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NAACP President Says Van Jones Fired Over Neo-McCarthyism

1,155 views · Published 10 September 2009 · 2:28 · Indexed 30 October 2026

Channel: FORA.tv · 2009 · News & Politics

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/09/07/MOMENTUM_Race_Rights_and_Politics_in_America

"We all know why he (Van Jones) was fired," says NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Jealous. Jealous cautions that the firing of Van Jones may pass on the "bite your tongue and bide your time" mindset of the McCarthy era to the nation's future leaders.

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Donna Edwards and Benjamin Tod Jealous in a conversation on race, rights, and politics in America, moderated by Alexis McGill Johnson.

At the heart of our invocation of rights lies a belief in our shared humanity. Our society can reach its fullest potential only if everyone is at the table. How can we enact a truly inclusive social contract? This plenary explores how to confront and dismantle punitive policies that alienate those outside centers of power. - Momentum Conference

As the 17th President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP, and the youngest person to hold the position in the organizations nearly 100-year history, Benjamin Jealous has a deep commitment to social justice, public service and human rights activism. Jealous has served as President of the Rosenberg Foundation.

He was also Director of the U.S. Human Rights Program at Amnesty International where he led efforts to pass federal legislation against prison rape, rebuild public consensus against racial profiling in the wake of 9/11, and expose the widespread sentencing of children to life imprisonment without parole. As the Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 black community newspapers, Jealous doubled the number of black newspapers publishing online.

Early in his career, Jealous reported for the Jackson Advocate, an African American newspaper based in Mississippi. His reporting was credited with exposing corruption amongst high-ranking officials at a state prison, and helping to acquit a small black farmer who had been wrongfully and maliciously accused of arson.

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