We are always excited about welcoming speakers to our platforms. They enrich our programs, broaden our understanding of complex topics and bring new perspectives to our discussions. To learn more about our platforms and how to join us, please visit our calendar on our home page or click HERE.
Please note: The opinions of the speakers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BSEC. BSEC takes no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions in the content, including any copyright infringement.
-
Solidarity Economy: Ethical Path to Social Justice
with Rebecca Lurie.
The Solidarity Economy (SE) is a term used globally and locally by people who work cooperatively, with anti-racist and anti-colonialist values, with compassion and empathy, to build the systems and culture we need while we have so much to oppose. Some refer to it as pre-figuring, or how we “be the change”. Felix Adler referred to the Ethical Manifold, understanding that everything is connected and when we work for peace in one place it can connect for structural solutions in other places. Longtime member of BSEC and community activist Rebecca Lurie works to promote and strengthen the Solidarity Economy and will speak on how it exists today, in Brooklyn, and how we, at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, can be a part of it. And in some cases, how we already are!
---------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
The Radical Martin Luther King We Do Not Know
With Ethical Leader Dr. Joe Chuman.
Most Americans know Martin Luther King from the last refrains of his “I Have A Dream Speech.” But Martin Luther King was more than a dreamer, and he certainly wasn’t dreamy. He has been honored with a national holiday. But the best way to turn a person into an innocuous figure is to transform him or her into a notional icon to be celebrated in accordance with the least common denominator of acceptability. King was far more radical than the official version. This address will explain how.
Dr. Joe Chuman is an Ethical Culture leader, activist, educator, and writer.
He has been a part-time leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture since 2088. He retired two year ago after serving for 46 years as the leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County New Jersey. Joe has two masters degrees and a doctorate in the philosophy of religion from Columbia University. He taught courses in Human Rights in the Graduate School of Arts and Science of Columbia University for 20 years, and Human Rights for almost as long at Hunter College. He has also taught Human Rights on five occasions at the United Nations University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Joe has written scores of articles for newspapers, journals of opinions, encyclopedias as well as many book chapters. His text “Speaking of Ethics” is a series of essays based on Ethical Culture platform addresses. For the past two years, Joe has written more than 80 extensive essays on Substack on current political, social, and philosophical issues. His articles have been reproduced in magazines, and used in schools.
As an activist, Joe has worked in the fields of human rights, civil liberties, community relations and more. He is the founder of the Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition, a non-profit organization that provides a comprehensive range of humanitarian services, including housing, for asylum seekers.
------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Public Education Under Attack with Juliana Paré-Blagoev
On January 6, 2023, Governor DeSantis of Florida launched a takeover of a small public liberal arts college, New College of Florida, promising to turn it into the “Hillsdale of the South”. Since the New College takeover, more than 1500 articles and news media reports have been produced. Why all the fuss about a school with less than 700 students? In this talk, I explore why DeSantis chose New College for a takeover and why the connection to the private religious Hillsdale College with an impressive resumé of far-right donors is significant. Join this platform to hear from a New College alum about how and why the community has organized to resist this authoritarian takeover. What is happening at New College won’t stay at New College; analysis of the events and players establish there are massive implications for the entire public education system from kindergarten through university. For interested audience members, an invitation is extended for follow-up to-be-scheduled discussion that will be action-oriented.
In 1994, Juliana Paré-Blagoev dedicated her undergraduate thesis about Public School Choice to “something as yet unknown”. Now, her alma mater, New College of Florida, has become a reluctant symbol of ideologically driven efforts to undermine the very existence of a public liberal arts higher education that can prepare critically thinking citizens for membership in a participatory democracy. As an education researcher with 30 years experience, she has conducted brain and behavioral studies of skill and language, classroom based partnership work to develop and test curricula, and participatory research with families affected by pediatric cancer. Currently, she is an Associate Clinical Professor at the Johns Hopkins University where she is also President of the JHU Advocacy Chapter of the American Association of Research Professors. Juliana completed her Masters at Tufts University and her doctorate at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. She is the delighted mother of three children, only two of whom are still teenagers.
---------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Humanist Family Life Ceremonies with Anne Klaeysen
Join Dr. Anne Klaeysen for a “sneak peek” at a new online course for the American Humanist Association Center for Education. Written in collaboration with the NY Society's Ethics for Children Director Audrey Kindred, “Humanist Family Life Ceremonies” is a guide to creating ceremonies and practices within a Humanist context, for individuals and families of all kinds to express their relationships and values.
------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
From Calvin to Mao and Beyond with Edgar Porter
In this talk with Edgar A. Porter, he discusses his 2023 memoir on growing up Presbyterian in apartheid, Jim Crow south, then leaving there to engage in progressive political movements and international education in China, Japan, Hawaii and Austria.
“Late in his memoir From Calvin to Mao and Beyond, Edgar Porter describes joining a demonstration with his wife to protest the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and his sons’ feeling of embarrassment to see their parents engaged in protest. This is why Porter’s memoir is so important: it explains for future generations how his own Boomer generation evolved through struggles against racism, the Vietnam War, and myriad forms of oppression, both at home and internationally. I believe the book will be an important resource for future scholars interested in the social and political events of the mid to late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It is also a tremendously fun read. What an amazing life!”
