Van Jones should run for Mayor of Oakland

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I had to take a time out to send a little message to my friend Jack Cafferty at CNN. He has a blog post focusing on Van Jones and asking if the White House should have so many czars.

Van Jones: Mayor of Oakland

Now a bit of background, CNN's been very good to me by giving me a platform to feature my video work, particularly during the Democratic National Convention last year, and putting me on live TV more times than I can immediately recall. CNN essentially "made me" so after so many appearances and headquarters visits, like the one below, where I met the iReport staff that's become family to me, I've got a pretty good idea what they're looking for.



Now, I know what CNN's doing - same thing I do - ask a question or go to a subject that I know will smack the hornets nest and get people emailing, commenting, and talking, er, like this one. It's called building buzz and generating new content by creating provocative content. People fall for it all the time, get pissed and write stupid things (which helps the cause), so I decided to help CNN out a bit and in a circuitous way and post something I knew would get others going and draw the attention of their producers:

Jack, leave Van Jones alone. You don’t know the man. He’s not as conservatives have painted him and yes, the Obama Adminstration should have vetted his past better, but he’s done a lot of good here in Oakland and could run for Mayor and win.

Knowing CNN as I do, I figured they'd post this and Jack would read it on the air, and they did and he did.  But I beyond the matter of New Media process and economics, I do believe what I wrote.  Van Jones can be an effective mayor of Oakland.  And now, he's got a good deal of name recognition that would help him raise money to run.

Yes, the current buzz about Van has been negative,  but the good thing is that now Van's been "pre-vetted" and can move forward and allow more Oaklanders get to know him.  But that's not a problem because the vast majority of us do and we know the real Van Jones. He's committed to improving the lives of those less fortunate, making goverment work for everyone, and improving the overall quality of life.  The good news is he's done it here in Oakland.

Van Jones is just the tonic Oakland needs to move forward.

After Jack read my message on CNN's The Situation Room, I got a few texts from people that frankly are in good positions to help him become Mayor if he wanted that.  That's not what they were texting about; it was to say "Way to go."

The conservative attack on Jones, a swift-boating and a smearing that left Jones with a new national identity to build from.  Yes, he's got to overcome the YouTubing he's gotten and he can do this with, well, new videos.  Van's not the radical he was in the past, but you know what, Sean Hannity's not cavorting with the White Supremacist Hal Turner anymore either right?

Yes, Van's said some dumb things in the past and he's apologized for them, but this is 2009 and he's remade himself into a powerful person working for the good of all Americans. 

I think you see my point.

To my conservative friends at the conservative website Free Republic, er, Freepers, (and yes I do have Freeper friends and agree with them on not a few issues) which give me so much traffic (thanks!) I've got to let you know that people who support Van Jones, like me, aren't "commies" and in fact have some of you as friends.

I know it makes you feel good to haul off and trash people you don't know, but I think you're wrong about Van and would like him if you met him. 

Give him a chance.

To Van, I say this: run for Mayor.  For some weird, zippity-do-da, reason only the Lord knows, you've been given a powerful platform and an giant army of really pissed off supporters around America and certainly in Oakland. 

You can do a lot of good here. Run for Mayor of Oakland.  Strike while the iron is hot.

Van Jones is a good man who should fight back

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Van Jones talks about "The Green Collar Economy"

I just saw an email from The Washington Post explaining that Van Jones resigned from his post as the Green Jobs Czar in the Obama Administration. Sad news as I know Van and have known him as nothing but a good man committed to the betterment of society.

One of the staples of Van's life has been the pursuit of social justice. He's always worked to better the lives of those less fortunate and the creation of the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center is a great example of what he's tried to do to improve life for Oaklanders, especially those who are poor and black.

Van Jones stepped down from a post that was the logical end result of his tremendous growth as a person: a job in the White House. Moreover, those attacking his character themselves are people with questionable backgrounds or anti-social actors. I will not go into that here; but Van should fight back.

Glen Beck is the person Jones should fight back against. Beck's acting like a domestic thug, calling the President racist, then using the media to be the inspiration for others to make terrible statements and threatening acts, like the woman who camped out at a National Guard base, thinking it was a FEMA encampment.

But Beck's not the only one who's unfairly attacked Van Jones. There's a long list of conservatives. To be fair, they did go and get video of things Jones did say, but then posted part of the videos so the comments lack the proper context and have him sounding like a radical totally against America. (By contrast, I have an unknown cyberharasser that makes up lies about my life online. If I learn who this person is, they will be arrested and prosecuted as they're breaking Federal law.)

I'm proud to be an American, but I'm not proud of the modern-day McCarthyite's run amok online. It's as if we're allowing them to get away with murder.

A Landmark graduate

Some of my friends who also know Van point to his enrollment in The Landmark Forum as a key reason for his amazing personal growth. The idea of Landmark, which I've not "done" but seem surrounded by people who have been in it, is to provide a person with mental tools that cause them to overcome their cognitive road blocks and achieve their desired objectives.

Can one say Van became a different person? No. I think it's more accurate to say he became a better version of himself. I met him after his time in the program; the Van Jones I know has never even come off as anti-American and always as one who cares about people.

Good people like Jones must vigorously fight back against their attackers. To me, it's as if he was mugged in broad daylight.

Van Jones: Oaklander and Obama's Green Jobs Czar on CNN's Larry King Tonight

 

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Van Jones, President Obama's new "Special Advisor For Green Jobs Enterprise and Innovation" who I have featured in our "Oakland Focus" blog and videos several times and I last talked to as he closed his account at Gold's Gym in Oakland where he was a member for years, is the guest on CNN's "Larry King" show tonight starting at 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST but CNN runs a "loop" so if you missed Van at 6 PM or 9 PM respectively, you can catch him again later in the evening and the video on CNN.com two days later. (I hope.)

Mr. Jones is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, "The Green Collar Economy" and the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. Over his career as activist and author, Jones has tirelessly fought for alternatives to violence and incarceration.

In her tribute to Jones, Rosemary Pritzker wrote:

Van Jones has been making waves for over 10 years as a human rights activist. In recent years he tried to point out the environment/human rights connection, but didn’t receive attention from the upper echelons with decision-making power, such as the United States government and the Clinton Global Initiative, until just a few months ago. For decades environmentalism was seen as crunchy, dirty, and based on restriction of everything from fun to taste. But lately there’s been a major shift, bringing green into the mainstream, or, as Van says, “eco-freak” became “eco-chic”.

Van, as they say, has "captured the Zeitgeist" of late, but has managed to remain the same person. Always polite and nice to everyone.

Here's a video interview I conducted with Jones last year as he was introducing his book:



Check out Van on CNN tonight. He deserves all of the good fortune he's received.

Prop H in SF Gets Van Jones Support - Yes on H

As part of our effort to promote clean energy for San Francisco, I am very proud to report that Van Jones, the author of "The Green Collar Economy" has endorsed Prop H for clean energy.

Van Jones on "The Green Collar Economy" and Clean Energy

Van Jones is an Oakland-based author, activist, and spokesperghts who's known for his work in civil rights and against violence in Oakland. But I went to talk with him about his newest work: a book he wrote called The Green Collar economy.