US Human Rights Network - Drum Beat 21 National Gathering by CopyrightSEW2021_All rights reserved

USHRN Presents

A Commemorative Program Book

A Welcome from Our Executive Director Beloved Family,

What an honor and distinct pleasure it has been to welcome your participation in the US Human Rights Network's (USHRN) first ever virtual, bi-annual gathering! Please enjoy and share this commemorative publication highlighting the incredible range of powerful teaching and learning shared across 3 days this month, also the 20th Anniversary of The United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) and its Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA). Shout out to the Durban 400, current activists and ancestors for their leadership. The contents of this commemorative program book (also launching our Issuu.com online series!) reflect just part of the depth and breadth of USHRN members' work. The drum beat of human rights movement building is loud and clear. Our diverse membership across multiple attributes, exemplifies many drums - one rhythm! Our vision for this historic gathering was inspired by all the virtual work of members and allies since 2020, making headlines and history, together - though apart. I joined our Coordinating Center just six months ago to wear my latest hat in 15+ years as a very engaged member. Since then, we all have kept the rhythm going, advancing human rights here in the US and globally in partnership with so many other courageous freedom fighters. We are part of an awesome legacy, and seek to uphold our commitment as a people-centered Network, building an unstoppable human rights culture in the US. For now, that has meant confronting both COVID-19 and lethal, escalating white supremacist activity. What a blessing to commemorate and celebrate so many significant accomplishments in the midst of these dual pandemics, which have taken countless lives and livelihoods. It is a privilege to continue this beautiful struggle with you. Asante sana,

Dr. Vickie Casanova-Willis, PhD

Executive Director, USHRN

A Message from Our Deputy Director

Congratulations USHRN! Many thanks and sincere congratulations to the entire US Human Rights Network, our Coordinating Center Team, and Drum Beat's 270+ Registrants, 63 Speakers, representing 41 People-Centered US based human rights groups, 4 proclamations, 11 Featured Artists and 21 Movement Builder Award Winners! Congratulations for making history together, again, by convening to share our current campaigns and strengthen our movements with the human rights framework, mechanisms and principles. This program book is meant to be a robust keepsake, documenting that history. We have been hard at work since Drum Beat to carry the momentum forward, including creating this commemorative program book to share as part of a requested toolkit in progress. We have designed it to be multimedia with interactive links to revisit at your leisure, as well as to share and continue building the movement with those who could not attend this important cultural and educational gathering. The webinar recordings are posted on our YouTube channel for viewing and sharing widely. Stay tuned, stay strong, stay connected. All Power to the People, Pa'lante, hasta la Victoria, siempre!

Your Coordinating Center Dept. Director,

Eliza Solowiej, Esq.

Table of Contents

Program Agenda - September 1-3

Session Listing

US Human Rights Movement Builder 2021 Honorees

In Memoriam

Sponsors

Member Ads & Salutes

Proclamations

Toolkit Resources

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Agenda

September 1 *All events are Eastern Time Zone, approximately 90 minutes long (2 hrs max)

10a Welcome! Opening Cultural Blessing - Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Performance & Reflections: International Artist Umar, of “The Last Poets” Remix: Culture, Media, Corporate Accountability 2p Health is a Human Right 4p Human Rights Education- Resources (Various videos, cultural advocacy, etc.)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Agenda

September 2 10a Youth Forum: Teaching and Learning to Bring Human Rights Home

Words, Curriculum, Arts Matter: Communicating & Educating for Social Change

4p Sex Worker Rights are Human Rights: Learning From, and With, Us

6p The People Speak: US Grassroots Voices at the UN: It Goes Beyond Policing

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Agenda

September 3 10a

Int'l Mechanisms Updates: Global Solidarity to Local Implementation

11:30a Undoing Racism Teach-In

12:30a How Did We Get Here? Podcast Premiere: A Human Rights Cities and Communities Member Story

Keynote Address: Professor Renee Hatcher, Esq.

2:30p Presentation of USHRN Movement Builder Honorees

3:15p Announcing The USHRN Foundation & Inaugural Fellows

3:30p

International Guest Artist Performance: Ugochi “African Buttafly”

Closing Plenary/Member Roundtable Debrief & Next Steps

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Session Listing

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Key Note Speaker Professor Renee Hatcher

Our Keynote Speaker [Prof.] Renee Hatcher is a human rights and community development lawyer. She is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the Community Enterprise and Solidarity Economy Law Clinic at UIC Law, a legal clinic that provides free legal support to grassroots organizations, community-based businesses, cooperatives, and other solidarity economy enterprises. Professor Hatcher is a member of the leadership team for Resist Reimagine Rebuild (R3), a board member for the New Economy Coalition and the Detroit Justice Center, and a member of Law for Black Lives Movement Lawyering Squad. She has previously served as the co-chair for the US Human Rights Network Working Group on Equality & Nondiscrimination and worked on a broad range of economic and social rights including issues related to workers’ rights, the right to water, and the International Decade for People of African Descent. Renee proudly continues in the freedom fighting example of her father, the late Mayor Richard Hatcher, one of the first African descendant mayors of a major U.S. City (Gary, Indiana).

