Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American political analyst, media personality, lawyer, author, and civil rights advocate.

[3] He founded or co-founded several non-profit organizations, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and the Dream Corps.

In 1992, in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and trial, he was among several law students selected by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, based in San Francisco, to serve as legal observers to the protests triggered by the verdict.

In 1995, Jones initiated their project of Bay Area PoliceWatch, the region's only bar-certified hotline and lawyer-referral service for victims of police abuse.

Andaya was accused of excessive force in the in-custody death in 1995 of Aaron Williams, an unarmed black man who fought on the street with several officers.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in addition that Andaya was named in 10 complaints between 1983 and 1993, eight of them allegedly for misuse of physical force, when he was a policeman with the Oakland Police Department.

[15] Investigation revealed more brutality complaints in Oakland and two lawsuits against him; the San Francisco Police Commission voted to fire Andaya in June 1997 for falsifying his application to the department.

[16] In 1999 and 2000, Jones led a campaign to defeat Proposition 21, which would increase "penalties for a variety of violent crimes and required more juvenile offenders to be tried as adults.

[20] Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Jones and James Rucker co-founded a Web-based grassroots organization to address Black issues, called Color of Change.

[22] In 2005 the Ella Baker Center expanded its vision beyond the immediate concerns of policing, declaring that "If we really wanted to help our communities escape the cycle of incarceration, we had to start focusing on job, wealth and health creation.

"[19] In 2005, Jones and the Ella Baker Center produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration, held that year in San Francisco.

[23] The Green-Collar Jobs Campaign was Jones's first effort to combine his goals of improving racial and economic equality with mitigating environmental damage.

"[26] The book received favorable reviews from Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle, Carl Pope, and Arianna Huffington.

[29] Due to the marketing campaign's grassroots nature, Jones said that achieving bestseller status was a victory for the entire green-collar jobs movement.

[30] In March 2009, Jones was appointed as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

[34][35] They criticized Jones for his radical political activities in the 1990s, including participation in STORM and his public support for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a prisoner convicted and sentenced to death, in a highly controversial trial, for murdering a police officer.

[41][42] Bob Beckel, a Fox News political analyst who was formerly an official in the Carter administration, was the first prominent Democrat to call for Jones's resignation.

)[47] Jones resigned on September 5, 2009, saying he had been the subject of a "vicious smear campaign" by "opponents of reform [of health care and clean energy]" who were "using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

[48] During an interview on ABC's This Week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs thanked Jones "for his service to the country", while noting that the president did not endorse his past comments nor his support for Abu-Jamal.

[54][55] On April 15, 2011, Jones was a keynote speaker[56] at Powershift 2011 in Washington, D.C., addressing more than 10,000 students on issues of climate justice and standing up for underrepresented communities.

In June 2013, Jones was announced as a co-host of a re-boot of the CNN political debate show Crossfire, alongside Newt Gingrich, Stephanie Cutter and S.E.

He has contributed to segments on a wide range of topics, including Obama administration policies,[75] Supreme Court decisions, protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed young black man,[76] and the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

[77] After the November 2016 election victory by Republican Donald Trump, Jones described the result as a "whitelash": his term for a racist backlash by white Americans who had opposed President Obama.

[78] On October 18, 2019, Hillary Clinton suggested Russians are "grooming" Tulsi Gabbard to be a third-party candidate who would help President Trump win reelection through the spoiler effect.

[86] Jones is President of The Dream Corps,[88] a "social enterprise and incubator for powerful ideas and innovations designed to uplift and empower the most vulnerable in our society.

[99] In 2016, Keys made a video appeal to Congressman Paul Ryan asking him to "be her Valentine" and commit to giving legislation on criminal justice reform a vote.

[102] In May 2018, Jones and other members of #cut50 met with Jared Kushner and President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss a criminal justice reform bill.

[103] Working with the Trump White House and Kim Kardashian, Jones and #cut50 were involved in helping to pass the First Step Act,[104] a criminal justice reform bill The New York Times called "the most substantial changes in a generation" to national crime and sentencing laws.

[105] In 2019, Jones was announced as the CEO of REFORM Alliance, an initiative founded by Jay-Z, Meek Mill, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft among others.

[111] Glenn Beck criticized Jones for his support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a death row inmate convicted of killing a police officer.