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Detroit 2020 Person of the Week Howard Brown works to combat hate

Posted at 1:02 PM, Nov 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-18 19:00:43-05

It is a face of peace. But you would never know this smiling ambassador for interfaith relations between Jews and Muslims is facing a diagnosis that gives him only 12 months left to live.

We sat down with Howard Brown inside Shaarey Zedek Synagog the day after he had his latest round of his new chemotherapy treatment. He couldn't feel his hands to even straighten his shirt, but all we felt was his passion for change. 

“Whether I’m not feeling good or not the work is still there,” he says. “I don’t call it Islamophobia or anti Semitism. I call it hate. Let' just call it what it is. Hate is something you are not born with, it's something you can adopt and decide whether to use your tongue or not or use actions or not.”

Howard is a former President of the American Jewish Committee and he has not only passed the torch, but also passed on what's in his heart.

For always fighting to bring people together during the fight of your life, Howard Brown you are our Person of the Week.