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

The Weaponization of Hip Hop: Public Hearing on the Music Industry Sept 1, 2021 10am ET Introduction by Kwabena Jijaga Rasuli (#Turnitoff, #cleartheairwaves) Bob Law and Eugene Carson, (National Black Leadership Alliance) Leila Wills and Kwabena Rasuli (Clear the Airwaves Project) Paris Eley, (Radio Personality and Station Manager) Dr. E. Fay Williams (National Congress of Black Women) Dr. Obari Cartman (Author and Psychologist) Chris Curry (Entertainment Veteran) Speech (Artist from Arrested Development) Darryl Bradshow (Educator)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

The Human Right To Health Sept 1, 2pm ET Martha 'Marti' L. Schmidt and Mary Gerish (National Lawyers Guild) Leroy Moore (Krip Hop Nation) Sunjay Smith (Crip Justice), and Karrie Schaaf (mother of Darik) Andrea Smith, Esq. (Elder Law and Disability Rights Center) Dr. Howard Ehrman and Kathy Powers, (Treatment not Trauma, The People's Response to COVID-19 aka People's Response Network (PRN)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Youth Forum: Teaching & Learning to Bring Human Rights Home Sept 2, 10am ET Christan Bufford (The Advancement Project; founding member, Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100)) Elgin Bokari Smith (Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative) 5th Grade activists: (Village Leadership Academy, Douglass Park Campaign)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Words, Curriculum, Arts Matter: Communicating & Educating for Social Change Sept 2, 1pm ET

Nakisha Harris Hobbs - Mogulish Media Interview (Village Leadership Academy)

Chuck Watts (Empathy Surplus Project) Joel Pruce (University of Dayton Human Rights Center, Moral Courage Radio) Donna M. Murray (The GAP Gyrlz and GAP Gyz Consortium - Podcast Launch)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Beyond Policing: the People Speak at the UN (re-aired) Sept 2, 6pm ET

Martinez Sutton (Brother of Rekia Boyd) Cassandra Greer-Lee (Wife of Nicholas Lee) Anthony Jones (Son of Bettie Jones) Shante Needham (Sister of Sandra Bland) Arewa Karen Winters (Founder of the 411 Movement for Pierre Loury and Leading Organizer with Justice for Families and Black Lives Matter Chicago) Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. (Son of slain Illinois BPP Chapter Chairman Fred Hampton and survivor) and Akua Njeri (fna Deborah Johnson) survivor, as told in the Oscar-nominated film "Judas & the Black Messiah" Mariah Moore (If elected to the New Orleans City Council, will be the first trans woman of color ever elected to public office in Louisiana) Monica James Co-Founder of Triumphant 2Gether Curtis Davis (Decarcerate Louisiana; formerly enslaved per state and federal statute, 26 years) AbdudDhaar Abdullah (Advocate for Political Prisoners) Jihad Abdulmumit (Former Black Panther political prisoner, National Jericho Movement to free all Political Prisoners) Kwabena Rasuli (BLM Gary; nephew of the late PP/POW Geronimo Pratt; #cleartheairwaves. #turnitoff)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Int'l Mechanisms Updates: Global Solidarity, Local Implementation Sept 3, 10am Dr. Amara Enyia (M4BL, Diaspora Rising) Joshua Cooper (Hawai'i Institute for Human Rights) Rob Robinson (International Housing Rights Champion) Dr. Vickie Casanova-Willis (US Human Rights Network)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Undoing Racism - Teach In

Sept 3, 11:30 ET

Barbara Major & David Billings (The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond)

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Featured Performance by: Ugochi

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual Gathering (Virtual) E-Program Book Session Listing

Featured Performance by: Umar Bin Hassan of The Last Poets

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

USHRN 2021

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Awards

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winners Bianca Shaw & Jeanette Vega

