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Van Jones

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Van Jones
Age: 56
Born: 1968
Born: September 20
Civil Rights Advocate
Environmentalist
Human Rights Activist
Lawyer
Motivational Speaker
Pundit
Jackson
Tennessee
Anthony Kapel Jones
Matters
Politics
Matter
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More quotes by Van Jones

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The problem that we have in America now is, some people only see the positive stuff and wave off the toxic stuff, and some people only see the toxic stuff and wave off the positive stuff. You can't have an honest conversation.
Van Jones
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If [Donald ] Trump goes after - if Trump fails, frankly, to stand up right now for the Muslim community - right now, Muslims are being bullied. Women wearing hijabs are being bullied and people are saying, Trump, Trump! when they're doing it.
Van Jones
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There is, unfortunately, too large a number of people who are just outright bigots in America. They're nowhere near a majority. They're a small number. But there are people who are in the Alt-Right who are just straight up bigots.
Van Jones
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I don't put myself above anyone, and I have as many shortcomings as any non-believer. I just choose to turn to a higher power to help me gain wisdom and, I hope, improve over time.
Van Jones
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Clean energy is hippy power. But its also cowboy power, it's rancher power, it's Appalachian power.
Van Jones
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When somebody comes along and says, I think Washington, DC, sucks, that's not wrong.
Van Jones
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People can tell if you don't like 'em. African Americans can tell we're not welcome in the Republican Party no matter how many times they say we are. All the signals that it's a party that tolerates anti-black racism is very clear.
Van Jones
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In a two-year period, all my dreams came true: the birth of a son... publishing a best-selling book... launching a successful organization... joining the [Barack] Obama Administration... And then all my nightmares came true.
Van Jones
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Though the rampant racial injustices throughout the criminal justice system were offensive to me and to millions of other people, I've never drawn a tight circle around the black community to define the limits of my moral concern. But that narrative tends to get imposed on you, if you're an African-American activist.
Van Jones
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I'm not calling for redistributing wealth I'm calling for reinvigorating our stuck energy sector, so some new entrepreneurs can create some new wealth.
Van Jones
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That's one component: rather than creating job-training pipelines that put these kids at the back of the line for the last century's pollution-based jobs, we need to be creating opportunities for them to be at the front of the line for the new clean and green jobs.
Van Jones
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Sometimes we overemphasize the political system. There are other ways to make a difference. There's technology, there's media, there's business.
Van Jones
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If we stand for change, we can spark a popular movement with power, influence, magic and genius.
Van Jones
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To change our laws and culture, the green movement must attract and include the majority of all people, not just the majority of affluent people.
Van Jones
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Let's stop wasting billions of dollars on prisons, which send people home who are too often less capable and more damaged than when they went in. We would have safer neighborhoods if we spent the same money on true rehabilitation, job training, employment and entrepreneurship.
Van Jones
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Government-mandated and -subsidized ethanol from corn will go down in history as the Iraq War of environmental solutions: ill-considered, costly, and disastrous.
Van Jones
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People in red states and blue states can agree that clean air is better than dirty air therefore we should use clean energy where we can.
Van Jones
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The bombs the government drops in Iraq are the bombs that blew up in New York City.
Van Jones
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I hope everybody's getting smarter.
Van Jones
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A family-friendly eco-populism can mobilize and unite millions who, at this point, would be turned off by a more extreme set of demands. The momentum will build, through these early efforts, for more comprehensive solutions.
Van Jones