Category Archives: Freedom

Freedom Church is in its fifth year of offering a tackle football alternative to families in the Milledgeville and Baldwin County area.

Registration is now open for kids ages 5 to 11 with three different league options dependent upon the player's age. Families may register online at http://www.freedomchurch.net or in person at the church leading right up to player evaluations that begin Thursday, Aug. 3. The fee per player is $95 but increases to $105 if families register past Aug. 13.

"Our evaluation dates [and times] are on the website and a lot of times people just come in and register when we do evaluations," said Patrick Rainey, member of the Freedom pastoral staff and football league coordinator.

The church provides helmets, shoulder pads and a jersey to each player while parents are responsible for cleats, mouthpiece and white pants with pads.

Rainey said the league has four fundamentals it wants to keep to in order to provide a good experience to the players including providing a safe environment, make playing fun for the kids, making games competitive, and maintaining a Christian atmosphere.

"During halftime we share a devotion and we also encourage our coaches to build up our players," he said. "It is still a football program and they do things that football teams do, but we encourage the coaches to encourage the players to pray with them, and build them up because a lot of these kids that come here don't have the best home life. Here we want to provide a good environment for them."

Coaches do not need to be certified in order to lead a team, but the league coordinator said he does hold a meeting prior to each season in which he lays out what is expected of them. Last year's league produced seven teams and Rainey said he figures to be in that same neighborhood this season.

"The last three or four years we've had right around 115 to 120 players. I don't know if that will increase or if it's just going to kind of stay where it's at. We're hoping for it to continue to grow. That's our prayer, but I'm expecting the same or more. I don't think it'll be any less."

Rainey added that the football league has done more than just provide a fun, competitive, and Christian atmosphere for the kids, but has also allowed Freedom to reach out to more people in the community.

"As far as the church we have benefited from it," he said. "We've had people to join our church because of the football ministry. Through the football ministry they have come to know the pastors and have really built a relationship so with that they have joined the church"

For more information on Freedom football visit the church's website http://www.freedomchurch.net.

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Freedom football registration begins - The Union-Recorder

ROME Argentina didnt exist as a nation when Shakespeare inspired the line politics make strange bedfellows, but if the Bard were around today, he might well look to the popes native country for proof, where the once leading conservative rival of the future pontiff and Amnesty International find themselves in an unlikely alliance over a proposed religious freedom law.

In the case of Archbishop Hctor Rubn Aguer of La Plata, seen as the countrys most fiercely traditional prelate on matters such as the legalization of abortion and contraception, he insists the law could threaten the Churchs protected status under the countrys constitution, while Amnesty International fears the law could deprive Argentine youth of their sexual rights.

To put the situation in American terms, its as if the late Jerry Falwell and the ACLU had found themselves on the same side of a church/state debate i.e., a head-scratcher, and one that helps illustrate the often-maddening political complexity out of which Pope Francis emerged.

The bill was presented to the Argentine senate in June, and it reflects a consensus among various religious groups in the country: The local Catholic bishops conference, the two largest Jewish institutions, an Islamic Center, and various federations of Evangelical churches and Orthodox Christians. It has the support of the national government, including President Mauricio Macri.

Among other issues, the proposed bill introduces a right to conscientious objection, both for individuals and institutions. If passed, the measure could be invoked for military deployments, providing medical procedures such as abortion, the right to have a holiday during religious festive days, and the right to rest on the days imposed by each religion.

In addition, registration of religious institutions would no longer be mandatory, although registering would provide benefits, including tax exemptions, to those who do. According to those promoting the bill, its intended to offer a deeper understanding of religious freedom as a human right.

The initiative was put together by the countrys Secretariat of Worship, which convoked different religious denominations to hear opinions. Its original scope was to replace legislation sanctioned by the military government in 1978.

According to the Argentine newspaper La Nacin, Santiago de Estrada, the man who leads the government office, said it was the religious institutions that called for the incorporation of a right to conscientious objection.

