Westminster Town Hall Forum

Ruby Bridges crossed the threshold of William Frantz Elementary School on November 14, 1960, when she was six-years-old and single-handedly initiated the desegregation of New Orleans' public schools. Each day that she trudged up the stairs of the school praying, "Please God, try to forgive those people, because even if they say those bad things, they don't know what they're doing." The book The Story of Ruby Bridges by child psychiatrist Robert Coles tells the story of Ruby's strength and courage in the face of prejudice, anger, and rejection. She graduated from Francis T. Nicholls High School in New Orleans, and today she heads the Ruby Bridges Foundation, a non-profit that provides funding to schools for supplies and resources for children and parents.

Robin Karr-Morse is co-author of the groundbreaking book Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence. In her book, she utilizes case histories of violent children, and the latest in brain development research, to argue that for many children the proclivity toward violence begins in the womb where drugs, alcohol and the mother's stress-hormones can have a damaging effect on fetal brain development. She believes that abuse and neglect, especially in the first two years of life, can hardwire a child's predisposition toward violence and violent behavior. She is a veteran of the Oregon child welfare and public education systems, and she is currently a family therapist in private practice in Portland, Oregon.

James Garbarino is a leading psychologist and author of the pioneering book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them. He points to the socially toxic environment in which many boys live and the lack of strong adult supervision as primary contributors to violent behavior. He has been honored by the American Psychological Association, the American Humane Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics for his work on behalf of abused and neglected children. He is currently Director of the Cornell University Family Life Development Center and is the author or editor of sixteen books.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984 for his years of commitment to South Africa's long struggle against apartheid. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela appointed him chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In October 1998, the Commission's report was submitted to President Mandela, and it had a significant impact on the healing of the nation. Born in Johannesburg, Tutu graduated from the University of South Africa. He taught high school in Johannesburg and Munsieville before entering the ministry. As General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, he gained national and international stature for his vigorous commitment to social justice.

Bryan Stevenson is a public-interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is committed to eliminating bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. A professor at New York University Law School and a graduate of Harvard Law School, he argued for and won the historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for children 17 or younger are unconstitutional. His new book, Just Mercy, profiles the lives of men, women, and children who are at the mercy of a broken criminal justice system.

Simone Campbell is executive director of NETWORK, a Washington-based public policy research organization lobbying for immigration reform, healthcare and economic justice, and peace-building. An attorney and member of the Sisters of Social Service, she was one of the Nuns on the Bus who traveled the country to offer support to people living in poverty. She served as executive director of JERICHO, an interfaith public policy organization in California, and founded the Community Law Center, which provides family law and probate support to the working poor.

Bob Herbert is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, a public policy think tank in New York City. For nearly 20 years, he wrote an op-ed column for The New York Times, focusing on issues of race, poverty, and social justice. He is the recipient of numerous awards for journalism, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for distinguished newspaper writing. His new book, Losing Our Way, presents stories of struggling Americans and challenges the shift in political influence from the working population of the 1960s to the corporate and financial elite today.

Afsheen John Radsan is a professor at William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul where he teaches comparative counterterrorism, constitutional law, criminal law, and national security. He served as a federal prosecutor and as assistant general counsel at the CIA and is founder of the National Security Forum, which pursues the balance between liberty and security in American counterterrorism policies. Between assignments with the Justice Department and the CIA, he managed the Iran Commercial Initiative for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and served as a consultant for the American-Iranian Council and Search for Common Ground. He is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School.

Reza Aslan is the author of the bestselling books No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. He is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California and a research associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in the history of religion from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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