110: Van Jones on what broke the Black-Jewish alliance
Ask Haviv Anything
Haviv Rettig Gur
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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A century-long alliance between America's Black and Jewish communities was one of the most important drivers of American democratic reforms. But that relationship has not stood the test of time. The two communities seem more divided than ever.
In this honest and unflinching conversation, Haviv sits down with activist, journalist and entrepreneur Van Jones to confront that unraveling, the mistrust, the misunderstandings and the widening gap between two communities that once changed history together. From civil rights to October 7, DEI to Gaza, we ask what happened, why the two communities don't understand each other, and whether that old, consequential alliance can be rebuilt.
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Thank you to the anonymous sponsor who asked to dedicate this episode to the victims of October 7.
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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, everybody. Welcome to a new episode of Ask Haviv. Anything. Thank you so much for joining us. |
| 0:10.5 | There is a historic alliance between Jewish Americans and Black Americans. I've even seen it |
| 0:16.5 | suggested that the Black Jewish alliance was one of the most powerful coalitions in 20th century |
| 0:22.0 | America from civil rights to voting rights, Jewish support at the founding of the NACP, |
| 0:27.6 | Brown v. Board of Education, Dr. King's March in Selma, you name it. That alliance was front |
| 0:34.6 | and center. And it feels like, especially in the last three years, but over many |
| 0:40.2 | decades, it has not withstood the test of time. Maybe it's even almost disappeared entirely. |
| 0:48.6 | Where did it go? What broke it? Can it be rebuilt? To talk about this fascinating and vital topic, Van Jones has joined us on this podcast. |
| 0:59.2 | I'm really excited to have him. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm an admirer of his substack, of his work. |
| 1:04.1 | And, of course, Americans will know him for much more than his substack. |
| 1:08.5 | I'm a nerdy reader. |
| 1:09.7 | Van Jones is an American media personality, |
| 1:13.3 | entrepreneur, and has a really rare track record of bringing people together to do very |
| 1:21.0 | hard things. He was a clean energy. A czar in the Obama White House. I think he actually |
| 1:27.2 | didn't want to be called |
| 1:28.4 | a czar. I apologize. That was kind of the title turned around to the media at the time. |
| 1:32.3 | Has worked for years on criminal justice reform at racial inclusion in the tech sector. |
| 1:38.7 | In 2007, Van was the primary champion of the Green Jobs Act, signed into law by George W. Bush. In 2009, he worked in the Obama White House, as I said, as the special advisor for Green Jobs. In 2018, he held past the First Step Act, signed into law by Donald Trump about criminal justice reform. The New York Times, called that legislation the most substantial |
| 2:01.1 | breakthrough in criminal justice in a generation. And in 2021, Van Jones was the first recipient |
| 2:07.5 | of Jeff Bezos's Courage and Civility Award. He has since founded Dream Machine Innovation Lab, |
| 2:13.7 | launched rapport.com. He is a Yale Law School graduate, a CNN host, an Emmy award-winning producer, |
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