Black Skeptics

By Sikivu Hutchinson

Skeptic Ink News is reporting that former American Atheists’ development director AJ Johnson is suing AA for racial discrimination and wrongful termination.

“The suit alleges that [A.J.] Johnson was ‘forced to listen to various racial jokes and was subjected to unprovoked, unwarranted, vicious and persistent verbal attacks on everything, including her competence.” It claims “unfounded complaints” against her competence and that this was in spite of excellent performance, citing “dramatically” increased donations which it was her job to solicit. It also indicates that Johnson, the sole African-American employee of American Atheists at the time, was “forced to support” a billboard stating “Slaves obey your masters” which she expressly disapproved of.”

American Atheists’ president David Silverman has vigorously denied Johnson’s charges–even producing a memo Johnson wrote urging her (redacted) email contacts to challenge my March 2012 article criticizing AA’s naked slave billboard.  Although Johnson’s lawsuit will be adjudicated in court, her allegations should be taken seriously, especially within the context of a movement that has actively sought to discredit people of color who call out racism and has made little more than a token effort to engage people of color in positions of leadership.  Despite frequent tokenistic calls for “diversity” within the “movement”, there are virtually no people of color in executive management positions in any of the major secular/atheist/humanist organizations.  Further, when people of color are constantly bombarded with bullshit claims from Internet cowards about separatism, reverse discrimination and “self-segregation” when they point to the absence of social justice, anti-racist community organizing, coalition-building and visibility (outside of white suburbs and gentrified urban centers) amongst secular organizations, it merely underscores the burning need for authentic real-time grassroots organizations of color beyond the mainstream atheist power structure.

Earlier this year, Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA) spearheaded its First in the Family Humanist Scholarship initiative, which focuses on providing resources to undocumented, foster care, homeless and LGBTQ youth who will be the first in their families to go to college.  Responding directly to the school-to-prison pipeline crisis in communities of color, BSLA is the first atheist organization to specifically address college pipelining for youth of color with an explicitly anti-racist multicultural emphasis. If current prison pipelining trends persist the Education Trust estimates that only “one of every 20 African American kindergartners will graduate from a four-year California university” in the next decade.

We received applications from outstanding South Los Angeles students who are challenging racism, sexism, homophobia and injustice in their schools and communities.  Thanks to generous support from the secular community* and beyond, our winning 2013 applicants below will receive $1000 scholarships to assist with their tuition, room/board, books and other academic resources. Our scholars will receive their awards on July 13th in Los Angeles. Due to this year’s success, BSLA is partnering with other secular organizations to make the scholarship initiative a national effort.

As part of their essay requirement for the scholarship, applicants were asked to talk about how Humanism related to social justice activism:

Jamion Allen, Washington Prep HS (El Camino College)

Jamion Allen, BSLA scholar

“In my experience doing peer education workshops, I often find that  the homophobic views of young men of color are rooted in religious homophobic speech as well as the image that society sets that says it is wrong to be gay.  I have come to believe that what is actually wrong is the acceptance of racist, sexist and homophobic depictions of ourselves.  Humanism means freedom from the layers of lies we’ve been told to believe.”

Philip Aubrey, King-Drew Medical Magnet (Babson College, MA)

Phillip Aubrey, BSLA scholar

King-Drew college counselor Lisa Golden writes of Phillip, “There have been few times in my 26-year career when exceptional brilliance has come in the form of a 17 year-old extraordinary package.”  Philip is a foster care youth and peer counselor with a 3.91 GPA who took six Advanced Placement courses (in Environmental Science, Calculus, Psychology, English and Government) during his senior year.  He has shown leadership as a mentor of other young men and as an entrepreneur with his own small clothing line.  This year he was a member of the UCLA VIPS scholar program and will attend Babson College this fall as a business major:

“One very important issue I would like to fix in my community is the matriculation rate of black and brown men. For the last two summers I have been at UCLA studying the barriers that inhibit minority males from advancing on to college. These barriers include gender congruency, incarceration rates and the list goes on of why black and brown males specifically have a harder time of going on to college.  I plan to leave my footprint on Earth by creating a school which will cater to black and brown men and encourage the social, cultural and educational growth of every student at the school.”

