LeAlan Jones | |
|---|---|
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| Personal details | |
| Born | (1979-05-08)May 8, 1979 (age 46) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Green Party |
| Residence(s) | Bronzeville, Chicago,Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Journalist, Football Coach/Trainer |
LeAlan Marvin Jones (born May 8, 1979) is an Americanjournalist who lives inChicago'sSouth Shore. Hisradio documentaries have received critical acclaim and numerous awards. Jones was theGreen Party's 2010 nominee forUnited States Senate fromIllinois.
Jones grew up on theSouth Side ofChicago, a block from theIda B. Wells housing project. He was raised by his grandparents, Gus and June Jones, in the same house his family had lived in since the 1930s. He was a junior spokesperson for the No Dope Express Foundation, a youth education and anti-drug organization.[1]
At the age of 13, Jones and his friend Lloyd Newman created aradio documentary forNPR titledGhetto Life 101.[2] Jones was contacted byDavid Isay, who was producing a piece on poverty for Chicago Public Radio stationWBEZ. The documentary illustrated life in the South Side of Chicago in 1993. The recordings made by the duo centered around interviews with the boys' families, friends, and members of the community.[3] The broadcast was well received, and praised for its raw portrayal of life in theprojects in Chicago. It won several awards, including theSigma Delta Chi Award, and theCorporation for Public Broadcasting's Awards for Excellence in Documentary Radio and Special Achievement in Radio Programming.[3]
Jones and Newman made a second documentary in 1994,The 14 Stories of Eric Morse, which explored the backgrounds of the people involved with Eric Morse, a five-year-old boy who was tragically thrown from a fourteenth-story window in the Chicago projects by two older boys.[4] The documentary premiered onNPR'sAll Things Considered in 1996. It won theRobert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and aPeabody Award.[5]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Jones onOur America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago, August 3, 1997,C-SPAN |
The two documentaries and further footage from when Jones and Newman were nearing high school graduation were condensed into a book published in 1997 titledOur America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago.
Jones graduated from Chicago'sDr. Martin Luther King High School in 1997.[5] He studied criminology atFlorida State University where he became a member ofKappa Alpha Psi in the Spring of 1998 before transferring toBarat College inLake Forest, Illinois in 2001.[6] He received aB.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science.
Jones is the visionary for the Aspiring Youth Take A Student To your Employment (TASTE) Program. The Take A Student To your Employment Program was created after Jones spoke to Aspiring Youth students in Chicago. He thought that while it is helpful for students to hear from inspiring speakers, the students would benefit even more if they could visit workplaces to see why school is important and what they need to do with their education to get a good job someday. The TASTE Program has brought more than 13,500 students to workplaces nationwide.
At the height of theRod Blagojevich scandal, Jones made the decision to run forUnited States Senate.[7] In 2009, he announced his candidacy in the2010 election for the seat currently held byRoland Burris. Burris, who was appointed byGovernor Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated byBarack Obama following Obama'selection asPresident of the United States, chose not to seek re-election.
Jones ran unopposed in the Green Party primary and gained the nomination. He ran againstRepublicanMark Kirk,DemocratAlexi Giannoulias, andLibertarianMike Labno in the general election in November 2010.
An early May poll saw Jones taking 5% of the vote.[8] Following the controversy over Mark Kirk embellishing his military record, Jones saw a spike in his poll numbers.[9] A June survey made byPublic Policy Polling saw Jones picking up 14% of the vote[10] behind Mark Kirk's 30% and Alexi Giannoulias with 31%.[11] Jones finished with 3.18% of the vote.[12]
Due to the November 21, 2012 resignation of Rep.Jesse Jackson Jr. from theU.S. House of Representatives,Illinois GovernorPat Quinn was obligated to set a date for aspecial election for the citizens ofIllinois's 2nd congressional district.[13]
On December 4, 2012, theIllinois Green Party nominated Jones as its candidate to represent the 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House. On December 17, 2012, the Illinois Green Party filed a lawsuit regarding the ballot access requirements necessary to be on the ballot in this election.[14]
Jones has called for the immediate ratification ofUNICEF'sConvention on the Rights of the Child, a ban onland mines and completenuclear disarmament.[15] He supported troop withdrawal from, and ending the wars inAfghanistan andIraq.[16]
He has been critical ofcredit default swaps,derivatives trading and thefinancial industry as a whole, saying "a bunch of guys on Wall Street have done more to devastate the white community than any black man ever could."[17] He is in favor of thedecriminalization and taxation ofmarijuana and the creation ofcooperatives andcredit unions as measures to bolster the economy.[18]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by First | Green nominee forU.S. Senator fromIllinois (Class 3) 2010 | Succeeded by Scott Summers |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
