Van Jones: U.S. on path to ‘five or ten American cities on fire’ if another police brutality tape emerges

Van Jones said the United States is on a pathway “to five or ten American cities on fire by the end of this summer if we get one more= videotape” showing police brutality against an African-American.

The CNN political analyst called the police killing of George Floyd “an atomic bomb” for the black community.

“We’re having to manage so much, every time one of these cases happens, it’s like an atomic bomb drops on our kitchen table,” Jones told anchor Brooke Baldwn. “We have to deal with it over and over again and it impacts these kids. So this has to stop. It has to stop. You can’t continue.”

“We’re on a pathway right now, Brooke, to five or ten American cities on fire by the end of this summer if we get one more videotape, another videotape, and nothing done,” he later added. “How long are people supposed to deal with this pain and nobody is going to do anything about it?”

Floyd died last week after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, is now facing murder and manslaughter charges. On Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) announced an upgrade to the charge against Chauvin to second-degree murder.

Ellison also charged officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, who were at the scene of Floyd’s death on May 24, with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

Several U.S. cities have issued curfews in an effort to curb looting, arson and violence amid protests throughout the country.