Van Jones And Angela Rye Rip Marsha Blackburn For Pretending Systemic Racism Is A Myth
CNN commentators Van Jones and Angela Rye took on two Donald Trump surrogates on Sunday after she suggested that complaints about systemic racism were overblown.
During a panel discussion about how the presidential candidates had responded to recent protests against police violence in Charlotte, Jones accused Trump of a "botched, zig-zaggy outreach to African-Americans."
"On the one hand, he sticks up for one of the shooting victims in Tulsa," Jones noted. "And then he turns right around and says, 'I want stop and frisk.' Stop and frisk is the most unpopular, the least effective and the most alienating policy -- period -- in policing in 20 years, found unconstitutional. And he reaches out for that."
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a surrogate for Trump, cautioned the panel to "be careful about how they talk about these issues on TV."
"It is imperative that we support a thin blue line," she opined. "It is what separates us from order and anarchy."
Turning to Jones, Blackburn pushed back on claims of institutional racism.
"You cannot say all cops are bad," the Tennessee Republican insisted.
Rye interrupted: "It's very important when we talk about institutional racism to understand where that really comes from."