Amy Cooper are more worrisome than the Ku Klux Klan
Jones was referring to Amy Cooper (pictured) a white woman dubbed 'Central Park Karen', after she made a false call to New York City police, claiming that an African American, who asked her to leash her dog, threatened her life
Last week, Jones said he hasn't 'seen black people this upset in 20 years'.
'If you are white and are you watching this, look in your own life,' Jones said. '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?' he said.
'I don't have an answer to that,' Jones continued. 'I have not seen black people this upset in 20 years, maybe longer.'
Jones' comments comes nearly a week after Floyd, 46, died after bystander video showed police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for at least seven minutes while Floyd was handcuffed during an arrest on forgery charges.
On Friday afternoon, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, after being fired from the Minneapolis police force.
Last week, Jones said he hasn't 'seen black people this upset in 20 years'. Demonstrators gather around after setting fire to the entrance of a police station during protests over the death of George Floyd
Thousands (pictured on Friday in Minneapolis) have been protesting since the horrifying footage of Floyd's arrest and death in Minneapolis, Minnesota, made headlines last week
Three other officers - Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng - have been fired over Floyd's fatal arrest but do not yet face charges.
Protests over Floyd's death have spread nationwide and turned to violence in Minneapolis, where a police precinct was overrun and set on fire overnight on Thursday.
It follows high-profile protests and riots in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore in 2015, over the police-involved deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, respectively.
'We thought we got an answer, it's called body cams — that we just put body cams on all these cops and you can see what they were doing,' Jones said.
'They would either be stopped or the public would be so outraged.'
A National Guardsman is seen in Minneapolis on Friday morning in the aftermath of fires
State Police officers form a cordon around the burned third precinct on Friday morning
'These guys knew they had on body cams. There were people standing there with the cell phones out. 18 complaints should trigger a separate review,' he continued.
'You build up to that level of contempt. You build up to that level of dehumanization and desensitization and you are now witnessing the outcome of that,' Jones said.
Other commentators also weighed in as the nation was gripped by images of the third burning police precinct in Minneapolis, which cops abandoned as protesters advanced.
Speaking on MSNBC on Friday morning, Rev Al Sharpton said: 'The pain is the real issue that I think we are seeing there.'
'The feeling that you trust law enforcement and they were the ones to kill your son your brother. Where do you go when you feel the cops and the robbers are against you?' he continued.
'That is the pain we have been trying to expose for a long time that we are seeing explode with this violence,' Sharpton said.
'Let's remember the violence started when that man put his knee on the throat of George Floyd and killed him.'
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