Black Atheists Condemn White Terrorist Massacre at Charleston Black Church

From Black Skeptics Los Angeles

Historically, black churches have provided refuge from white supremacist subjugation and violence, while also being premier targets for white terrorism.  Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal was a sterling example of this.  Founded in 1816 by black parishioners who broke from the racist leadership of the white Methodist Episcopal Church, Emanuel AME was a forerunner for radical activist leadership.  In July 1822 founder Denmark Vesey and five others were executed for organizing what would have been the largest slave insurrection in American history.  The church was subsequently burned down by white supremacists then rebuilt in 1834, providing a vehicle for cultural events, political solidarity and civil rights organizing.

The massacre of nine Emanuel leaders and members by a white terrorist is a brutal reminder of the towering role community churches play in the lives of African Americans who are still not considered human nearly two centuries after the foiled Vesey revolt.  It is also an indictment of the nation’s spineless leadership on gun control and the authoritarian sway of the NRA lobby.  In his chilling message to his victims, the 21 year-old gunman (yet another addition to the swollen ranks of young white male mass murderers) allegedly said, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country—and you have to go”, evoking the nativist Birth of a Nation and Tea Party rhetoric that has been used to justify the lynchings of black people from the early 20th century to the present.  While Charleston is a hotbed of white supremacist and KKK activity, most terrorist assaults on black lives are within the province of state sanctioned violence.   The loss of vibrant community members and activists (a librarian, state senator and coach among them) is a heartrending outrage and yet another example of the violent myth of “Millennial” post-racialism.

 

Black Atheists Condemn White Terrorist Massacre at Charleston Black Church
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Police Criminals and the Brutalization of Black Girls

Eric_Casebolt_215

 

 

By Sikivu Hutchinson, from The Feminist Wire

In Alice Walker’s short story “The Flowers” a little girl happens upon the decomposing body of a lynching victim while she is out picking flowers.  Walker contrasts the light tranquility of the girl’s walk with the savagery of her discovery; suggesting that to be a black child is to never be shielded from the “adult” horrors of racist dehumanization. As the girl lays down her wreath of flowers Walker’s narrator declares that “the summer was over”.   Summer’s metaphoric end signifies the brutality of a segregated nation in which black children are already othered, racialized, and criminalized in the pools, parks and recreational spaces that define white childhood innocence.

The videotaped assault and sexual harassment of 14 year-old Dajerria Becton by a rampaging white police officer after a pool party in McKinney, Texas makes it clear that it continues to be open season on black women and girls.  In the video officer Eric Casebolt grabs, straddles and violently restrains the young woman while she is lying face down on the ground in a bikini.  Ignoring her cries of pain and anxiety, he sadistically sits on her back while handcuffing her.  Casebolt then pulls a gun on a few young people who attempt to intervene.  Some of the good white citizens of McKinney have reportedly praised Casebolt’s thuggery.

The assault of Becton is an enraging reminder of the particular brand of sexual terrorism black women routinely experienced in the Jim Crow South at the hands of white law enforcement and ordinary white citizens.  In her important book, At the Dark End of the Street, Danielle McGuire chronicles how institutionalized sexual violence informed black women’s civil and human rights resistance.  Even as they were eclipsed in the mainstream civil rights movement by charismatic black male leaders, black women activists like Ida B. Wells, Recy Taylor, Claudette Colvin and Endesha Mae Holland drew on their experiences with sexual terrorism to galvanize black women organizers around the nexus of gender, race and class apartheid.

The McKinney incident underscores how even within the context of “recreation”, “normative” gender boundaries that automatically “feminize” young white women do not exist for young black women.  Little black girls can never occupy the space of carefree, feminine innocence that little white girls expect as their birthright.  They can never rely on the damsel in distress image to “rescue” them from American-as-apple pie state violence.  Continue reading “Police Criminals and the Brutalization of Black Girls”

Police Criminals and the Brutalization of Black Girls

Toxic Political Spin: A 9th Grade Atheist Freethinker Speaks

Corvalis Cohen
Corvalis Cohen

By Corvalis Cohen

There are quite a few social and political issues I have seen that really bother me. I find these to be issues mainly because of their context. These issues are often used to spin “minorities” or any opposing political party in a negative light. They are also used subjectively to push personal agendas rather than facts and actual topics. They mostly tie into one another, which is why I believe they all need to be addressed. Here are a few of those issues:

