Mar 11 2013
By Sikivu Hutchinson At an early age, black girls are branded as public menaces. They are suspended and expelled for “defiance” at greater rates than white boys who commit actual felony offenses. They pack the juvenile halls and adult prisons of the most prolific “first world” jailer on the planet. In textbook history, their connection to radical social change …
Mar 07 2013
In a nation in which economic inequality, racial wealth gaps, mass incarceration of people of color and Christian fascist mobilization have become the rule, what are some examples of culturally relevant atheist and humanist activism? On Friday, March 8th at 7pm, the DePaul Alliance for Free Thought, in association with the Secular Student Alliance, Center for …
Mar 06 2013
By Sikivu Hutchinson “If you’ve seen a black or Latino person portrayed as a criminal on TV within the past twenty-four hours stand up. If you’ve seen a black or Latino person portrayed as a professional on TV recently stand up.” These were the two powerful icebreaker questions my students asked the audience in a …
Feb 27 2013
By Frederick Sparks On the day the statue honoring civil rights icon Rosa Parks was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol, stark reminders of persistent socio-economic disparities between blacks and whites remain. And comments from a sitting Supreme Court justice show inexcusable blindness in high places. A Brandeis University study found that the gap in racial wealth …
Feb 26 2013
by Frederick Sparks A few years ago I wrote a post overviewing the (limited) portrayals of black atheist characters in popular television and film. In it, I argued that more numerous portrayals of black nonbelieving characters (particularly in a positive light) would go a long way in normalizing the experience of black nonbelievers, in the same way …
Feb 25 2013
By Frederick Sparks Black Skeptics Los Angeles observed the Day of Solidarity for Black Non-Believers with a visit to the California African-American Museum (CAAM) followed by lunch at a south Los Angeles restaurant. CAAM is located in Exposition Park, part of a complex of museums (including the science museum that now houses the Space Shuttle …
Feb 22 2013
Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) student and Gardena High School senior Karly Jeter recently won a prestigious Posse Foundation Scholarship to attend the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the fall as a pre-med student. She is a cancer survivor, and her experiences have inspired her to be an oncologist. Although she is passionate about science …
Feb 20 2013
By Naima Washington It is a sad fact that people of color, particularly African American nonbelievers, are alienated within the secular community. Among the ‘faith’ communities, even those with the most racist and sexist doctrines, continue to do whatever it takes (and make no apologies) as they aggressively recruit and make space in their communities …
Feb 14 2013
By Sikivu Hutchinson Melanie Andrews is the director of the internationally acclaimed Washington Prep High School theatre program in South Los Angeles. A native of Compton, California, she received her MFA in theatre from the University of Southern California and has worked as a director in China, Germany, Canada, and Mexico, as well as at …
Feb 06 2013
“Perhaps adults believe if they just don’t talk about gender or racism, then they won’t exist in our lives. The truth is that we see the effects of racism and gender bias everyday on television, on the Internet, in the beliefs of teachers, friends, and ourselves.” –Ariana Mercado, 12th grade scholar, Gardena High School “As …
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