Hip Hop
A New Tool for Human Rights
Van Jones is founder and executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC), a national organization that challenges the criminalization, incarceration, and abuse of low-income people, the young, and people of color.
EBC has pioneered methods of promoting the human rights agenda by serving as incubator for Freedom Fighter Music, a label that harnesses urban music and youth culture to tackle human rights issues, and partnering with urban media companies.
As founding board president of We Interrupt this Message, Jones worked toward fairer mainstream media coverage for low-income people and people of color. His efforts to connect business leaders and human rights activists led him to join the Social Venture Network, where he serves on the board. Jones is a Reebok International Human Rights Award recipient and has been designated by The World Economic Forum as a Global Leader of Tomorrow.
He has worked as a professional journalist, independent publisher, and cartoonist, and has appeared on CNN, BET, and NPR among others. Born in rural Tennessee in 1968, Jones holds degrees from University of Tennessee at Martin and Yale Law School. He is also a proud new father.
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Hip Hop (140Kb)