A Discussion on American Democracy in Crisis and the new book "Cry Havoc"

Please join the National Churchill Library and Center for a virtual panel discussion examining the lessons learned from the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 and how current leaders can address its consequences. Any student who registers will receive a free e-book copy of the book Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege.

Panelists:

Mike Signer:

Michael Signer is an attorney, executive, and public scholar, who served as mayor of Charlottesville from 2016 to 2018. He is the author of three books, Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy under Siege; Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies; and Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father.

He currently is partner, VP, and general counsel of WillowTree, the country's largest independent digital design agency with over 500 employees, where he sits on the firm's executive committee. In 2018, he founded and chaired Communities Overcoming Extremism, a bipartisan capacity-building project for leaders in the public and private sectors whose partners including the Anti-Defamation League, Ford Foundation, Fetzer Institute, and Charles Koch Institute. He has received awards from organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, the University of California D.C. Alumni Association, the American Society for Yad Vashem, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Rosa Brooks:

Rosa Brooks is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, Associate Dean for Centers and Institutes, and co-director of Georgetown’s Innovative Policing Program. Brooks is also an Adjunct Senior Scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute, an ASU Future of War Senior Fellow at New America and a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Since 2016, she has also served as a reserve police officer with the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department.

Her most recent book, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2016; it was shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize and named one of the five best books of the year by the Council on Foreign Relations. Her next book, Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City, will be published in Feb. 2021.

Jon Lewis:

Jon Lewis is a Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism, where he studies extremist organizations in the United States and activities of the Islamic State and its supporters in the United States and Europe. He is an Investigator with the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), and provides assistance for The ISIS Files Project as well as for PoE's partnership with the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET). Jon also provides support for PoE's partners in the Congressional Counter-Terrorism Caucus, the leading bipartisan voice in Congress for pragmatic approaches to tackling extremism and radicalization.

Moderator:

Justin Reash is Program Director of the National Churchill Library and Center and Executive Director of the International Churchill Society.

Zoom webinar link to be provided to registrants prior to the event. This event will be recorded and made available to view for free after the event.