Van Jones' msg to liberals: Don't give in to despair!
.........I LOVE this man AND I respect this man ! .. We need more people like THIS MAN! .. you see, he see's a future! .. A future that is WORTH fighting for ! ......
He started out talking about the role Michigan has played in the environmental movement as well as progressives' self esteem issues.
Michigan is the place that is both the wellspring for our industrial prowess as a nation but it’s also the wellspring for our environmental consciousness. Same special place. People talk about the rust belt aspect but they overlook the blue belt aspect. We’ve got more fresh water here and better-protected than any place else in the world. So there’s a reason that the work of the Ecology Center is so important and the work than many of do here as allies of the Ecology Center is so important. Because the future of our country, and really for our planet, hinges right here in Michigan. This is the "Flex Point" and part of the challenge I think we have as a movement is that we’ve got low self-esteem. And I say that because when the other side takes a hit, they get MAD. When WE take a hit, we get sad.
It’s your victories that give you your confidence but it’s your setbacks that give you your character. I have a son. He's six years old. He is an EXTRAORDINARY soccer player. I know you think YOUR son is an extraordinary soccer player – I'm sure you do – but MY son is an AMAZING soccer player! And I'm expecting to retire early as soon as he finishes grade school and goes professional. But we never worry about him when he wins. We worry about him when he loses. That's when the parenting matters the most. It's when he misses a shot and wants to stomp off the field and go home. That's when we've got to say, "Hold on a sec. You're not going to win every game. You're not going to make every shot. But you've got to have the character to take a loss, learn the lesson and then get back out there."
And that's what we've got to do as a movement, folks. We've got to be able to take these moments and use them to build ourselves up. That's where we are. And you already have created here a politics that, if we are going to save the earth, the politics you've have created here will be a key, not just in this country but in countries around the world. And not just in this state but in states across America.
He went on to talk about one of these victories in particular:
What am I talking about? I'm talking about the incredible miracle you get no credit for. But you created a miracle for this country in 2009 when you were able to build enough of a consensus around John Dingell to help him move from being one of the biggest obstructionist forces for sane climate policy -- because he was concerned about workers, not because he hated the environment, but because he was concerned about workers – that he'd sit there, he had the key in his hand to move things forward in the House or keep things where they were. And because of people in this room and because of your commitment and your understanding that this could be good for workers. And it could be good for kids with asthma inhalers in their pocket. That it could be good for public health. You were able to build a way of thinking and talking that let him do the right thing. As a result of your commitment and your understanding about balancing all of these issues, because your holistic, ecological approach, you were able to open the doorway to the US House of Representatives passing, for the first time ever, a comprehensive climate bill.
Now, just because things got stuck on stupid in the Senate, you don't stomp off the court. That was an extraordinary victory. And it creates a blueprint – or "greenprint" – for every other state and city and elected leader to find their way to a good place. So just because we didn't get it all done in the past 18 months doesn't mean that you haven't been successful. And that is, I think, an important thing for us to take away from this past two years.
He then talked about the importance of lifting folks out of poverty.
I was born in a militant Black Panther family...
Just joking! I was born in rural west Tennessee. My dad was a cop in the military. He grew up in abject poverty in a place called Orange Mound, Memphis which used to be the biggest black ghetto in the country. Harlem overtook it, I think, in the early 30s or 40s. But he grew up in abject poverty, joined the military in the middle of the war in order to put himself through college. Then he put his little brother through college. Then he put his cousin through college. Then he put me and my sister through college. We were able to get our family out of poverty.
My dad passed away a couple years ago, a great man. One of the things that I learned from him was that – he really understood – he would tell us "nobody can give you anything that will stop you from being poor." They can give you stuff to stop you from being broke. But, if you're still poor in your mind, you'll be broke again by the end of the month. If you win the lottery, you'll be broke six months because you have to climb the ladder of poverty out of poverty yourself. You've got to have the individual responsibility to do that. That's true, he said, but, at the same time, society has to make sure there's a ladder for you to climb. That's when America works: when the individual's willing to climb the ladder but when society also makes sure that ladder is there for people to climb. And one of the challenges we have is that we're expecting this new generation of new workers and young people to climb a six story ladder out of poverty, but the ladder has only got two rungs on it! That's not possible. So what we have to be able to do is to put some rungs back on that ladder of opportunity.
Because of the things and the work that you've done, we can put some green rungs on that ladder and we have an obligation to do that. I'll tell you why: We are possibly facing a nightmare scenario not just ecologically, which we all know about, but also socio-politically. Here is your nightmare scenario; here is why your work here is so important, here's why Michigan is so important. The nightmare scenario is this: we could conceivably be living very soon in a country that more and more ethnically diverse, more and more culturally diverse, more and more socially diverse and yet less and less economically prosperous. More and more ethnically diverse but less and less economically prosperous. And, if you know anything about history, that is not a recipe for a common ground, that is a recipe for a battleground.
He talked about our opponents in this battle:
You have opponents, though, that look at that same scenario -- they look at more and more ethnic diversity and less and less economic prosperity – and their response? Attack diversity. Try to squeeze back the diversity. Attack immigrants. Attack Muslims. Worry about people trying to marry somebody that doesn't look right from their point of view. Worry about diversity, try to squeeze that back. That's their answer.
I say that's 180 degrees the wrong answer.
From my point of view, we are actually blessed as a nation to have the genius of all peoples living in one land. We have every race, every culture, every faith, every gender expression, every sexuality expression, every conceivable kind of person living in one country. And we get along. Every day. It's a miracle. But I travel the world, as do some of you. You go to some countries, the got TWO ethnic groups. And they fight ALL the time! Two groups. Can't work it out! They're killing each other. Two groups! Whattaya got? Two! Just TWO! My kids go to school in Oakland. 36 languages spoken just in my kids' elementary school back in Oakland. And we make it work everyday.
The diversity is actually the source of the solution. It's because of the diversity and the hybrid vigor that comes from diversity that we have the source for new entrepreneurs, new ideas, continuing to have the vibrant workforce. The diversity's not the problem. The answer is not to push down on diversity. It's to push up on the economy. It's to grow the economy. It's to grow the prosperity. And so we stand at a crossroads where a set of politics is being advanced that would have this country divided with people fighting for less and less. Fighting for scraps. Fighting for smaller and smaller scraps as they throw American workers and families into the global economy with no help from our government. That is a recipe for fighting more and more over scraps.
He went on to talk about how this diversity can be our strength.
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