– John Lawson, Professor of English (retired), Robert Morris University.
Edgar A. Porter has served as a teacher and administrator in China, Hawaii, Austria, and Japan. He holds the position of Professor Emeritus at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu Japan where he served as Dean of Academic Affairs and Pro-Vice President for International Relations. Prior to that he served as Dean of the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Hawaii. He is the author or editor of six books in the area of International Education, Asian biography, and oral history. His memoir, From Calvin to Mao and Beyond, was published in April, 2023 by St. Andrews University Press. Additionally, he writes political opinion pieces which have appeared in USA Today affiliates The Tennessean, Memphis Commercial Appeal and Knoxville News-Sentinel, among other publications. Originally a native of Tennessee, he currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where he writes fiction and non-fiction. He is married to Ran Ying Porter, a novelist, researcher, and translator.
-------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
The Person Before You: Reflections on Worth with Leader Mike Franch
Part 2 of the Creating a Life of Ethical Purpose” Series.
Ethical Culture puts a high value on the concept of worth. Felix Adler, our founder, made it central to his philosophy, and took great pains to distinguish it from “value.” This can be challenging. Do we have to treat everyone as a person of worth and dignity? That can be challenging. Adler acknowledged that this can be really hard to do! To complicate things, sometimes we see race or gender expression or social status, but not the totality of the person. If we really believe in worth and dignity, how do we live our lives? Dr. Michael S. Franch is an Ethical Culture Leader and an affiliate minister at Batimore’s First Unitarian Church. Trained as a historian, Mike served as Leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society before working in health policy and planning for the Maryland Department of Health. He is now a retired old guy. He plays the concertina, loves English country and contra dancing, and urban bicycling. He is a board member of the Baltimore City Historical Society and the Green Burial Association of Maryland. He is an active member of the National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union.
Dr. Michael S. Franch is an Ethical Culture Leader and an affiliate minister at Baltimore’s First Unitarian Church. Trained as a historian, Mike served as Leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society before working in health policy and planning for the Maryland Department of Health. He is now a retired old guy. He plays the concertina, loves English country and contra dancing, and urban bicycling. He is a board member of the Baltimore City Historical Society and the Green Burial Association of Maryland. He is an active member of the National Leaders Council of the American Ethical Union.
Presider: Anne Klaeysen
---------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Building resilient communities in a digital age
In the past 25 years, 40 million people have left the Christian churches of the United States.
Most of those who have ceased attending have become more secular. This trend hasn’t restricted itself to Christianity, and the number of unaffiliated Jews and even Mormons has also declined though not as precipitously. This great dechurching is perhaps the most profound religious shift that has taken place in our country’s history. On the face of it, secularly minded people may wish to celebrate this, after all, that many less people heed the siren call of religious authority and its unscientific beliefs, but as humanists, I believe we would be very wrong to do so. The social capital that has been lost due to this dechurching is incalculable. It is a tragedy of unimaginable magnitude. Communities that gave structure and meaning to people’s lives, that provided people with safety nets and friends to rely upon, have disappeared and consequently, people’s mental health has deteriorated, life expectancy has gone down, and we’ve suffered loneliness in epidemic proportions. In this talk, I will talk about the reason for this shift and offer some thoughts on how to create resilient communities.
Tzemah Yoreh is one of the intellectual leaders of Jewish humanism and the head of the City Congregation in New York City. He attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he obtained his Ph.D. in biblical criticism in 2004. He earned a second Ph.D. in Ancient Wisdom Literature from the University of Toronto for the joy of studying ancient text. His most popular books are ‘Why Abraham Murdered Isaac: The First Stories of the Bible Revealed’, and ‘So Compassionate it Hurts: My Life as a Rabbi on the Spectrum’.
---------------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Sources of Renewal: Recharging Our Ethical Batteries with Bart Worden
In this talk the Westchester Community for Ethical Culture’s clergy leader, Bart Worden, will share some ways he’s been exploring to expand one’s capacity for ethical living without depleting one’s energy for good.
With so many sources of stress and strain in our current environment just keeping our heads above water may seem a herculean task – and maybe it is. But herculean does not necessarily mean impossible. And Ethical Humanism is dedicated to finding and making good use of possibilities. So, how does one find the reserves to cope with the challenges of life and, better still, to do so in ways that promote compassion, equity and joy in our communities and in the larger society?
----------------------
About Bart Worden
Bart Worden is the Executive Director for the American Ethical Union and the Clergy Leader for the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester in White Plains, New York. Bart has also worked extensively in the area of community behavioral health as direct care provider, program developer, and administrator. Bart’s recent social justice efforts have focused on addressing bias and discrimination in communities in Westchester County, and he is a member of the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform and the 400 Years Project – a countywide coalition. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy of Religion from Hope College, a master’s degree in Social Work from New York University, and is a graduate of the Humanist Studies Program.
------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Pride! Celebration, Love, Sorrow and Change with Lujira Cooper
Time to celebrate the start of Gay Pride month and to honor how we find love and joy in times of struggle, loss, and change as a community going through changes of our own.
