Transforming Hate to Hope

Rachel Brown is a dynamic force who speaks to the power of communication—how it can divide and how it can unite. For the past decade, she has focused on using communication to prevent violent conflict. After her 2014 fellowship with the Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center, Rachel authored Defusing Hate: A Strategic Communication Guide to Counteract Dangerous Speech. She previously founded and ran Sisi ni Amani-Kenya (SNA-K), a Kenyan NGO that pioneered new strategies to build local capacity for peacebuilding and civic engagement

Rachel is the founder and executive director of Over Zero, a non-profit organization that emerged out of the work of SNA-K. Over Zero partners with community leaders, civil society, and researchers to use the power of communication to prevent and rise above identity-based violence and other forms of group-targeted harm. Programming is focused on the United States, central Europe, and east Africa, as well as engagement with the wider atrocity prevention field. In May 2020, the organization produced Counteracting Dangerous Narratives in the Time of COVID-19: A Guide for the United States.

Irene Fogel Weiss was born in November 1930 in Bótrágy, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). Bótrágy came under Axis rule in 1939. Jews were barred from attending school, their businesses were confiscated, and thousands of Jewish men had to join Hungarian forced labor brigades. In April 1944, Hungarian authorities moved Bótrágy’s Jewish residents into the Munkács ghetto and shaved the heads of all girls under the age of 16. Irene’s mother gave her a scarf to wear, which probably saved her life after they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau because it made her look older.

Her mother, three younger siblings, and older brother were killed upon arrival. Irene and one sister were selected for forced labor. In January 1945, they were marched to Ravensbrück and then transported to the Neustadt-Glewe subcamp. One day during roll call, the SS separated Irene’s sister from the group, deeming her too weak to work. Irene joined her sister. They waited for a transport truck to Ravensbrück, where there were gas chambers, but the transport never arrived. Soviet troops soon liberated the camp. The sisters immigrated to New York in 1947. Irene became a teacher and now volunteers at the Museum.

Emmy Award-winning journalist Peter Alexander is the co-anchor of Weekend Today and chief White House correspondent for NBC News, covering all aspects of the Biden administration. His reporting appears across all platforms of NBC News and MSNBC, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, Meet the Press, Dateline, and NBCNews.com.

Alexander was assigned to cover the White House for NBC News in 2012. Previously, he led the network’s on-the-ground coverage of the 2012 Republican presidential race, reporting from the trail on GOP nominee Mitt Romney through Election Day. His reporting earned him recognition as one of Politico’s “10 Breakout Reporters of 2012.”

Since arriving at NBC News in 2004, Alexander has covered numerous international stories—from Iraq’s historic 2005 election to the death of Osama bin Laden. He interviewed then-Cuban president Fidel Castro during Hurricane Ivan in 2005. In addition to his news responsibilities, he has also served as an NBC Sports host and covered the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.