Addressing an audience of 250 students and faculty at the University's "Colloquia on The Human Journey," Dr. Pearl spoke on the legacy of his son for uniting cultures around their common humanity through respect for the dignity of difference. "The principles Daniel lived by made him a symbol of the best of America – insightful and unconventional perspective; respect for people of all cultures; uncompromised objectivity and integrity; unshaken belief in the effectiveness of education, and the love of music, humor and friendship," said Professor Pearl. Reflecting on Daniel's last words to his captors, "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish," Pearl said, "Judaism was Danny's source of strength. It was his language and his historical identity. Danny knew that it is only through diversity that we can recognize our common humanity...'I am Jewish' meant that he proclaimed his right to be different and the dignity of difference." 

Speaking in front of an image of his son, Professor Pearl described the youth-oriented initiatives of the Foundation that were inspired by his son's legacy to build bridges across cultures through journalism, music and dialogue. These include The Pearl World Youth News, an international web-based student news service that seeks to develop aspiring journalists through a network of 20,000 high-schools in 109 countries. A second program, The Daniel Pearl World Music Days, celebrated each year on October 10 (Danny's birth date), has grown to a network of thousands of performers in more than 60 countries, including celebrity performances from Elton John, Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. Expanding on the power of music to promote tolerance and respect across cultures, the Foundation launched World Music Days eStage in 2005, a month-long on-line gallery and radio station featuring music, poetry, art, articles and dedications reflecting Danny's lifetime of work connecting people through words and music. A third program directed at mid-career foreign-born journalists, The Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowship, offers six-month internships in major U.S. newsrooms including The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Jewish press. "By exposing journalists from South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to a free-press environment, we are helping them to get a better understanding for their neighbor and this is one of the ways to end the tsunami of hatred that is enveloping the world," said Dr. Pearl.

During a second lecture at the University for the general public, Dr. Pearl addressed the Foundation's work to re-establish respectful East-West dialogue. The Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding was devised by Dr. Pearl, a professor of computer science at UCLA, and Professor Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, as a traveling public dialogue. For the last two years, Professors Pearl and Ahmed have engaged in a traveling dialogue throughout the United States, Canada and England to lead public conversations about the divisions between Muslims and the West, and between Jews and Muslims. "These dialogues continue to carve a path for mutual understanding between the two communities," said Pearl, and "the only rules for the dialogues are no issues are taboo and respect is required at all times."

Pearl views the mission of the Foundation to end "the tsunami of hatred enveloping the world." He described his son as a person "building bridges with a pen and a violin, not bombs or guns." Reflecting on the state of the world, Pearl said, "America is one of the largest exporters of hope." He urged his listeners not to think of a specific group or religious sect as the enemy because "the Muslims are not your enemy. Hate is the enemy."

CCJU Staff
Rabbi Joseph H. Ehrenkranz, Director Emeritus
Ann Morrow Heekin, Ph.D., Director of Programs and Publications
Guillaine Dale, Assistant to the Director
Joan Jackson, Office Secretary