Difference between revisions of "Van Jones"

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{{Infobox person
 
{{Infobox person
| name        = Herbert Croly
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| name        = Van Jones
 
| image      = VanJones.jpg
 
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| birth_date  = September 20, 1968
 
| birth_date  = September 20, 1968
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'''Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones''' (born September 20, 1968) is a self-proclaimed [[radical]] [[communist]] activist who was appointed by [[Barack Obama]] to serve as the [[Obama administration]]'s "Green Czar".<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=94771 Will a 'red' help blacks go green?, White House appoints 'radical communist' who sees environment as racial issue], ''[[WorldNetDaily.com]]'', April 12, 2009.</ref>  He announced his resignation at midnight, September 6, 2009 after a series of controversies over past inflammatory statements.<ref>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5itKcwMMlf6EtyLvYW9VjF2xcVK7gD9AHJII00</ref>  
 
'''Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones''' (born September 20, 1968) is a self-proclaimed [[radical]] [[communist]] activist who was appointed by [[Barack Obama]] to serve as the [[Obama administration]]'s "Green Czar".<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=94771 Will a 'red' help blacks go green?, White House appoints 'radical communist' who sees environment as racial issue], ''[[WorldNetDaily.com]]'', April 12, 2009.</ref>  He announced his resignation at midnight, September 6, 2009 after a series of controversies over past inflammatory statements.<ref>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5itKcwMMlf6EtyLvYW9VjF2xcVK7gD9AHJII00</ref>  
  
Although Van Jones is a communist, which is predominantly [[Atheism|atheistic]] (see: [[Atheism and communism]]), he ssys he is a "person of faith" and became very upset in an interview when the topic of open atheists having difficulty in American politics was repeatedly brought up.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXKM5TBwCo0 What's The Matter With Van Jones?], video</ref>  The African-American community has extremely negative views concerning atheism and ostracizes atheists.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/28/living/black-atheist-confession/ Confessions of a black atheist], CNN</ref><ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127239913 Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider], NPR, May 28, 201012:00 PM ET</ref>  
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Although Van Jones is a communist, which is predominantly [[Atheism|atheistic]] (see: [[Atheism and communism]]), he says he is a "person of faith" and became very upset in an interview when the topic of open atheists having difficulty in American politics was repeatedly brought up.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXKM5TBwCo0 What's The Matter With Van Jones?], video</ref>  The African-American community has extremely negative views concerning atheism and ostracizes atheists.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/28/living/black-atheist-confession/ Confessions of a black atheist], CNN</ref><ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127239913 Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider], NPR, May 28, 201012:00 PM ET</ref>  
  
 
Jones previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the [[Weather Underground]] [[terrorist]] organization is a top director.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106653 ''Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder] Van Jones served on board of activist group where Weatherman co-founder [[Jeff Jones]] serves as top director'', By Aaron Klein, [[WorldNetDaily]], August 13, 2009.</ref>  
 
Jones previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the [[Weather Underground]] [[terrorist]] organization is a top director.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106653 ''Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder] Van Jones served on board of activist group where Weatherman co-founder [[Jeff Jones]] serves as top director'', By Aaron Klein, [[WorldNetDaily]], August 13, 2009.</ref>  
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==Early life==
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Jones was born on September 20, 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee, to Willie Anthony Jones and Loretta Jean Kirkendoll Jones.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tFAeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 Rebuild the Dream]</ref>  He has a twin sister, Angela.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/01/12/greening-the-ghetto Greening the Ghetto], [[The New Yorker]]</ref>
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===Name Change===
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As a child, Jones considered himself "bookish and bizarre".  When he went to University of Tennessee at Martin on his first day, he decided to change his name to "Van", because "it has a little touch of nobility, but at the same time it’s not overboard."<ref>[http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-true-identity-of-van-jones/ The “True Identity” Of Van Jones], [[Accuracy in Media]]</ref>
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==Self described communist==
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[[Image:HammerAndSickle.png|right|100px|thumb|Jones is a self-proclaimed [[communist]]]]
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Van Jones openly described himself as a communist in an in-depth review for the radical publication ''East Bay Express'':
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<blockquote>But in jail, he said, "I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.'" Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. "I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary." In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."<ref>[http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/the-new-face-of-environmentalism/Content?oid=1079539&showFullText=true The New Face of Environmentalism ]</ref></blockquote>
  