Estrada also underlined the harmony among religious denominations that exists in the country, leading to a healthy and fruitful coexistence promoted by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, once Archbishop of Buenos Aires, today Pope Francis.

Aguer, considered a leading voice among conservatives in Argentina, is a man whos often clashed with Bergoglio, to the point that when Francis was elected to the papacy, according to news reports from the time, Aguer refused to ring the bells of the cathedral of his archdiocese, La Plata.

Aguer and Francis have known each other a long time. The two worked together in the 1980s, when Aguer was rector of San Miguel seminary and the future pope was the provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina. In the 1990s, the two were both auxiliary bishops of Buenos Aires.

Their relationship has never been ideal, and they have very different styles: Aguer tends to be confrontational, while Francis usually takes a more pastoral approach. However, Argentine journalist Mariano De Vedia reports that the two exchange hand-written letters often, and quotes fellow Argentine bishops as saying their differences are more about tone than content.

On Saturday, during his weekly TV program, Aguer spoke about the proposed bill, saying that its unnecessary and that it could have a negative effect on the Catholic Church, hence on Argentine society as a whole.

He also lambasted the Permanent Commission of the Argentine bishops, who went through the proposed bill and gave their green-light, or, at least, according to Aguer, their nihil obstat(a Latin phrase meaning, nothing stands in the way.)

Such a law, Aguer said, should have been debated by the conference as a whole during their plenary assembly, arguing that its too important for it not to be the case.

Aguer also warned that the law would allow an uncontrollable number of sects to grow wildly in the country.

According to the archbishop, the law is being considered because of the pressure of a number of pastors [quotation marks in the original] who dont belong to any specific church.

Never one to hold back a thought, Aguer also spoke about the number of baptized Catholics who join evangelical churches in Argentina, saying that he could come up with at least one reason: Evangelicals talk to people about Jesus, about prayer, penitence, eternal life, while were too busy trying to guarantee the temporal well-being of the Argentine society.

On the other hand, what can we do on these issues? How much do policy makers listen to us? It would be necessary, on our part, to do an examination of conscience, and probably, as a conclusion, a mea culpa.

Last but not least, Aguer also said that the proposed bill would be unconstitutional, and this is something he and Amnesty International have in common. However, their reasons are clearly divergent.

For the archbishop, the law contradicts Argentinas Constitution because making all religions equal is at odds with the constitutions second article, which says that the state sustains Roman Catholic apostolic worship.

Sustaining, Aguer added, doesnt mean that the government throws a few bucks to priests, but that it supports, favors and privileges the Catholic Church.

Mariela Belski, executive director of the Argentine branch of Amnesty International also argued that the proposed bill would be unconstitutional, but her argument is that it violates rights [that are] constitutionally protected.

Among them, she said, are the sexual and reproductive rights of young people and adults, since she claims a health-care provider could invoke the law to refuse to hand out contraceptives on religious grounds.

Belski also argued that a teacher could refuse to teach evolutionary theory, and that it leaves hanging on a thread the law of Integral Sexual Education, because any teacher could limit religious education to Christian sexual morality or the morality of any other religion.

Furthermore, Belski wrote, a judge could refuse to celebrate a marriage between people of the same sex on the basis of moral or religious principles, violating peoples right to equality and nondiscrimination.

In 2012, Argentina approved a law on gender identity regarded by observers as one of the most far-reaching in the world. The law states that a person can legally change gender by simply saying so, while most other countries that accept legal gender change have many requirements, ranging from an actual sex change to court orders.

The law had an impact on the educational system, with the government designing booklets teaching students to choose their gender, regardless of their sexual identity. Teachers were asked not to impose stereotypical ideas on children. Sexual education manuals reflecting those values were to be used in every school receiving public funds, including religious ones.

In the end, the manuals werent implemented because the drawings and images depicted were considered too explicit for five-year-olds. Nevertheless, according to the website of Argentinas Education Ministry, the de-naturalization of gender stereotypes began in 2010, when Pope Franciss home country legalized gay marriage, the first nation in Latin America to do so.

Belski argues that the proposed bill would represent a substantive recoil that would allow public employees to fulfill the task for which they were hired.

She also writes that conscience objection on health issues and especially sexual and reproductive health used in an abusive and arbitrary way has constituted an illegitimate barrier to access legal abortion.

To date, theres been no comment from Pope Francis regarding the law, but seeing that hes long advocated both religious pluralism and the right to conscientious objection, its not far-fetched that hed be among the Argentine bishops supporting it.

Theres a persecution of which not much is being said, Francis said last year during one of his daily Masses, cross-dressed as culture, cross-dressed as modernity, cross-dressed as progress.

The pope said this educated persecution occurs not when a person confesses the name of Christ, but for wanting to have and to manifest the values of a Son of God.

We see every day that the powerful countries create laws that force us to go through this path a nation that doesnt follow these modern laws, these cultures, or that at least doesnt want to have them in its laws, is accused, is politely persecuted, Francis said.

Its a persecution that robs man of his freedom, even from conscientious objection! he added.

Read more:

In Argentina's religious freedom row, politics makes strange bedfellows - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

EDWARDS Freedom Park's main turf area, south baseball fields and the pathway connecting these areas, as well as adjacent parking, will be closed to public access from July 17 to Sept. 17 for improvement projects.

Eagle County will be replacing the existing turf field with a new field that will include a paved-in-place shock pad to reduce the force of impact when falls occur, as well as permanent field markings for soccer and men and women's lacrosse.

The new turf fields will replace existing sections in Freedom Park that were installed in 2003. The average useful life of an artificial turf playing field is eight to 10 years. The life of the Western Eagle County Metropolitan Recreation District field turf was extended due to lack of use during approximately five months of the year when the field is under snow.

The total cost of the replacement is $678,518 and is being paid for out of the county's Capital Improvement Fund.

During the same timeframe, WECMRD will be replacing the current dirt infields with turf, a safer playing surface that extends playable seasons. The project will utilize environmentally friendly manufacturing and has the additional benefits of water conservation and an overall reduction in maintenance costs and supplies.

The total cost of the WECMRD portion of the project is $422,000. The contractor for the turf replacement and installation project is Hellas Construction, headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information on Freedom Park section closures, contact Mike Staten at 970-777-8888 or mstaten@wecmrd.org.

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Freedom Park turf areas, baseball fields, pathway closed through Sept. 17 - Vail Daily News

The New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York state affiliate of the ACLU, has announced the lineup for its 15th annual benefit concert, Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, which will be presented July 17 at 7:30 PM at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts. The event highlights social injustices and civil rights issues through song and spoken word.

Twelve songwriting teams and performers have joined forces to present brand-new songs for the evening. The list of performers includes 2017 Tony Award winner Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!), Tony nominee Chris Jackson (Hamilton), three-time Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Peter and the Starcatcher), two-time Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos), Tony nominee Adrienne Warren (Shuffle Along), Tony nominee Brooks Askmanskas (Martin Short: Fames Becomes Me), Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Lindsay Mendez (Significant Other, Wicked), Andra Burns (On Your Feet!, In the Heights), Susan Blackwell ([title of show]), Jenni Barber (Sunday in the Park with George), Andrew Kober (Sunday in the Park with George), Shaina Taub, and Liana Stampur.

They will be performing original songs written expressly for this concert by the following songwriters and teams: Georgia Stitt (Big Red Sun), Nathan Tysen (Amlie), Kait Kerrigan & Brian Lowdermilk (The Mad Ones), Chris Miller (Tuck Everlasting), Mark Stew Stewart, (Twelfth Night), Michael Kooman & Chris Dimond (Dani Girl), Ryan Fielding Garrett, Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair, Michael R. Jackson, and Clinton Curtis. Several performers have also submitted original songs, including Blackwell, Creel, Friedman, Jackson, and Taub.

Film and recording star Harry Belafonte will be honored with the inaugural Freedom Award for his contributions as an artist and activist for human rights.

Susan Blackwell will return as host with co-directors Peter Flynn and Daniel Goldstein. Kurt Crowley, music director of Hamilton, will serve as the music director.

NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman, who created the annual event with a group of aspiring actors, said, Now, more than ever, we need to come together as a community to fight for the soul of our democracy. Protest music has connected people and sustained movements from the days of slavery through the civil rights and anti-war movements, to the resistance of today. When we lift every voice and sing with the Broadway community, we strengthen our bonds, energize the movement for human rights and continue the tradition of music as a force for freedom.

Proceeds from the show will benefit the NYCLUs mission of promoting and protecting civil rights and liberties of all New Yorkers.

Click here to order tickets. For more information about the show, visit Nyclu.org/broadway. The Skirball Center is located at 566 LaGuardia Place in Manhattan.

Lindsay Mendez and Andra Burns have been special guest performers on Playbills Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are available for Broadway on the Rhine River cruise August 13-20, 2017, featuring Seth Rudetsky, Andra Burns, Faith Prince, Terrence Mann, Charlotte dAmboise, and Santino Fontana. Playbill Travel is also booking Broadway on the Danube River with Michael Feinstein for November 3-13, 2017, also featuring Carmen Cusack, Julia Murney, Christopher Fitzgerald, Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Brandon Uranowitz, and Rudetsky, as well as other exciting talent to be announced. Tickets are also now on sale for Playbills Broadway on the High Seas July 2018 cruise to Iceland, accompanied by Judy Kuhn, Christine Ebersole, Rob McClure, Jarrod Spector, and Sierra Boggess. Visit PlaybillTravel.com for booking and information.

LOVE THEATRE? CHECK OUT THE NEW ARRIVALS AT THE PLAYBILL STORE!

Excerpt from:

Chris Jackson, Gavin Creel Topline July 17 Broadway Stands Up for Freedom Concert - Playbill.com

Cary, N.C. Thousands of people in Cary voted Sunday on an issue thats tearing apart their home country.

A symbolic vote Sunday in Venezuela allowed residents to protest the current presidents plans to rewrite the constitution and immigrants who have resettled in the Triangle voiced their opinions as well.

On July 30, an election will be held in Venezuela, but those who oppose President Nicolas Maduro, his socialist party and his desire to change the current constitution believe it will be rigged.

"He's removing every single right. We don't have civil rights, we don't have human rights, we don't have anything. We don't have food, we don't have medicine," said organizer Maru Quintero.

People waited in line for several hours in the heat and rain to participate in the international mock vote, which asked participants if they reject the constitutional assembly, if want armed forces to back congress and if they support the formation of a government comprised of both Maduro backers and opponents.

"It's a crisis economic, social going on in our country and this is the way we are telling the world," said voter Ana Mirabal.

"I do believe we are under a dictatorship and I hope this situation is going to change," said voter Christian Gonzalez.

The line for the symbolic vote in Cary stretched around the block before the polls opened at 8 a.m.

This has been nonstop. People coming and coming and coming, having the chance to express themselves, because that is something we dont have in Venezuela. We dont have elections. For us, this is completely unexpected, said Quintero.

Opposition voting also took place in Venezuela, but for those living in North Carolina, the issues are no less personal.

"It is so important for our country because we want to recover our freedom," said voter Jessica Viloria.

Organizers did not expect the turnout they saw Sunday and said they had no idea there were so many Venezuelans in the Triangle and from neighboring states and communities who drove to Cary to take part in the symbolic vote.

Originally posted here:

'We want to recover our freedom': Venezuelan immigrants vote in symbolic election - WRAL.com

By CORBETT SMITH, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS After he finishes reading a book, Jabari Ford looks down to see seven eager faces staring back at him.

The Dallas Morning News reports the 18-year-old Southern Methodist University sophomore didn't ever envision himself in the role of an instructor. But here he is, in a classroom at the Dallas Independent School District's Pease Elementary in east Oak Cliff, with a group of young boys sitting and squirming on a rug in front of him as he reads.

It's a life-changing experience.

"I've developed a passion for these kids that I've never had before," he said.

Ford is one of a handful of college students and recent graduates teaching at Pease's Freedom School, part of a national program launched by the Children's Defense Fund. The six-week program is centered on reading, using literacy to drive self-empowerment and community engagement. It's the first of its kind in Dallas.

"Our goal is not to teach kids to read that's not what we do," program director Vernessa Gipson said. "Our goal is to try to get them motivated to want to read. What we do more, we do better.

"We tell them a library card, a passport and the ability to read will take you anywhere in the world."

Targeting communities of color, the program is patterned after efforts that civil rights organizations took in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964.

At Pease, all of the 40 students kindergartners to fifth-graders are from the neighborhood, and all are black. So are the college-aged instructors called "servant leaders" in Freedom School lingo.

"Black kids need to see college-age students that look like them up in front, reading them books that tell their stories, with characters that look like them, that give them a sense of their history and tell them: 'I can be smart. I am smart. I can go places,'" Gipson said.

Ford, a Mansfield Lake Ridge graduate, is studying mechanical engineering at SMU, with hopes to work in the automotive industry. His fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, supports Freedom Schools across the country, and the local chapter used its funds to pay for Ford's classroom expenses.

"Those kids see a guy who looks like them, who thinks this is cool; he likes books, he likes math, he wants to design cars one day," Ford said. "Now, I've got kids saying they want to design cars and robots and that kind of stuff.

"I can share with them some of my experiences that they've never dreamed of or thought about and show them that they can achieve it, too, because I look like them."

After reading "Getting Through Thursday" about a boy who's disappointed that his mother can't afford a promised party for making the honor roll, because his report card came a day before payday Ford asked the boys to draw pictures from the key moments in the book.

He then split them into groups, to play-act the final pages when the party takes place.

"I need my best actors for this," Jabari told his group. "We need to see who's going to have the most lit celebration."

"Oh, I'm good at this," said one of the boys, with a big smile.

The Freedom School is just one of a wide array of options DISD families have this summer.

Crystal Rentz, the district's director of summer learning and extended day services, said DISD will hold 500 programs at its campuses this summer.

Nearly half of those, 246, are enrichment programs, giving students new avenues to explore while reinforcing learning from the previous school year.

Summer learning loss is one of the district's big challenges; research has shown that students can lose anywhere between one to three months of reading and math skills over the summer, and those losses are cumulative. Without the resources for summer camps and family vacations, many low-income students are more susceptible to learning loss. DISD's student body is nearly 90 percent low-income.

The Freedom School concept was a perfect fit, Rentz said.

"When you see a program like this, where they are bringing the community in, I think we are making a lasting impression," Rentz said.

A part-time trainer at Dallas' Momentous Institute, with a decade-long relationship with running Freedom Schools in Illinois, Gipson said that while trying to narrow achievement gaps is important for her "scholars," it isn't the sole focus.

New experiences seeing a play, learning chess, playing African drums, eating a kiwi or slicing a whole pineapple will open those children's eyes and spark their passions, she said.

"When our kids go back to school, and get to write that essay on what they did over summer vacation, they now have something new to write," Gipson said.

Read more:

Freedom School in Dallas offers summer programs for kids - WRAL.com

BBC News

Tony Blair says EU could compromise on freedom of movement BBC News Some EU leaders may be prepared to compromise on the free movement of people to help Britain stay in the single market, Tony Blair has said. He told the Today programme one option was for Britain "staying within a reformed EU". The ex-PM said he would ... EU leaders willing to compromise on freedom of movement, says Tony BlairReuters BLAIR: UK could stay in EU without freedom of movementBusiness Insider EU leaders 'open to freedom of movement reform' to soften Brexiteuronews Tony Blair Institute for Global Change -The Sun all 86 news articles »

Originally posted here:

Tony Blair says EU could compromise on freedom of movement - BBC News

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) - Saturday marks La Crosse's tenth and final Freedom Fest, celebrating veterans and their service to the U.S.

Just as Freedom Fest has become a tradition in the area, so has the motorcycle rally and ride starting in the Veterans Hall of Honor parking lot the morning of the festival.

Riders say it brings a sense of camaraderie, and for the Gold Star families who have lost a loved one, the rally has extra meaning.

"Motorcycles, veterans, I think it's been a natural fit forever, said Gary Rudy, director of the ride and rally.

About 200 riders, many with family members who are veterans or who have themselves served the country, started gearing up for the 100-mile ride through the Coulee Region at 9 a.m.

"I feel honored to be here with all the veterans, Sparta resident Don Whitacre said. They're my friends. Weve got each other's backs."

"It's just a chance for us to thank them and realize they haven't been forgotten, Rudy said.

"I like the freedom, Kathryne Humble, from La Crosse, said.

That freedom is at the heart of the day's celebrations.

"We live in a country where we are able to do things like this, Humble said.

Of course, as many at the rally said, freedom comes at a price.

"We consider that our son. It's an Army bear that was given to us, Hartford resident Colleen Lemke said, pointing out a stuffed bear on the bike of her motorcycle.

Lemke, her husband and their ride-along passenger are annual visitors to the ride and rally.

"A few tears, a little bit of laughter, she said.

Lemkes son, Cpl. Jason Lemke, died in Iraq in 2008.

Of course, some days you wish they were home, she said.

Since then, she's added a necklace she never takes off, and a few tattoos in his memory all just a reflection of how different life is now.

"Your whole outlook on life changes, Lemke said. Certain things that used to bother you no longer bother you, and you look at things totally different from day to day."

Support, however, comes in seemingly unlikely places, such as at a motorcycle rally, where there are other gold star families.

"You feel kind of proud, but a little bit of sorrow knowing what we're riding for today, Lemke said. You have a connection with everybody around you. You know they're there for the same reason we are. (Its) a little bittersweet."

Bittersweet is a word many were using at the rally, especially with the knowledge that with Freedom Fest ending, this will likely be the final ride.

"I'm sorry to hear this is the last one, Whitacre said.

Riders, however, said that they'll make the most of it..

"Today, we'll just celebrate today, Rudy said.

And they'll always be celebrating freedom.

"(There's) a lot of freedom being outside enjoying the ride, Lemke said.

Gates opened at the UW-La Crosse Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex at 4:30 p.m. Saturday for the live music, including The Remainders and John Fogerty.

General admission tickets cost $60 at the door.

Since Freedom Fest began, it has raised more than half a million dollars for veteran causes.

See more here:

Bikers gear up for one final Freedom Fest motorcycle ride - News8000.com - WKBT

Keith Ellison speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, June 3, 2015. (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via AP)

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Can Democrats defend the most basic premises of the Bill of Rights in a Republican-controlled House that is run by hyper-partisan Speaker Paul Ryan and that, at Ryans direction, so frequently dances to the authoritarian tune of a Trump administration that disrespects and disregards the Constitution?

Yes, they can. Congressman Keith Ellison just prevailed in a high-stakes struggle to defend freedom of religion as it is outlined in the First Amendment, and as it has been understood since Thomas Jefferson explained it in his final letter to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptists: Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

One of the most right-wing members of the House, Arizona Republican Trent Franks, proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would, in fact, have made a law respecting an establishment of religion. Franks, a staunch defender of President Trumps executive orders restricting travel by Muslims, sought to require Secretary of Defense James Mattis to conduct two concurrent strategic assessments of the use of violent or unorthodox Islamic religious doctrine to support extremist or terrorist messaging and justification.

