On the same night that torch-bearing white nationalists wound up staging a rally at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Van Jones stood at a podium, in the nation's capital, telling a theater full of supporters why they should let love rule in the face of racial hatred. The timing was sheer coincidence — the ninth stop on the CNN pundit's 14-city WE RISE tour had been scheduled well ahead of Friday night's prelude to the violent Unite the Right protest — but one that speaks to the reason why Jones' #LoveArmy crusade has been met with criticism from the very circles he's hoping to corral.

"A lot of people are asking, 'Why are you doing this?' " Jones said Friday from the stage of D.C.'s Warner Theatre. "I am sick of you guys being stressed and depressed since this past election."

Deemed "a star of the 2016 campaign" by the New York Times shortly after blaming "whitelash" for President Trump's election, Jones quickly earned the liberal left's ire after characterizing Trump's State of the Union address as "presidential." Since signing with JAY-Z's Roc Nation management firm earlier this year, however, he's earning cred among a different constituency: generation hip-hop. The first political activist on an artist roster ranging from Big Sean to DJ Khaled and Damian Marley to Rihanna, Jones recently got stopped in the airport by a young TSA agent who said she recognized him, not from the cable news network, he tells me, but for appearing in Footnotes for 4:44, the Tidal-exclusive short doc series complementing JAY-Z's latest album.

In Midst Of Racial Hatred, Van Jones Still Pushes Love

‘Privilege by Amber Zakala

I had a really lovely time with her. And thank you. I’m not totally fussed about the hate, mostly because people are really angry about Charlottesville, and they have a right to be. My OG post wasn’t coming from a place of hatred, though, just a place of ignorance, But rn, it won’t be seen that way, especially because people will think it’s recent, and holy fuck, I can’t even imagine what that post must look like rn in the wake of all this alt-right, neo-nazi, trump-needs-to-be-fucking-IMPEACHED nonsense. 

EXCLUSIVE: Tim Kaine’s Republican Challenger Corey Stewart Condemns Violence in Charlottesville

Corey Stewart, a Republican who is challenging Tim Kaine (D-VA) for his Senate seat, condemned the violence which resulted in the murder of three people at the “Unite the Right” white nationalist demonstration, as well as “counterprotesters” including Antifa, on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia. So far three people have died, including two Virginia state troopers who perished in a helicopter…