Why is the New York State United Teachers Union Hiding the Truth About Van Jones?

NYSUT’s recent curriculum publication, “Speak Truth to Power,” focuses on 19 issues from Abubacar Sultan’s
“Children’s Rights” to Kailash Satyarthi’s “Child Labor.” Of the 17 countries represented, the only native-born US writer
is Van Jones – his contribution is titled, “Police Brutality.”

The skimpy biography of Van Jones omits important information about his background – information that might alarm
parents and teachers –information about a man whom most would want to shield their children from.

Education
Jones earned his BA from the University of Tennessee and, in 1990, entered Yale Law School. He was described as an
“angry black separatist…wearing combat boots and carrying a Black Panther bookbag.” 1

In 1992, while still a law student at Yale, Jones became a monitor at a protest rally in San Francisco at the Rodney King
trial. He was arrested and charges were dropped. He writes about a conversion while in jail:
“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 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.” 2

“Revolutionary” Organization Leader

“Van Jones was a leader of Bay Area Marxist-Leninist-Maoist organization Standing Together to Organize a
Revolutionary Movement (STORM)” 3 which was founded in 1994 and disbanded in 2002. 4 The summary of the
organization’s history unwittingly illustrates the futility of communism. It was designed “as a loose cadre collective
whose structure borrowed from both the anarchist and communist traditions,” 5 and had strict racist and gender quotas for
the core and general memberships. 6

The group studied organizational theories of Saul Alinsky, SNCC, Marx, Lenin 7 and the Black Panther Party for Self
Defense. 8 It “…came to believe that the central role of revolutionaries today is to help build ‘resistance struggles’ in
oppressed communities around immediate reform issues and to use this resistance work to lay the groundwork for the
development of a more clearly revolutionary struggle.” 9

Anti-Cop Activism
Van Jones founded the Bay Area Police Watch in 1993 – “…a hotline and lawyer-referral service that began as a project
of LCCR (Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights) and specialized in demonizing local police.” 10 Shannon Bell said that the
Police Watch group was, “basically a bunch of thugs keeping tabs on the police and reporting ‘abuses’ by law
enforcement.” 11

Support for Cop Killer

On December 9, 1981, Officer Daniel Faulkner of the Philadelphia Police Force stopped a driver in a Volkswagen early in
the morning. While attempting to handcuff the driver, another man, Mumia Abu-Jamal, came from across the street and
shot the officer in the back. “As Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, he was able turn around, reach for his own firearm,
and fire at Abu-Jamal, striking him in the chest. Abu-Jamal, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close
range. One shot struck officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.” The officer died and Abu-Jamal was
taken to the hospital. 12

Mumia Abu-Jamal “…confessed in the hospital by saying, ‘I shot the mother f**ker, and I hope the mother**ker dies.’”
He was found guilty and sentenced to die – the death sentence was appealed and changed to life imprisonment. 13

Van Jones led more than 150 demonstrators through Oakland, California on October 7, 1999. The group demanded “…
that the Justice Department reopen its corruption investigation of the Philadelphia Police Department…after the Supreme
Court…rejected claims that Abu-Jamal…did not receive a fair trial.” 14

The protest march disrupted and forced the cancellation of a police / youth dialogue event. Van Jones said, “We knew
there was another event going on, but the timing of the court decision is what dictated when the protest was held.” 15
Insight from STORM’s document offers a different perception:
 “In addition to studying theory and history, it is crucial that revolutionaries study current events….Studying the
current conditions allows revolutionaries to understand the terrain on which they’re operating, what we’re up against
and our strategic opportunities and challenges.” 16

9-11 Truther
Van Jones resigned from his Green Jobs Czar position as appointed by President Obama in September, 2009, after it was
revealed that Jones had signed a petition alleging that “high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the
September 11th attacks to occur.” 17

The ABC article reports that Jones claimed that he had not read the petition carefully before signing it. Given that the
man was a lawyer at the time and had a strong journalism background, his excuse contains an element of doubt. In fact,
Van Jones, has admitted to a propensity for manipulating perceptions about himself. He said, “I’m willing to forgo the
cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends…” 18 Whereas he once wore boots and
carried a Black Panther bookbag, and had a full head of dreadlocks, he now wears suits and his pate is as shaven and shiny
as Mr. Clean.

Elizabeth Kolbert, in a January, 2009, New Yorker article, described Van Jones talking to a group of 30 high-school
dropouts in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His motivational speech on the language level of the kids moved them. After,
he said to Kolbert, “That was my street rap…You get to hear my elite rap later on.” 19 Kolbert reveals much about Van
Jones and his ability to communicate on different levels to different groups from, as Jones would say, the street to the
elite. It’s curious, however, that she failed to mention the man’s communist identity. Jones seems to have perfected a
slick and persuasive charm as evidenced by the laudable comments Kolbert includes from Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Tavis
Smiley, and Thomas Friedman to name a few.

What isn’t surprising is that Jones could claim to have been misled about including his name on the 911 Truther petition
and that some would believe him.

Racist Comments
“According to Jones, America is plagued by ‘eco-apartheid,’ where low-income people typically live in more polluted
environments than wealthy people. In a January, 2008 speech, Jones said, ‘The white polluters and the white
environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the people-of-color communities because they don’t have a racial
justice framework.” 20

While not surprising, it is a disappointment that President Obama would appoint a man such as Van Jones to a White
House position – a man who is closer to the black power thinking of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Minister Louis Farahkan and
Mumia Abu-Jamal than he is to the inclusive Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Conclusion
NYSUT’s selection of a curriculum unit by a documented radical communist, anti-police activist, cop-killer supporter, 9-
11 Truther and racist is appalling. Our children deserve the truth – not the hidden agenda of a man who has proven to be a
chameleon and who seeks to overthrow our government through revolution.

The document, “Speak Truth to Power,” is an affront to the values that we share and the principles expressed in the
Constitution. It undermines respect for the dedicated and professional police officers who maintain the peace and our
safety and wellbeing. Either NYSUT didn’t adequately investigate Van Jones or it may be that the leadership is
sympathetic to the man and his causes.

In any event, NYSUT should withdraw the curriculum and either discard it or rewrite it with the Van Jones material
deleted; and, local school districts should remove the offending documents from the schools.

Robert Rein
4/20/11
1
www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org, “Van Jones”, p. 1
2
www.en.wikipedia.org/Van_Jones, “Van Jones”, p. 4
3
Loudon, Trevor, “New Zeal”, www.trevorloudon.com/2009/08/obama-file-81…, p. 1
4
“STORM” – available online at www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=Page.printable&pageId=108445.
5
“STORM”, p. 9.
6
“STORM”, p.9, 83, 84.
7
“STORM”, p. 18.
8
“STORM”, p. 54.
9
“STORM”, p. 19.
10
www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org,/printindividualProfile.asp?indi…, “Van Jones”, p. 2.
11
Bell, Shannon, “Obama Green Jobs Czar Communist? Van Jones Green Jobs Czar”, www.rightpundits.com/?p=4324.
12
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Faulkneer, p.2
13
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal, p. 3, 4, 5
14
SF Gate, “Timing of Protest Suspect,” www.sfgate.com.
15
Ibid.
16
“STORM”, p. 65.
17
“Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 ‘Trutrher’ Movement, Apologizes for Past
Comments,” blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/09/controversial-oba…, p. 1.
18
“Van Jones”, www.conservapedia.com/Van_Jones, p. 4.
19
Kolbert, Elizabeth, “Greening the Ghetto,” The New Yorker,
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/09012fa_fact_kolbe…
20
www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org, “Van Jones”, p. 4.