Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Thursday, Aug. 13 11:00 AM (Eastern)
Ends: Thursday, Aug. 13 11:50 AM (Eastern)
Three years ago, neo-Nazis and white supremacists descended on Charlottesville. This October, they’ll be put on trial for the hate-fueled violence they orchestrated.
With white supremacist violence on the rise, Integrity First for America is leveraging one of the best tools at its disposal to take on the leadership of this violent movement: our justice system. IFA’s lawsuit details how these leaders and hate groups planned the Charlottesville violence for months in advance via social media – and it can bankrupt and dismantle the groups and leaders responsible (neo-Nazi Richard Spencer has already called the suit “financially crippling”).
Once in a generation, there’s a trial that fundamentally changes our nation. IFA’s Charlottesville suit will be that trial—laying bare the hate and violence at the core of this movement and making clear the severe legal and financial consequences for participating in these violent conspiracies.
Dove Kent, Senior Strategy Officer at Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, has two decades of experience in grassroots organizing, political education, and movement building. As the executive director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice from 2011 through 2016, Dove supported the organization to triple in size and win game-changing legislative victories for police accountability and workers rights through powerful local coalitions. Under Dove’s tenure, JFREJ grew into one of the strongest and most effective progressive Jewish organizations in the country, creating significant culture shifts within the Jewish community, New York and nationally. She has been published in What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America (2017), Towards the “Other America”: Anti-racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter (2015), Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering To Our Movement (2017), and in the Guardian, Ha’aretz, Tikkun, and other media outlets. Dove trains nationally on antisemitism and racism, and is the co-founder of Tzedek Lab, a national network of Jewish political educators and organizers building collective competency to politicize, transform, and inspire the Jewish community into collective action against racism, antisemitism, and white supremacy. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.
Amy Spitalnick is the Executive Director of Integrity First for America, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to holding those accountable who threaten longstanding principles of our democracy—including our country’s commitment to civil rights and equal justice. IFA is backing Sines v. Kessler, the landmark federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of Charlottesville community members against the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for the August 2017 violence. Trial is scheduled for October 2020.
Amy joins IFA with extensive experience in government, politics, and advocacy. She previously served as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the New York Attorney General; Communications Advisor and Spokesperson for the New York City Mayor; and Communications Director in the New York State Senate. She has also worked on a number of federal, state, and local campaigns and advocacy organizations, including as J Street’s first Press Secretary.
Amy regularly appears in national media. She is a Truman National Security Project Partner, a New Leaders Council faculty member, and a Women in Power Fellow at the 92nd Street Y. In 2013, Amy was named a City & State 40 Under 40 Rising Star. She graduated from Tufts University.