 
==Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement==
 
==Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement==
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===Maoist influence===
 
===Maoist influence===
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[[Image:Jones-van-storm-reclaiming-revolution-cover.jpg|right|Communist literature]]
 
STORM's own literature describes its "Maoist orientation"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ReclaimingRevolution  ''Reclaiming Revolution]: history, summation & lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM)'', Spring 2004, p. 23 pdf.</ref> which conducted  "a group reading of Mao's ''On Practice'' and ''On Contradiction.''"<ref>Ibid, p. 25 pdf.</ref> The group studied [[Lenin]]'s theories of the state, revolution, the party, and "the political ideas of Mao Tse-tung."<ref>Ibid, p.15 pdf.</ref> STORM's own history further states, "We also pushed at or went beyond the limits of the traditional Marxist canon, studying such topics as revolutionary feminism, the Palestinian [[National liberation movement|liberation struggle]], transgender liberation, methods of evaluation, self-care for cadre and revolutionary mass [community] organizing."<ref>Ibid, p. 25 pdf.</ref>  STORM was extensively involved in the [[community organizing]] movement.<ref>Ibid, pp. 8, 10, 15 pdf.</ref>
 
STORM's own literature describes its "Maoist orientation"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ReclaimingRevolution  ''Reclaiming Revolution]: history, summation & lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM)'', Spring 2004, p. 23 pdf.</ref> which conducted  "a group reading of Mao's ''On Practice'' and ''On Contradiction.''"<ref>Ibid, p. 25 pdf.</ref> The group studied [[Lenin]]'s theories of the state, revolution, the party, and "the political ideas of Mao Tse-tung."<ref>Ibid, p.15 pdf.</ref> STORM's own history further states, "We also pushed at or went beyond the limits of the traditional Marxist canon, studying such topics as revolutionary feminism, the Palestinian [[National liberation movement|liberation struggle]], transgender liberation, methods of evaluation, self-care for cadre and revolutionary mass [community] organizing."<ref>Ibid, p. 25 pdf.</ref>  STORM was extensively involved in the [[community organizing]] movement.<ref>Ibid, pp. 8, 10, 15 pdf.</ref>
  
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:''Main article:'' [[Truther]]s
 
:''Main article:'' [[Truther]]s
 
In 2004 Jones signed a petition sponsored by the conspiratorial 9/11 Truthers.org alleging President [[George W. Bush]] and high-level government officials may have been behind 9/11.<ref>http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041026093059633</ref><ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/sep/03/green-jobs-czar-signed-truther-statement-in-2004/?feat=home_blogs</ref>
 
In 2004 Jones signed a petition sponsored by the conspiratorial 9/11 Truthers.org alleging President [[George W. Bush]] and high-level government officials may have been behind 9/11.<ref>http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041026093059633</ref><ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/sep/03/green-jobs-czar-signed-truther-statement-in-2004/?feat=home_blogs</ref>
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==Cop Watch and Ella Baker Center==
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In 1995, Jones co-founded Bay Area Police Watch with Diana Frappier, which eventually morphed into the Ella Baker Center.<ref>[https://oaklandnorth.net/2016/09/21/community-members-celebrate-the-ella-baker-centers-20th-anniversary-of-providing-advocacy-and-restorative-justice/ Community members celebrate The Ella Baker Center’s 20th anniversary]</ref><ref>[http://ellabakercenter.org/our-victories Our Victories], Ella Baker Center for Human Rights</ref>
  
 
==Apollo Alliance==
 
==Apollo Alliance==
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{{Cquote|I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends....Our question is: Will the green wave lift all boats? That's the moral challenge to the people who are the architects of this new, ecologically sound economy. Will we have eco-equity, or will we have eco-apartheid? Right now we have eco-apartheid.}}
 
