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The Progress Network is based at the organization New America.

John
Wood Jr.

Writer, depolarization advocate

John writes about: Politics, Race, Society

John Wood, Jr. is a writer, philosopher, community advocate, and political figure from Los Angeles whose work has focused on creating dialogue and understanding between polarized communities, specifically in the areas of politics, race, and religion.

In 2014 Wood was California’s youngest active nominee for Congress, featured on programs like The Larry Elder Show and in publications such as The National Review Online. Subsequently Wood was elected Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County from January 2015 to May 2016.

Tiring of the partisanship and cynicism of conventional party politics, Wood turned his attention to political depolarization. He is now a national  ambassador and director of content and outreach for Braver Angels, America’s largest grassroots, bipartisan organization dedicated to political depolarization. As a writer and speaker, Wood’s work has focused on race politics and moral philosophy. His writings have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, RealClearPolitics, Quillette, Areo Magazine, The American Interest, Reflections (a journal of the Yale School of Divinity), Persuasion, and many others.

The product of a multicultural and bipartisan family, Wood is the grandson of the late Randy Wood of Dot Records and Randy’s Record Shop fame. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

The American people, by and large, are not racist. But the legacy of racism, broadly speaking, defines this moment. Let us meet it with empathy and truth.

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What Could Go Right?

Are We In a Transformational Moment?

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Areo Magazine

Virtue Ethics for the Modern Age

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Remember Martin Luther King Jr.?

Kendi's antiracism won't work, but King's does. It is time to revive the nonviolence movement.

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Braver Angels

Race, Antiracism, and Growing up Biracial

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