Illinois Green Party Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives
For the People’s Tribune, Allen Harris interviewed LeAlan M. Jones of Chicago who is the Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2nd District of Illinois. He is seeking the seat vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr. In 2010, Jones was the Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. What follows are excerpts from that interview.
On how the Green Party program meets the economic and environmental needs of the people of the 2nd District:
LeAlan M. Jones: The Green Party is the perfect party to represent the 2nd District because of the many different constituencies within it. You have almost a rural culture [in] Will County, Kankakee County and southern portions of Cook County. You have an urban landscape that can be reformatted under a Green agenda with wind technology, solar technology and sustainable energy. When we look at the fact that we have homelessness, foreclosures and enormous environmental stress, the Green party has real answers. We are willing to work with community banks and credit unions to begin establishing a real presence in the depressed housing markets in the South Suburbs and Chicago. Providing local financing for investments in housing and small-businesses will set a foundation for sustainable economic growth.That’s consistent with the Green Party’s message. This campaign is for small-business cultivation and nurturing their capacity to become institutions in the local community and have access to global markets.
On a third party and why it is time for a change:
LeAlan M. Jones: Congress is an impediment to the economic growth that it wants. It cannot have an economic agenda and have a stalemate over the fundamentals of what government should be prioritizing and what government is funding. It’s time for a third party because Congress cannot help itself right now. As a Green Party candidate, I can work on both sides of the aisle. If we had an independent caucus of Greens and other independents, [if] we were able to get maybe 13 or 14 or 15 of those House seats, [then] that would break up the power that the Republicans have and it can also bolster the progressive agenda that needs to be re-engaged within the Democratic side. So, right now, I believe that I’m a candidate that America needs in the United States Congress.
On the source of gun violence in Chicago:
LeAlan M. Jones: You have a family structure that is more strained [by the] lack of two-parent homes.You have a gang structure that was broken down in the mid-1990s, which means that you had young men able to develop their own identity within gang culture, but not having the management of a mature gang structure. This has created younger, bolder offenders who are desensitized to violence. We have a culture in terms of Hollywood and entertainment which has become more grotesque in its advertisement of violence. And with Rev. Jackson asking for Homeland Security to come in, it is a total failure for a civil rights pioneer to think that an authoritarian system can foster a civil situation for what’s going on in Chicago.
On charter schools and public schools:
LeAlan M. Jones: I don’t necessarily know right now if I can say that I’m against private or charter schools. What I can say is that there needs to be an independent central school board to be able to ask these questions and get those answers. As long as City Hall has control over the public school system, we won’t ever have a clear understanding of whether the private schools work … or that we need to discontinue with the traditional public school education. Until we take the political power that controls the educational process, I don’t think we can ask that question before we get a determination that politicians shouldn’t be running education in this city.
