Light the Way for Change

“From her story, we can learn things sorely needed in our age: empathy, openness, and how we can best build bridges across divided lines.”
— Chris Anderson, Head of TED

DISCUSSION – The Roots of Hate

Dr. Pete Simi

Associate Professor, Chapman University

Dr. Pete Simi, Associate Professor of Sociology at Chapman University is a member of the Executive Committee for the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center. He has studied political violence, hate, and extremism for over 25 years and has been embedded with white supremacist groups, racist skinheads, Klan members, neo-Nazis, and anti-government militias. He is co-author of an award-winning book American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate and has published more than 60 articles and book chapters on political extremism, street gangs, and juvenile delinquency. He provides regular consultation on criminal cases involving hate crimes and domestic terrorism and volunteers in efforts to develop prevention and intervention strategies for countering violent extremism. He is currently serving as a plaintiff’s expert in the landmark civil case, Sines v. Kessler, to hold the organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right rally accountable for the violence they helped incite and even commit in Charlottesville, VA.

CALL TO ACTION – Uniting America

Braver Angels

Learn about the work of Braver Angels, a movement to depolarize politics and to re-imagine what it means to be an American. Inspired by the words of Abraham Lincoln, who not only called on Americans to summon the “better angels” of our nature — but called on us to find the courage needed to pursue a more perfect union, “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right. We must challenge ourselves to work together when we disagree. We need bravery. We must restore our bonds as Americans.”
Join us, as we learn to do this.