AMEL Speakers were featured in New York City yesterday at Never Is Now, the annual summit on anti-Semitism and hate organized by the Anti-Defamation League. At a time of spiking hate crimes, the event brought together a capacity crowd of over 1,200 people including business, community, academic and religious leaders and more than 250 students from a wide range of high schools across the country.
AMEL President Mohamed Abubakr spoke on several panels on Extremism, Hatred and Building Bridges alongside speakers such as Pastor Gil Monrose of Brooklyn, Rabbi Josh Stanton of East End Temple, Rebecca Kirzner of HIAS, Danielle Citron of the University of Maryland, and Evan Bernstein Regional Director of ADL-NY/NJ, among others.
The Summit’s Student Track was lit up by AMEL Speakers Isaac Cudjoe and Mor Yahalom who joined Mohamed and ADL’s Melanie Robbins and Stephanie Merkrebs for a panel on Leadership & Coalition-Building. The session focused on My Voice Our Future, a joint campaign of AMEL and ADL centered on identity, courage and leadership that amplifies the stories of young activists from the Middle East and Africa to open new spaces for taking action together. The Speakers shared their experiences defying the status quo in order to bring people together, before leading break-out sessions that leveraged storytelling to foster interaction on breaking down bias and identifying shared values.
To find more or book speakers, check out the AMEL Speakers Bureau page or email us at info@amelproject.org.