LIVERPOOL, England: “Something needs to be done,” – Has become an American mantra after each mass shooting that is too often inspired by hate-fueled extremism. Yet despite the national outcry, nothing seems to ever change.
Representatives of the US non-profit Eradicate Hate Global Summit (EHGS) are in England where they have been joined by representatives from the United Nations and the Liverpool Football Club and others in endorsing “The Game Plan”, a coordinated effort by EHGS’s Sports Working Group and the UN, to enlist the help of athletes, teams, and leagues around the world in battling gun violence.
“We’ve learned over time that a point of commonality among many extremists is a love of sports,” said Laura Ellsworth, co-chair of EHGS. “Athletes are heroes to many, including extremists, so who better to carry the message of acceptance, mutual respect, and compassion, to those who most need to hear it?”
Tuesday’s UN Eradicate Hate Sports Summit brought together representatives from Premier League clubs, Formula 1, Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), NASCAR, Rugby England, and the Rugby Football League.
“I’ve seen first-hand the way sports can effect positive change,” said Michele Rosenthal, a co-chair of EHGS’s Sports Working Group. Rosenthal used to be the Community Relations manager of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers. She also lost two brothers in 2018, when they were fatally shot by a heavily armed gunman who killed 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack in US History. And, it was that massacre that ultimately led to the formation of EHGS.
Rosenthal said, “I lost my brothers to hate-fuelled extremism, but by leveraging the world’s love of sports, we can make a difference in the world.”
“My message to the captains and athletes – you are role models for today’s youth, young people who are the most exposed to extremism and radicalism,” said Csaba Korosi, president of the United Nations General Assembly when he spoke at the UN, ahead of Tuesday’s Liverpool Summit. “Your positive example teaches them rules, discipline, and teamwork. You can educate them as nobody else can.”
The UN Eradicate Hate Global Summit hopes to garner wide global buy-in to its Sports Working Group’s Game Plan by athletes, teams, and leagues from around the world.
“Sports has the power to change the world,” said Alice Nderitu in quoting Nelson Mandela. She is a UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide who introduced the Sports Working Group’s Game Plan to the UN a few months ago. “Sports has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair.”
