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HRE USA

A network dedicated to building a culture of human rights

Category: Education

Challenge Islamophobia Project

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Most teaching resources and teacher workshops about Islam and Muslims focus on increasing knowledge of religious texts, beliefs, and rituals rather than addressing the root causes of Islamophobia. This project addresses that gap by placing Islamophobia firmly within a U.S. context and shared cultural history.

The lessons are designed to avoid the need for a facilitator with specialized knowledge in Islamic studies. The lessons do not teach the details of Islamic faith and practice because Islam is not the root of Islamophobia. Our lessons invite learners to think differently by investigating Islamophobia as a form of racism born from empire.

Challenge Islamophobia is a project of Teaching for Change.

>> Learn more and download teaching resources

Planning to Change the World

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Planning to Change the World is a plan book for educators who believe their students can, will, and do change the world. It is designed to help teachers translate their vision of a just education into concrete classroom activities. 

The newest edition has all the things you would expect in a lesson plan book, plus:

  • Weekly planning pages packed with important social justice birthdays and historical events 
  • References to online lesson plans and resources related to those dates
  • Tips from social justice teachers across the country
  • Inspirational quotes to share with students
  • Thought-provoking essential questions to spark classroom discussions on critical issues
  • Reproducible social justice awards for students

Planning to Change the World is created by the Education for Liberation Network with the support of Rethinking Schools. Proceeds from the sale of the plan book support the work of these two organizations.

>> Learn more and order

New Book: Fully Human – Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights

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Lindsey N. Kingston’s new book, Fully Human: Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights (Oxford University Press, 2019) interrogates the idea of citizenship itself, what it means, how it works, how it is applied and understood, and where there are clear gaps in that application. This is a wide-ranging, rigorously researched examination of citizenship, statelessness, and human movement. And it is vitally relevant to contemporary discussions of immigration, supranationalism, understandings of national borders, and concepts of belonging. Not only does Kingston delve into theoretical concepts of citizenship and statelessness, she also integrates analyses of various kinds of hierarchies of personhood in context of these broader issues. The research also includes explorations of nomadic people, indigenous nations, and “second class” citizens in the United States within this theoretical framework of citizenship and statelessness. This careful and broad analysis defines the novel idea of ‘functional citizenship’, which is both theoretical and practical in considering citizenship and statelessness in our modern world. Fully Human focuses on the promises and protections that are outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, unpacking the protection gaps and difficulties that have become clearer and more acute in this era of globalization and security concerns, and highlighting some of the key problems with the current human rights regimes that are in place.

>>  Learn more and purchase

2019 Steering Committee Nominations

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Interested in helping shape the future of human rights education? Then consider nominating yourself or a colleague to join HRE USA’s Steering Committee. 

Our rules call for the election every summer of new Steering Committee members to replace retiring members. This year there are 2 open seats to be filled, and we invite all members to make nominations for their replacements. You may nominate anyone who fits the criteria for membership and can fulfill the responsibilities of Steering Committee members, including nominating yourself!

Brief biographies of current Steering Committee members can be viewed here. A ballot will be sent to all HRE USA members in July.

Elected Steering Committee members will serve a three-year term beginning in August 2019.

DEADLINE: TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2019

>> Learn more
>> Nomination Form

For further inquiries, please contact Emily Farell

Housing Justice Conference

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EVENT DETAILS: 

When: August 2-3, 2019
Where: CUNY Law School, NYC
Cost: Free and open to the public
Theme: Affordable for Whom? Organizing and Development Strategies for Housing Justice

>> See conference program
>> Register

As cities across the country struggle with rising housing costs and displacement, public recognition of the need for affordable housing is increasing. At the same time, organizers and activists–led by working-class people of color–are proposing bold, community-controlled solutions, and keeping a key question at the forefront: “Affordable for whom?” 

Coalitions of activists, practitioners, and academics around the country have successfully created deep affordability–even in expensive land markets–through community land trusts, cooperatives, mutual housing associations, tenant associations, and much more. 

Affordable For Whom? is a two-day convening focused on the development and preservation of housing that is permanently affordable. Featuring presenters from California to the Deep South to the Northeast, all working to build a national movement to transform our relationship to land and housing. Conference activities will include panel discussions, popular education activities, and strategy and planning sessions related to four interrelated elements of deeply, permanently affordable housing:

  • Innovative models of community-controlled land and housing
  • Stewardship practices that support permanent affordability
  • Creative financing and funding for deeply affordable housing
  • Public policies determined by community priorities

>> See conference program
>> Register

Conference Organizers:  CUNY Law School, NESRI, Picture the Homeless; Right to the City Alliance; New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI) 

UPR Webinar – Why should I internationalize my issue?

