Jonathan Greenblatt, It Could Happen Here

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED TO NOVEMBER 2022, DATE TBA. If you purchased a ticket and/or book, and would like a refund, please email pam.morton@atlantajcc.org or book.festival@atlantajcc.org, and we will take care of that for you immediately. If you'd prefer to hold on to your tickets, they will be honored at the rescheduled date. 

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The Book Festival of the MJCCA, in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, Southeast Region and A Cappella Books, Presents

Jonathan Greenblatt, author of It Could Happen Here: Why America is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable--and How We Can Stop It

In Conversation with Jill Savitt, CEO, National Center for Civil & Human Rights

As CEO of ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), Jonathan Greenblatt has made it his mission to demonstrate how antisemitism, racism, and other insidious forms of intolerance can destroy a society,
taking root as quiet prejudices but mutating over time into horrific acts of brutality. Now, in It Could Happen Here, Greenblatt sounds an alarm about how the antisemitism and hate related violence once relegated to faroff places such as Europe and the Middle East is intensifying in the U.S., and how violence on an even larger, more catastrophic scale could be around the corner if we don’t act now.

Greenblatt draws on the ADL’s extensive research on, and experience with methods of combatting hate,as well as his personal insights, to provide the tools to change course, empowering readers to step up and uphold principles of tolerance, civility, and inclusion in the face of rising bigotry. He offers a comprehensive guide on how we—as individuals, as organizations,
and as a society—can strike back against hate. Just because it could happen here, he shows, does not mean that the unthinkable is inevitable.

A Cappella Books is the official bookseller for the Book Festival of the MJCCA. Books will be available for purchase at the event!

“IT COULD HAPPEN HERE is an indictment of antisemitism on both the left and the right. Jonathan Greenblatt explains his journey and our predicament, and offers a crucial road map for an age of resurgent hate.”
—Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Greenblatt is CEO of ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), the world's leading anti-hate organization with a distinguished record of fighting antisemitism and advocating for just and fair treatment to all. Jonathan joined ADL in 2015 after serving in the White House as special assistant to President Obama and director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. He joined the government after a distinguished career in business as a successful social entrepreneur and corporate executive: he cofounded Ethos Brands, the company that launched Ethos Water (acquired by Starbucks, 2005), founded All for Good (acquired by Points of Light, 2011), and served as a senior executive at realtor.com (acquired by News Corp, 2014).

ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER

Jill Savitt, the President and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, is a human rights advocate with expertise in genocide and atrocity prevention.  She assumed the role in March 2019, but has been involved with The Center since 2010 when she curated the Center’s exhibit on global human rights.

Previously, Savitt was the Acting Director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.  The Center stimulates global action to prevent genocide and to catalyze an international response when it occurs.  

In 2007, Savitt founded and directed Dream for Darfur, a high-profile advocacy campaign that pressed the Chinese government to take specific actions regarding the genocide in Darfur in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Games. The New York Times Magazine profiled Savitt and the initiative.