Eric Ward: What the Punk Scene Can Teach Us About White Supremacy

It’s easy to look around the world, with rising hate and divisions, and feel fearful, isolated, and sometimes even defeated. Yet there’s plenty of reason for hope, as people across the country mobilize to confront bigotry and achieve democracy together. This week on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show and podcast, the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush speaks with Eric Ward, executive vice president at Race Forward, which works to advance racial justice.

Eric and Paul discuss a new short documentary featuring Eric’s experiences of community and conflict, titled, We’ve Been Here Before: What the Punk Scene Can Teach Us About White Supremacy Today from Emmy Award-winning director Jacob Kornbluth.

“The one thing that I know about the White nationalist movement is that it wants to divide us, and it will do anything it can to divide communities. Because divided communities mean that we cannot build the power and the aspiration to stand against this kind of White nationalist onslaught on democracy. But I know a second thing, too. The second thing is, is that the White nationalist movement individually wants us to feel isolated, alienated and scared […] that’s what the White nationalist movement is doing now. The work that I do, whether it’s We’ve Been Here Before or Race Forward or a host of other projects, is about finding ways for people to not be alienated.”

– Eric Ward, civil rights strategist and executive vice president at Race Forward. Eric has held prominent positions at organizations such as Western States Center, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Ford Foundation. He has deep expertise on hate movements and attacks on democracy and is an influential strategist for defending human rights and values and bridging connections to effective policy change.