Long-time MCHR board member Abayomi Azikiwe has been named as the 2021 recipient of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights Bishop H. Coleman McGehee Champion of Justice Award. Abayomi, who joined the MCHR Board of Directors in 2006, is an author, a journalist, editor of the Pan-African News Wire and one of the Detroit area’s most well-known human rights activists and commentators.
In receiving the award at MCHR’s recent 2021 Founders’ Day celebration (an online event), Abayomi accepted the award and delivered the following remarks:
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this year’s Bishop H. Coleman McGehee Champion of Justice Award from the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
During the early months of 2006, some 16 years ago, I was asked by Dr. Gloria House, who is also a speaker for this event, to join the Board of Directors of MCHR…”
Click here to view full text of Abayomi’s statement.
January 6, 2021 marked one of the darkest days in American history. A group of misled Americans inspired and incentivized by virulent toxic and deceptive rhetoric, waged war against their own country, specifically by occupying and vandalizing the National Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
Civil dissent gave way to sedition, as the mob stormed the Capitol Building and proceeded to violently destroy a symbol of our nation’s fabric, under their banners of distorted patriotism, avowing to replace the rule of law and true democracy with an alternately imposed system guaranteeing exclusive rights to a privileged white supremacy segment of our citizenry.
The mob was encouraged and enticed by some of the very same people entrusted to represent and protect our American values and way of life. It is neither a coincidence nor a surprise that our public discourse has become combative, even conspiratorial. If our so-called “leaders” and guardians of democracy hold our values of discourse in contempt, we cannot be shocked when people respond voluntarily and violently.
Click here to read the full MCHR statement.
Saeed Khan, a long-time MCHR board member and senior lecturer in Near Eastern and Asian Studies at Wayne State University, and Robert Bruttell, professor of religious studies and history at University of Detroit Mercy, have teamed-up to create a podcast series sponsored by the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit (IFLC). The podcast series,”Faith and Works,” will feature Detroit area experts representing various interfaith perspectives discussing community values in American society.
To read an Oakland Press report on the “Faith and Works” podcasts, click here.
To hear the “Faith and Works” podcasts, go to detroitinterfaithcouncil.com/metro-detroit-faith-community/faith-works-podcast.
Frank Hammer, MCHR’s global social justice warrior, was recently quoted in a report published by Avisan Denmark, a leading Danish newspaper. The article, which also cited Kelly Eubank of the Sunrise Movement, examined the importance and impact of a Biden presidency on the Green New Deal and the climate crisis.
To read the article click here.
MCHR invited you to a lively community discussion in the aftermath of the General Election. The event will be held at 7 p.m. on November 12, 2020 at Zoom and on MCHR’s Facebook page.
Join us for a discussion about the election and the future as we move into 2021.
To see the event notice please click here.
