Duck and Weave

Jones added that while he didn't think [Derek Chauvin's] sentence would spark "outrage," he argued it was still a "punch in the gut" because "this guy's life was worth more than 15 years," and he hoped the sentence would send a message to law enforcement that "you can't do this type of stuff [or] you're never going to come back home."
CNN's Van Jones disappointed by Chauvin's sentence: 'A punch in the gut'

While I understand Mr. Jones' perspective on this (as well as those of local people who felt "That's not justice"), I am of the opinion that looking to others to validate one's own value judgements is a recipe for such disappointments. Judge Cahill is beholden to neither Mr. Jones nor the aggrieved protesters.

Value is always personal. The statement "this guy's life was worth more than 15 years," may have been heartfelt, but it is not, and will never be (at least as I see it now), a truth-apt statement, any more than "war is wrong" could be. Whether someone finds 15 years in prison to be too little for a man's life or war to be a crime against humanity is a personal understanding, not a realization of some invariant universal truth.

On the broader social scale, Black (or any other) Lives Matter to the degree that people treat them as important and are willing to give up other things to preserve them. But societal decisions cannot be forced my individuals, no matter how much they disagree with the choice that's made. As individuals, all people can do is show others how much they, personally, value(d) a life. And while anger and hurt can communicate the value of one life, it doesn't restore that life; and does little to communicate the value of other lives.

Being hurt by the choices of others does not, in and of itself, change those choices. And the actions that people can take to bring about change do not require that one be angry. So perhaps the best thing to do is to understand that personal choices of value are not required to be reflected. This may allow people to sidestep punches, rather than taking them to the gut.