{{Cquote|I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends....Our question is: Will the green wave lift all boats? That's the moral challenge to the people who are the architects of this new, ecologically sound economy. Will we have eco-equity, or will we have eco-apartheid? Right now we have eco-apartheid.}}
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==Later career==
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Jones currently sits on the board of [[Demos]], a progressive policy think tank.  He is also a current political commentator on [[CNN]].<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/profiles/van-jones-profile Van Jones], [[CNN]]</ref>
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===Admission of CNN's poor journalistic standards===
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In June 2017, [[James O'Keefe]] released videos that revealed, among other revelations, that liberal CNN political commentator [[Van Jones]] called the outlet's Russia stories a "nothingburger."<ref>Concha, Joe (June 28, 2017). [http://thehill.com/homenews/media/339867-okeefe-video-shows-cnns-van-jones-calling-russia-story-a-nothingburger O'Keefe video shows CNN's Van Jones calling Russia story a ‘nothingburger’]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved June 28, 2017.</ref>
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
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*[[National Lawyers Guild]]
 
*[[National Lawyers Guild]]
 
*[[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]
 
*[[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]
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*[[Bernie Sanders]]
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*[[S.E. Cupp]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
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{{reflist|3}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Van}}
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==External links==
 
==External links==
*[http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/09/02/obama-green-czar-blames-white-polluters/ Obama “Green Czar” Van Jones blames “White Polluters” for steering poison into minority communities]
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* [http://keywiki.org/Van_Jones Van Jones], [[KeyWiki]]
*[https://archive.org/search.php?query=reclaiming%20revolution%20storm  Reclaiming Revolution manifesto] on Archive.org
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* [http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/09/02/obama-green-czar-blames-white-polluters/ Obama “Green Czar” Van Jones blames “White Polluters” for steering poison into minority communities]
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* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=reclaiming%20revolution%20storm  Reclaiming Revolution manifesto] on Archive.org
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Van}}
  
 
[[Category:Communists]]
 
[[Category:Communists]]

Revision as of 19:10, June 28, 2017

Van Jones
VanJones.jpg

Born September 20, 1968
Jackson, Tennessee
Spouse Jana Carter[1]

Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is a self-proclaimed radical communist activist who was appointed by Barack Obama to serve as the Obama administration's "Green Czar".[2] He announced his resignation at midnight, September 6, 2009 after a series of controversies over past inflammatory statements.[3]

Although Van Jones is a communist, which is predominantly atheistic (see: Atheism and communism), he says he is a "person of faith" and became very upset in an interview when the topic of open atheists having difficulty in American politics was repeatedly brought up.[4] The African-American community has extremely negative views concerning atheism and ostracizes atheists.[5][6]

Jones previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization is a top director.[7]

Early life

Jones was born on September 20, 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee, to Willie Anthony Jones and Loretta Jean Kirkendoll Jones.[8] He has a twin sister, Angela.[9]

Name Change

As a child, Jones considered himself "bookish and bizarre". When he went to University of Tennessee at Martin on his first day, he decided to change his name to "Van", because "it has a little touch of nobility, but at the same time it’s not overboard."[10]

Self described communist

Jones is a self-proclaimed communist

Van Jones openly described himself as a communist in an in-depth review for the radical publication East Bay Express:

But in jail, he said, "I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.'" Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. "I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary." In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."[11]

Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement

Roots predate Jones claim when he became a communist

Jones was a founding organizer and leader[12] of the communist revolutionary organization, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM). The organization had its roots in a group protesting "U.S. Imperialism" during the Persian Gulf War of 1991. The leftist blog Machete 48 identifies STORM's influences as "third-worldist Marxism (and an often vulgar Maoism)."[13][14]

