After leaving the white-supremacist skinhead movement he helped build in America during the 1980s and 90s, Christian Picciolini earned a degree in international relations from DePaul University. He launched Goldmill Group, a global digital media and counter-extremism consulting firm. In 2016, he won an Emmy Award for his role in producing an anti-hate advertising campaign aimed at helping people disengage from extremist groups. His life since leaving the white-supremacist movement over two decades ago has been dedicated to helping others counter racism and violent extremism by co-founding the organization Life After Hate. Christian now leads the Free Radicals Project, the world's first global extremism disengagement platform. Christian has spoken on the TEDx stage and to audiences all over the world, sharing his unique and extensive knowledge, teaching all who are willing to learn about building greater peace and acceptance through empathy and compassion. He has helped over 100 people disengage from hate groups. Christian's involvement in the early American skinhead movement is chronicled in his memoir WHITE AMERICAN YOUTH: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement--and How I Got Out (Hachette, 2018). Christian is co-developing a television documentary series based on his work helping people disengage from violent ideologies.
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Imam Jamal Rahman, Pastor Don Mackenzie and Rabbi Ted Falcon — the Interfaith Amigos — started working together after 9/11. Since then, they have brought their unique blend of spiritual wisdom and humor to audiences all over the U.S., as well as Canada, Israel-Palestine, and Japan. The Interfaith Amigos present a crucial mes- sage in their unique humorous style, help- ing participants appreciate the promise and the problems of the interfaith experience. |
Valarie Kaur is a leading voice for social justice in America who presents «revolutionary love» as a political and moral force that can dismantle injustice. As a lawyer, filmmaker, activist, entrepreneur, and Sikh thought leader, she has made award-winning films and led national campaigns to advance progressive issues: racism and profiling, gun violence, immigration detention, LGBTQ equality, and hate crimes against Muslims and Sikhs.
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Dr. Vivian is known for his work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. He was a Freedom Rider and organized sit-ins and other non-violent protests against racial segregation in the South. As a member of the Executive Staff of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council) he marched with Dr. King in Selma, Montgomery, Chicago, Birmingham, and Washington, D.C. He worked as an organizer for the voter registration drive in Selma, a movement that was the catalyst for the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Most recently President Obama presented Reverend Dr. C.T. Vivian with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.
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