Van Jones To Talk "American Dream" With Santa Monica Community

SANTA MONICA, CA — Media personality Van Jones will speak with Santa Monica community members Thursday as part of a speaker series hosted by New Roads School in Santa Monica.

Jones, best known for his political commentary on CNN, will host a virtual discussion titled "Educating to Rebuild the American Dream" at 5 p.m. on Zoom.

His talk is part of the Critical Conversations speaker series hosted by the New Roads School with school and corporate partners across the country, including the Santa Monica-Malibu School District. The series is meant to provide a space for discussions about equity and justice and professional development, according to the Critical Conversations website.

Use the critical conversations' website to register for the talk. Registration is completely open to anyone interested, not limited to students or Santa Monica residents.

"SMMUSD is pleased to be a educational partner with New Roads in the mission of the the Critical Conversations speaker series, which is to build the capacity of schools to liberate the full potential of each person. This aligns with our SMMUSD student goals and our interest and commitment to equity, social justice and anti-racism initiatives," said Gail Pinsker, community and public relations officer for SMMUSD.

Jones served as Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for former President Barack Obama.

Jones has written three New York Times best-selling books, most recently a book titled "Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together." The book, which came out in 2017, focused on political division.

The series previously hosted Ibram X. Kendi, author of the award-winning books "How To Be An Antiracist and "Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America."

In the most recent Critical Conversations lecture took on cancel culture with Loretta Ross, an activist and professor at Smith College.