Palm Beach Society: Former skinhead, extremist gives keynote at Fellowship dinner

A man with first-hand knowledge of hatred and extremism was the guest speaker at the annual dinner of the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

The dinner took place Feb. 8 at the Beach Club.

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Sylvia James and Debora Weinstein served as co-chairwomen of the"Standing Up To Hate" dinner, where each guest was given the blue square pin from Bob Kraft's Foundation to Combat Antisemitism campaign.

The evening included a cocktail reception, an invocation from the Royal Poinciana's Chapel's Rev. Robert Norris ― which kept with the interfaith theme by including a Hebrew prayer ― a welcome from board chairmanSkip Randolph, and the presentation of the John C. Randolph Award to William Meyer.

In his acceptance speech, Meyer expressed appreciation to the Christian community for standing with the Jewish community against the hateful attitudes and incidents being directed against Jews, and to the Fellowship for its efforts the past 31 years to educate and bring people of all backgrounds together.

The night's keynote speaker, Christian Picciolini, shared his inspiring personal story.

A former skinhead, Picciolini has spent decades helping people move away from that life. He focused on how people, especially youth, are attracted to extremist movements and what can be done to prevent it.

He has spoken all over the world, including the TEDx stage, and won an Emmy Award in 2016 for producing an anti-hate advertising campaign. He is the author of a memoir, "White American Youth," and a 2020 book, "Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism."

The night concluded with a benediction from Palm Beach Synagogue’s Rabbi Moshe Scheiner.

More than 175 people attended.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Former skinhead speaks to Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews