Search results for: dehumanization
Belonging, Dehumanization, and the Work of Coming Back Together
On Friday I will have the opportunity to speak with a group of leaders in Arizona who are working to reduce political violence. They are coming from different backgrounds and different political perspectives. But they share a common concern: something is changing in our country. The tone is sharper. The distrust is deeper. And more…
Read MoreDehumanization and Political Violence
Political violence doesn’t begin with weapons—it begins with how we see each other. When we reduce people to categories, fear grows, trust breaks down, and harm becomes easier to justify. This resource helps leaders understand how dehumanization develops, why it spreads, and how it can be interrupted. It offers practical tools to strengthen relationships, set…
Read MoreCountering Dehumanization
We counter dehumanization by bringing neighbors across difference into real relationships that restore dignity, belonging, and shared responsibility. Dehumanization happens when fear and division cause us to stop seeing each other as fully human. Paths to Understanding responds by creating spaces where people meet across differences, listen deeply, and rediscover our shared humanity. At PTU,…
Read MoreReconsidering Our Mission: A Reflection on Dehumanization and Belonging
I’ve been working to counter dehumanization for over ten years now. In that time, I’ve learned a few things—and some things I already knew have come into sharper focus. I stepped into this work in 2015 after seeing a well-funded network of organizations spreading slander about American Muslims. But it wasn’t just slander. It was…
Read MoreDehumanization Du Jour
I have learned a lot about how dehumanization works in the last 8 years. One of the most heart piercing lessons for me is that dehumanization is not only suggesting people to be targets of violence to those already prone to violence. It does that. But not only that. Dehumanization is a process in which…
Read MoreShadow of Dehumanization
I began working on a farm when I was in sixth grade. One of the tasks I was assigned a few years later was to take down some barbed wire fencing. There were miles of it. I would go out with good hardy gloves, pull out the “U” nails from the fence posts for about…
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