CNN contributor Van Jones reacted to the news of Derek Chauvin’s conviction on Tuesday after the jury found Chauvin guilty of three charges regarding the George Floyd case in Minnesota on Tuesday.
As The Daily Wire reported, “After a little over ten hours of deliberation, a jury on Tuesday found former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in relation to the death of George Floyd.”
CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Jones about his reaction to the verdict.
Jones replied, “One down, many, many more to go.”
He said that he thought of the young girl who brought out her cellphone “who stood there in horror, not knowing what to do but just holding that phone steady. She did the right thing. All those community members who came and begged and pleaded and talked. They did the right thing. That E.M.T. person did the right thing. When people call the police on the police, they did the right thing. When the police chief fired this man, he did the right thing. When people marched by the millions, they did the right thing.”
“And part of what I think the message has to be is that we have to get more involved. It started with that young girl. She got involved. And then you had a community stand up and you had a governor step in and take the case and give it to [Minnesota Attorney General] Keith Ellison to make sure that it was done the right way.”
Jones added, “This is the beginning of something. This is not the end of anything. This is the beginning of something.”
“Where is Congress?” Jones asked. “They need to act. Those chokeholds are still legal according to the federal government. That needs to change. There is no duty to intervene from the federal government. That needs to change. There is no registry for cops like Chauvin. That needs to change. When you have somebody like Representative Karen Bass and Tim Scott fighting, we need to get behind them. This should never happen again. One down. Many more to go. Sometimes when we fight, we lose. But sometimes when we fight, we won. The people won.”
Cooper asked Jones what he thought when he saw Chauvin walk out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Jones responded, “Justice. Justice. I’ve seen so many kids that have done so much less than him walk out of courtrooms in handcuffs with much less evidence. I’ve seen kids do twenty years, thirty years on snitch evidence. Just one kid testify against another kid and go away to prison. You don’t have TV cameras and body cameras and cellphones. So many young people from that community sitting in prison. And cops getting away with murder over and over again.”
Jones said that Chauvin walking out of the courtroom in handcuffs is “what justice looks like.”
“All we want is the police to obey the law. We’re not asking for anything but that,” he said. “For the police to obey the law. And when they break the law, they should have handcuffs just like anybody else. We don’t want them to be below us or beneath us. They should obey the law. That is what justice looks like.”
Cooper asked, “Do you worry some people are going to see this and say, ‘Okay, that’s good. It’s done. It’s over.’?”
Jones shook his head, saying, “It took too long. It took too long. It took too much marching. It took – too many tears and it was too close. And I don’t care who you are, this morning you woke up afraid to hope. You were scared to hope. Even with all the evidence you saw, you were scared to hope this morning. That tells you we need real change.”