[Dialogue] Van Jones Speaks of Hope

[KroegerD at aol.com]

Published on Friday, March 21,  2008 by _The Huffington Post_ 
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/shining-a-new-light_b_92529.html)   
Shining a New Light
by Van Jones

 
On April 4, 1968, a sniper assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The  
preeminent civil rights leader of his time, King had come to Memphis, Tennessee,  
to aid striking sanitation workers. He was only 39 years old. 
Forty years have passed since that fateful day. As of this month, Dr. King  
has been gone from us longer than he was ever here. As we pass this milestone 
in  history, we gather in Memphis to remind ourselves and the world that — 
though a  bullet killed the dreamer — it did not kill the dream. 
Dr. King had a vision of an America as good as its promise, and a world at  
peace with itself. That vision lives on in the hearts of hundreds of millions — 
 including two generations of adults and a rising generation of teen-agers, 
all  of whom have been born since King’s passing. The time has come for us to 
step  forward. We must take full responsibility to advance the cause of 
justice,  opportunity and peace. 
It must be said that we are stepping onto history’s stage at a frightening  
time — at a time when “the Market” is free, and the people are not.
A time of  global warming and global war. A time of mass incarceration of 
people, and mass  extinction of species. A time of “no rules” for the rich, and “
no rights” for  the poor. A time when our courts seem to give nothing but 
evictions and  convictions to those on the bottom. A time of increasing profits 
for the few,  and decreasing options for the many. 
And yet, inside the United States, the tide has begun to turn. The GOP  
juggernaut that carried the nation to the brink of destruction has begun to run  
out of gas. Ordinary Americans today are longing for a leader, not a  
cowboy-in-chief. Some are rethinking consumerism, seeking healthier choices for  their 
families, worrying about oil prices and even the climate crisis. And just  
three years after George W. Bush’s re-election, the mighty political party that  
Karl Rove thought would rule America for generations appears to be falling 
apart  at the seams. 
Something has shifted — profoundly. Unfortunately, all the old political  
figures, outdated modes of discourse and stodgy institutions are still with us.  
But you can feel something exciting beginning to stir — and break loose —  
underneath. 
The future is getting restless. We are on the brink of something promising  
and new. And for the first time in more than a generation, those of us who 
value  living beings over dead products have a chance to offer real leadership to 
the  country. 
Our generations must embrace the example Dr. King set — and re-imagine it, to 
 meet new challenges. 
For example: in his time, Dr. King worked for equal protection and equal  
opportunity. We, too, must adopt that agenda. But ours is an age of both  
ecological and social peril. Therefore, we must insist that vulnerable  communities 
get equal protection from racial discrimination — and from the  floods, storms, 
droughts, plagues and fires that global warming is causing. (No  more 
Katrinas!) 
Ours is also an age of positive economic transformation: billions of dollars  
are pouring into the solar, wind, organic agriculture and other clean  
industries. This green economy will generate thousands of business opportunities  — 
and millions of new jobs. We must seek to guarantee equal opportunity in this  
growing “green” economy. We must insist that the coming “green wave” lifts 
all  boats. Those low-income communities that were locked out of the 
pollution-based  economy must be locked into the clean and green economy. Our 
communities and  especially our children deserve “green jobs, not jails.” 
Dr. King — and many others — fought, bled and died to racially integrate a  
pollution-based economy. Today, America is creating a new, clean and green  
economy. From the start, it should be designed to have a dignified place for  
everyone. 
Dr. King linked the solutions of civil rights, peace and economic  
opportunity. We must link the solutions of social justice, peace and ecological  sanity. 
Our dream must uplift the people — and the planet, too. This is the  calling 
of our time. 
We seek a world society wherein we use clean, alternative energy to fuel our  
machines … healthy, organic and local food to fuel our bodies … and hope,  
solidarity and love to fuel our movements for change. Our cause itself must  
become irresistibly beautiful, vital and sustainable. Success will come when our 
 networks are practical enough to “organize” tens of thousands — and soulful 
 enough to “magnetize” millions. 
So let us dare to imagine: a healthy, joyous, self-confident liberation  
movement. A movement that celebrates more than it condemns. That solution-izes  
more than it problem-atizes. Imagine a movement for justice — with its arms wide 
 open. 
In these “difficult days,” we have a duty to do more than curse the 
darkness.  We must, ourselves, shine a new light. That is what Dr. King did. And forty 
 years later, new generations have come to Memphis — bearing lanterns of our  
own. 
_Green For All_ (http://www.greenforall.org/)   welcomes you to Memphis. Here 
and now, we boldly, proudly and loudly declare The  Dream … _REBORN_ 
(http://www.dreamreborn.org/) . 
Van Jones is the founding director of the Ella Baker Center for Human  
Rights. 
Copyright © 2008 HuffingtonPost.com,  Inc.




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