Hugo Cervantes, King-Drew Medical Magnet (UC Riverside)

Hugo Cervantes, BSLA scholar

Hugo is an undocumented youth and honors student who will attend the University of California, Riverside in the fall.  He is a member of Nuestras Raices, an organization that provides music and dance classes to children and young adults.  Hugo has performed at the James Armstrong Theatre, Disneyland, and other venues. He also volunteers in the classroom as a teacher’s aide.  Hugo aspires to be a novelist and receive a Fulbright scholarship, like his inspiration Sylvia Plath:

“The freedom riders’ brave rides through the Deep South for equality and today’s LGBT and DREAMer movement are examples of humanism: fighting for equality through vehicles of compassion…Hate can be broken through compassion–the profound self-realization that we are all equal and deserve to be treated equal.” 

Victory Yates, Washington Prep HS (California State University, Long Beach)

Victory Yates, BSLA scholar

Victory is a former foster care youth and Women’s Leadership Project activist.  She graduated from Washington Prep High School with honors and was a member of Legacy Ladies, ASB Leadership and several other youth leadership organizations on campus.  After graduating from CSULB she would like to pursue a career as a juvenile justice attorney and advocate:

“As a senior at Washington Preparatory High School, I’ve found that violence, low expectations, and destructive behavior are normalized.  No one thinks twice when they see or hear young women verbally abused by the violence that engulfs our school or community. I don’t feel safe because of the indecent behavior some men exhibit and the way they treat young women like prostitutes. Recently, a woman going to the carport in my apartment got raped. My future non-profit organization will set out to empower youth of color so they can live better lives and advance their communities. I want to transform low-income communities into safer places, places where youth will no longer admire gangs and youth will rise above drug use and abuse. As a believer in humanism, I think that it’s everyone’s moral obligation to address these injustices.  I’m proud to have been involved with the Women’s Leadership Project. I became involved because I just can’t sit idle.”

BSLA says thank you again to all of the generous donors who made this initiative possible! 

*Partial Donor list

American Humanist Association

Foundation Beyond Belief

Black Non-Believers of Chicago

Steven Lawrence

Heather Aubry

Donald Wright

Joseph Sawyer

Gordon McCormick

Stephanie Leroy

Lachlan Monsted

Mya Riemer

Julie Hutchison

Colin Clark

Arthur Butterwick

Shawn Stewart

Adriana Heguy

Mary Rotenberg

Marilee Cornelius

Natalie Cain

Julian Gudger

M. Wilson

Ulrike Dunlap

Sarah Brunner

Brandon Lynge

Ayanna Watson

David Marjanovic

Ericka Mauter

Michael Lightsmith

Daron Scott

Rebecca Watson

PZ Myers

Ian Cromwell

Karen Tripp

Lisa Lozo

Jesse Daw

Justin Nelson

Amelia Pergl

Debbie Goddard

Carmelo Jarquin

John Santos

Reginald Finley

Stephanie Zvan

Monette Richards

Mark Henn

Amanda Rose

Jennifer Dyer

Vincenzo Averello

Eliana Bool

Louis Doen

Adam Marczyk

Sarah Molasky

Allison Paraham

Brittany Welsh

Michelle Kothe

Felicity Kusinitz

Greg Cheong

Daniel Dashevsky

Arjan Hoem

Therese Noraon

Read the rest of this entry »

Sikivu w/Black Skeptics L.A. @ CFI-L.A.

