PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Around 100 Portlanders, including the Portland protest frogs, filled The Old Church’s sanctuary Tuesday night for a forum on political civility.

The event, titled Restoring Civility in Chaotic Times, was organized by a coalition of Oregon civic groups, including The Art of Living, Oregon Peace Builders, and Senior Advocates for Generational Equity (SAGE).

Cameron Whitten, founder and CEO of the racial justice nonprofit Brown Hope, led the organizing effort. Whitten said the goal of the event was to ease political anxiety and promote solutions to polarization.

Grammy-nominated musician and community leader Julianne Johnson moderated a panel of local experts on “conflict de-escalation and crossing political divides.”

Panelists included Dimitra Giannakoulias, co-chair of the Oregon Chapter of Braver Angels; Bill Howe, board member of SAGE and founder of the Citizen Project; Wajdi Said, co-founder and president of the Muslim Educational Trust; and Anthony Jackson, a volunteer with the Portland Peace Team.

“It is very important, my dearly beloved sisters and brothers. We need to manage bigotry and hate inside ourselves, to be able to manage bigotry and hate on the national level or the local level,” Said told the audience.

Organizers said the conversation was a timely one. The U.S. has seen alarming acts of political violence this year, including the assassinations of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and political figure Charlie Kirk.

Reactions to the incidents varied, but all speakers condemned the violence. Giannakoulias admitted that hearing such news left her emotionally drained.

“You could say I had detached sadness because I don’t want to hear about any murder of any kind anywhere,” Giannakoulias said. “But without a personal connection to these people, it’s news—and frankly, I’m exhausted by the news. I detach from the news and I have to take care of myself.”

She added that while these instances of political violence receive wide attention, they remain rare, and most Americans condemn them, which gives her hope.

According to a September 2025 report by the Polarization Research Lab, fewer than 1% of Americans support explicitly violent acts such as partisan murder, and 93–97% of all partisans view political violence as a major problem.

Guests at the event also had their say. On a poster display, attendees responded to two questions:

“What’s your greatest fear about the polarization and political violence currently happening in America?”

Answers included “Civil war,” “That it will take too long to restore what has been lost,” and “That we are becoming less tolerant of one another.”

The second question was, “What makes you hopeful that we can ever find civility in our collective society?”

Responses included “It’s easier to be kind than mean” and “We are very creative beings, especially our youth.”

In small breakout sessions, attendees also shared ideas about what they believe can help create a healthy, thriving democracy.

“It was nice to sit and listen to people have differing perspectives on the same issues, but come to an agreement on humanity and dignity,” said attendee Sare Campbell.