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EVENT DETAILS: 

When: Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Where: Online Webinar
Time:  3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT 
Cost: Free and open to the public

Please register for the call here.

The U.S. Human Rights Network is hosting an introductory webinar on how to use the Universal Periodic Review to amplify your issue and advocate for justice. The webinar will answer the questions:

  • “How can I hold the government accountable for its flagrant violations of human rights?”
  • “How does the human rights framework relate to my issue?”
  • “Why should I internationalize my issue?”
  • “Why should I engage with the United Nations?”
  • “What is the Universal Periodic Review?”
  • “How can I get involved with the Universal Periodic Review?”

USHRN Deputy Director Salimah Hankins and independent expert Joshua Cooper will offer an introduction to the human rights framework, international mechanisms, and the Universal Periodic Review. 

This webinar is the first in a series of six webinars from July through September on the Universal Periodic Review. Each webinar will become gradually more specific and technical, aimed at assisting NGOs and activists with drafting their own stakeholder reports for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of the United States. 

The July 10th webinar is open to the public including non-members. 

Click to watch a short video of Malcolm X discussing the value of the
human rights framework and the internationalization of issues.

“There are many of our people who are thinking more deeply and more broadly, and are beginning to see the importance of lifting [our issues] out of the national or domestic context, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States government. The only way this can be done is by internationalizing the problem and putting it at a level where it can be taken into the United Nations. Then, all of the other independent nations on this earth can involve themselves in our struggle and support us.” – Malcom X

Click here to view information about the call on the USHRN calendar.
 

Voice of Witness – Sharing History Initiative

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The Voice of Witness 2019 Sharing History Initiative is underway, and this year they are giving away free sets of Solito, Solita, with one free copy of Say It Forward per set. 

The Sharing History Initiative introduces oral history and social justice storytelling to under-resourced classrooms and communities around the United States by providing educators, storytellers, and advocates with free books & free culturally relevant curricula.

Educators and organizers from public schools/universities, community colleges, and education, human rights, or arts-based non-profits are encouraged to apply. Visit their website for more information and FAQs.

Application Deadline: June 30, 2019

>> Learn more and apply

2019 Steering Committee Nominations

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Interested in helping shape the future of human rights education? Then consider nominating yourself or a colleague to join HRE USA’s Steering Committee. 

Our rules call for the election every summer of new Steering Committee members to replace retiring members. This year there are 2 open seats to be filled, and we invite all members to make nominations for their replacements. You may nominate anyone who fits the criteria for membership and can fulfill the responsibilities of Steering Committee members, including nominating yourself!

Brief biographies of current Steering Committee members can be viewed here. A ballot will be sent to all HRE USA members in July.

Elected Steering Committee members will serve a three-year term beginning in August 2019.

DEADLINE: TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2019

>> Learn more
>> Nomination Form

For further inquiries, please contact Emily Farell

New Lessons and UN Recognition of HRE USA Curriculum Guide

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Four new lessons have been added to the HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide.  All of the lessons are available for free to download in Word and PDF format. The new lessons include:

HRE USA is also excited to announce that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) now features eight lessons from the Curriculum Integration Guide in UNODC’s Education for Justice (E4J) Library of Resources – a comprehensive, open access database of pre-existing, relevant and age-appropriate educational materials.

>> HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide

Immigration, Detention, & Resistance Through Art

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EVENT DETAILS: 

When: Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Where: Columbia University, International Affairs Building, 420 W. 118 St., New York, NY 10027
Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm 
Cost: Free and open to the public

The Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration at SIPA, in collaboration with HRE USA, the Human Rights Working Group, and ARTE, invites you to join us for a panel conversation on immigration and detention in the United States.

Immigration policy and mass incarceration represent today one of the main sites of human rights abuses and violations in the US. The criminalization of displaced peoples, in its turn, is part of a broader context of securitization of borders worldwide, a notion that contributes to and strengthens regimens of surveillance and detention advanced by States. With that in mind, the panel seeks to bring together community-based artists and organizers, academics, immigration advocates and attorneys to discuss insights and intersections between their work. The discussion will also explore the ways in which community art can be mobilized as a form of resistance, and the event will allow attendees to support policy advocacy and engage in community art.This event is co-sponsored by: the Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration at SIPA, the Human Rights Working group, Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), and Human Rights Educators (HRE) USA.

>> Learn more and register

We are grateful for the generous support of our members, individual donors, and The Puffin Foundation Ltd
The core values of HRE USA and its partner organizations include transparency and critical thinking skills. We believe that human rights--and human rights education--belong to everyone, and that the full realization of human rights means that access to human rights education materials must never be conditioned upon the subscription to any particular religious faith, ideology, political affiliation, or membership in any particular organization and that any organizational connections should be openly acknowledged.