Eric K. Ward

Eric K. Ward is an American civil rights organizer who focuses on responding to white nationalism, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ violence, and structural inequality.

Early life and education Ward grew up in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. At the University of Oregon, he was co-director of the Black Student Union. and as executive director at the Western States Center. He worked to understand the motivations of alt-right groups, and he helped start local anti-hate task forces. Ward studied how stochastic terrorism can arise when a population or individual has been "othered". He became executive vice president of Race Forward, a racial justice organization. Ward testified before Congress on anti-democracy extremism following the January 6th US Capitol attack.

In 2022, Ward appeared on a PBS Metrofocus episode called "The Normalization of Antisemitism". Ward told host Jenna Flanagan that antisemitism "is not a form of religious bigotry. It’s a form of racialized bigotry." In the 2023 short film We’ve Been Here Before, Ward and director Jacob Kornbluth discussed the impact of the “Great Replacement Theory” on hateful acts by white nationalists, including mass shootings and antisemitic attacks.

Awards

2021 Civil Courage Prize Peabody-Facebook Futures Media Award

Selected works

"Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism", The Public Eye, 2017 "As White Supremacy Falls Down, White Nationalism Stands Up", Pop Culture Collaborative, 2017 “How I Came to Understand Racism in America—and What We Can Do About It”, American Educator, 2022 "Skin in the Game Revisited", Lewis & Clark Law Review, 2024