This project is a cutting edge, international study about one of the greatest challenges facing the world today—hate speech. Our work brings to bear the work of specialists contributing to media editorials, hybrid conferences, and a book collecting our findings.

“Speech is power. Speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” These were the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who opposed slavery and saw the American Civil War as a necessary revolution.

Today the power of speech reverberates over expanding networks of media, government, and culture. Its power has been harnessed by both good, as well as evil. The spread of new categories of prejudiced or threatening language targeting particular groups of people—hate speech—has become a global crisis.

Hate speech is an insidious part of cyberspace, political discourse, and discriminatory policies and practices. Hate speech is deadly, and when mobilized on a large scale has led to genocide. The spark that ignited the flame of the Holocaust was lit by anti-Semitic hate speech. Hate speech has been weaponized for cyberwarfare, including by foreign hackers attacking foreign government institutions. It has also been the subject of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech in 2019.

As the most diverse city in the United States, and as an international metropolis connected to all corners of the world, Houston is at the center of the globe’s conversation about today’s hate speech crisis. This conversation is both urgent as well as historic, supporting the values of social justice and social responsibility. The University of Houston is now uniquely poised to be a leader in addressing hate speech.

Views expressed by participants are not representative of those held by sponsors or hosts.