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Considering Ethical Humanism & Other Isms with Louise Jett
Felix Adler to Modern Ethical Humanism – Part 7
What is the future of Ethical Humanism? Where do you see the movement going? Let’s explore modern Humanism and talk about new ideas and approaches to living our values. We will discuss bioethics and loving perspectives that will help us focus on not only our future but the future of all living creatures on spaceship Earth.
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
60 Years Since the Dawning of the Modern Environmental Movement with Ned Sullivan
In almost six decades since, Scenic Hudson and partner organizations have mobilized people throughout the region and nation to fight against environmentally damaging projects and to advance land conservation, park creation, and natural resource restoration in our rural and urban areas. Ned will discuss past and ongoing projects and campaigns that demonstrate the power of communities and individuals working together to protect the magnificent beauty and ecological integrity of the Hudson Valley from threats, including climate change.
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Cultivating Creativity & Ethical Humor with Louise Jett
Felix Adler to Modern Ethical Humanism – Part 5
Creativity and humor help us cultivate meaning and bring joy into our lives. How can we harness the power of creativity to grow our movement and reach new audiences? Where can we find Humanism (or our values) in popular culture? What historical and modern creative Humanists can we study for inspiration?
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Amplifying Voices of Color – Ethical Culture & Black History with Louise Jett
Under Ethical Culture Founder Felix Adler’s leadership, the voices of prominent civil rights leaders were amplified within our congregations. People of color were given space within Ethical Culture to share ideas and advocate for equality. During this Platform Address, we will discuss the connections between our movement and Black history.
----
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Reason, Discussion, Compassion – Women in Ethical Humanism with Louise Jett
Women have helped shape Ethical Humanism into the movement it is today, and they continue to impact and lead our congregations. During this Platform Address, we will take a deep dive into the women Humanists who championed our values and strived to make the world a more just and fairer place for all people.
--------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Speaking Compassion: An Introduction to Non-Violent Communication
With Clara Moisello, PhD
Nonviolent Communication (NVC, also known as Compassionate Communication) was originated by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD (1934 – 2015) and has evolved over decades to provide a unique set of skills and practices aimed at increasing the quality of connection and compassion that we experience in any relationship, including the one with ourselves. NVC is currently being used all over the world to bring peace and compassion to personal, professional and international relationships. This workshop will introduce the core principles and practices that Dr Rosenberg originated to help people think, speak and hear others with a focus on needs. Such skills, in turn, can empower people to relate to themselves and one another with compassion and ultimately to create more peace in their lives and in the world.
Clara Moisello, PhD, embraced Nonviolent Communication as part of a journey of self- discovery and transformation that began once she left her home in Italy in 2006 to pursue her doctoral studies in New York. While still working as a neuroscience researcher at CUNY, Clara became actively involved in supporting the New York Center for Nonviolent Communication (NYCNVC), participating in and facilitating practice groups and workshops and training under the mentorship of the founder Thom Bond. Eventually, this led her to a major life and career shift. As of today, Clara has completed over 1000 hours of NVC training and supports NYCNVC as trainer, mentor and executive. Her passion and former work as neuroscientist informs and inspires all her activities.
-----------------------------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Simba Yangala from Jungledom
Simba Yangala, from Jungledom, performing on our platform in February 2023.
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Home Share — Benefit and Pitfalls
Social isolation is one of the dangers of growing older. Lessened mobility combined with the loss of family and friends and it’s easy for a person living alone to spend lots of time alone. Sharing housing is a good solution. Come learn more about how this option might work for you or someone you know.
Annamarie Pluhar, M.Div. advocates for adults, especially older singles, to have a “home-mate,” someone with whom they can share a home with other(s) for the benefits of cost, company, cooperation, and comfort. She is the founder of the nonprofit, Sharing Housing, Inc. and the author of Sharing Housing, A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates. She has 30 years’ experience in corporate and non-profit consulting, group facilitation, training development and delivery and is a graduate of Vassar College and The Episcopal Divinity School. She lived in Brooklyn from 1960-1965 and in Manhattan from 1965-1970. She now lives in Dummerston, Vermont with one two-legged and two four-legged housemates.
--------------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
From Felix Adler to Modern Ethical Humanism Series ( Part 1) with Louise Jett
Ethical Foundations – Felix Adler & the Birth of a Movement
Ethical Culture Founder Felix Adler strived to create a movement that was free of supernatural underpinnings and dogma, one that would focus on the intrinsic worth and dignity of people. Adler envisioned communities that are committed to living ethically and dedicated to moral action in the absence of eternal rewards or damnations. Alder’s vision led to the birth of our movement.
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
#ThisIsFlatbush! Fighting Back Against the Corporate Rebranding of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Founded in 2013, Equality for Flatbush (E4F) is a Black/POC-led, grassroots organization that was created in direct response to the increase in tenant and police harassment due to gentrification, particularly in Crown Heights, Flatbush, and East Flatbush.
Imani Keith Henry is a long-time anti-police brutality, anti-war, anti-death penalty, LGBTQ, and Harm Reduction activist in the US. In 2013, Imani founded Equality for Flatbush (E4F) a Black/POC-led, grassroots organization that does police accountability, affordable housing, and anti-gentrification/anti-displacement organizing Brooklyn-wide.
http://bsec.org -
Pat Berkman, Brooklyn Ethical Alumni
http://bsec.org
Pat Berkman talks about her experiences as an alumni of the Ethical Society schools.