"Jeannette Vega and Bianca Shaw are two incredible Co-Executive Directors of Rise Magazine (https://www.risemagazine.org/) who have gone above and beyond creating a system of support for parents who have been charged with abuse and neglect by the Family Court and Child Welfare punitive systems. They have networked with MLS (Manhattan Legal Services) and have offered early legal representation to parents, have trained parent allies, have trained ACS (Administration of Children's Services) and countless community and social service agencies and individuals on how to provide support to these parents. This has resulted in individuals and organizations throughout the U.S. asking them for assistance with re-creating the support system they have forged. This organization is 100% grassroots, and parent-affected led, demonstrating that they have achieved the requirement of going against all odds in these extraordinary times. They are Movement Builders who have faced extraordinary difficulties in regaining custody of their children, all alongside of going up against other racist systems including medical racism, police and incarceration violence, as well as other structural racist and oppressive systems. With great honor, I nominate Rise Magazine, Jeannette and Bianca, and all the parents who have worked to change this system from a punitive system to a support system in the City of New York." from their nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builders Bianca Shaw and Jeanette Vega!

Many Human Rights are made more accessible through their work, and are due to all children and their parents. For instance, see the Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 5!

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario

Since creating the organization’s first mural in the Bronx in 2011, Marissa has worked extensively with communities throughout New York City, providing quality, interactive arts-based activities that educate young people about human rights through Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE). After realizing that there was a great disconnect between human rights theory and practice in day-to-day life, Marissa developed ARTE as a collaboration between young people, community organizations, and local artists to support communities in recognizing and advocating for their inherent human rights. In this collaboration, ARTE has experienced that participants become more knowledgeable, interested, and passionate about human rights through the creation of public art, particularly public murals. Public murals are a valuable component in the ARTE curriculum as they empower both students and their local communities to engage in questions surrounding human rights advocacy and art as a tool for social change. Through ARTE, community members have learned about human rights violations both within the United States and internationally, including harsh sentencing, the injustice of mass incarceration, child slavery, and police brutality. Ultimately, ARTE strives to offer a platform through which students can freely and safely express themselves and their opinions, all the while providing an arts education that their schools and communities often aren’t able to offer. Through and in collaboration with ARTE’s team, Marissa has dedicated her time, energy, and mind to developing tools to help young people discover their inner artivist. With ARTE, Marissa is always innovating, reflecting, and seeking out new ways to move the needle closer to justice. Lastly, Marissa believes that art manifests hope and hope manifests justice. For more information about ARTE, please visit: www.artejustice.org." - from her nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario! To reference some of the Human Rights that Marissa's movement building brings home, such as the Rights to multimedia freedom of expression, education, and culture, see the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Articles 19, 26, and 27.

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Abolish Slavery National Network

"The ASNN has been successful in raising awareness educating the public and assisting in state and national campaigns to abolish constitutional slavery in the United States by amending state constitutions to remove slavery language or add anti-slavery language. The ASNN has had 3 states become successful in abolishing slavery with 6 more headed to the ballot in 2022. The Federal Abolition amendment was introduced Juneteenth of 2021. Section 4 of the UDHR prohibits slavery in all of its forms. We campaign as a human rights issue." -from their nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builders Abolish Slavery National Network! There are many human rights violations implemented by US law enforcement systems. For example, the ASNN's mission points us to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 4: "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Sandra Castro Solis

"Sandra Castro-Solis, M.A., is an innovative, veteran human rights organizer and executive consultant with over 10-years of notable experience across direct action; grassroots organizing; post-secondary education; adaptive leadership; research and publications; and people-centered movement building. Her grace, boldness and passion as an international educator, advocate, board member, collaborator and leader makes her an ideal nominee for the USHRN Movement Builders Award. With a Masters in International Relations and Affairs from Columbia University; a Bachelors in American History from Arizona State University; and an in-progress certification from Harvard University in Non-Profit Organizational Management, Castro-Solis has displayed a selfless and relentless commitment to movement-building across countries, counties, cities, cultures and nations. Her most recent work focuses on climate change; highlighting the direct relationship between youth organizing and sustainability. Find out more about this first generation Xicana and Feminist Changemaker here: https://www.woodhullfoundation.org/presenter/sandra-castro-solis/." -from her nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Sandra Castro Solis! Sandra's organizing helps realize the human rights to self-determination and participation among others! See the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), for instance, Articles 1 & 19, and from the Preamble: "the ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights".

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

"African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council has been a leader in the fight against menthol cigarettes. For years, they have been drawing attention to the harms to the Black community caused by the predatory marketing of menthol cigarettes, and recently, they have been a catalyst for the lawsuit against the FDA for it's inaction on menthol. The FDA recently announced that it will begin rulemaking to ban menthol cigarettes, an act which will save thousands of lives, particularly Black lives. This is in no small part due to the efforts of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. https://files.constantcontact.com/199ccd27001/bab51938-c4a0-4f9b-a458-a958d06739a1.pdf. -From their nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builders: African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council! See the International Treaty concerning the human right to tobacco control HERE. AATCLC brings these and other intersectional protections home with a critical racial justice lens. This is just part of the important work our members and allies are doing to ensure the human right to health and contribute to 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #3. We salute the AATCLC for bringing a racial justice lens to help those who are disproportionately affected, while benefiting everyone!

