As white nationalists took to the streets of Charlottesville to protest the removal of confederate monuments, they spewed racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ and, in general, anti-minority rhetoric. They also shouted Nazi-era antisemitic slogans, such as “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and soil.” What forms the framework of this “equal opportunity hate?” And what is the most effective strategy that diverse communities can use to counter it?
The Cincinnati Regional Coalition Against Hate invites Cincinnati’s diverse community leadership and constituents to a dialogue with Eric Ward, Director of the Western States Center, an organization at the forefront of building a progressive movement and just society since 1987. Ward is a national expert on the relationship between hate violence and preserving democratic institutions, governance, and inclusive societies, and he has extensively studied, researched and written about the modern white nationalist movement.
Ward will tell the story of his civil rights work when the white nationalist movement was engaged in violent paramilitary activity that sought to undermine democratic governance in the Pacific Northwest. He’ll share his learnings about how antisemitism forms the theoretical core of white nationalism, and how understanding the antisemitism at the root of this movement is key to opposing it.