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Building the Peace Movement in Brooklyn with Michaela Czerkies
Past, Present, and Future of Brooklyn For Peace: Our LOCAL Peace and Justice Organization.
Brooklyn For Peace has been committed to eliminating war since the organization’s founding in 1984, by actively educating and empowering our community to be a productive force in building a world where peace is the first response to conflict. Michaela Czerkies, Brooklyn For Peace’s new Executive Director, will speak about Brooklyn For Peace’s history, discuss the organization’s current activities, and share their vision for moving forward amidst the challenges and opportunities faced by the peace movement today.
Michaela Czerkies has been organizing for peace and progressive US foreign policies since 2014, beginning as a student organizer with University at Albany Peace Action. She worked for several years with the Syracuse Peace Council, focusing particularly on advocacy campaigns for justice in Palestine and nuclear disarmament. She has additionally been involved in efforts to cut US military spending and to promote diplomatic US policies toward Yemen, Iran, and Afghanistan.
http://bsec.org -
War from the Other Side
The universality of humanity is exposed in the oral histories retold by the author of Japanese Reflections on WWII.
"...the Porters have woven together the memories of students and factory workers, nurses and midwives, teachers, sailors and kamikaze pilots to create a rare account of ordinary life during extraordinary times in the Japanese countryside...Ultimately, Japanese Reflections on World War II is a clear picture of how the tragedy and suffering of war affect ordinary people and their perceptions." (from Japan Times -book review)
Edgar Porter has worked in higher education in four countries; Japan, United States, China, and Austria. He holds a doctorate in Education from Vanderbilt University and an Honorary Doctorate from the Mongolian Academy of Governance.
Most of his adult life has been spent in China, Hawaii, and Japan. His publications are in the area of biography and oral history, They include: The People’s Doctor: George Hatem and China’s Revolution, Journalism from Tiananmen, Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation, China in Oceania, and Foreign Teachers in China: Old Problems for a New Generation.
He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where he writes fiction and non-fiction. He is married to Ran Ying Porter, co-author, novelist, researcher, and translator.
http://bsec.org -
Salem Witch Trials, Roots for Humanism and Felix Adler with Tyler Lurie-Spicer
From the Salem witch trials to the modern humanist and Ethical culture movements.
Accompany us for an adventure across archives of America's academic elite and beyond. From the rabbinical rejection of Felix Adler to Harvard's hellish minister and the ancestry of A.D. White, this talk will go beyond the pious puritans of the Salem witch trials to explore Victorian resistance to religion, creepy contradictions, and the secrets of a society in the making.
Tyler Lurie-Spicer is an ethical humanist who grew up in the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and has just begun to sit on the Board of Directors. As a young person, he was active in the Children's program, Youth of Ethical Societies, and the Future of Ethical Societies. Currently, at Cornell University, Tyler recently worked in the Society for the Humanities where he looked after the home of Cornell's first president, Andrew Dickson White.
http://bsec.org -
The Accidental Eco-Geek with Jeremy Griffiths
Everyone understands the urgency of addressing climate change, but few of us have the opportunity to make a significant and measurable impact.
Jeremy Griffiths will tell how he is applying his long and varied business experience, and knowledge of new technologies to help bring renewables, sustainability, resilience, and eco-agriculture to Puerto Rico.
Bio:
Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture member Jeremy Griffiths is a Chemical Engineer and English Chartered Accountant.
He has worked as CFO at several large UK and US companies and with non-profits, including as a financial consultant to the United Nations on the investigation in the Oil for Food program led by Paul Volcker. Presently he runs a private equity fund with a partner and a unique eco-agriculture endeavor in Puerto Rico.
http://bsec.org -
Move to Amend
Corporations are not people and they are undermining our democracy!
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and other related decisions. MOVE TO AMEND our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Move to Amend's petition can be found at:
https://www.movetoamend.org/motion
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth.
http://bsec.org -
Humanism on Campus with Anne Klaeysen
Although more students are religiously unaffiliated, there are only a few ‘Humanists’ serving their needs on campuses of higher education. This needs to change.
About Anne Klaeysen
A retired clergy leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, Anne serves as a chaplain at Columbia University and New York University. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Hebrew Union College and masters’ degrees in German from SUNY Albany and in business administration from NYU. She is a member of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture where she was married and raised her two children.
http://bsec.org -
VOCAL FOREVER! A permanent home for justice, compassion and love.
How a local grassroots organization struggled (and is winning) to remain in its neighborhood.
Executive Director, Alyssa Aguilera, will share their story of how this local grassroots organization of those impacted by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration and homelessness struggled (and is winning) to remain in its neighborhood in Park Slope!
VOCAL (voices of community activists and leaders)-NY a 22-year old grassroots organization to build power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration and homelessness in order to create healthy and just communities.
http://bsec.org -
The Right to be Heard & to Vote for Black People in the South in the 1960's.
A Lucy's Children Presentation.
Many things can be said about "The Movement" and its functioning in the Deep South in the 1960s. Our target was the right to vote for Black people. The vote is fundamental and irreplaceable in a democracy. Voting work has tangents, the activity doesn't stay in one place nor is the activity simply one thing. The counter-action was strong! Nonetheless, through all of that white-savage hatred, "The Movement" managed to prevail.