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Dr. Amara Enyia

"DR. AMARA ENYIA, Policy and Research Coordinator for USHRN member organization Movement for Black Lives, is a public policy expert with expertise in Central Asia, Africa, Latin America, US and the Middle East. She is also Managing Director of Diaspora Rising, serves as a formal representative of the African Union in the Diaspora representing the 6th Region of the African Union Commission, and contributed to the successful establishment of the new Permanent Forum for People of African Descent. Dr. Enyia has served as part of local and national efforts to diversify the economic ecosystem through educating, advocating and developing policy for cooperative economic models and financing tools. She also serves on the National Advisory Board of the Public Banking Institute, leading efforts to establish public banks in cities and states across the country. At M4BL, she supports the Peoples’ safety demands for human rights infrastructure in our cities and communities: “We know the safest communities in America are places that don’t center the police. What we’re looking for already exists, and we already know it works. We need look no further than neighborhoods where the wealthy, well-connected, and well-off live, or anywhere there is easy access to living wages, health care, quality public education, and freedom from police terror.” Amara’s sharp, brave, innovative domestic and global civic leadership spreads hope and real tools for liberation through a peoplecentered human rights framework." -from her nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Dr. Amara Enyia! Like M4BL's demands, Amara's movement building points to causes of inter-communal violence: violations of social, economic, and cultural human rights. Did you know that peace is a human right and our governments are responsible for it? See the International Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace!

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Jovana Renteria

"Jovana Renteria, Executive Director of USHRN member organization Puente Human Rights Movement (Puente), is a movement leader in Arizona and the Southwest working tirelessly to end family separation in the spheres of both the criminal legal system and the criminalization of immigration. Jovana first emerged as a movement leader in the fight against the notorious "show me your papers" law SB1070, and racist former-Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Through her work advocating for the human rights and dignity of migrant workers, Jovana founded Puente with other activists, which became the first grassroots non-profit organization in Phoenix fighting anti-immigrant policy and implementation. Since Puente's founding in 2007, Jovana established the Uno por Uno Legal Clinic which has stopped the deportation of 476 individuals. She has run educational programming in women's prisons in Arizona, won 2 Board of Clemency cases, and launched programs to restore the rights of formerly incarcerated people, as well as improve the conditions of people behind bars, while fighting for their freedom and the abolition of the prison industrial complex. In partnership with the US Human Rights Network, Jovana has brought her work before the United Nations in Geneva. Everything Jovana does embodies her firm belief that human beings do not belong in cages. Learn more about Jovana's work at www.puenteaz.org." -from her nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Jovana Renteria! Jovana's US human rights movement building brings home a range of rights, from migration, to the Indigenous, to work, anti-racism, family supports and more, while taking us forward toward a world with no cages. Basic human rights principles, and numerous conventions, apply to us all: see for instance the international Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Award Winner Christian Bufford

"I met Christan Bufford as a young Chicago neighbor at our local youth center, and spent multiple evenings a week in know-your-rights trainings, meetings, actions, and solidarity trips with him in his teens. Impacted personally, his hope, skills and analysis grew fast to lead the Audy Home (Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center) campaign to improve conditions immediately and divest from child incarceration, leading to over $3 million+ since being allocated for restorative human rights programming instead; he and other freed system-involved youth being named human rights monitors with monthly access to the units, detainees, and administration; and changing policy in the juvenile detention center to respect more of the youth's family, culture, and educational rights while detained. He co-taught a USHRN 2009 National Convening workshop on using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and universal economic rights in this work. He demanded and was granted early release from juvenile probation due to this human rights leadership. He helped secure a resolution from Chicago City Council adopting the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since then, Christan was a leader in the Mental Health Movement's direct action campaign to stop the closure of Chicago's public mental health clinics and medicine program, the Trauma Center Campaign to force the University of Chicago to finally admit and treat adult gun shot wound victims after a 20 year hiatus, and is a founding member of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), an organizing engine that fueled the national resistance to police killings as it crescendoed last year and rerooted a Black Queer Feminist lens in the movement. He has advised the Haywood Burns Institute Community Justice Network for Youth, Praxis Project, voting rights efforts, and is a Public Allies Chicago Alum. Chris works today at USHRN member organization the Advancement Project, providing training and technical assistance to a range of campaigns attacking the ongoing human rights violations implemented by US law enforcement as a Campaign Strategist. USHRN should be exceedingly proud of having supported his early exposure to the human rights framework, and to learn from all he's done since to bring domestic governments into compliance with human rights obligations." -from his nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder Christan Bufford! Chris' organizing has brought youth rights home and to another level. The United States is the only nation that refuses to accept responsibility for our children's rights by signing on to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet we have them and claim them. Thank you Chris.

