CNN’s Van Jones on Chauvin Verdict: ‘One Down. Many, Many More to Go.’
After the verdict of guilty on all counts was handed down in the trial of former police officer and future convict Derek Chauvin, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer spoke first with Don Lemon for reaction, and then Anderson Cooper spoke to CNN’s Van Jones for his reaction.
Lemon, for his part, began his commentary with “Justice has been served.”
A few moments later, Van Jones began his own response by saying “One down. Many, many more to go.”
He talked about how many people did the right thing leading up to the verdict.
“But I think about that young girl who brought out her cell phone and 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 — and begged and pleaded and talked. They did the right thing, that EMT person did the right thing. When people called 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.”
He added that the governor handing the case to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to make sure it was “done the right way” was also the right thing. “This is the beginning of something,” he said. “This is not the end of anything. This is the beginning of something.”
“This should never happen again. One down, many more to go,” said Van Jones. “Sometimes when we fight we lose. But sometimes when we fight we won. The people won.”
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
