I‘m pretty sure there was a time when I used to like Van Jones. I’m not sure when that was. It was definitely before he started urging Black people to give Donald Trump his flowers because Trump “did good stuff for the Black community,” even though he really didn’t. It was certainly before Jones blamed Black people’s “lifestyle choices” for why we were disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19. I couldn’t have possibly liked Van at any time after he attended CPAC and tap-danced to the tune of “Kumbaya, My White Nationalist Lord.” It must have been well before Jones baby-sat former presidential senior advisor Jared Kushner during an interview full of weak, softball questions as if Van’s show was Fox News in CNN clothing. It was definitely before he defended Melania Trump.

Or maybe I’m wrong and I actually never liked Van Jones. Maybe I just dreamed that I liked him once.

Either way, I don’t mess with him now and I find myself wondering why he even thinks he is apologizing for antisemitism on behalf of Black people.

Keynoting the @UJAfedNY Wall St dinner, @VanJones68 apologizes to the Jewish community “for the silence of my community” allowing “an African American icon praising Hitler and Nazis, and we act like we don’t know where that hatred came from.”

But he says “the silence is over.” pic.twitter.com/kYxLO7Jikf

— Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 6, 2022

From Real Clear Politics:

Van Jones apologized on behalf of the black community for their “silence” over Kanye West’s recent praise of Hitler and Nazis in a speech at the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York.

“Van Jones apologized to the Jewish community ‘for the silence of my community’ allowing ‘an African American icon praising Hitler and Nazis, and we act like we don’t know where that hatred came from,’” reported Jacob Kornbluh.

“The silence is over,” Jones said.

“We feel awful as long as we’re turning against each other,” Jones said. “We feel awful. But when we come together, we’re awesome. And we’re going to be awesome together.”

“The reason this country is a democracy at all is because Black and Jewish people have loved each other, and helped each other, and supported each other, and stood up for each other,” Jones said.

I just want to know who appointed Contemporary Aaron Burr to the position of Chief Ambassador of the Black Delegation. Who fished this man out of the sunken place and told him he could be the senior cookout spokesman for the African American alliance? Who told the flip-flop king of slacktivism to stand before what was likely a largely white audience and declare on behalf of Black people that we apologize for being silent about Kanye West’s bigotry against Jewish people, ignoring the barrage of Black media outlets and Black social media efforts that condemned Ye’s antisemitic antics?

Well, maybe Jones will pay closer attention now that Black Twitter has turned its sights on him because he’s revealed himself to have been out of touch with Black people for at least the better part of the last decade. (If he was ever really in touch.)

And I’ve seen plenty of Black people being very loud about Kanye’s antisemitism?? Doesn’t Van Jones have a Twitter account?

— Elyssa Feder (@elyssafeder) December 6, 2022

Van Jones LYING on Black folks and claiming that our community has been silent on Kanye’s anti-Semitism is offensive & anti-Black. As far as *allowing* Ye to say these things, he praised H*tler on a man’s show & was unsuspended on Twitter by a man, so why are we in it? https://t.co/onv4S3x5FK pic.twitter.com/6TwYhsIoKn

— Reecie @BlackWomenViews (@ReecieColbert) December 6, 2022

Each and every time. You will know in this occurrence he accuses the black community of being silent in the face of antisemitism, spewed by Kanye West. Not only is that not true but once again, as he did with trump Van Jones will step on our necks to climb higher.

— Sharone Wellington-deAnda (@DeandaSharone) December 7, 2022

Of all the communities with that nazi-fetish, we aren’t in it at all. Folks were fine with Kanye’s constant anti-blackness that’s why they refuse to see his antisemitism as an extension of being a narcissistic eager to please puppet for anti-black fans and GOP voting strategists.

— Zula (@ZulaQi) December 7, 2022

This why I can’t stand blk men , where was this energy when kanye was talking crap about his OWN people. Van jones need to stop involving the community in dumb antics caused by blk men like him . This has nothing to do with blk people. This is Kanye’s issue

— FTNails (@ft_nails) December 7, 2022

Just because there are Black people out there defending Ye and agreeing with his antisemitic nonsense doesn’t mean Van gets to go outside of the Black collective and treat us like a monolith that needs to be held accountable because he perceives us as “silent” when, really, he just hasn’t been paying attention.

Clearly, if there ever was a time when I liked this guy, it was because I really didn’t know him. This man has long revealed himself and his perpetual anti-Blackness now, and maybe that’s what he should be apologizing for.

SEE ALSO:

‘People In The Black Community Don’t Trust You’: Sunny Hostin Gathers Van Jones Over His Flip-Flopping

Van Jones Shades Sen. Kamala Harris

The post Op-Ed: Who Appointed Van Jones To Be Chief Ambassador Of The Black Delegation? appeared first on NewsOne.