Drum Beat 2021:

US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book

Honorees

The Steering Committee of the International Commission on Systemic Racist Police Violence against People of African Descent in the United States "I, like so many people around the world, am deeply troubled by the senseless murders of

Black and Brown men, women, and children - primarily African and African descendants due to state violence, by law enforcement internationally and in the U.S. This makes my nomination bittersweet, so I first must thank the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) for lifting up the experiences, voices, and spirits of the families of loved ones taken from us in this way, and for anchoring an international human rights coalition of over 660 organizations and numerous countries amid the Black Lives Matter outcry after George Floyd’s murder. These combined actions led to the historic June 2020 Urgent Debate and U.N. Human Rights Council’s (HRC) unprecedented acknowledgement of “the continuing racially discriminatory and violent practices perpetrated by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent”. The HRC condemned structural racism in the criminal punishment system and passed a formal Resolution A/HRC/RES/43/1 which mandated the High Commissioner to prepare a report on systemic racism and violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies globally. When the HRC stopped short of establishing a commission to hold the US accountable, the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL), International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) took action and formed an Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence against People of African Descent in the United States. These compelling hearings from directly impacted family members and the Commission's Final Report of its findings helped influence the strong report ultimately delivered by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, and will continue to be a factor in the ongoing struggle to eliminate structural racism from law enforcement ranks in the future. The Steering Committee of the International Commission of Inquiry earns USHRN's Movement Builder Honors with special thanks to all family members, attorneys, commissioners, Black Lives Matter BLM and other activists who supported this coalition work. Steering Committee founding member and spokesperson, Atty. Kerry McLean, USHRN’s recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Coordinator, is a human rights champion for her key role in helping navigate the complex dynamics of such an important accomplishment." -from their nominator Congrats, 2021 US Human Rights Movement Builder: Steering Committee of the International Commission of Inquiry! See more about what UN Commissions of Inquiry are to do, to understand the power of this independent effort for documenting the People's truth, HERE!

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network

Biannual National Gathering (virtual) Program Book

Honorees

The Steering Committee of the International Commission on Systemic Racist Police Violence against People of African Descent in the United States

Lennox Hinds

Jeanne Mirer

Nana Gyamfi

Pooja Gehi

Kerry McLean

Anne Else

Claire Gilchrist

Richard Harvey

Beth S. Lyons

Emel Mcdowell

Charlotte Kates

Micòl Savia

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Announcing the New USHRN Foundation and Inaugural Fellows

The USHRN Foundation and

Inaugural Fellows

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book USHRN Foundation and DuBois-Roosevelt Fellows

Announcing: The US Human Rights Network Foundation and Honoring Its Inaugural "DuBois-Roosevelt Fellows"

