It was a bold choice, no doubt: holding an event in Pittsburgh about bridging painful differences, and then having the owner of the New England Patriots attend. But if you can make that work, can world peace be far behind?
And indeed, there was Robert Kraft at the front of a University of Pittsburgh ballroom on Wednesday evening, conversing warmly with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch and Gov. Josh Shapiro. Bitter sports rivalries were treated lightly, and at one point Kraft seemed to endorse a national political role for Shapiro himself.
Most of the discussion, however, focused on the unifying power of sports and the importance of strengthening alliances to fight against bigotry.
“ If you look at the profound advances we’ve made as a country in recognizing more civil rights for more people, it’s always been because there’s been a coalition of different people coming together,” Shapiro told a largely college-age audience with a large number of Black and Jewish students.
He cited the civil-rights alliance between the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, as two leaders who “came together and advanced the cause of freedom. … You are the descendants of that work, and I would argue you have a responsibility to carry forward with that work.”
That was the spirit of Wednesday’s Unity Dinner, which was hosted by organizations that include the NFL, Jewish and Black student groups, and the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, founded by Kraft himself. The goal of the dinner was to address the fact that, as Kraft lamented, ”Young Blacks and young Jews don’t have that rapport” even though they share a heritage of suffering bigotry and oppression.
Students participating in the program this week will also visit local Black and Jewish landmarks, including Freedom Corner in the Hill District and the Tree of Life synagogue, site of the 2018 mass shooting that represents the deadliest act of antisemetic violence in American history.
Kraft, who, like Shapiro, is Jewish, said Wednesday that the Alliance took shape after that shooting and the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I decided we had to start something to fight and try to slow down the growth of hate in this country,” he said.
The Alliance has cosponsored Unity Dinners at other college campuses, and it says 600 students participated last year. It projects those efforts will connect with more than triple that number of people in 2026.
Football fans may know of the Alliance from a Super Bowl ad that sought to depict Jewish and Black young people making common cause in standing up to bigotry.
Shapiro, who shifts easily between sports and politics, said the unifying power of the former could help ease the tensions created by the latter.
“The stands have a way of bringing people together … of allowing us to see our shared humanity,” Shapiro said.
“You’re sitting in the stands watching the team you love. And guess what? You don’t care how the person next to you voted. You don’t really focus on how they worship or whether they went to college or what their job is. You just know you are rooting for your team. Or if you’re an Eagles fan like me, you’re rooting against the other team, ’cause that’s what we do.”
“ If you want to know where everybody’s at, know where the game is at,” agreed Batch, who runs a foundation that uses youth sports to connect kids with reading. “You’re able to share whatever message that you choose to do.”
The half-hour panel discussion did not dwell on forces shaping the political environment, such as the war in Gaza, which has spurred contention on college campuses nationwide. Nor was there discussion of other political developments, beyond Kraft’s lament that “ social media is spreading lies and not allowing our people to keep that bond” between them.
Kraft did seemingly veer briefly into politics when introducing Shapiro, saying that at a time when many Jewish people are concerned about antisemitism, “You have a man here who … stays true to his principles of spirituality and faith, and speaks about it proudly with courage. And that’s the way he runs your state.”
“I hope the Democratic Party is smart enough to get them in with their leadership position and then Americans are smart enough to vote the right way,” said Kraft.
Kraft has described himself as a Democrat but has had an up-and-down friendship with President Donald Trump for years. Shapiro is widely considered to be a potential Democratic contender in 2028, though he, too, avoided electoral politics Wednesday.
Instead, Shapiro urged the audience to take inspiration from the spirit of the event and confront intolerance where they found it.
“We will create a society that is a little bit more kind and a little bit more just,” he said. “You are the ones we are depending upon to do this hard work.”