Here we are some 60 years later, having some of those same conversations about voting: the wishes, and duties on behalf of the citizenry being at the heart of the matter. Some would reverse time and others of us will press ever forward.
Movement Veterans in Discussion of Their Experiences
Marion Cunningham - Nurse, Medical Committee for Human Rights
Dorothy Zellner - frontline demonstrator, field and office administration
Muriel Tillinghast - frontline demonstrator, field and office worker
http://bsec.org -
Pandemic History, Present and Future with Emily Bass
A book talk and discussion with Emily Bass, author of “To End a Plague: America’s Fight to Defeat AIDS in Africa”. In this interactive event, Bass, the author of the first comprehensive history of America's investment in fighting global AIDS, will read from her book and then engage the audience in a discussion about what the history of transnational AIDS activism accomplished, what remains undone, and what lessons can be applied to the present Covid-19 and “pandemic preparedness” agendas. Touching on legislative histories, activist intervention, “recipient country” agency in developing and implementing successful programs, and the crucial role of civil society in global governance, this event will search the historical record for the roadmap for a more just, equitable future”.
Emily Bass has spent more than twenty years writing about and working on HIV/AIDS in America and East and Southern Africa. Published in July 2021, her first book, “To End a Plague: America’s Fight to End AIDS in Africa," chronicles the transnational activism that impelled the United States to launch the largest pandemic-fighting effort in the history of the country–and the world. Bass’s writing has appeared in numerous books and publications including Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Lancet, Esquire, and n+1, and she has received a notable mention in Best American Essays. A lifelong social justice activist, Bass has helped create and launch transnational activist coalitions bridging the US, East and Southern Africa, with a focus on securing comprehensive, rights-based health care for all. She has served as an external expert for the World Health Organization and a member of the What Would an HIV Doula Do collective. She is the recipient of a Fulbright journalism fellowship and a Martin Duberman Visiting Research Fellowship from the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Dec 5, 2011
http://bsec.org -
Worker-Owned Cooperatives - What's Solidarity Got to Do with It?
To celebrate International Workers Day we will welcome Gale Johnson from the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, (NYCNOWC), and a worker-owner at Brooklyn Hopewell Cooperative. She will speak on the joys and struggles of work when you own the company with others, collaborate with deep purpose and passion and have to make it work in an economy where injustice and inequality persist. Gale is a strong advocate for social and economic justice, believes in democracy, is open to learning and evolving, as she says, "I am like a butterfly! I'm curious, willing, adventurous, love challenges and aspire to new horizons."
Gale Johnson is a Brooklyn resident, an immigrant from the Caribbean, a mother of 1 and a nanny for many years. She is a founding member of Hopewell Care Cooperative that provides childcare services throughout the five boroughs of NYC. They are immigrant women run. Gale has been an organizer and advocate for Carroll Gardens Nanny Association since 2015, and a member of the National Domestic Workers Association, a board member of the Carroll Gardens Association, and serves on the Advocacy Council of the NYCNOWC. Gale proudly represents these organizations as she fights for worker rights and better work standards, advocating for changes and improving the lives of many New Yorkers.
http://bsec.org -
On Freedom and Risk with Edel Rodriguez
Too often, we are quiet, we don’t speak up and we do what’s expected of us—because we are afraid of the risks involved. Edel Rodriguez will talk about his family’s journey from Cuba, how those events influence his work today, and the power that art has to speak for a people when they are at a crossroads of history.
Edel Rodriguez is a Cuban American artist who has exhibited internationally with shows in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Havana, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Spain. Inspired by personal history, religious rituals, politics, memory, and nostalgia, his bold, figurative works are an examination of identity, mortality, and cultural displacement.
Edel Rodriguez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1971. He was raised in El Gabriel, a small farm town surrounded by fields of tobacco and sugar cane. In 1980 Rodriguez and his family boarded a boat and left for America during the Mariel boatlift. They settled in Miami where Rodriguez was introduced to and influenced by American pop culture for the first time. Socialist propaganda and western advertising, island culture, and contemporary city life, are all aspects of his life that continue to inform his work.
In 1994, Rodriguez graduated with honors in painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. In 1998, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from Manhattan’s Hunter College graduate program. Throughout his career, Rodriguez has received commissions to create artwork for numerous book publishers, advertising agencies, and editorial publications. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times Op-Ed page and The New Yorker magazine. He has created over a hundred newspaper and magazine covers for clients such as TIME Magazine, Der Spiegel, Newsweek, The Nation, Businessweek, The New Republic, and The Village Voice. He has created dozens of book covers for clients such as Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random.
http://bsec.org -
Skatepark Baltimore – Photographing an Inclusive Space
Photographer Saskia Kahn will present her collaborative photo project, Skatepark Baltimore, about a self-created youth community that grew to make a Baltimore skateboard park a more inclusive space. Skaters who felt uncomfortable using the park alone realized the need to work cooperatively in order to claim this space as safe—particularly those who identified as transgender, gender-nonconforming, Black-femme, women, and/or queer. The portraits in Skatepark Baltimore celebrate the young people who fight for their access to joy. This art project also used the social-work methodology of Photovoice, which uses photography to spark conversation around social issues.