Chuck Watts

Vickie Casanova-Willis

Foundation Co-Founder, 1st DuBois-Roosevelt Fellow

Foundation Co-Founder, 2nd DuBois-Roosevelt Fellow

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book In Memoriam

In Memoriam

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Marco Castro-Bojorquez

Marco Castro-Bojorquez, was an LGBT activist and an impact filmmaker focusing on marginalized communities, elevating the experiences of immigrant people (especially those who are undocumented), LGBTQ people (with emphasis on transgender women of color), people living with HIV/AIDS, POC communities, youth and young adults, women, sex workers, people struggling with mental health, people who inject drugs, and people with non-traditional abilities. He wove together these interconnected struggles, and in doing so, intentionally challenged toxic masculinity, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other “isms” that threaten our collective well being. He considered his film work to be “a contracorriente ” and his philosophy inspired by the efforts of the “Third Cinema” coined by filmmakers and thinkers of the movement of “New Latin American Cinema” in the 70s where the main purposes aimed to resist, mobilize, agitate, and promote social consciousness to counter the practices of the American film industry. Marco advocated for the human rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV/AIDS, as a convener for Venas Abiertas, a network of Latinx immigrant people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., was vice-chair for the steering committee of The U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus , a board member for The Avielle Foundation (working on preventing violence and building compassion through brain health), and was a lead organizer with the coalition of Californians for HIV Criminalization Reform resulting in the passing of SB 239 and the repeal of outdated HIV criminalization laws in 2018. He was also a senior advisor for Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, MAVEN and Somos Familia , and Corazón Abierto, organizations that work with queer youth and their families in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2010, Marco directed his first short documentary Tres Gotas de Agua, in collaboration with Somos Familia. In this film, three Latina immigrant mothers tell their personal stories about their children’s coming out processes. In 2015, he premiered El Canto del Colibri (The Hummingbird’s Song) featuring Latino immigrant fathers discussing acceptance of their LGBTQ children. He was honored by the Obama administration with the prestigious Champions of Change award that recognizes LGBT artists who use media to illuminate the experiences of LGBT Americans and create opportunities for dialogue, inclusion, and understanding followed by the Equal Justice Thematic International Residency at Santa Fe Art Institute. In that project, he felt privileged to collaborate with local Latinx queer organizations, exploring the concept “cinema callejero ” promoting counter-hegemonic narratives, as it relates to the concept of “community” among immigrants, New Mexicans, and Native American queer people. In 2018 Marco was invited to the FIHRE (Fighting Injustice through Human Rights Education) Fellow Program by the US Human Rights Network, training to join their work, expanding the base of the domestic movement using the human rights frame to identify the root causes of violations and to call on government to address these realities. Through the presentation of Marco’s work in film, immigration, HIV, and mental health issues, he offered a deep understanding of the multiple layers that may help to identify brain illnesses, as well as paths to compassion, community, healing, resilience, and resistance. Marco joined the Board of USHRN a few months before his untimely passing. We miss him.

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (virtual) Program Book In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Dr. Keith Kamu Jennings

There are some people who come into the world to experience it, and others who come into the world to shape it. Dr. Keith (Kamu) Jennings was both. He had a deep and abiding love for oppressed Peoples, and his lifetime of advocacy made the world a better place. But he also had a calm, comforting, and enduring presence that communicated that he was present, with you, in the moment, seeing you, supporting you, and loving you. We will forever miss you, Kamu. Dr. Keith Jennings was the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the US Human Rights Network from 2013 - 2017, a very important and iconic time in the Network’s history, and co-chair of our CERD Taskforce. He provided support, leadership, guidance, and resources to the movement which enabled the voices of countless advocates to be heard at the national and international levels. Even when his tenure was completed, he continued to engage with the Network, making sure that we had a seat at important tables and, just after the election in November 2020, he shared his brilliant insights on the implications of the election, during our USHRN member call. You can watch that video on our website at www.ushrnetwork.org At the time of his transition, Dr. Keith Jennings was President of the African American Center on Global Politics and Human Rights. He was a democratic development and human rights specialist with extensive comparative experience derived over 25 years working in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. He served in senior positions with Amnesty International, the Carter Center, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the World Council of Churches. Dr. Jennings had been a resident country director, promoting democratic governance in Ghana, Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, and Zambia. He had spoken before the African Union, the Centers for Disease Control, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the United States’ Congress. Dr. Jennings was an HBCU standout, receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Fisk University and his PhD from Clark Atlanta University. He served as an adjunct Professor at American University, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Georgia Tech, and Morehouse School of Medicine and was the recipient of the Interfaith Alliance’s prestigious Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award.

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Charles Jones III “Mr Know Your Rights”

Charles was an extraordinarily committed family man leaving behind his adoring wife, Tramaine Lewis Jones, dear adult daughter Chardae Carpenter and her daughter Mi’Yonna Barnes, and most incredibly bonded young children Anaiyah, Carlee, Charles IV, and Ayden. He was known as a leader, and for always putting his family first. Everyone who knew him, knew them, as they were always near. Charles adored them and gave relentless focus and priority to their safety, health and growth as individuals and a unit. Charles was a celebrated youth, violence prevention, and legal activist who made local, national and international news by sharing his own story and work post-incarceration, and advocating that knowing one’s rights with police and holding them accountable reduces street violence. He was born and raised in Chicago’s Southside Englewood community of the 1960’s. His childhood was cut short by an arrest; when held incommunicado by Burge (torture)- trained detectives until he made an incriminating statement and was convicted and imprisoned for a murder. Charles wrote and spoke extensively in public about how initially the injustice led him to respond with aggression towards those around him. Caged as a teen from Englewood, he learned his rights and how to enforce them through engaging the law. “I felt human again,” were the words he used to express this transformation. The quote would become the public service campaign of the first-ever broad legal aid program for police accountability he helped launch in 2019 at First Defense Legal Aid where he worked for the past 8 years. His post-incarceration calling was violence reduction through teaching at-risk youth and parents their rights with police, to stop the false confession epidemic in Chicago and provide the catharsis of civic engagement on the human rights atrocity of our time, for those most traumatically impacted by police overreach, in the process. In his deep engagement with south and westside peacekeeping efforts, Charles’ street outreach and violence interruption strategies proved successful in reducing violence and recidivism among those he worked closely with. He was featured in many news outlets over his career including the Guardian, CNN, Race Treaty/Black Talk Radio Network, and others where he was key to exposing Homan Square and the ongoing offense of less than 2% of people in Chicago police custody getting a lawyer. He addressed the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, putting this on the international record. Family, friends and community organized, heartbroken, to see justice on ending incommunicado detention in Chicago police custody immediately upon their loss, if not in his lifetime, saying the City owed his legacy Charles’ Law: a city ordinance requiring know-your-rights education in local schools including why and how to invoke one’s 4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights with police and the additional right that exists in Illinois to call out to communicate with lawyers and family generally within an hour of arrest. Charles' Law passed statewide and went into effect on July 1, 2021.

Drum Beat 2021: US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (virtual) Program Book In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Malik Alim

Malik Alim joined the Chicago Community Bond Fund in 2019 and "quickly became a champion for the movement to end money bond in Illinois," the organization said in a social media post. As the fund's campaign coordinator for the Coalition to End Money Bond, he played a pivotal role in the success of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which was passed by the Illinois legislature in January 2021. Under the act, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023, charged individuals can be released prior to trial without posting cash bond unless charged with specific offenses or deemed a danger. "Whenever I think of Malik I always see him the way lots of people probably have: in a Zoom meeting or text banking with his younger child on his lap, a beautiful demonstration of what was most important to him. I'll miss having him in the world," wrote Laura Stempel. In a tweet replying to news about Alim's passing, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton said she was "so very sorry" and "praying for all who loved him.” Molly Kraus-Steinmetz, a former Housing Justice coordinator with the Jane Adams Senior Caucus said the news of Alim's death is "awful to hear. Sending love to his family and loved ones...” The Chicago Torture and Justice Center posted on Facebook that "our lives have been forever changed by the immense privilege of getting to know this incredible human.”

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Major Sponsors

Special thanks to our generous sponsors The CarEth Foundation

Foundation for a Just Society

The Libra Foundation

Tech Soup

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Major Sponsors

Member Ads and Salutes

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Major Sponsors

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Member Ads and Salutes

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Proclamations

PROCLAMATIONS

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Proclamations

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Member Ads and Salutes

Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign (APP-HRC) American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (Dearborn, MI) American International University, Inc. Amigos Multicultural Services Center (Eugene, OR) Amnesty International - USA Andrew Joseph Foundation (Riverview, FL) Anti-Racist Action (Culver City, CA) Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE) Article 20 Network Austin Lawyers Guild Best Practices Policy Project Birmingham Peace Project (Hueytown, AL) Black Alliance for Just Immigration Black August Planning Organization Black Human Rights Coalition Black Left Unity Network Black People Against Police Torture (Chicago, IL) Black Women's Blueprint (Brooklyn, NY) Black Workers for Justice (North Carolina) Buxtun Heller Project (Miami, FL) Canyon Land Conservation Fund (Silverado, CA) Center for Constitutional Rights (New York, NY) The Center for International Human Rights, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (New York, NY) Center for Reproductive Rights (New York, NY) Center for Women's Global Leadership (New Brunswick, NJ) Center for Women's Health & Human Rights Centro Comunitario Juan Diego (Chicago, IL) Checktheweather.net (Washington, DC) Cidadao Global (New York, NY) City of Eugene, OR - Equity and Human Rights Center (Eugene, OR) Coalition Against Keystone XL Pipeline (Boswell, OK) Coalicion de Derechos Humanos (Tucson, AZ) Coalition of Immokalee Workers (Immokalee, FL) Coalition to Expand Voting Rights Coastal Women for Change (Biloxi, MS) Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (New York, NY) College and Community Fellowship Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (Pasadena, CA) Communication Is Your Right (Arlington, VA)

