After news broke that a grand jury would not indict Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, tensions reached a fevered pitch, including between
CNN anchor Don Lemon and commentator Van Jones.
The discussion, which occurred after the anchors had been tear-gassed, began with a simple question about the absence of leadership on the ground in Ferguson.
Lemon was critical of the lack of leadership, as well as what he felt was a coverage of the protests that were too politically correct.
"I think trying to appease some people, there needs to be a stronger hand" when dealing with protesters and that there has been too much political correctness in the coverage of the protests, Lemon argued.
Jones disagreed with Lemon's characterization, insisting that the "vast, vast majority" of protesters were peaceful, until a bunch of "knuckleheads" began starting trouble. He then added that shortly after the grand jury's decision was announced, the peaceful individuals dispersed as the night progressed leaving only bloggers and looters.
"I can’t let this stand. This is an insult to the people out there last night … It was an insult to the people of Ferguson, who have done more than 100 trainings for nonviolence," Jones continued.
On several occasions, CNN's "New Day" host Chris Cuomo tried to shift the focus of the debate, but Lemon and Jones continued.
Most of the people who were out last night were not peaceful.
"You cannot say the majority of the people out there were peaceful. When people say, 'Why don't you cover the peaceful protesters?' Well, how do you know who is peaceful when you have a crowd of people racing toward you?" Lemon asked.
Others echoed Lemon's assertion that a majority of those in the streets were violent.
"What I've seen tonight is probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August, and that's truly unfortunate," said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, speaking at a press conference at 1:30 a.m.,
according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
By morning, at least 61 people had been arrested and more than a dozen businesses had been destroyed, the paper reports.
Lemon also discussed comments made by former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani's comments on NBC's "Meet the Press."
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"[T]he fact is, I find it very disappointing that you are not discussing the fact that 93 percent of blacks in America are killed by other blacks," the former Republican mayor said. "We’re talking about the exception here [in Ferguson]."
Last night, Lemon changed his views of Guiliani's remarks, saying that the mayor "is right."
During the initial riots after Michael Brown's shooting,
Lemon also was critical of those who were looting and said "people need to stop making excuses for the stupid things" they are doing.
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