Blacks say atheists were unseen civil rights heroes

. . . A strain of unbelief runs across African-American history, said Anthony Pinn, a Rice University professor and author of a book about African-American humanists. He points to figures like Hubert Henry Harrison, an early 20th- century activist who equated religion with slavery, and W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the NAACP, who was often critical of black churches.

Lorraine HansberryRichard WrightLangston Hughes— they were all critical of belief in God,” Pinn said. “They provided a foundation for nontheistic participation in social struggle.”

But they are often ignored in the narrative of American history, sacrificed to the myth that the achievements of the civil rights movement were the accomplishments of religious — mainly Christian — people. . . .

African American Atheists

Sunday’s [annual] “Day of Solidarity for Black Nonbelievers”, will include a remembrance of African-American atheists of the past, including:

James Baldwin (1924-1987), poet, playwright, civil rights activist
W.E.B DuBois (1868-1963), co-founder of the NAACP
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), playwright and journalist
Hubert Henry Harrison (1883-1927), activist, educator, writer
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979), labor organizer
Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), journalist and historian
Richard Wright (1908-1960), novelist and author

Read more . . .

Prick Santorum: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled against one of my many bigoted delusions, and it’s beyond my realm of willfully ignorant literalism to comprehend why such reasoned persons would do such a thing. Ah fuck it, just Google me!


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The Electoral Wasteland

In barely a century’s time, the population of the United States has more than tripled, to 313 million. We are a clattering, opinionated cluster of nearly all the world’s races and religions, and many of its languages, under one flag.

You would not know any of this looking at who is voting in one of the strangest presidential primary campaigns in history. There is no other way to put this without resorting to demographic bluntness: the small fraction of Americans who are trying to pick the Republican [i.e., Reactionary] nominee are old, white, uniformly Christian [i.e., willfully ignorant literalists] and unrepresentative of the nation at large.

None of that is a surprise. But when you look at the numbers, it’s stunning how  little this Republican [i.e., Reactionary] primary electorate resembles the rest of the United States.  They are much closer to the population of 1890 than of 2012.

Read more . . . 

Wallace Shawn reads Howard Zinn

Actor Wallace Shawn reads the speech of historian Howard Zinn given at Johns Hopkins University on Civil Disobedience, November 1970. Part of a reading from Voices of a People’s History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove) May 2, 2007 in New York, NY. 

You don’t own me

There’s a basic, historical misunderstanding at the root of modern Republican [i.e., Reactionary] philosophy. A little fact that seems to get overlooked. It’s not their insistence that the road to fascism begins with good health care. It’s not even the pretense that President Obama somehow masterminded an economic collapse, bank bailout, and massive deficit weeks, months or years before he came into office. No, the incident that the GOP [i.e., Global Oppression Party] has let slip is a little more basic.

The South lost[!] [emphasis mine]

See, Republicans [i.e., Reactionaries] seem to have mistaken “wage slavery” for . . . that other kind of slavery. They must have, because anyone who understood that workers are employees, and not property, would recognize that workers have rights. . . .

As an employer, you have the absolute right to religious freedom [NOT religious privilege]. Attend any church, temple, synagogue or reading room you like. Give as you feel obligated. Worship as you please. Place on yourself any restriction in diet, activity or anything else that you feel is in keeping with your beliefs . . . but only on yourself. You don’t get to impose these restrictions on your employees. 

Read more . . .