By Dr. Kamela Heyward-Rotimi, Osun State University, Nigeria

Today is the beginning of the trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida last year. Martin’s killing elicited a firestorm over whether race and racism were still alive and well in the U.S. While some whites in Sanford and beyond “wonder” why this “clear” case of “Stand Your Ground” is even going to trial, Martin’s family must endure the defense’s character assassinations seeking to smear Martin as a violent drug-abusing marauder invading a tranquil white suburb. Yesterday, at the CFI book release event for Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels there was a heated discussion about whether racism deters people of color from joining predominantly white organizations. This morning we received this cowardly example of white supremacist tripe from the online lynch mob:

A new comment on the post “Abortion on Demand and Without Apology” is waiting
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Of course obama is against abortions and especially black abortions.
Hes looking to expand the democrat party and build more jails, baby sambos and
crackhead mommas will expand the numbers of both.
Muh Dikk!

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By Frederick Sparks

Alton T. Lemon, a civil rights activist who lent his name to a landmark Supreme Court case, died on May 4, 2013 in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. He was 84

Mr Lemon, who held a degree in mathematics from Morehouse and was friendly with fellow Morehouse alum Martin Luther King, Jr., was the lead named plaintiff in Lemon v. Kurtzman, which found unconstitutional a 1968 Pennsylvania law authorizing public funds to be used for secular courses at religious school.  The decision later came to be a part of the “Lemon test” used to in cases alleging violations of the Establishment Clause through government support of religion.  The test requires that the Court  “consider whether the challenged government practice has a secular purpose, whether its primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion, and whether it fosters excessive government entanglement with religion..”   The test was used in the Dover intelligent design case, as well as cases dealing with school prayer.

I studied the Lemon test in law school but do not remember learning much background about the plaintiff involved, or the racial context related to resistance to public school desegregation which was behind the push to shift resources to private religious schools.

Mr Lemon had more recently lamented the erosion of church/state separation: “Separation of church and state is gradually losing ground, I regret to say.”

Call For Papers

NEW ANTHOLOGY

Women of Color Beyond Faith: Freethought, Feminism and Social Justice

Editors: Sikivu Hutchinson and Kimberly Veal

Historically, women of color have been more religious than white women.  According to the Pew Research Survey, at 87% and 85% respectively, African American and Latino women represent the largest and most committed group of believers in the United States.  Women of color have long used the church as a vehicle for political organizing, coalition-building, social uplift, and personal growth.  For many women of color, faith plays a huge role in therapeutic healing and emotional restoration.  Bucking male dominated patriarchal institutions such as the Black Church, the Catholic Church, and Latino Pentecostal denominations, women of color have assumed leadership roles in faith-based movements.  Progressive religious traditions have informed women’s resistance to and complicity with the dominant culture; often providing a means of redressing the effects of racism, white supremacy, segregation, and economic injustice.  The absence of alternative secular spaces and sites of political agency in communities of color is directly related to race, class, income, wealth, and geographic inequities.  Because of these factors, secular community organizing has not been an avenue that women of color could pursue in any significant numbers.  Consequently, there is very little documentation of early women of color freethinkers, atheists or humanists in the U.S.  What little scholarship has been done focuses narrowly on the Harlem Renaissance and, to a far lesser extent, the civil rights and Black Power movement eras.  While the work of Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, and Alice Walker offer rich insight into the world view of African American humanist women writers, Larsen and Hurston have virtually no contemporaries in either academia or the literary world.  Nonetheless, women of color have emerged as some of the strongest voices in American atheism.  This anthology will offer an important corrective to this lacuna.  Going beyond basic questions of the challenges women of color non-believers face, it will articulate a vision of humanist social and gender justice that is firmly situated in the politics of anti-racism, anti-heterosexism, and anti-imperialism.  The essays in this collection will address some of the following questions:

1. How do feminist and humanist social thought converge?

2. What is the historical scope of women of color secularism?

3. What are  the historical tensions between white/European American feminism and women of color feminism, especially as they pertain to humanism and secularism?

