Van Jones

One of the key themes of this Gathering is the effort throughout the Awakening the Dreamer program to expand our awareness of the social justice aspect of the global crisis the Symposium addresses. Van’s message blew the doors open on that effort. It was a powerful message — passionate, confrontational, tender, illuminating, full of compassion and rage. We are left stirred and shaken, but with a pathway revealed before us.

The good news, as Van made so clear, is that the problem (and the solution) isn’t “them”, it’s right here, inside us all. The spiritual work we do in our lives, and the environmental awareness we have all worked hard to achieve, didn’t come to us in a day or in a single workshop. The work of social justice is within each of us, and it’s the daily work of a lifetime.

Van said that when people of color can give up the right to be mad at white people, and white people can give up the right to be ignorant, then we have a chance to find a way out of this together.

Van also graciously acknowledged the work of everyone involved in the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream initiative. He is our partner because he trusts that we are as serious about healing the social justice crisis as we are about spiritual fulfillment and environmental sustainability.

I realize these brief comments are missing the context of Van’s full message, which was full of humor, rich detail and powerful stories. At this writing, people are sharing about their experience of listening to Van. As the day goes on, we’ll encourage people here to share their “moments” from this deeply moving address, and we’ll post video clips as soon as they’re available.