Westminster Town Hall Forum

Michael Lerner is a political activist, rabbi, and editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine. He is recognized as one of the most influential thinkers shaping the direction of the Clinton presidency. With Cornel West, he co-authored the book Blacks and Jews: A Dialogue Between Cornel West and Michael Lerner in which the two friends grapple with volatile and personal issues in an h...

Jeremy Rifkin has devoted nearly two decades to examining the impact of technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. He has written thirteen books, including his most recent, The End of Work, the result of a three-year study of the changing nature of work in the Information Age. The founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C....

Joycelyn Elders became the first African-American and the second woman to hold the post of Surgeon General of the United States. A pediatric endocrinologist, she initiated programs to combat smoking and teen pregnancy and to encourage childhood immunizations. She worked to change America's thinking about health by putting prevention first, and she was committed to being a voice for the poor and th...

Crystal Kuykendall is a human relations and education expert who has gained national recognition for her efforts to promote problem-resolution. The president of Kreative and Innovative Resources for Kids, she produces audio and video tapes, publications, workbooks, and learning tools for educators, counselors, administrators, and parents. She is a former school teacher and guidance counselor for m...

Rita Dove is one of the most honored poets of the late twentieth century. In 1993, she was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant on Poetry at the Library of Congress. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, Thomas and Beulah, and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Her poem UMOJA: Each One...

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 St...

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 d...

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 Ame...

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. Bor...

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 ch...

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, a...

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 Ou...

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 pol...

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 Divini...

David Gergen - Eyewitness To Power - 11/09/00 by westminsterforum

Morris Dees - Responding To Hate: Voices Of Hope And Tolerance - 02/28/01 by westminsterforum

Sylvia Earle - Sustainable Seas: The Vision, The Reality - 03/30/00 by westminsterforum

Tom Diaz - Making A Killing: The Gun Industry And Violence In America - 11/15/01 by westminsterforum

Millard Fuller - Habitat For Humanity: Safe, Affordable Housing - 05/17/01 by westminsterforum

Daniel Kemmis - The Good City And The Good Citizen - 04/26/01 by westminsterforum

Philip Landrigan - A Clear And Present Danger - 10/05/00 by westminsterforum

Parker Palmer - The Company Of Strangers - 11/21/02 by westminsterforum

George McGovern - Ending Hunger In Our Time - 10/17/02 by westminsterforum

Steve McCormick - The Map Of Hope: Conservation For The Real World - 04/25/02 by westminsterforum

John DeGraaf - Affluenza: The All - Consuming Epidemic - 02/28/02 by westminsterforum