4. How do  women of color secularists coalition-build across lines of race, gender,  sexual orientation and religion?

5.  What tensions exist between women of color feminism, the Black Church, the Catholic Church and other religious institutions?

6. How can humanism be made culturally relevant and what does humanist education look like in K-12?

7. How can secular and humanist pedagogies redress institutional heterosexism and hetero-normativity?

8. What role do freethought, humanism and/or atheism play in articulating lesbian/same gender loving and queer women of color subjectivities?

9. What role do humanism and secularism play in reproductive justice in communities of color?

10. How can a humanist stance inform struggles against economic injustice and racial segregation?

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: September 30, 2013

For more information contact: [email protected]

By Sikivu Hutchinson

High stakes test question: A female science student conducts an experiment with chemicals that explodes in a classroom, causes no damage and no injuries.  Who gets to be the adventurous teenage genius mad scientist and who gets to be the criminal led away in handcuffs facing two felonies to juvenile hall? If you’re a white girl check Box A, if you’re an intellectually curious black girl with good grades check Box B.  When 16 year-old Kiera Wilmot was arrested and expelled from Bartow high school in Florida for a science experiment gone awry it exemplified a long American-as-apple pie tradition of criminalizing black girls.  In many American classrooms black children are treated like ticking time bomb savages, shoved into special education classes, disproportionately suspended and expelled then warehoused in opportunity schools, juvenile jails and adult prisons.  Yet, while national discourse on the connection between school discipline and mass incarceration typically focuses on black males, black girls are suspended more than boys of every other ethnicity (except black males).  At a Georgia elementary school in 2012 a six year-old African American girl was handcuffed by the police after throwing a tantrum in the principal’s office.[i]  Handcuffing disruptive black elementary school students is not uncommon.  It is perhaps the most extreme example of black children’s initiation into what has been characterized as the school-to-prison pipeline, or, more accurately, the cradle to grave pipeline.  Stereotypes about dysfunctional violent black children ensure that the myth of white children’s relative innocence is preserved.

Nationwide, black children spend more time in the dean’s office, more time being opportunity transferred to other campuses and more time cycling in and out of juvenile detention facilities than children of other ethnicities.  Conservatives love to attribute this to poverty, broken homes, and the kind of Bell Curve dysfunction that demonizes “welfare queens” who pop out too many babies.  Yet there is no compelling evidence that socioeconomic differences play a decisive role in these disparities.[ii]  The fact remains that black children are criminalized by racist discipline policies regardless of whether they’re privileged “Cosby kids” or are in foster care or homeless shelters.  According to Daniel Losen and Russell Skiba, authors of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Suspended Education” report, “ethnic and racial disproportionately in discipline persists even when poverty and other demographic factors are controlled.[iii]

National research such as the Southern Poverty Law Center’s study and the Indiana Education Policy Center’s 2000 “The Color of Discipline” report has consistently shown that black students do not, in fact, “offend” at higher rates than their white and Latino counterparts.[iv] Middle class African American students in higher income schools are also disproportionately suspended.  This implies that black students are perceived by adults as more viscerally threatening.  “The Color of Discipline” report found that black students were more likely to be referred out of class for lower level offenses such as excessive noise, disrespect, loitering and “threat.”[v]  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “race and gender disparities in suspension were due not to differences in administrative disposition but to differences in the rate of initial referral of black and white students.”

When it comes to black girls, the widespread perception that they are dangerous, hostile and ineducable is promoted and reinforced by mainstream media portrayals.  Historically, black women have never been regarded as anybody’s “fairer sex” because white women have always been the universal standard for femininity, humanity, and moral worth.  On contemporary TV and in film, heroic white women abound as “new” models of bold, adventurous, breakthrough femininity.  Writing on “women’s” TV portrayals recently in the L.A. Times, Mary McNamara gushed about how the current crop of small screen female protagonists were complexly layered, Read the rest of this entry »