Amidst Controversy, Green Jobs Czar Van Jones Resigns

September 6, 2009

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White House environmental advisor Van Jones resigned Sept. 5, after heightening accusations involving his past statements regarding race and the Bush Administration.

Jones was appointed by the Obama Administration March 16 as a special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation.

But in recent weeks he has become the target of critics, including Fox commentator Glenn Beck, among others, reports the Washington Post. Beck was a leading critic after a group that Jones founded in 2005, Color of Change, led an advertising boycott against Beck’s show, which itself has come under fire for incendiary accusations of racism within the Obama Administration.

In early September, Jones issued apologies for past comments, including some stating that whites exploit minorities, reports ABC News. He also had been accused of signing a petition that suggested the Bush Administration “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”

Jones came to the White House with strong environmental credentials. He is the founder of Green For All, a national organization that promotes an inclusive green economy. He also is the author of the 2008 New York Times best-seller, “The Green Collar Economy.”

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Reader Comments

Being black doesnt exclude you from being in the racist club. He couldnt even be a police officer in SF with his record and his race baiting, certainly not a white house position. His words came to haunt him and he is the blame for what he said. He is his own worst enemy. And now black people in the Bayview are coming to his defense even if he condones black on black crime in his racist rants about whites. I am glad that he quit.

Glenn Shepard | September 7th, 2009

Van Jones’ expulsion was paid for by Big Oil interests, who see him as a threat to their all-out defense of the status quo. Van Jones is a progressive and Beck’s red-baiting, racist attacks were in retaliation for Color of Change’s campaign to stop companies from advertising on Beck’s show and were in complete submission to the interests of Big Oil. Didn’t the government’s own 9/11 commission fault the US government for its role in the attacks? Please….

fran | September 8th, 2009

he resigned because of GLENN BECK? This country is doomed.

newphase75 | September 8th, 2009

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