Re-Introducing Erin Thompson, Executive Director

When Erin Thompson's home was burglarized, it wasn't just his sense of security that was stolen—what he gained was an unexpected path to peace through the power of restorative justice. His transformative experience led him all the way to the helm of the Gandhi Institute, where he now serves as the executive director. Our conversation with Erin takes you through the corridors of nonviolent advocacy, as he shares his personal evolution and the vital role the institute plays in both preserving the legacy of peace leaders and actively fostering critical dialogue in Rochester and beyond.

Erin touches on the fact that nonviolence is often mistaken for weakness and peace work is branded as naïve. This episode peels back the layers of these common misconceptions, engaging with the complexity of promoting peace in a world accustomed to conflict. We uncover the gifts and challenges inherent in this noble pursuit, and highlight an endeavor that is as resilient as it is misunderstood.

Episode Transcript

Katie (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Perspectives on Peace
Transforming Tomorrow.
I'm Katie Thomas and I'msitting here with Michael Jones.
And today we're going to sitdown with Aaron Thompson, and
Aaron is a familiar voice whoyou've probably heard as a part
of our podcast team.
But today we're sitting downwith Aaron to talk about his
recent transition fromco-director to executive
director.

(00:20):
Aaron was currently serving asco-directors with the lovely
Gwen Olton and recently histransition to executive director
.
So, aaron, what we'd love to dotoday is sit down with you and
first have you introduceyourself, talk a little bit
about your role and how youfound the institute.

Erin (00:37):
Fantastic, very cool to be here with you two again, very
interested to be on the otherside of the microphone being
interviewed.
And yes, I am Aaron Thompson,currently serving as director at
the Institute here sinceFebruary 1, 2024.
This marks about 10 years thatI've been in the institute
universe here.

(00:57):
I found it by being turned onto a sort of justice process by
my then neighbor, jenniferBannister, who's over at Teen
Empowerment was a partner ofours Around 2010,.
We were living in an apartmentdownstairs from Jennifer, first
floor, and apartment wasburglarized by a young man who

(01:20):
lived in the neighborhood.
It was a traumatizing event.
I came in through my son'swindow and the house was wrecked
and whatnot.
Things were stolen and he waseventually apprehended.
We found that again, he was this19-year-old kid who had family
down the street.
He was out of the house forwhatever reason, didn't have a

(01:41):
place to stay, and so we werefaced with the option of how to
proceed with the justice side ofthings, the legal side of
things, and I didn't knowanything about the institute, I
didn't know anything aboutrestorative practices, but
Jennifer had my ear and talkedabout this potential kind of
alternate track that we couldtake where we'd have some

(02:04):
opportunity to engage with theyoung man, potentially have
greater closure than we wouldget through the court system and
also still have there be thenecessary accountability and us
to feel like we're made wholethrough the process.
So I pondered it with my wife,son, and especially thinking

(02:28):
about the possibility of our son, who was like six or something,
being able to kind of makesense of things in a meaningful
way is what contributed to usagreeing to this restorative
circle, and it was literallythat we had the young man, some
of his family, some of the otherfolk who live on the block and
the facilitators there talkingthis through and that gave me

(02:52):
the opportunity to share the wayI was impacted.
The impact that I saw had on mywife, son Yixing, was there was
able to actually lay eyes onthis young man and see that it
wasn't like this monster figurethat he had in mind.
It was in fact this vulnerableyoung man, young black man who

(03:13):
was in a real bad place, gavehim the opportunity to explain
himself, to apologize, to seethe impact that it had and to
really consider how he wanted to, what choices he wanted to make
, moving forward.
And this was like playing outin real time you could see the
processing going on and it wassuccessful.

(03:38):
So that was like my firstintroduction to some of the work
that the Institute does.
And then I was a few yearslater finishing up school for
accounting and looking for waysto both utilize the skillset
that I had developed while doingwork that was meaningful to me
and was community based, whichwas what some of my family's

(04:01):
background is.
So an opportunity came up to dokind of a clerk level
accounting work at the Institute, jumped on that, had a
conversation with Kit Miller whowas the executive director at
the time, and that was my kindof entry into working at the
Institute.
And I've held a number ofdifferent roles over the years,

(04:21):
kind of as I've gained in tenureand familiarity and grown some
of my skills.
So the rest is history.
As I say, I could walk throughthat.
You know chronology, but that'show I learned about the
Institute.

Michael (04:33):
Thank you for sharing Aaron.
It's great.
Your first interaction with theInstitute was something, so
this role and like connected toour mission.
What is the mission of theInstitute and how do you see
your role serving that mission?

Erin (04:51):
Concerning the mission of the Institute and my role, I
consider the mission of theGandhi Institute to represent,
inspire, teach and create peace.
Our goal is to interrupt thisrace that humanity is on toward
destruction and to help us toawaken from this trance that we

(05:11):
have fallen under, where we justaccept and expect violence as a
way of life.
Our work at the Institute isbasically focused toward the
creation of a new reality thatorients around cherishing all
life, and that includes the lifeof future generations.
When my role as a director, Iwork to coordinate, cultivate

(05:34):
and grow and leverage all of theInstitute's resources in the
service of our mission.
So those resources wouldinclude our personnel, our
physical location, our finances,our partnerships and our
various media platforms.
And then, on the day to day, Ibasically focus on staying

(05:55):
attuned to what's happening inthe world, especially what's
happening locally, and thencreating effective systems
inside the Institute that bestenable our team to work
collectively and in acomplementary fashion.
And then I handle, of course,the back office administrative
work at a nonprofit like theGandhi Institute requires in

(06:17):
order to stay organized and tokeep moving forward.

Michael (06:22):
Yeah, thank you, aaron.
I'm hearing that you'refacilitating us, facilitate
nonviolence in Rochester.
So what do you see as anonviolent organization within
Rochester?
What are strengths andweaknesses to our location?
What are opportunities, threats?

Erin (06:43):
Okay, kind of the SWAT, swat assessment, if you will
right.
One strength that I see aboutdoing nonviolence work in
Rochester and prospects forfuture nonviolence work in
Rochester is that here inRochester we have a physical
manifestation of peace and peacework in the Gandhi Institute.

(07:06):
I think having that physicallocation that stands for peace
is a major advantage to thosedoing peace work here.
I mean it stimulates curiosity,it spurs conversation when
people are on premises here atthe Gandhi Institute.
It automatically establishes acertain vibe when people are on

(07:27):
the premises and we also serveas a repository of stories about
and information about peacemovements and leaders here at
the Institute with our libraryand informational resources.
So that's one strength.
One weakness would be that Ithink nonviolence is very

(07:47):
misunderstood by a lot of folk,not just in Rochester but in
Cluton, rochester.
I consider nonviolence to oftenbe thought of as passive or
even as a weak reaction toviolence and to conflict.
And I think the history ofpeace work is given a very

(08:08):
reductionist treatment in oureducation systems.
I mean it kind of boils down toMartin Luther King and Gandhi
and basically only very basicdetails about the two of them.
I think some folks to this daysee peace work as being naive or
idealistic or out of touch withreality.

(08:28):
That would be weakness andopportunity.