Welcome to the 2026 MI Response to Hate (MIR2H) Conference. Thank you for joining us today!
This year's theme, Click with Kindness: Shutting Down Hate One Post at a Time, explores how hate and bias continue to evolve in digital spaces and what communities can do to respond. Throughout the day, you'll hear from experts and practitioners who will share strategies for preventing hate, strengthening community partnerships, and building coordinated responses that create safer, more resilient communities.
This digital program serves as your guide to the conference. Below, you'll find the day's agenda, session descriptions, speaker biographies, and other information to help you make the most of your experience.
Thank you for being part of a growing statewide network committed to responding to hate, supporting affected communities, and fostering respect, belonging, and safety for all Michiganders. We hope you leave with new knowledge, valuable connections, and practical tools you can bring back to your community.
8:00 to 8:45 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 to 9:30 a.m.
Welcome
9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Morning Plenary
10:30 to 10:45 a.m.
Break
10:45 to 11:45 a.m.
Concurrent Workshops
11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Lunch Plenary
1:00 to 1:15 p.m.
Break
1:15 to 2:15 p.m.
Concurrent Workshops
2:15 to 3:00 pm
Final Plenary and Closing
The talk explores the normalization of the material and ideological progression of hate. Challenging notions of nuance, an investigation of cultural continuity offers a critical analysis of the MELTING POT through a critical autoethnographic lens of one who solidly operates in solidarity with the voices of the silenced. Through recognizing privilege, this talk works to contextualize the convergence of contemptuous frames of analysis and ways of knowing into digitally accessible formats. Reflect. Recover. Reconsider. Recommendations.
Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell | Professor of Sociology, Henry Ford College
In recent years, online communities collectively known as the digital manosphere have expanded their reach through social media platforms, podcasts, video-sharing sites, and online forums, where anti-feminist and misogynistic narratives are increasingly normalized and amplified. This workshop examines the rise of the digital manosphere in the aftermath of #MeToo, with particular attention to two influential phenomena: gender trolling and “Red Pill” ideology.
This workshop explores the Olson case and the critical role digital communications played in demonstrating the motivations behind the offense. Participants will be walked through the shocking text messages and emails used as evidence, and discuss why claims that such messages were “just jokes” cannot be taken at face value when assessing hate‑based intent. The session will highlight how online expressions of bias, hostility, and dehumanization can escalate into real‑world harm, and why recognizing and responding to these behaviors is essential for prevention. Select examples of harmful communications will be shown in a carefully curated, accessible‑reviewed PowerPoint to help illustrate the impact of digital hate.
Richard Cunningham | Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Trials Division, Michigan Department of Attorney General
This workshop explores a public health-informed approach to preventing online manipulation, radicalization, and hate-fueled violence through practical, upstream strategies that give communities the tools to build resilience.
Bryce Kobe | State Program Manager, PERIL Community Advisory, Resource, and Education (CARE) Program
This session provides an overview of research from ADL's Center on Extremism and Center for Tech and Society on how hateful and extremist content continues to proliferate across social media, online gaming spaces and artificial intelligence tools. It will continue with a candid discussion of ADL's engagement and advocacy with partners in the tech industry. Finally, we'll turn our focus to the choices and trade-offs that we, the users of these technologies, face every day and how we can retake control for ourselves, our families and our communities.
Aaron Tielemans | Assistant Director of Strategy and Operations, ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Center for Technology & Society
This presentation examines how social media algorithms and the gun industry contribute to the rise in mass shootings—and how intentional acts of kindness, digital responsibility, and community awareness can help disrupt these pathways to violence. Drawing on lived experience and legal advocacy, Mr. Elmore highlights how online hate spreads, how vulnerable individuals become radicalized, and how communities can respond with unity, empathy, and action. Participants will gain insight into recognizing harmful online patterns, promoting safer digital spaces, and using kindness as a counterforce to hate, both online and in everyday life.
John V. Elmore | Partner, Law Office of John V. Elmore, P.C.
Richard L. Cunningham is an Assistant Attorney General, assigned to the Criminal Trials Division of the Michigan Department of Attorney General. He is a veteran litigator who has done well over 300 jury trials as a prosecutor, a defense attorney, or a trial court judge. During the administrations of Attorneys General Mike Cox and Bill Scheutte, he served as Chief of the Criminal Division. At various times during his 47 year legal career, he has served as an Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney, staff counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission, and Recorder’s Court Judge. He currently serves as the chairperson of a Hearing Panel of the Attorney Discipline Board.
Cunningham resides in Detroit with Linda, his wife of 50 years, and Samson, their adopted Golden Retriever. Their only child, Melissa Pope, is the Chief Trial Judge of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, and a Supreme Court Justice for the Little River Band Of Ottawa Indians. She is also an adjunct professor of American Indian Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Cunningham is a Viet Nam combat veteran who served in an infantry platoon in the US Army. He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and the University of Detroit School of Law. He has been active in numerous professional and civic organizations and was a member of the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners for 12 years. He was Chair of the SBM Representative Assembly in 2018. He is a member of the Nativity of Our Lord, Roman Catholic Church, and serves as a Lector at this parish.
Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell is the oldest son of Lillian and Calvin Harvell. Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. Dr. Harvell earned a B.S. in sociology from Grand Valley State University, an M.A. in sociology from Ohio University, an Ed.S. in educational leadership (Specialist) from Oakland University, and a Ph.D. in global leadership from the Indiana Institute of Technology.
Dr. Harvell is a professor of sociology at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan. In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Harvell and his esteemed colleagues coordinate the Dr. Henry J. Bowers Focus Group, an academic and social support network on the campus of Henry Ford College.
Dr. Harvell is a member of the Phillip J. Bowman Center for Scholarship to Practice (University of Michigan). The past president of the Michigan Sociological Association, Harvell was awarded the Milton Olsen Award for distinguished service to sociology in Michigan. Harvell is also the founder and chair of the Retention, Success, and Best Practices and Walking in Excellence Conferences (Henry Ford College). Additionally, he is the Chief Intellectual Officer (CIO) at Harvell & Associates, an educational consulting firm involved in the production of asset-focused, culturally responsive educational programming. Dr. Harvell is a member of KMT Asen.
Of all his accomplishments and letters, the letters he is most proud and passionate about are: D-A-D-D-Y!
John V. Elmore has been an attorney for 40 years. He is a partner with his daughter, Kristen Elmore-Garcia, in The Law Office of John V. Elmore, P.C. where he focuses his practice on representing individuals who are injured in accidents caused by the negligence of others. Attorney Elmore began his legal career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office where he served from 1984 to 1987. In 1987, Attorney Elmore returned to Western New York when he accepted employment with the New York State Attorney General’s Office as a white-collar criminal prosecutor.
Attorney Elmore is the author of “Fighting for Your Life – the African American Criminal Justice Survival Guide” and is a popular speaker and workshop presenter on criminal justice issues, the law and education.
Attorney Elmore is a native of Olean, New York and a 1975 graduate of Olean High School. For his athletic and academic achievements, Attorney Elmore was inducted into the Olean High School Athletic Wall of Fame and Academic Wall of Fame.
Attorney Elmore is a 1979 graduate of Mansfield University where he majored in Criminal Justice Administration. While at Mansfield, he was captain of the track team. He was inducted into the Mansfield University Society of Honors. Mr. Elmore is a 1984 graduate of Syracuse University College of Law. Prior to entering law school, Mr. Elmore was a New York State Trooper.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has appointed Attorney Elmore as the Board of Trustees of Erie Community College and two judicial screening committees. He was re-appointed to those committees by Governor Kathy Hochul. He is the former Chair of the New York State Fourth Department Appellate Division Attorney Grievance Committee. Mr. Elmore continued his service on the Judicial Screening Committee under Governor Hochul until March 2023. Mr. Elmore served on the New York State Commission on Indigent Defense. He is also a certified USA boxing coach referee and judge.
Attorney Elmore has received numerous awards for his community service and civic involvement including the N.A.A.C.P. Medgar Evers Civil Rights Award; Minority Bar Association Community Service Award; Erie County Bar Association Criminal Justice Award; Buffalo Urban League Whitney Young Award; Erie County Bar Association Attorney of the Year Award and The Buffalo News Citizen of the Year Award. In 2023, Attorney Elmore received the Syracuse University College of Law William Herbert Johnson Legacy Award which was established in memory of the first African American graduate from the Syracuse University College of Law. In 2024, the University of Buffalo Law Alumni Association presented Attorney Elmore with the Distinguished Non-Alumni Award. In 2025, Attorney Elmore received the Niagara County Bar Association Jacqueline Koshian Service Award.
In 2018, Attorney Elmore was appointed to serve as the convener of the New York State Supreme Court 8th Judicial District Nominating Convention. The appointment was based upon the unanimous support of the Democratic chairpersons in each of the eight counties of Western New York. Attorney Elmore was the first African American attorney in history to serve in that position.
Attorney Elmore is on the Board of Directors for the Urban-Think Tank, Funk Fest Foundation and Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.
John is the proud father of three successful adult children. His daughter, Sonya, is a physician, son Justin, is retired from the Army at the rank of Captain and is a commercial airlines pilot, and daughter Kristen, an attorney and law partner in his office. Attorney Elmore is also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.
Bryce Kobe is the State Program Manager for PERIL's Community Advisory, Resource, and Education (CARE) program. As the on-the-ground presence for CARE in Michigan and a lifelong Michigander, he focuses on creating networks and responding to specific community needs to help build resilience to radicalization and hate-fueled violence (HFV). Bryce earned his BA in Psychology from Michigan State University and leverages his background in behavioral health and analysis to better serve the communities most impacted by HFV.
Lina Qu is an assistant professor of Chinese at Michigan State University. Her research interests focus on modern Chinese women’s cultural practices from print to social media and various genres of food media in East Asian popular culture. As a feminist scholar, her research interrogates and intervenes in mainstream media representations of gender and sexuality. She has published articles on Eileen Chang, Li Ziqi, mukbang culture, food documentary, internet literature, convergence culture, and women’s cinema.
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