$250,000 Grant to Prevent Discrimination against Africana Religions

I am proud to join Professors Danielle Boaz (UNC Charlotte) and Youssef Carter (UNC Chapel Hill) as co-principal investigator in a multi-year project, funded by the Religion and Theology Program of the Henry Luce Foundation, that amplifies community efforts to prevent discrimination and violence against practitioners of Africana religions.

Danielle Boaz, JD, PhD, who will lead the project, is a professor at UNC-Charlotte and author of Banning Black Gods: Law and Religions of the African Diaspora

The first stage will engage practitioners of African ancestral religions such as Lucumí (Santeria), Candomblé, Obeah, Palo, Vodou, or Voodoo and members of Black and African Muslim communities to document, analyze, and develop solutions to the religious discrimination and violence that they face.

If you identify as such, please consider joining our group! Apply here: www.religiousracism.org/workshop.

Applications are due by June 1, 2022.

Youssef Carter, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, is at work on The Vast Oceans: Remembering God and Self on the Mustafawi Sufi Path

What will you do?

(1) Document the discrimination and violence that your religious community faces; (2) Work with your community or other members of your religion to propose solutions to these problems; and (3) Meet with other members of Black, African, or African diaspora religious communities in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, from May 17-20, 2023.

In the final part of the project, Professors Boaz, Carter, and I will develop an open-access digital portal to analyze, digest, and reflect on what was learned from the project, thus providing a lasting resource for all those who wish to become allies in the struggle for freedom and dignity.

Community partners will be funded at each stage of the work.