My first issue is the repetition of biased or false information in some political stances.  I find that right wing and conservative speakers often repeat false or biased information. For example, some use surveys with small selective groups to provide a biased result in order to prove a point and possibly spread misinformation.  This strategy takes advantage of an average person who most likely does not have any background information on the topic. They will learn this information from what they believe to be a factual source, when it is actually heavily biased and selectively pulls information to help prove conservatives’ point instead of what the information was meant to reflect. This biased manipulation of information causes many misconceptions and misguided views among people today.

Another issue I have is religion’s placement in political and supposedly professional environments. I find that religion is often used as a weapon or is relied on too heavily for guidance in areas it should not be, such as politics.  I’ve seen many moments of this during Continue reading “Toxic Political Spin: A 9th Grade Atheist Freethinker Speaks”

Toxic Political Spin: A 9th Grade Atheist Freethinker Speaks

Thugs R’ Us

Baltimore

By Sikivu Hutchinson

“Thugs”—that was virtually the first word the world heard out of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s pedigreed mouth  during her press conference on the uprising against state violence and the death of 25 year-old Freddie Gray in police custody.  Facing intense backlash, Rawlings-Blake tempered her comments at a black church where, fittingly, disgraced and/or contrite members of the black political elite often go for redemption.   The epithet “Thugs”, as it’s been pointed out numerous times, is a word that has an egregiously racial/black association.  While there are corporate thugs, police thugs, suburban thugs, crown thug oligarchs and imperialist thugs (historian Michael Parenti aptly dubbed George W. Bush the “biggest thug to occupy the White House”) the term is mainly trotted out in the mainstream when black youth are involved; conjuring up titillating neo Birth of a Nation scenes of ghetto chaos, criminality and macho swagger.   “Thugs” was law enforcement’s slur du jour in the aftermath of the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King Beating verdict in 1992.  The Baltimore uprising coincided with the twenty third anniversary of civil unrest in L.A.  There has been little improvement in the socioeconomic climate of South Los Angeles where much of the rebellion was focused.  The current jobs’ climate in South L.A. is bleaker than in ‘92 when the region was reeling from the decline of the aerospace industry and the region leads in the number of incarcerated youth.  Similarly, the decline of the shipping and manufacturing industries in Baltimore has gutted black incomes.  Despite being in the majority, African Americans in Baltimore make nearly less than half the income of whites and the unemployment rates of black males are over three times that of white males. Poor black youth in the city have high rates of exposure to violence, homicide and sexual assault and suffer from all of the mental and emotional health traumas associated with those disparities.

But there was no reference to these institutional factors in the mayor’s comments.  There was no indictment of the thuggery inherent to the apparatus of state violence and racialized wealth inequality that Baltimore’s black political elite have cosigned.  While condemning her constituents lawlessness, there was no recognition of her complicity in or accountability for the abysmal state of socioeconomic and educational underdevelopment that’s festered on her watch.  As one Baltimore resident “sitting on the steps of a boarded-up brick row house” stated acidly, “We ain’t talking about color.” Masters of expediency, bourgie disconnected system-identified black liberals are always comfortable trafficking in the slurs and platitudes of up-by-your-bootstraps reactionaries.  Desperately grasping at the reins of power, Negro politicians have always been adept at regurgitating the ruling class’ language in order to deflect from their own record of neglect, disservice or outright dereliction.

The dire poverty and segregation of Baltimore may be in the national spotlight now but the real question is what will conditions in the city be like for disenfranchised black residents in a decade when the cameras have gone away, the furor has died down, Rawlings-Blake has moved up the political food chain and her “liberal” colleagues, Negro or otherwise, have become more savvy with their demonizing terms of choice.

