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The Progress Network is based at the organization New America.

Valarie
Kaur

Civil rights leader

Valarie writes about: Law, Religion, Society, Spirituality

Photo Credit: Amber Castro

Valarie Kaur is a renowned civil rights leader and celebrated prophetic voice “at the forefront of progressive change” (Center for American Progress). Valarie burst into American consciousness in the wake of the 2016 election when her Watch Night Service address went viral, with 40 million views worldwide. Her question “Is this the darkness of the tomb—or the darkness of the womb?” reframed the political moment and became a mantra for people fighting for change. 

Valarie now leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a force for justice in America. In the last 20 years, as a lawyer, innovator, and award-winning filmmaker, Valarie has helped win policy change on multiple fronts, including hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. She founded Groundswell Movement, Faithful Internet, and the Yale Visual Law Project to equip new generations of advocates. 

Valarie has been a regular TV commentator on MSNBC and contributor to CNN, NPR, PBS, the Hill, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California’s heartland, Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. Valarie’s debut book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, expands on her blockbuster TED Talk and is available wherever books are sold.

Love calls us to look upon anyone and say: you are part of me I do not yet know.

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IF YOU HAVE 6 MINUTES:

Watch Night Service Address

Is this the darkness of the womb?

IF YOU HAVE 20:

TED Talk

3 Lessons of Revolutionary Love in a Time of Rage

WATCH A FILM:

Divided We Fall

Americans in the Aftermath

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