Saskia Kahn is a photographer from the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn, NY. Her work features portraits of youth, a fascination that stems from the stories of her grandmother surviving WWII during her teenage years. Kahn also works in collaboration with the people she photographs. She teaches free photography programs in Baltimore, MD, Hudson, NY, and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, EW, The Brooklyn Rail, and BmoreArt Magazine, among others. She lives in Baltimore, MD.
http://bsec.org -
Striving to Live our Ethical Values with Louise Jett
As Ethical Humanists, we strive to live our values. We are committed to ethical action and relationship building. Reciting our values and living them are two totally different things. How do we put our values into action? Which ones are hardest to implement in our daily lives? Does everyone deserve to be treated fairly and kindly? Join Leader-In-Training Louise Jett in exploring radical kindness, Humanist values and Ethical Culture.
Bio:
Louise Jett is a lifelong learner and an educator at heart. She is a full-time faculty member and coordinator of the Graphic and Web Design programs at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois. An American Ethical Union Leader-in-Training, she also works in communication roles at the Ethical Society of St. Louis and the Westchester Community for Ethical Culture. Louise considers herself a congregational Humanist and is truly inspired by people who are dedicated to empowering others.
http://bsec.org -
Conversations: The Black Radical Tradition with filmmaker Edwian ‘Eze” Stokes.
Film Director and Producer Edwian “Eze” Stokes will speak about making his film “CONVERSATIONS: The Black Radical Tradition” which features legendary figures of the resistance including Harry Belafonte, Herbert Daughtry, Amina Baraka, Mumia Abdul Jabar, Ramona Africa, Ruby Sales, and Sonia Sanchez.
From Black Power to Black Lives Matter, “CONVERSATIONS” is an important account of the history of the African American struggle in the United States and an important message to the grassroots.
Bio:
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Edwian “Eze” Stokes attended Long Island University before his career in media production and film. CONVERSATIONS is his directorial debut. Primarily an editor, Stokes works in both narrative and documentary films. Stokes worked on Books Through Bars Brings Literature To The Incarcerated (2018- BRIC TV) as well as Black In The Holy Land (dir. Marc Lamont Hill) and Something In The Trees (dir. Alfonzo Johnson, 2021 Release). Stokes’ work in media production has led him to work with companies such as BLACK ENTERPRISE, Okayplayer, ARISE News, and other media outlets. Through an extension of his work, Stokes considers himself an internationalist. Stokes lives in New York and can be found covering local protests, political conferences, and sporting events.
--------------------------
http://bsec.org
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture seeks to be an inclusive community focused on social justice and personal growth. -
Ethics for Children celebrates Mother's Day
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture's (BSEC) Ethics for Children program celebrates Mother's Day 2022.
Video by Angel Thompson.
http://bsec.org -
Toni Morrison’s Beloved: An Ethical Logic of Reparations (with Maureen Fadem)
Maureen speaks on Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved as a case for reparations. She will explain the design of the novel, in particular in connection with the title character and in relation to U.S. history, especially African American history. Dr. Fadem will show how Morrison’s novel was designed to function as a clarion call for truth, reconciliation, and reparations regarding that history.
A Professor of English at Kingsborough-CUNY, Maureen Fadem has taught at The Graduate Center-CUNY, Drew University, Hunter College-CUNY, and Eugene Lang College. She is a postcolonial scholar working on Anglophone writing of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Maureen specializes in historical literature, particularly that of Ireland and African America, as well as the wider literatures of partition. Her research looks at imperial borders and national partition, at political justice, especially reparations, at social justice of race, class, and gender, and at the poetics of conflict, trauma, and silence in poetry and in prose.
http://bsec.org -
Racism and the Weight of History with Hugh Taft-Morales
This program was presented by the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture's Lucy's Children group, which focuses on racial justice and education while examining the myth of "race" and the painful reality of racism.
------------------------
400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in the United States has caused horrific damage to people and communities of color. Whites who acknowledge this damage and want to help heal the wounds of racism, however, sometimes are paralyzed by the weight of this history.
Explore how to use history to recommit yourself to anti-racism activism. How can we get beyond unproductive guilt and contribute to campaigns for real racial justice?
Hugh Taft-Morales has taught philosophy and history for twenty-five years in various institutions in Washington, D. C. He became a certified Ethical Culture Leader in 2010. Connecticut born and raised, Hugh was educated at Yale and the University of Kent at Canterbury, England. He resides in Tacoma Park, Maryland with his wife. His three children are grown. -
The Ism of Race (with Ted Talk speaker Dennis Febo)
In the spirit of diversity and multiculturalism, Dennis Febo explores our common understanding of race and deconstructs many of the models presented to us that create division, injustice, and dehumanization.
