Respect America at One Year

By: Conner Drigotas

Respect America is a nonprofit with a vitally important mission, and at the helm is President Hannah Henriksen, who took what was once a series of smaller projects and unified them around a single mission: to demonstrate the effects of coercion, theft, and violence on human happiness and inspire people to seek solutions that increase harmony and prosperity.

Changing hearts and minds is a big lift, but the strategies undertaken during the organization's first year in the public eye have helped make a positive difference while reaching millions of people. 

As the organization enters its second year, there is much to be done.

“We took the smaller projects offline, and kind of reimagined what Respect America could be,” Hannah said in an interview, “we're giving people an opportunity to talk about how coercion has affected them, and showing there's a way to not have it happen, which is to get rid of the coercion against each other.”

Respect America’s rebirth has been a success, accumulating more than 59,000 total followers and subscribers, and boasting more than 13.3 million impressions of articles and videos. That growing audience and megaphone for good has been, in large part, driven by an intentional shift in strategy away from data, and into emotion.

“There's a lot of organizations out there writing white papers, and not everyone connects initially to data.” Hannah says, “You need to back yourself up with data, but people like me connect with people. We connect emotionally.”

On the Respect America website, emotion is front and center. The featured stories range from that of imprisoned billionaire Jimmy Lai whose anti-coercion media company in Hong Kong raised the ire of the Chinese Communist Party, to a woman in Colorado who was forced to witness her six year old niece wrongfully handcuffed and laid out on hot asphalt, to victims of medical kidnapping and eminent domain, among many others.

The focus of each testimonial is a human being, a real person who has had their life turned upside down by coercion, theft, or violence. The heart of Respect America, and key to the team’s vision for a better future, is always people. 

“The strangers we see out in the world, that’s somebody's dad, brother, cousin, friend, neighbor… and for the most part, most people wouldn't personally coerce against another person. We’re trying to bring a personalization to strangers and the choices you make.” Hannah says.

As Respect America’s capabilities grow, so have the organization's plans for an expanded offering of visual projects to further the emotional appeal and show clearly what truly occurs when Human Respect is disregarded.

Show don’t tell

“The biggest accomplishment would be our launch of Jonny’s film.” Hannah says when asked about highlights of year one, “We obviously put a marketing budget behind it, but we had a million and a half views in the first two months. Our first month was a million views.”

If you haven’t seen it, that film, a feature about Jonny McCoy, shares the story of a South Carolina attorney who was thrown in jail based on a lie by arresting officers that was later disproved by security camera footage. While in prison, McCoy was forced to witness another inmate commit suicide and experienced years of mental struggle in the aftermath. “I was exonerated, but I never got an apology,” Jonny says in the film “and those responsible were never punished.”

The film shows with startling clarity how a single corrupt act can have ripple effects that last years and can wreak havoc on the lives of peaceful people. The film gave Jonny a chance to tell his story to millions, and embodies the driving force of Respect America.

“There's a need for this in the world. People want to connect with each other. People want to have these conversations, they want to tell their stories,” Hannah explains, “They want to know other people and hear their testimonies, read about the things that are happening, and realize that real people's lives are being affected.”

The film has also won critical acclaim, being accepted into the Anthem Film Festival,  the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, and the Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, and Hannah has her sights set on building regular features that help people understand both the Principle of Human Respect, and what happens when it is ignored.

“In five years, I would like to be releasing a film like Jonny's every month.” Hannah says, “That’s going to take more relationships and more people; partnerships with other organizations, partnerships with funders, partnerships with film crews who are doing these things, and partnerships with the actual subjects, more people. That's the root of everything, is people. I've said it so many times, but it's so true.”

Awareness and Opportunity

The first year of Respect America has also seen the birth of new ideas to increase harmony and prosperity, including highlighting stories where things go right, standing in stark contrast to a media landscape so often focused on humanity’s worst moments. 

“This wasn't originally in our marketing plan.” Hannah explains, “But I have started to look for instances where people are helping each other without being forced.”

A series of videos featured on Respect America platforms, sometimes shared from another social profile and sometimes repackaged with Hannah narrating an explainer video, have been leveraged as a new way to keep the idea of doing good at the top of viewer’s mind. “Once you start thinking about Human Respect, it becomes top of mind. You start seeing it way more. And then the more you see it, the more it perpetuates.”

Ultimately, Respect America’s mission is personal and there is ample room to grow, and that requires challenging the deeply normalized way of life that allows for the Terrible Exception to play out. “We are created and molded in this world where force and coercion feel necessary. We haven't been given another option. We haven't seen another way.” Hannah says, “if people are aware of [Human Respect], they will be inspired. It is scientifically proven that the more you see other people helping or the more people help you, the more you're willing to help others, the more you see it, the more you hear about it, the more top of mind it is, the more you're willing to do it too.”

Respect America has profiled nearly two dozen people in the past year, and Hannah wants to see that number grow. “Our biggest challenge, I think, is getting the testimonial subjects. It's finding the stories to be told,” she says, “If you have a story to tell, you can message us on social media or our phone number is on our website. It's directly to me. I answer it almost every time, and if I don't answer it, I'll call back.”

As our interview wraps up, Hannah’s genuine excitement to hear about new stories is evident, and the reason why is quickly made clear as well: “I know I was put on this world to help other people, and I'm really glad I get to do this.” she says, “I'm so grateful every day, and it's fun. This is the greatest job ever.”