The amendment targeted only Islam and was so vague in its referencing of unorthodox Islamic religious doctrine that it invited abuse. The amendment also mandated that one of the two reviews be conducted by non-governmental experts from academia, industry, or other entities not currently a part of the United States Governmentopening up the process to further abuse.

We should study what drives people to terrorism. But this amendment didnt do that. Not equally. @keithellison

Ellison responded with a stinging rebuke. This amendment stigmatizes people simply because they practice a specific religion, the Minnesota Democrat told his colleagues. The idea that Congress is seriously considering an amendment that legislates stigmatization and hate in direct contradiction of the Constitution is outrageous.

Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the House, recalled historic instances of racial, ethnic, and religious discrimination. and warned that when we single out a group of people and treat them differently, shameful and regrettable abuses and mistreatment follow.

If we havent already learned from our tattered past, when will we? asked the congressman.

Ellison also raised concerns about the message that adoption of the amendment would could send at a time when American Muslims already face violence and discrimination:

Rep. Franks NDAA amendment ordering a strategic assessment on Islam goes against everything we strive to be. By ordering the Department of Defense to scrutinize a single religion, identify leaders for some unknown purpose, and determine an acceptable way to practice, Congress is abridging the free exercise of religion, which is constitutionally impermissible.

The FBI reported a 67 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015the same year Asma Jamas face was slashed with a beer mug while she was eating dinner at an Applebees in Minnesota. Her attacker admitted in court that she attacked Asma simply because she was Muslim and not speaking English.

This rise in hate crimes isnt a surprise. Our president began his campaign spouting hate, said Islam hates America, and promised to ban Muslims. His rhetoric has contributed to the growing movement of hate in our country, and I have no doubt that some of the most notorious racist, anti-Muslim voices will be a part of the non-government assessment demanded by this amendment.

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With support from Muslim groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and his congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues, Ellison struck a chord in the House, convincing 27 Republicans to join 190 Democrats in opposing the amendment.

That meant that 217 House members embraced their oaths to defend the Constitution, while 208 Republicans rejected the dictates of First Amendment. It is, of course, unsettling that so many members of the House cast votes that were in conflict with the Bill of Rights. It is equally unsettling that victories of this sort come in the context of continued assaults on individual rights and civil society. But it is encouraging, in these times, that bipartisan support for freedom of religion prevailed.

We should study what drives people to terrorism. But this amendment didnt do that. Not equally, Ellison tweeted after Friday mornings vote. Glad so many of my colleagues agree.

Continued here:

Keith Ellison Just Beat Back a Right-Wing Assault on Religious ... - The Nation.

GREENSBORO As the music swelled, fourth-grader Floribert Kizumina squeezed his eyes shut.

Something inside so strong, he sang, before posing like a bodybuilder.

Fifty students are gathering five days a week at Hairston Middle in east Greensboro for the fifth-annual Childrens Defense Fund Freedom School run by Guilford County Schools. The session, which started June 19, ends July 28.

CDF Freedom School teaches reading with the promise that literacy is an important step toward power, in particular the power to do good. The camp starts with the theme, I can make a difference in myself, then shifts that theme outward week by week, to making a difference in family, then community, country and world.

Theres also a small advocacy or activism component. Campers and parents are participating in the Childrens Defense Funds National Day of Social Action asking lawmakers to keep funding for food stamps.

That ties into the agenda of the Childrens Defense Fund to promote policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation.

One very crucial part about Freedom School is that we dont just sit in the classroom and read books, said site coordinator Brandin Bennett. We give our scholars and ourselves the opportunity to do something for our community.

