CNN's Van Jones Take on the Rittenhouse Verdict Was Debunked Before He Even Said It

Julio Rosas | November 23, 2021 11:30 AM

CNN contributor said the reason why there is so much anger and disgust with Kyle Rittenhouse being found not guilty of murder when he shot three aggressors in self-defense during the Kenosha riots last year is because black people don't have the same right to self-defense.

"I think the reason that you have a lot of shock and anger and frustration from the black community and from progressives is there’s never been an African-American kid, you think of 400 years of provocations and bad stuff that’s happened and threats against us, there’s never been an African-American kid that’s walked around with an AR-15 and shot three kids and got hailed as a hero, ever and it will never happen. It’s never happened," Jones said to Chris Cuomo. "There’s just from the very beginning there’s a sense that there’s a two-tiered system here where we don’t have the right to self-defense in the same way. I don’t have a Second Amendment right in the same way.

"If Van Jones walked down the street with an AR-15, you know what you'd say about me? 'It was sure nice knowing Van Jones' because I'm not gonna have a chance to explain myself," he added.

Van Jones: Black Americans "don’t have the right to self-defense in the same way" as Kyle Rittenhouse.

"I don’t have a Second Amendment right in the same way." pic.twitter.com/sTEfBjElSs
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 23, 2021

What Jones must not have heard is are have been examples of black people armed with AR-15s walking down the street without getting shot by the police, such as the New Black Panthers marches outside the courthouse in Glynn County, Georgia for the Ahmaud Arbery homicide trial.

Jones must also not have heard about prior convicted felon Andrew Coffee, a black man, who was able to successfully argue he shot in self-defense when Indian River County Sheriff's Deputies conducted an early morning drug raid at his home back in 2017, according to WPBF. The verdict was announced the same day as when the Rittenhouse verdict was announced last Friday.