Dennis Febo , MAH, is a speaker, community organizer, artist, abolitionist, and CEO and founder Guazabara Insights, LLC. Dennis is a native of Brooklyn, NY, raised in many different parts of the US and Puerto Rico. He attained his master’s degree from the Universities of Buffalo, Havana, Cuba, and Bahia, Brazil. Dennis has been working with thousands of our incarcerated community members and juveniles for the past 9 years. By devising a curriculum on Cultural and Social Consciousness Education, he has been able to educate thousands around the country on self-knowledge and self-actualization. Guazabara now provides many educational/recreational services and events for the community at large, with a focus on success for youth. Dennis also founded the Amend the 13th movement in NJ, a lobbying strategy to remove the "exception clause" and add anti-slavery language to the New Jersey constitution. Mr. Febo is also a professor of graduate and undergraduate studies in Health Sciences at New Jersey City University
http://bsec.org -
Envisioning a Compassionate and Caring City with Council Member Shahana Hanif
Join us to hear from our newly elected Council Member Shahana Hanif for the 39th District. We will celebrate her as she enters the chamber, representing our neighborhood at the NY City Council. We will honor her deep commitment to social justice and equity, welcoming her with joy and solidarity as she carries the banner of progress for a Beloved Community in the spirit of Martin Luther King. Music by DuPree and Barry Kornhauser.
Council Member Shahana Hanif is the newly elected Council Member for Brooklyn’s 39th District in the New York City Council. She was born and raised in Kensington, Brooklyn, and is the daughter of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants. She is a product of public schools having attended P.S. 230 and Brooklyn College, an activist, community organizer, and public servant. Most recently she served as the Director of Organizing and Community Engagement in Council Member Brad Lander’s office where she led grassroots initiatives like Participatory Budgeting. Shahana is the first Muslim woman ever elected to the New York City Council and the first woman Council Member for the 39th District. -
Pathways to a Peace Movement! with “Rusti” Eisenberg
Forging New Pathways. Challenges and Opportunities in a Polarized Time – guest speaker Carolyn “Rusti” Eisenberg.
Carolyn “Rusti” Eisenberg, co-Founder of Brooklyn For Peace and Professor of US History and American Foreign Policy at Hofstra University will share the history of honoring individuals and organizations forging new pathways to the elimination of war and describe the challenges and opportunities for such pathways in a time of polarization. -
Abortion Laws in Texas Explained
Carolyn Parker, AEU Ethical Action Committee and past president, Ethical Society of Austin, will be joining Issues and Action to follow up on our discussion of the Texas abortion law and other critical issues from a Texas perspective.
http://bsec.org -
The Culture Wars in Texas: Anomaly or Bellwether? with Carolyn Parker
The recent legislative sessions in Texas are a glimpse into the conflicts between religion and science, knowledge and myth, past and future. Are these "culture wars" spreading beyond Texas? What are some ways to protect ourselves? – guest speaker Carolyn Parker, member Austin Society for Ethical Culture and Chair of the American Ethical Union's Ethical Action Committee.
http://bsec.org -
The Ethics of Indigenous Peoples Day with Evan Pritchard
Hear Evan Pritchard (descendant of Mi'kmaq people) speak on the importance of establishing an accurate record of North American history, especially in regards to racial relations. Instead of brave tales about Columbus, tell about his criminal record, prominence in the slave trade, the genocides in Hispaniola, and the fate of North America's indigenous peoples and their unique understanding of the natural world.
As ethical norms are established in law by argument and discussion based on accurate written records, ethical norms in society are established by discussion based on previous discussions, both oral and written. If these words are not spoken truthfully, those societal norms can never change. And if we make casual banter about "savage indians" (and other racial stereotypes) we become part of that false record, one that leads to poor judgement in the future. If Indigenous People's Day were devoted each year to the research of the local native history, good or bad, over the course of twenty years it would certainly deepen the discussion, and even bring changes in law. I believe it would lead to a happier society and a better relationship between the people and the earth they stand upon.
Bio: Evan Pritchard, of MI'kmaq descent, has been the director of Center for Algonquin Culture since 1998 and has taught classes in Native American studies, and also in philosophy and ethics at Marist, Pace, and Vassar during that time, and has lectured at John Jay, Columbia, SUNY, Ramapo State, and countless other colleges and universities. He has interviewed native elders all over the country to help preserve the oral tradition, and is the author of over fifty books on native topics and lectures frequently.
http://bsec.org -
Radical Hospitality Building Bridges to Community with Dr. Janice Marie Johnson
Tough times invite us to be tenderhearted. As we aspire to live into our values and principles, let us challenge ourselves to deepen our understanding of, and commitment to, welcome and inclusion. We can choose to build bridges to community with empathy, compassion, and competency.
Dr. Janice Marie Johnson is Co-Director of Ministries and Faith Development at the Unitarian Universalist Association. She supports, sustains, and advances multicultural, anti-oppressive, justice-centered, and innovative Unitarian Universalist lay and professional leadership and ministry for all ages. Janice fervently believes in her maxim, “Masakhane,” a rich and resonant word from the South African Nguni family of languages of which Xhosa and Zulu are two. Loosely translated into English it means, “Let us build together”.
http://bsec.org -
Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry on Hubert Harrison: Voice of Black Radicalism
Hubert Harrison’s “voice” and analysis reverberated through the decades from the turn of the 20th century through the Harlem Renaissance with the establishment of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture right up to Malcolm X’s imprint on modern Black radical thinking. Harrison’s bellwether analysis clearly rings in current conversations on the Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918
About Jeffrey B. Perry, Ph.D.:
Jeff Perry has been active in the working class movement as a rank- and-file worker and as a union shop steward, officer, editor, and retiree for over 50 years. He has also been involved in domestic and international social justice issues including affirmative action, tenants’ rights, union democracy, anti- apartheid, anti-war, and anti- imperialist work.