Maoist influence

Communist literature

STORM's own literature describes its "Maoist orientation"[15] which conducted "a group reading of Mao's On Practice and On Contradiction."[16] The group studied Lenin's theories of the state, revolution, the party, and "the political ideas of Mao Tse-tung."[17] STORM's own history further states, "We also pushed at or went beyond the limits of the traditional Marxist canon, studying such topics as revolutionary feminism, the Palestinian liberation struggle, transgender liberation, methods of evaluation, self-care for cadre and revolutionary mass [community] organizing."[18] STORM was extensively involved in the community organizing movement.[19]

Affiliation with left-wing hate groups

In the early 2000s, Jones and STORM were co-sponsors of the anti-Iraq War demonstrations organized by International ANSWER, a left wing anti-Semitic[20] front group for the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party (WWP).

Did STORM think it was the Vanguard?

Main article : Revolutionary vanguard

In Reclaiming Revolution, STORM editors discussed their self-critical evaluation of accusations other groups made [21] that STORM considered itself the revolutionary vanguard of Marxism. They write,

We did not understand clearly enough the distinction between cadre organization, revolutionary parties, revolutionary organization and vanguard organization.[22]

STORM repented of this grievous Marxist error as a "lesson learned,"

We were a cadre organization that was working to build revolutionary mass organizations and to lay the groundwork for a future revolutionary party (or parties) by building a broad revolutionary internationalist trend.[23]

STORM's error was not being clear to members that they were an "advance guard" organization, and not a "vanguard organization."[24]

Blame America

On the night after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks STORM held a vigil in Oakland, California, "mourning the victims of U.S. imperialism around the world." In a document entitled, Reclaiming Revolution: history, summation & lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, Jones is quoted as saying,

Anti-Arab hostility is already reaching a fever pitch as pundits and common people alike rush to judgment that an Arab group is responsible for this tragedy...We fear that an atmosphere is being created that will result in official and street violence against Arab men, women and children.
Reclaiming Revolution also blamed the U.S. for 9/11. A passage on page 45 (27 of the PDF file) reads:
Van Jones and Barack Obama
That night, STORM and the other movement leaders expressed sadness and anger at the deaths of innocent working class people. We were angry, first and foremost, with the U.S. government, whose worldwide aggression had engendered such hate across the globe that working class people were not safe at home. We honored those who had lost their lives in the attack -- and those who would surely lose their lives in subsequent U.S. attacks overseas.[25]

9/11 Truthers

Main article: Truthers

In 2004 Jones signed a petition sponsored by the conspiratorial 9/11 Truthers.org alleging President George W. Bush and high-level government officials may have been behind 9/11.[26][27]

Cop Watch and Ella Baker Center

In 1995, Jones co-founded Bay Area Police Watch with Diana Frappier, which eventually morphed into the Ella Baker Center.[28][29]

Apollo Alliance

In 2004, Jones became a founding board member of the Apollo Alliance for "clean energy and green-collar jobs." [1] p.87 Jeff Jones of the Weather Underground is the New York State director of Apollo Alliance.

Role in the Rodney King riots

On April 29, 1992, more than a year after the founding of STORM, members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) looted and trashed the downtown and government districts of Los Angeles, triggering the infamous Rodney King riots. The RCP is known as the premier Maoist party in the United States.[30] During the days immediately preceding the violence, RCP, which maintained close ties to the L.A. gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods, circulated throughout South Central Los Angeles a leaflet featuring a statement by RCP National Spokesman Carl Dix, titled It's Right To Rebel, a quote popularized by Mao Zedong. Encouraged by Dix, RCP activists helped lead the riots that would leave 58 people dead and more than 2,300 people injured.[31]

While studying law at Yale, Van Jones traveled to San Francisco in the spring of 1992 when the leftist Lawyers Committee for Human Rights hired several organizers to be on hand for the trial of policemen charged with the beating of Rodney King. Jones was arrested in the aftermath of the riots. While in jail Jones is said to have experienced a jailhouse conversion to communism although the record shows Jones founded STORM a year earlier as a communist organization. The truthout.org site gave this cover story:

I met all these young radical people of color - I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.'...I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary.... I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th. By August, I was a communist.[32]

Like other associates of Barack Obama, Bernardine Dohrn for example, Van Jones is a lawyer, avowed communist, associated with communist front organizations, and arrested in the aftermath of a deadly riot.

