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Tag: Rev. Rhonda Thomas

Florida Legislature Attempts to Mandate the Teaching of Communism in K-12 Schools

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Feb. 16, 2024

 

ORLANDO – When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis forbade advanced placement courses in African American Studies, Rev. Rhonda Thomas of Faith in Florida created toolkit and encouraged congregations to teach Black history themselves. More than 500 congregations signed up to teach using her toolkit. Now, she is responding to another challenge. The Florida legislature is considering bills which will mandate all Florida public schools (K-12) to teach about the history of communism, including communist policies in Cuba and Latin America. The measures under consideration are SB 1264 and HB 1349.

“The mandate is an attempt to cast anything that doesn’t fall within the governor’s worldview as communist. It is an effort to indoctrinate Florida’s youngest minds,” Thomas said. “It is also a missed opportunity to teach Black history.”

Rev. Thomas and partners will host a convening Feb. 29 through March 2 to plan their response and prepare for the upcoming legislative session. For more information, or to speak with Rev. Rhonda, please contact press@spotlightpr.org or llyons@faithinflorida.org.

“The state’s priorities are off track and out of alignment with Florida and the rest of the nation,” Thomas concluded.

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This National Voter Registration Day, the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative to Focus on State-Level Voter Purges

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Sept. 18, 2023

ATLANTA – The Black Southern Women’s Collaborative (BSWC) will celebrate National Voter Registration Day, on September 19, by engaging Black communities around the threat of voter purges, and by registering Black communities to vote. The network of Black women organizers in the South is also highlighting the ways in which their group is pushing back. The BSWC includes Kendra Cotton, executive director of the New Georgia Project; Rev. Rhonda Thomas, executive director of Faith in Florida; Nsombi Lambright, executive director of One Voice; Ashley K. Shelton, president and founder of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice; Tameka Greer, executive director of Memphis Artists for Change; and Phyllis Hill, BSWC founder and national organizing director for Faith in Action. They released the following statement:

“Studies show that 60% of eligible voters are never asked to register,” said Rev. Rhonda Thomas, BSWC member and executive director of Faith in Florida. “Given the many people who have been removed from the voting rolls, we want to spend National Voter Registration Day engaging as many people as possible and ensuring they register to vote or confirm that their registration is up to date.”

Faith in Florida will celebrate Nation Voter Registration Day in Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville is the oldest black town in the United States. Incorporated on August 15, 1887, by 27 black men, it was one of the first self-governing all black municipalities in the United States.  

Faith in Florida’s goal is to register 200 voters and encourage 100 people to encourage at least 100 people to complete the vote by mail applications. “We hope to expand the electorate in 41 counties,” Thomas said.

“This is a moment to dialogue with voters about their registration, their plans for voting, and the reasons our votes matter,” said Tameka Greer, BSWC member and executive director of Memphis Artists for Change. “We are also engaging voters who are at risk of being purged from the voting rolls and encouraging them to check their registration status.”

“One vote may seem insignificant, but every vote is an opportunity to help create the future we envision,” said Nsombi Lambright, BSWC member and executive director of One Voice. “It is part of a larger strategy, but it is a component that cannot be overlooked or ignored. “We will use this as an opportunity to not only sign up new voters but to reclaim voters pushed out of the system through purging.”

To date, One Voice has collected lists of inactive voters from six circuit clerks offices and are actively pursuing the remaining 76 counties in Mississippi.

“The ballot booth is another opportunity to ensure our demands are met and that the evil of systemic racism is confronted and dismantled,” said BSWC member and founder and president of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice Ashley K. Shelton. “Every election matters, which is why it’s crucial that we avail ourselves of moments like National Voter Registration Day to engage with voters and prepare them to turn out on election day.”

“We have an awesome opportunity to continue the work of those who came before us, and to simultaneously organize to make life better for those who will come after us,” said Kendra Cotton, BSWC member and executive director of the New Georgia Project.

The New Georgia Project has registered 41,000 people to vote since January 2023, and intends to register an additional 300 people on National Voter Registration Day.

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Black Southern Women’s Collective to Sen. Schumer: All Eyes on You

Posted on

For Immediate Release

Jan. 7. 2022

WASHINGTON – Ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Black Southern Women’s Collective (BSWC) today advised Democratic leaders that all eyes are on them, a play of the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 album, “All Eyes on Me.” The group, which consists of Faith in Florida, Faith in Texas, the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice, Memphis Artists for Change, and the New Georgia Project, issued the following statement:

“On the eve of honoring the life of a man who fought for the freedoms and rights of all, Democratic leaders should surely fortify the ideals on which this country claims to be based and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” said Tameka Greer, executive director of Memphis Artists for Change.

The BSWC’s message comes days before President Biden is set to deliver a speech on voting rights in Georgia on Jan. 11 and before Sen. Schumer vowed to hold a vote on the filibuster on Jan. 17. The group is calling women of faith to a national fast which will consist of sacrificing something of value and refraining from shopping other than in support of Black businesses.

“Elected leaders must refrain from giving lip service to Dr. King’s legacy if they are not prepared to eliminate the filibuster and pass substantive reforms, especially around voting,” said the Rev. Rhonda Thomas, executive director of Faith in Florida.

“During the campaign trail, Black women made a demand,” said Ashley Shelton, executive director of the Power Coalition for Equity & Justice. “This administration must understand that Black women will not be pacified by speeches filled with flowery language meant to substitute for inaction. Echoing the sentiment of famed civil rights hero Fannie Lou Hamer, ‘we are sick and tired of being sick and tired.’”

“We elected this administration to move the nation forward,” said Phyllis Hill, executive director of the Black Southern Women’s Collective. “If the administration refuses to push the line, it will be telling Black voters that they do not matter. The administration will, in effect, be telling the nation that Democrats support the reinstatement of Jim Crow.”

“Now more than ever, the defining question of our time is whether we will go backwards,” Shelton added. “Are we going to be the 1964 or 1965 America, or will our elected leaders enact reforms that will allow us to move forward? Our nation appears to be backsliding, and what we cannot understand is why the people who begged for our votes are surrendering victories won by our ancestors. Dr. King gave his life, yet all these years later, elected leaders, particularly those who beg for the votes of poor people and Black people, are questioning whether they live into Dr. King’s legacy.”

“This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I hope elected officials appreciate that Black voters are exhausted, and we feel duped,” Greer added. “Although, Black voters continue to show up, typically voting for the Democratic Party, we have yet to get what we need to have fruitful lives. Our families are coping with housing insecurity, financial instability, educational inequities, criminalization, and other challenges. We should not have to convince the elected officials who begged for our votes to work on our behalf.”

“We are tired of speeches,” Hill added. “We are tired of Dr. King’s dream being commercialized for corporate greed. The time for sincere action is now. And this burden does not fall to Black people and certainly not Black women. Black women are on the frontlines organizing to save our democracy and its time for the party in charge to join us.”

“Sen. Schumer, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris must know that all eyes are on them. We are watching because we will not allow Dr. King’s dream to become a nightmare,” Rev. Thomas concluded. “This administration must be more mindful and attentive to what ordinary Americans are going through.”

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Contact: Sydney Bagley, sydney@spotlightpr.org

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