A vast collection of his materials in these areas is currently being prepared for repository placement. He has already placed the Hubert H. Harrison Papers at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Theodore W. Allen Papers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and a portion of his Labor Papers at U- Mass Amherst. Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry The brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic, and activist Hubert Harrison (1883 – 1927) is one of the truly important, yet neglected, figures of early twentieth-century America. Known as the father of Harlem radicalism, and a leading Socialist party speaker who advocated that socialists champion the cause of the Negro as a revolutionary doctrine, Harrison had an important influence on a generation of race and class radicals, including Marcus Garvey and A. Philip Randolph.
http://bsec.org
This event was presented by Lucy's Children, which is part of The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC). -
Epidemics and Our Communities With Dr Robert Fullilove
http://bsec.org
We are hosting a lecture and discussion on epidemics and their impact on communities, particularly Communities of Color.
The noted public health researcher Dr. Robert Fullilove will address us on the realities of past and current conditions. In easy to understand language, this scientist will cut through the uneasiness, politicalization and disinformation of today.
Come, listen and learn from someone who works in the field. Ask your questions and go away better informed and continuously prepared.
Robert Fullilove
Associate Dean Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center -
Why We Believe What We Believe with Chris West
Using Street Epistemology to gently untangle the why of our most cherished and deeply held beliefs.” – guest speaker Chris West.
What do we believe is true? Why do we believe it is true? In a time when the truth of what someone believes is open to question, it is good to have a set of tools to unpack why someone believes these things. Here it isn’t about the What you believe but the Why. Many of us hold beliefs which we took on before we were able to think critically or just didn’t feel the need to think critically about them. Most of the reasons we hold some beliefs to be true are hidden in our past. We believe them because we were told by our parents, or other trusted adults instead of submitting these beliefs to well reasoned and skeptical thought about why we believe them. Street Epistemology is a modern approach to gently revisit the why of what we believe.
Join Chris West , BSEC member and amateur Street Epistemology practitioner to learn about why it is a good set of tools to learn for yourself and for society as a whole for what we believe informs how we act in society. How we vote. What we support and nurture in our society. With Street Epistemology we are not trying to de-convert anyone, but give them a path to revisit the why of deeply held beliefs in a safe and non-threatening environment.
BIO:
Chris West spent his formative years living and going to school in Park Slope. After getting a BA in Cultural Anthropology from SUNY Purchase in 1988, Chris co-founded A Temple of the Apotheosis (1992 to 1999), a non- denominational, community, social, and spiritual/humanist group operating in and around Park Slope. In 1999 he met his wife and they moved to the Netherlands for 10 years (the Bush years 2) where Chris raised his two young children as a stay-at-home-dad and earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, NL (Technical College of Amsterdam). Chris also studied and became one of 3 Americans to become a Certified Dutch Wind Miller. In 2010 he moved back to the US, this time to the woods and lakes of Vermont, with his wife and two children. This past year Chris formed The Humanist Being, a non-profit humanist organization here in Vermont. -
Juneteenth with NYC Deputy Mayor Phillip Thompson
Honoring the history of Black Liberation struggles and the particular uprisings of 2020 and 2021, the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture is proud to host, along with other ethical and humanist societies, a Juneteenth celebration entitled “Where is the Joy in Freedom?” with guest speaker NYC Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson. J. Phillip Thompson is NYC’s Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. Prior to joining the de Blasio administration, he was Associate Professor of Urban Planning at MIT. He is the author of Double Trouble: Black Mayors, Black Communities and the Call for a Deep Democracy. -
Jerrie Steward - Great Granddaughter of the enslaved Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (BSEC) and Lucy's Children ( Racial Justice Group) present Jerrie Stewart, 5x Great Granddaughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson , who will talk to us about what she thinks and knows, and what is family lore. As a member of the Hemings family, an exceptionally talented family group even under slavery, this is an opportunity to lift some edge of the curtain. The familial relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his Black family has long been discussed. And, until the DNA test proved otherwise, that he even had a Black family, was vigorously disavowed.
About Lucy's Children:
Lucy’s Children is part of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and it is a community effort to examine the fiction of Race in order to address the fact of Racism. Our plan is to provide information, opportunities, and events that can help us come together as a society to end racism.
To learn more, visit https://bsec.org/ -
Sikivu Hutchinson Humanists in the Hood Feb 28 2021 0
What does it mean to be a ‘Humanist in the Hood’ in a New Jim Crow era of deep racial, gender and economic inequality?
“Humanists in the Hood is an acute reminder of the struggle we as Black women have and still experience. It has documented in one place, our travels and travails.” —Bridgette Crutchfield, Black Nonbelievers of Detroit
Sikivu Hutchinson is an educator, author, and playwright. She is the founder of Black Skeptics Los Angeles and the Women’s Leadership Project, a mentoring and civic engagement program for South L.A. girls of color. Sikivu is recipient of the 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award. Sikivu was raised and lives in Los Angeles, though she received her doctorate from New York University.
http://bsec.org