Twitter @sikivuhutch

Thugs R’ Us

Marco Rubio’s Flat Earth Minstrelsy

climate change

By Sikivu Hutchinson

Ever since misbegotten Republican retread Alan Keyes burst onto the scene as the anti-Obama in 2008 it seems as if every presidential race demands at least one hyper-assimilationist alpha male of color who embraces the Christian fascist God, Guns n’ Gays shtick more zealously than his overseers. In a recent interview with CBS, newly announced GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio “judiciously” conceded that being gay is not a choice but drew the line at supporting legal and constitutional protection for gay couples, claiming that “supporting the definition of marriage as one man and one woman is not anti-gay; it is pro-traditional marriage.” In the same interview he reiterated his willful ignorance of the science behind climate change. Both viewpoints represent a repugnant backwards conservatism more in lockstep with the Party’s demographically challenged white fathers than the “fresh” “new” constituency Rubio says he’s trying to appeal to. Rubio’s nose-thumbing climate change denialism is especially dangerous for the younger generations that he claims to represent. Failed by segregated high stakes test-happy public schools, Millennials who already struggle to grasp basic science and math don’t need a Gen X flat earther who gets his discredited theories about climate change from the Bible. And while Rubio demonizes cap and trade policies as “dangerous” to the economy hedge fund billionaires, construction conglomerates and the Koch brothers are among his top ten donors.

Cynically looking to play the ethnicity card, Rubio and his handlers haven’t even bothered to do any market research on his supposedly built-in ethnic constituency. According to the National Resources Defense Council, nine in ten Latinos believe climate change is destructive and should be substantively addressed by the federal government (indeed, 92% of Latinas believe government intervention should be a priority). Climate change ranks second only to immigration reform as the most important political issue for Latino voters. According to the Latino Decisions group, “86 percent are convinced that we have a moral duty to give our children a clean planet and that our ancestors worked and cared for the Earth, so we must continue their heritage and legacy by fighting climate change and protecting the environment.”

Banking on his bright-eyed bushy tailed persona and Latino heritage, Rubio’s brownface antics are offensive to millions of undocumented, working class people of color who see nothing but nativist anti-immigrant hysteria and capitalist greed oozing from the GOP’s platform. They are offensive to the scores of queer and trans youth of color who are overrepresented among the incarcerated, homeless and foster care populations (unlike fellow candidate Rand Paul, Rubio has yet to say a peep about mass incarceration’s impact on Latinos. The private prison operator GEO Group is one of his top ten donors). Contrary to Eurocentric images of same-sex marriage, African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be in same-sex families and partnerships than are whites. Same sex families of color are also more likely to live at or below the poverty line; a stat that underscores the perniciousness of Rubio’s opposition to same sex marriage, climate change, reproductive rights and the Affordable Care Act. While corporate Dem Hillary Clinton is hardly a panacea for communities of color, a GOP presidency in brownface would plunge gay, lesbian, trans and undocumented families of color even further into poverty.

By 2044 the U.S. will become a “majority minority” nation with whites declining to 45% of the population. This means that the long term health, ecological and social impact of climate change will wreak the most destruction on poor and working class communities of color—communities already overburdened by policies that allow mega-billionaire businesses like the Koch brothers’ to profiteer and pollute with impunity. Rubio’s fealty to big business, anti-undocumented immigrant nativism and the homophobic Religious Right solidly aligns him with the very forces that would ensure the 1% remain status quo—only with a new generation of brown (and black)face flat earth minstrels doing their bidding.

Twitter @sikivhutch

Marco Rubio’s Flat Earth Minstrelsy

#CollegeNotPrison: Secular Community Steps Up

Over the past several years, increasing militarization and policing on school campuses have made African American, Latino and Native American students even more vulnerable to harsh discipline, criminalization and pushout than ever before. When youth of color come onto high school campuses they often see scenes like this:

Gardena High School, L.A., CA
Gardena High School, L.A., CA

 

For African American students criminalization begins as early as preschool, with black students accounting for 48% of school suspensions despite comprising only 18% of the preschool population. By contrast, white students comprise 43% of all preschoolers and 26% of those suspended. Nationwide, LGBTQ and disabled students of color have some of the highest pushout rates among all student groups. Last year Black Skeptics Los Angeles became part of the Dignity in Schools campaign, a nationwide coalition of organizations working to end school pushout and redress the institutional conditions that contribute to it. As a result of these deepening trends, our First in the Family Humanist scholarship focus has expanded to include youth who are or have been system-involved.

