UNUM Digital Series: Over Zero with Rachel Brown

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https://over-zero.eventbrite.com

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“Whenever and wherever identity-based violence occurs, communication is weaponized.”- Over Zero

On Tuesday, November 14th at 7PM ET we will be joined via Zoom by the extraordinary Rachel Brown, the Founder of Over Zero-named in reference to the “zero sum game” that exists in sporting events, but becomes dangerous when it overtakes a society, as it has ours. Over Zero was founded to prevent identity-based violence that is on the rise around the world-and here at home. Rachel is one of the wisest, steadiest voices of our time in guiding us away from dangerous (but human) reactions, and toward calmer times.

We can feel the tectonic shifts occurring in our country’s civic life-where the once unthinkable specter of political violence isn’t as unimaginable as it once was, where too many of us think of fellow citizens as direct threats to us, and where what were once durable institutional guardrails simply are not holding. So, now, this is on us-we must come to better understand the dynamics of identity-based group violence, the crisis of belonging that fuels it, and the actions we must take inside our communities to slow the equal and opposite reactions down. Instead of accelerating our condemnations, must we not build off-ramps?

Over Zero works in United States, Central Europe, and East Africa-providing assistance to a diverse set of partners, including civil society leaders and organizations, funders and large institutions, and other leaders within society.

For the past decade, Rachel’s work has focused on using communication to prevent violent conflict. She is the author of Defusing Hate: A Strategic Communication Guide to Counteract Dangerous Speech and was a 2014 Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Rachel previously founded and ran Sisi ni Amani-Kenya (SNA-K), a Kenyan NGO that pioneered new strategies to build local capacity for peace-building and civic engagement.

This program is part of the UNUM: Democracy Reignited series in partnership with Florida Humanities, which explores the past, present and future of the American idea – as it exists on paper, in the hearts of our people, and as it manifests in our lives