Van Jones: A ‘white, liberal Hillary Clinton supporter’ can pose a greater threat to black Americans than the KKK

CNN’s Van Jones argued Friday during an analysis on racial tensions that a “white, liberal Hillary Clinton supporter walking her dog in Central Park” can pose a more insidious threat to African Americans than openly racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Jones was referring to Amy Cooper, a white woman who called the police on a black man in New York’s Central Park on Monday after he asked that she put her dog on a leash.

Film of the exchange and subsequent call to police went viral, with Cooper repeatedly referring to the man’s race while falsely saying she was being threatened. 

“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, ‘Oh I don’t see race, race is no big deal to me, I see all people the same, I give to charities,’ 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,” Jones said.

“A klansmember could not have been better trained to pick up her phone and tell the police it’s a black man.”

“What you’re seeing now is a curtain falling away,” Jones later added. “Those of us who have been burdened by this every minute, every second of our entire lives are fragile right now. We are tired.”

Cooper was fired by her employer, Franklin Templeton, on Tuesday and has since issued an apology. 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Friday he believes Cooper should be investigated for making a false claim to police.

Jones’s perspective comes after days of violent protests in Minneapolis following the police killing of George Floyd earlier this week.

At least 170 businesses in the Twin Cities have been damaged or looted, with dozens of fires set, according to local police.