 

For the third year of Black Skeptics Los Angeles’ First in the Family Humanist scholarship fund the secular community stepped up and helped us exceed our fundraising goal for 2015. We’d like to thank the following donors for their advocacy and generosity:

Hugo Cervantes (2013 & 2014 winner)
Hugo Cervantes (2013 & 2014 winner)

 

Bridgette Crutchfield and Minority Atheists of Michigan

Zach Moore

August Brunsman IV

Mai Dao

Mandisa Thomas and Black Non-Believers

Roy Speckhardt and the American Humanist Association

 

Jamion Allen, Tiare Hill, Elizabeth Hernandez & Kelvin Manjarrez, 2014

Darlene Pineda

Kirreck Williams

Daron Scott

David Duncan

Susan Walsh

Greg Epstein

Steve Schlosnagle

Catherine Crompton

Donald Wright

Greta Christina

James Underdown

DeAngela Morant

Victory Yates, 2013 winner, CSULB

Jennifer Taylor

Michael Lightsmith

Black Beyond Belief

Andrew Tripp

Phillip Aubrey, 2013 winner, Babson College

AJ Johnson

Debbie Goddard

Amelia Pergl

Ruth Seid

Chris Stedman

Bri Van Til

Stef McGraw

Sincere Kirabo

Perde Williams Jr.

#CollegeNotPrison: Secular Community Steps Up

#DeathByCop

Death by cop coffins
600 plus coffins of police murder victims

 

Yesterday Black Skeptics Los Angeles participated in and endorsed the #DeathByCop demonstration and die-in in downtown Los Angeles. The demo was organized by the Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) and featured Black Lives Matter L.A., the Dignity and Power Coalition against Sheriff’s Violence and other local activist groups that have been on the frontlines of protesting state violence, terrorism and police murders in communities of color in Los Angeles as well as nationwide. The protest took place on the same day the nation was rocked by yet another revelation of a videotaped execution of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in South Carolina.

According to the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena

Death by cop
powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

 

#DeathByCop

More Whitebread Atheism on CNN

By Sikivu Hutchinson

Judging from its recent “Atheists” news show CNN believes atheists of color don’t exist and atheism is just as whitebread as Tea Party evangelicalism. Arguably the only primetime show on the subject in recent memory, the program purported to be a sweeping overview of the state of atheism in a still god-besotted universe. Many of the usual suspects (bright eyed bushy tailed white converts) and straight white spokesmen (Richard Dawkins, David Silverman, Jerry DeWitt) were trotted out to represent the heathen masses, regurgitating the same chestnuts about the murk of bad religion jettisoned for the clear skies of freedom, enlightenment and rationality. These in turn were tempered by a few paeans to tolerance on the social complexities of religious practice by the kinder gentler Humanists of Harvard. For viewers of color the not so subtle message was that “those atheists” are (like “those gays”) in many respects just like “us”—heretics for sure but paradoxically as familiar as the boy/girl next door in leafy white suburban or hip urban renaissance enclaves.

As corporate media go CNN has been more than willing to explore the race divide, cranking out the “Black in America” and “Latino in America” series as well as one on biracial Americans. True to form though, people of color are rarely called on to speak about anything other than race. Evidently “raceless” sociocultural phenomena like the growing number of secular individuals don’t lend themselves to exploring demographic complexity. According to the Pew Research Center African Americans and Latinos are among the most religious groups in the nation. However, over the past several years, organizations like the Hispanic American Freethinkers, Black Skeptics Group, Black Non-Believers, Latino Atheists, Black Atheists of America and African Americans for Humanism have been organizing atheists of color on the ground. Critical, non-believing black and Latino folk don’t conform to the narrative of lock stock n’ barrel religious solidarity, bible thumping and “Jesus saves” stereotypes that mainstream culture associates with communities of color. For much of the media, atheism’s tent is only big enough to accommodate slight differences in secular belief (for example the interviewer didn’t even allow Greg Epstein to articulate a more full-bodied explanation of humanism) represented by white people who generally have no investment in connecting secularism to social, economic and gender justice.