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Member Ads and Salutes

International Worker Justice Campaign (Rocky Mount, NC) Juntos (Philadelphia, PA) Justice Now Justice Strategies Keep the Ethical Light Burning (Saugus, MA) La Paz International, Inc. (Woodbury, MN) Lao-Americans for Laotian Human Rights Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Washington, DC) The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (Washington, DC) Local to Global Advocates for Justice (Topeka, KS) L'ORAGE Productions (Brooklyn, NY) Los Angeles Human Right to Housing Collective (LACAN) (Los Angeles, CA) Love Not Blood Campaign The Louisiana Justice Institute (New Orleans, LA) Malcolm X Center for Self Determination (Greenville, SC) Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (National) Marissa Alexander Justice Project Mason Square Health Task Force Massachusetts Global Action (Boston, MA) MataHari: Eye of the Day (Boston, MA) Mayday New Orleans (New Orleans, LA) May First/People Link Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (Berkeley, CA) Michigan Welfare Rights Organization Million Women Movement Global Human Rights Commission (Philadelphia, PA) Mississippi Worker's Center for Human Rights (Mississippi) M.O.M.S. Move to Amend Muurish Skilled Tradesmen Coalition of Detroit (Oak Park, MI) Muslim Justice League National Alliance of HUD Tenants (Boston, MA) National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (Brooklyn, NY) National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms National Conference of Black Lawyers National Council for Urban Peace and Justice, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (Washington, DC) National Jericho Movement (New York, NY) National Judicial Law Project and Disability Law Project, Inc. National Juvenile Justice Network (Washington, DC) National Law Center on Homeless & Poverty (Washington, DC) National Lawyers Guild (New York, NY) National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA) National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) (New York, NY) The New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance New Seasons Youth Program (Conyers, GA) New South Network of War Resisters (Asheville, NC) New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights (New York, NY) News and Norms (Tempe, AZ) Northeastern University School of Law (Boston, MA) ONYX Organizing Committee (Oakland, CA) The Opportunity Agenda (New York, NY) OutJustice (Chicago, IL) On Point Consortium (National)

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Member Ads and Salutes

Pan-African News Wire (Detroit, MI) Partnering for Change (Los Angeles, CA) PA United for Peace and Justice Delaware Valley Network PDHRE, People's Movement for Human Rights Learning (New York, NY) Peace and Hope International (Minneapolis, MN) Peacebuilders Camp at Koinonia Farm (Americus, GA) People for Community Recovery People's Health Movement - USA (Berkeley, CA) PEN American Center Petra Foundation (New York, NY) Philadelphia United For Peace and Justice - Delware Valley Network (Philadelphia, PA) Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (National) Poverty & Race Research Action Council (Washington, DC) Poverty Initiative (New York, NY) Proceso de Comunidades Negra (Charlottesville, VA) Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern School of Law (Boston, MA) Prison Justice League The Public Housing Youth Coalition (Bronx, NY) Public Interest Law and Advocacy (PILAR) Group of Coastal Louisiana R.I.H.D., Inc. (Henrico, VA) Racial Justice NOW! Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (National) Rights to Housing Alliance Rights Working Group (Washington, DC) Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness Sex Workers Outreach Project The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center (New York, NY) Sikhs for Justice (New York, NY) SisterSong Social Practices Art Network (Los Angeles, CA) South Austin Coalition (Chicago, IL) Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (Durham, NC) Southern Anti-Racism Network (Durham, NC) Southwest Workers Union (San Antonio, TX) Southwest Youth Collaborative (Chicago, IL) Sovereign Haiti Initiative (Marietta, GA) Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (Lake City, TN) Support for Others, Inc. (Fayetteville, GA) Survivors' Village New Orleans (New Orleans, LA) Take Back the Land (Washington, DC) Timothy's Havens The U.S. Positive Women's Network (New York, NY) The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) United 4 Justice (Deland, FL) United Church of Christ/Justice and Witness Ministries Organization (Cleveland, OH) United Methodist Women United Nations Association of Oklahoma City Universidad Sin Fronteras (San Antonio, TX) University of Dayton Human Rights Center (Dayton, OH) University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic (Miami, FL) Vermont Workers' Center (Burlington, VT) Voice Of The Ex-Offender (VOTE) (New Orleans, LA)

Drum Beat 2021: the US Human Rights Network Biannual National Gathering (Virtual) Program Book Member Ads and Salutes

Voices of the Heart, Inc. (Queensbury, NY) WAPB Warrior One Washington Peace Center Water Aid America Water Alliance West End Revitalization Association (Mebane, NC) WITNESS (Brooklyn, NY) Woltz Media Corporation Women of Color United (Silver Spring, MD) Women's All Points Bulletin (WAPB) (Chicago, IL) Women's HIV Collaborative of NY (Brooklyn, NY) Women's Intercultural Network (WIN) Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (National) WomenNC Women's Re-entry Network Women United Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance (Washington, DC) Woodhull Freedom Foundation (Washington, DC) Workers Center for Racial Justice (Chicago, IL) World Sindhi Congress (San Diego, CA) You. Me. We. (Port Jefferson Station, NY) Young Foundation