Eco-apartheid

I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends....Our question is: Will the green wave lift all boats? That's the moral challenge to the people who are the architects of this new, ecologically sound economy. Will we have eco-equity, or will we have eco-apartheid? Right now we have eco-apartheid.

Later career

Jones currently sits on the board of Demos, a progressive policy think tank. He is also a current political commentator on CNN.[33]

Admission of CNN's poor journalistic standards

In June 2017, James O'Keefe released videos that revealed, among other revelations, that liberal CNN political commentator Van Jones called the outlet's Russia stories a "nothingburger."[34]

See also

References

  1. How Van Jones Became a Star of the 2016 Campaign, The New York Times
  2. Will a 'red' help blacks go green?, White House appoints 'radical communist' who sees environment as racial issue, WorldNetDaily.com, April 12, 2009.
  3. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5itKcwMMlf6EtyLvYW9VjF2xcVK7gD9AHJII00
  4. What's The Matter With Van Jones?, video
  5. Confessions of a black atheist, CNN
  6. Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider, NPR, May 28, 201012:00 PM ET
  7. Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder Van Jones served on board of activist group where Weatherman co-founder Jeff Jones serves as top director, By Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, August 13, 2009.
  8. Rebuild the Dream
  9. Greening the Ghetto, The New Yorker
  10. The “True Identity” Of Van Jones, Accuracy in Media
  11. The New Face of Environmentalism
  12. Revolutionaries in High Places- Van Jones, by adamfreedom March 23, 2009.
  13. Obama File 72 Obama Appoints "Former" Communist To White House "Green Job", Trevor Louden, April 06, 2009.
  14. Machete 48
  15. Reclaiming Revolution: history, summation & lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), Spring 2004, p. 23 pdf.
  16. Ibid, p. 25 pdf.
  17. Ibid, p.15 pdf.
  18. Ibid, p. 25 pdf.
  19. Ibid, pp. 8, 10, 15 pdf.
  20. ANSWER, Antiwar Rallies and Support for Terror Organizations, Anti-Defamation League, August 22, 2006
  21. Reclaiming Revolution, p. 10.
  22. Reclaiming Revolution, p. 40.
  23. Ibid. Also p. 42.
  24. Ibid, p. 33.
  25. Van Jones and His STORMtroopers Denounced America the Night After 9/11, By Matthew Vadum, AmSpecBlog, 8.29.09.
  26. http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041026093059633
  27. http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/sep/03/green-jobs-czar-signed-truther-statement-in-2004/?feat=home_blogs
  28. Community members celebrate The Ella Baker Center’s 20th anniversary
  29. Our Victories, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
  30. Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Retrieved from dicoverthenetworks.org, March 8, 2010. In 1962 a group of Maoist radicals split with the Soviet spnosored CPUSA and formed the Progressive Labor Movement (PLM). By 1966, the PLM renamed itself the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and joined forces with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). PLP tried unsuccessfully to take over SDS's National Office, thereby pushing SDS even further to the left toward hard-line Maoism. Opposition to PLP tactics led to the formation of another Maoist faction, the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM). The RYM eventually split into two factions, one the notorious terrorist group Weatherman; the other spawning a 1969 splinter group called the Bay Area Revolutionary Union (RU), co-founded by H. Bruce Franklin, Robert Avakian, and Charles Hamilton, which became the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in 1974.
  31. 12 Years After the Riots, Rodney King Gets Along, J. Emilio Flores, The New York Times, September 19, 2004.
  32. Eliza Strickland, The New Face of Environmentalism, November 2005.
  33. Van Jones, CNN
  34. Concha, Joe (June 28, 2017). O'Keefe video shows CNN's Van Jones calling Russia story a ‘nothingburger’. The Hill. Retrieved June 28, 2017.

External links