Like many other prominent athletes, Jon Jones has expressed outrage over the way George Floyd was killed by a police officer last week. However, Jones does not agree with destroying communities in order to send a message about racial inequality.
Jones shared a video on his Instagram account Sunday night that featured the UFC champion confronting two individuals who were walking around with spray paint cans. Jones demanded that they hand the cans over, and they obliged. The person filming could be heard saying “that’s not the way, man.”
Jon Jones confronted two teenagers and confiscated their spray cans in a video posted to Instagram.
His accompanying message expressed frustration, but urged that vandalism is "not the way." (via @JonnyBones) pic.twitter.com/q9wZGMMPn6
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 1, 2020
“Is this sh– even about George Floyd anymore?!? Why the f— are you punk a– teenagers destroying our cities!?? As a young black man trust me I’m frustrated as well but this is not the way, we are starting to make a bad situation worse. If you really got love for your city (505), protect your s—. All you old heads need to speak up, call your young family members and tell them to come home tonight,” Jones wrote on Instagram.
Jones tweeted about the Floyd incident last week, saying he wouldn’t wish that cause of death “on my worst enemy.”
“I wouldn’t wish the way George Floyd was murdered on my worst enemy. That officer applied just enough pressure to keep him alive for almost six minutes in that chokehold,” Jones wrote. “In all my years of fighting I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything close to that level of torture. There needs to be a nationwide policy change. When a man is in handcuffs and is screaming that he cannot breathe. Get the f— off his chest and or neck. If you cant hold a man who is in handcuffs down by his feet you’re a p—y and probably shouldn’t be wearing that badge.”
Kudos to Jones for trying to prevent senseless acts during a time when others want to safely advocate for change. We’ve seen some other positive involvement from the sports community with the protests over the past several days as well.
