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Watch recordings of the 2023 Summit today. Sessions | Keynotes

Eric Dreiband

Partner, Jones Day; Former Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Eradicate Hate:
2021

Eric Dreiband is a partner at Jones Day, where he represents clients in investigations, litigation, and counseling in civil rights, employment discrimination, whistleblower, wage and hour, and other matters. Dreiband served as the 18th Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and he also served as the 12th General Counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Under Dreiband’s leadership, DOJ’s Civil Rights Division set enforcement records for prosecutions of law enforcement officers and sexual harassment, religious liberty, and servicemember cases; charged the highest number of hate crimes cases in decades; significantly expanded resources for human trafficking prosecutions; prosecuted race and other forms of illegal discrimination in education, employment, housing, lending, and voting; reached historic disability rights settlements with several states; opposed unlawful COVID-19-related civil liberty restrictions; and successfully litigated to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of all people in the United States.

During Dreiband’s tenure at DOJ, the Civil Rights Division and its United States Attorney partners prosecuted a white supremacist who killed one person and injured dozens of others in Charlottesville, Virginia; an arsonist who burned African American churches; individuals who burned crosses to threaten African American citizens; a man who allegedly murdered 23 individuals and attempted to kill dozens more because they were Hispanic; violent, racially-motivated neo-Nazis who targeted with violence and threats of violence journalists writing about anti-Semitism; individuals who targeted gay men for robbery, carjacking, and kidnapping; two men who allegedly shot and killed two transgender individuals; and violent attacks and murders against Jewish worshipers.

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The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.

Nick Rasmussen
Nicholas Rasmussen Counterterrorism Coordinator, Department of Homeland Security