Historically black secularists, humanists, freethinkers and atheists connected their non-belief, agnosticism and skepticism to a broader landscape of black liberation struggle against racism, imperialism and homegrown apartheid. Black humanism was inseparable from a critique of white supremacy and the relationship between capitalism, the legacy of slavery and Judeo-Christian religion. For example, freethinker A. Philip Randolph was a socialist labor leader and civil rights activist who criticized the Black Church’s economic hold on African Americans. In her landmark 1928 book Quicksand Harlem Renaissance writer Nella Larsen boldly linked black dependency on organized religion to poverty and female Continue reading “More Whitebread Atheism on CNN”

More Whitebread Atheism on CNN

Secular Social Justice – Kenyan Humanist Conference

kenya

This special report by Kenyan Humanist Association chair Moses Alusala summarizes the Third Annual IHEYO regional working group.  All of the presenters at the conference were male. According to Moses “one woman presenter invited cited domestic responsibility and instead sent a male representative”, underscoring the difficulties African women in the continent’s humanist movement face.

By Moses Alusala

The group meeting was  convened by the Kenyan Humanist Association and brought together East African humanist youth from diverse backgrounds and regions, from suburbs and townships, as well as those from economically advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds, who have been witnesses to the reality of marginalization, poverty and oppression. There were 22 attendees in total. The countries represented were Sudan, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya. They came to learn and share how they could combine activist engagement with democratic concerns for social justice and equality; how they can achieve through rationality a society no longer exploited by the power elites of church, state and business.

The opening plenary commenced with an encouraging welcome address from Moses Alusala, Chair, Kenyan Humanist Association. He highlighted the fact that poverty and social justice are the most immediate and central areas of common concern in Africa as stated in the global consensus that underlies the 2000 Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals. “The Sub-Saharan African region has the second worst gender-related development indicators after South East Asia according to the Human Development Report for 2012/2013″.  He proceeded by stressing the need to focus on poor people, patterns of exclusion and the disappointment of unfulfilled human potential.  “Women continue to be oppressed by African tradition, religious fundamentalism, colonial patriarchy and global capitalism. As helpful as the faith based interventions and strategies are, they stop short of engaging with the root cause of conservative, gender-biased religion.”  He further emphasized the importance of empowering young people to take action to create a more just world stating that they are a powerful force that can be harnessed for civic engagement.

George Ongere of Centre for Inquiry Kenya gave a talk on humanism and altruism in which he affirmed that civic engagement and community service are the most appropriate forms of altruism and that the humanist community should be as civically engaged as their religious counterparts, if not more. He emphasized the need for greater visibility of organized humanist service groups and that the IHEYO meeting should herald the beginning of that shift.

Lukyamuzi Joseph of HALEA Uganda, gave a talk on critical thinking as one of the crucial skills needed in social justice activism. He stressed that the youth needed to address social and political issues with the tools of critical thinking. Mr Lukyamuzi further stated that there is need to apply skeptical principles to every facet of life and society. “While we may not be able to make the same value judgments and have the same opinions, the end goal of skeptical movements should be that no matter the circumstance, facts and evidence should be critically examined,” he added.

The delegates expressed concern over the harm caused on women and children by the ongoing civil war in South Sudan. James Luyobya (Humanist and Ethical union of South Sudan), stated that religious differences are one of the main causes of the wars in South Sudan. He explained how religious institutions in South Sudan have often failed to act in accordance with their vision. Inter-faith violence, ‘communalism’, aggressive proselytizing and unpalatable maneuvering for power or money has been real obstacles to social and economic well-being in South Sudan. He recounted how the impact of war, intensified by desertification, drought and famine has taken their toll on women and children. How they suffer from frequent incidences of kidnapping and assault from soldiers and flee the war with no assets or skills and survive through domestic work, begging, petty trading, beer brewing and prostitution.

The delegates later raised concern over the conventional approach to peacemaking in most of the countries torn by internal conflict and violence in Africa where powerful countries establish a cease-fire between warring parties, followed by imposition of the dominant model of markets and electoral politics. This “neoliberal” approach, they alleged, is designed to put in place the institutional forms of a peaceful society without seriously considering questions of social justice.