The modern Freedom Schools were inspired by events in summer 1964 during the civil rights movement.

That summer, organizers with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other groups rallied black people across the state of Mississippi to attempt to register to vote in defiance of laws and practices aimed at suppressing or eliminating black voting.

Civil rights activists and allies also set up Freedom Schools for black children and teenagers. These privately organized summer schools taught subjects such as literacy, math and humanities, as well as civil rights.

The Childrens Defense Fund began its first Freedom Schools summer camps in 1995, drawing its name from the Freedom School tradition made famous in the 60s.

The organization partners with sponsoring churches, schools, nonprofits and juvenile correction facilities and looks to serve students who might not otherwise have access to many books over the summer. Children of all races can participate.

Im pretty much jealous for myself that I never had this program when I was in school, said Thomas Moses, the Page High teacher who heads Guilford County Schools Freedom School.

Freedom School begins each day with breakfast, followed by Harambee time. Thats Swahili for all pull together. At Freedom School its a daily, half-hour assembly full of enthusiastic singing, chanting, announcements and acknowledgements.

In the middle of all that singing, chanting and dancing, a guest community leader reads a book aloud to the students and discusses it with them. Guests this year include everyone from Democratic County Commissioner Skip Alston to Republican school board member Anita Sharpe.

After the Harambee time, students head to their classes. On Tuesday, Kizumina and his classmates gathered in a circle of desks with their teacher to pass around a book on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, each reading a section.

The book told of challenges she faced as a child, everything from anti-Jewish signs in shop windows at the time, to being told to write with her right hand when she was left-handed, or that she couldnt take certain classes in school because she was a girl.

As the students and teacher read the book together, they discussed such topics as which hands they use to what prejudice is. Ginsburg, by the way, refused to follow that right-hand requirement fitting in to a running theme in I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, a picture book for young readers.

About 5 p.m. Wednesday, some parents, children and Freedom School staff members trickled into Hairstons media center for a parent meeting.

Moses and his staff wanted to share with parents what their children are doing at camp and also enlist some help with the National Day of Social Action project prescribed by the CDF.

They explained that this year the focus is on preventing child hunger, and that the action established by CDF involved writing messages on empty paper plates, symbolic of hungry children.

They passed out paper plates to the parents and suggested they write messages to federal lawmakers and local officials to oppose a proposed major cut to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.

Freedom School leaders collected the plates with plans to mail them to members of City Council and Congress. Students will also get an opportunity to write messages on plates, and those will also be sent, Moses said. He said they are planning a march with signs with the children this week, but not out and about, just at the school, to show students a little bit of what marching for a cause is like.

Parent Tonya Byrd said her daughter was crushed when it looked like Freedom School wasnt going to happen this year and ecstatic when the district changed course and pulled it together in just a few weeks.

Parents Amber Bennett and Darius Harper attended the meeting together.

Bennett, the sister of site coordinator Brandin Bennett, was busy writing a detailed message on her paper plate about her own experiences with SNAP.

When I first moved out of my parents house and I moved up here to Greensboro, I didnt have a job so SNAP was very beneficial to me, she said. It helped me get on my feet and feed my child until I could find a job and do it on my own, so thats what Im writing to help other young people or young adults to start off until they can get on their feet and make it on their own.

Bennett said her son, who will be in second-grade next year, was behind during the school year in reading. When she found out about the Freedom School program, she hoped it would be an opportunity for him to become more confident and less shy about reading.

I think he loves it, I see a big difference in him, she said, even in the space of just a couple of weeks. He seems like, I dont know how to put it ...

He comes home singing every day, Harper interjected.

... more energetic and brighter about actually learning and doing things, Bennett finished. I think its made a great impact on him thus far.

Contact Jessie Pounds at 336-373-7002 and follow @JessiePounds on Twitter.

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Freedom School teaches reading and more - Greensboro News & Record