The jury’s verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial is not an example of the system working, but instead of “people making the system work,” CNN commentator Van Jones says.
“What happened is the voting worked. You can tell the young people now — voting matters. The protesting worked. You can tell young people — marching matters. And the truth. The fact that people got involved with their video cameras, they captured it. Citizen engagement matters. So there's a formula now that you can begin to show people we can make the system work for change.”
Jones emphasized that the Floyd’s murder was first filed as a medical incident in a police report but people “rose up and said ‘we're not going to let this go,’” he said, adding that the governor gave the case to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Black man, who put a lot of resources on the table.
Jones remarked that he can now tell his sons that they have a way forward:
“The humanity of a generation was on trial, not just a system, the humanity of the whole generation. [Younger Black people] now see, I can make the system work for me. It's not fair, I’ve got to fight harder than I should, but I've got a shot. We didn't feel that way in the '90s as young Black folks. We felt like we had been thrown away. And so this is a big deal.”