It would take a thousand pages and a million tweets before I could ever fully capture the true quintessence that is Jones.

by Teddy Fikre  written: Thursday, January 5th, 2011

Black intellect.  It is the seed from which black aspirations of hope spring.  Black intellect is the essence of black liberty, never mind that, it is the essence of liberty period.  Throughout history, black intellect has been the nagging conscience prodding at the mind of humanity.  Without black intellect—folk like Du Bois, Malcolm, and Garvey—we would all still be enslaved at the hands of brutal overseers.  We owe our freedoms and our collective existence to the contributions of a linage of black intellect that stretches back to Africa.  It is with this in mind that I introduce you to a black intellect named Van Jones.

Who is Van Jones you say?  Well let me give you a proper introduction to this DOPE intellect.  Anthony Kapel “Van” Jones is an American environmental advocate and a fierce campaigner for civil rights.  He is an attorney by trade, but really he is a public defender of our shared independence.  Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations; he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, co-founded Color of Change, and in 2007 founded Green for All.  This warrior of justice has founded more non-profits than the United Way.  I am not sure how he has the time to put on so many hats; surely his neck must be sore with the various derbies he balances on his head.  On top of all that, he is also an author to boot—something about writers, they always find words and ways to pen the aspirations of mankind.  Jones in 2007 penned “The Green Collar Economy”, a book that shot up to #12 on the New York Times Best Seller list.  Taking note of his accomplishments, Times named Jones one its “Heroes of the Environment” and Fast Company called him one of the “12 Most Creative Minds of 2008”—yup definitely a part of the talented 10th.

Jones, along with his twin sister, was born in 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee.  He was born to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a principle at a Junior High School.  I guess this is where Jones got his intellect; he was born into a household teeming with nothing but black thought.  He was described by his sister as a “stereotypical geek—he just kind of lived up in his head a lot”.  Jones in reflection recalled that his childhood was “bookish and bizarre”—but hey, most children with intellectual curiosity are seen as nothing but bizarre these days.  These days, we give these kids adderall, back then his parents gave him dosage after dosage of encouragement.  Jones grew up a fan of both Bobby and Jack Kennedy, two great American icons who were gunned down in a volley of menacing bullets.  Jones went on to graduate from Jackson Central-Merry High School in 1986.  He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Communication and Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin).  After attaining his degree, Jones went on to intern at the Jackson Sun, the Shreveport Times, and the Associated Press.  Jones credits UT Martin for preparing him for life on the global stage.

Jones is a tireless worker; his passion is for all things that lead to justice in the end.  He has toiled in the shadows for far too long—way before he received his first rays from the klieg light of fame.  A prodigal thinker, Jones has used his gift to speak and articulate thought to carry on the good fight for those who were not bestowed the same gifts from the Almighty.  Jones has a litany of projects and good fights that he has led.  In 1995, Jones, while a student at Yale, volunteered as a legal monitor for a protest of the Rodney King verdict in San Francisco.  His activism was also spurred on by witnessing racial inequality in New Haven, Connecticut: “I was seeing kids at Yale do drugs and talk about it openly, and have nothing happen to them or, if anything, get sent to rehab…And then I was seeing kids three blocks away, in the housing projects, doing the same drugs, in smaller amounts, go to prison.” You see, Jones was not the silent type; he always spoke up and loud for justice in the face of stern authority.  This unwillingness to be a “tame negro”—to step and shuffle to the side—would later have him embroiled in a Republican imbroglio.

Given the history of Jones’s accomplishments and his unending quest for justice, newly elected President Barack Obama thus made a wise choice in 2008 when he appointed Jones Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  At this post, Jones worked with various agencies and departments to advance the administration’s climate and energy initiatives with a special focus on improving vulnerable communities.  Of course, as they say, neither good deed—nor the person doing the deed—goes unpunished.  Thus in 2009, Jones was ensnared in a Republican witch hunt.  Eager to put Barack Obama in his place, the good old boys of the Republican Party—abetted by the duplicious Fox News station—amassed an all out assault on Jones. They went on a quest of character assignation; through whisper campaigns and verbal tirades, they continuously mugged the good name of Jones.  Their proof?  Flimsy charges that Jones disparaged Republicans in the past—shocker, Republicans screaming about being attacked by attacking him in the process. They presented false evidence about Jones and the fact that his name was tied to a 9/11 petition.  Free speech, who cares, Republicans were out to stifle black intellect.

“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,” Jones said in his resignation statement. “They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.”

In the face of this maelstrom, in order to spare Barack Obama further loss of political capital, Jones resigned from his position at the White House in early September 2009.  Jones was neither the first martyr— nor the last—to be lynched by a mob that is the Republican caucus.  Unlike a martyr, Jones arose from the oak tree, loosened the rope, and proceeded to utilize that very rope to lasso other opportunities.  Jones is currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a senior policy adviser for Green for All.  On top of this all, Jones also holds a joint appointment at Princeton University where he is a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African-American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

I could go on and on for pages and pages about Van Jones.  The chronicle of this avant garde sage cannot be captured by the limits of this one article. It would take a thousand pages and a million tweets before I could ever fully capture the true quintessence that is Jones.  As it is, I just wanted to take the time to at least introduce you—my Ethiopian brothers and sisters as well as my African-Diaspora family—to this philosopher named Jones.  Get to know him better, and while you are at it, thank him for it the intellect of his kind that has enabled us to live freely in this land of the free called America.  Regardless of the loathing that would dare get in his way—whether that of the GOP, Tea Party Racists nor Fox News inanity— of Jones from keeps it moving.  This is why this title is called Keeping Up with Jones.  Walk faster folks, we should all emulate this DOPE thinker and try to Keep Up with Jones.

“Never let anybody drive you so low, that you would hate them”~Dr. Martin Luther King

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Teddy Fikre

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Research credit given to Wikipedia.com for background information used for this article.