CNN commentator says black community should be more worried about ‘the white liberal Hillary Clinton supporter’ than white racists

CNN commentator Van Jones has claimed that the black community in the US should be more worried about “the white liberal Hilary Clinton supporter” than a “racist white person.”

During an appearance on CNN last week, Mr Jones spoke about white woman, Amy Cooper, who was fired from her job last week, after footage emerged of her calling the police on black man, Christian Cooper, in Central Park, when he told her to put her dog on a lead.

In the video she falsely claimed that Mr Cooper was threatening her, and made reference to his race during her call to the police.

Campaign contribution information showed that Ms Cooper had previously donated to Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and most recently Pete Buttigieg.

Speaking on CNN on Friday, Mr Jones claimed that the black community in the US needs to worry about white people who say they aren’t racist, but whose actions tell a different story.

“It’s not the racist white person who is in the Ku Klux Klan that we have to worry about,” Mr Jones said.

“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 weaponised race like she had been trained by the Aryan Nation.”

In the footage, Ms Cooper called the police and told Mr Cooper: “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”

In reference to this, Mr Jones said: “A klansmember could not have been better trained to pick up her phone and tell the police it’s a black man.”

The incident in Central park is one of many in the last few months that has put the spotlight back on racism in the US.

Protests were held in Georgia last month, after footage was released of the shooting of black man, Ahmaud Arbery, by two white men, Gregory and Travis McMichael.

Last week, George Floyd died after former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck while detaining him, sparking protests across the US and outcry from politicians, including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Protests continued over the weekend, and Mr Jones added that in the US at the moment, “what you’re seeing now is a curtain falling away.

“Those of us who have been burdened by this every minute, every second of our entire lives are fragile right now. We are tired.”