Boaz Adhengo gave a power point presentation on the Future of Humanism in Africa and stressed the need of regional partnership and collaboration of humanist groups to achieve synergy.

Ayella Collins of Humanist Empowerment of Livelihoods in Uganda gave a talk on challenges of humanism in Africa which as he stated, includes lack of enough funds, religious fundamentalism and illiteracy. The conference made a firm commitment to deal with the challenges.

Blaise Ntakaritumana of Burundi Humanist Charity gave a talk on how intersecting identity markers such as race, gender, ethnicity, disability, religiosity and nationality play in shaping the experiences of ‘non-normative’ sexual and gender diversities in Burundi. He explained how a specifically literalist interpretation of Christianity and Islam, as promoted by fundamentalist groups from outside Africa, are the cause of the recent wave of homophobia in the country.

Moses Alusala gave training on Social Justice Advocacy and stressed the need to nurture social justice skills such as critical thinking, cooperation and conflict resolution, challenging injustice & inequity and participation.

Kato Mukasa gave a talk on the meaning of humanism and its origin in the Renaissance while emphasizing that Africa has always had a humanism that predates any codification of the ideology. He later trained the youth on fundraising and resource mobilisation skills as well as capacity building.

The conference noted that the the widespread witchcraft allegations in Eastern Africa was as a result of the combined effects of age and sex discrimination on older women as well as religious induced superstitions. They proposed plans for youth to support campaigns to stop violence against women, promote critical thinking and ensure gender equality within the secular movement. It was noted that violence against women was undermining efforts to achieve the millennium development goals in Africa.

The delegates later decried the apparently unstoppable Islamist militancy in the region as a result of jihadist indoctrination of youth and proposed de-radicalisation countermeasures through critical thinking and economic empowerment.

The forming of a regional network was one of the Agenda items. The participants suggested a network (East African Humanist Network) that would amplify the social justice worldview, platform and community context. The participants suggested a magazine for the network which would act as a platform for secular social justice in East Africa, providing cutting-edge commentary on current affairs, development, human rights, and culture in the region. The magazine, to be named Active Humanist would act as a forum for people to articulate their dreams and share information, facilitating the building of a movement for civic engagement. Boaz Adhengo of Jahwar Amber Humanist Trust Fund was appointed as editor for the magazine, while Lukyamuzi Joseph, Debra O. Ouko and Boaz Adhengo were to act as the advisory council for the network. The delegates resolved that the IHEU country representatives for each respective country would also serve as the country coordinators for the network.

The conference emphasized the need to strengthen the capacity of humanist youth organizations in Africa to promote social justice by providing information, stimulating debate and supporting advocacy.

After ample deliberation, the conference elected Mr. Moses Alusala as the Kenya country coordinator for IHEYO, taking over from George Ongere of CFI/Kenya. They also resolved that the 2015 conference would be held in Rwanda.

In conclusion the delegates resolved that religious concepts are inadequate or false relative to the values of rescuing them from systemic injustices destroying so many millions of human lives in the Eastern African region and that there was need to form a network to amplify the social justice worldview, platform and community context of radical and progressive East African humanists.

The participants later expressed their thanks to the Kenyan Humanist Association for their smooth organisation of the conference, and IHEYO and HIVOS for sponsoring the event. In the same vein, they pointed out that the conference attained its sought objectives while signalling their efforts to follow through with their advocacy action items.

 

 

Secular Social Justice – Kenyan Humanist Conference

Busting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

YMS school-to-prison forum Brandon flyer-page-0
FACT: The school-to-prison pipeline disproportionately locks up African American and Latino youth, leaving many with criminal records and no possibility of “re-entry” to employment, housing or higher education
FACT: Foster care and homeless youth of color have some of the lowest rates of college transfer and graduation amongst college youth populations
FACT: Black girls are disciplined in greater numbers than Asian, Latino and White boys.  Black girls are suspended/expelled six times more than white girls; while black boys are supended/expelled three times more than white boys.
FACT: LGBTQ youth of color have disproportionately high suspension/expulsion and push-out rates in U.S. public schools
Busting the School-to-Prison Pipeline