Fox News' Lawrence Jones on George Floyd's Death: "It Could Have Been Me"

On Thursday’s episode of Fox News’ The Five, Dana Perino asked co-host Lawrence Jones to share his thoughts about the ongoing protests in Minneapolis and the overall reaction to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. His heartfelt remarks highlighted some very important points.

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Jones said, starting around 2:05 into the video (emphasis added):

As someone who’s been on the ground reporting on these protests when a tragedy like this happens, reports come out afterwards and you see that the majority of the people that set things on fire aren’t from those neighborhoods. They’re from outside people. They’re Antifa.  It’s not the community that’s mourning.

But we’re also sitting here today waiting for this press conference, and I hope that they’re there to announce charges. This happened Monday. It’s Thursday. And if this was a cop that was brutally murdered in the way – and there were…people standing there to watch this happen, they would be in jail right now and there would be no bail.

And I think it’s important that when we’re having this conversation, to take the city in context. This city has gone through this before. They have been sued…their police officers and their department before because of racism. One of those people that sued them is the current Chief of Police. The union rep in that police department was seen by the police chief now with a white power sign on his jacket. And so when you see people that are upset, they’re upset because this is a pattern.

And y’all know me. This audience knows me. I wait for the facts on most things. I’ve been an investigator. I’ve spent my career in criminal justice. My first job was working in the juvenile court.

But I’m also a black man, and this could have been me.

And so when you see people like me that are conservatives, when you see somebody like Tim Scott, who is the first black Republican Senator since Reconstruction, saying, “I’ve been pulled over in the Capitol seven times and the cop tells me, that Senate pin I recognize but your face I don’t recognize,” this is why you see outrage in this country.

And just to piggyback on what’s going on in this country with this pandemic, there are a lot of conservatives now asking questions about the state. You have seen members of the state abuse their power. And now they’re saying, maybe what’s happening in the black community, maybe they weren’t lying all along.

Now, of course there are people in the media and on the left that take advantage of these tragedies, but you guys know me. I’m not one of those type of people.

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Like Lawrence Jones, my first career was in the criminal justice system. I spent nearly 20 years as a court reporter and worked in criminal courts throughout North Carolina. I respect and honor what our country’s law enforcement officers do to keep us safe, and know from working with hundreds of them that the vast majority of them are good people with the community’s best interest at heart. Over those years I also learned that not all of them are good, and when their colleagues look the other way those “bad apples” spoil even further. Some officers are racist, and some get a sick pleasure out of roughing people up. In my opinion the officer who murdered George Floyd was one of those officers, and those who stood by enabling the murder are just as guilty.

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