Nominations Open for Beth Rickey Award for Action Against Hate
The Bard Center for the Study of Hate’s Beth Rickey Award is presented to a member of the OSUN community who has taken sustained and effective action against hate. Any member (student, faculty, or staff) of the network institutions is eligible.The working definition of hate studies is “the human capacity to define, and then dehumanize or demonize, an ‘other,’ and the processes that inform and give expression to, or can curtail, control, or combat, that capacity.” Hatreds can be visceral (such as white supremacy, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or other ideologies and theologies that target groups for violence or discrimination), or normative (such as hatreds that are viewed as "just how things are").
The award recipient’s achievements can either be in scholarship, adding to our understanding of how hatred works, or actions, such as political organizing or media work.
The recipient’s acts do not necessarily have to show personal courage, but standing up to hate in the face of risk or uncertainty is an additional factor, as is opposing hate inside one’s own community.
Elizabeth “Beth” Rickey was a Republican State Committeewoman in Louisiana. Rickey was appalled when neo-Nazi and former Klansman David Duke won elected office, and devastated that many of her fellow Republicans in state government welcomed Duke into their midst. She made it her mission to expose Duke, following him to meetings with other white supremacists, showing that he continued to sell Mein Kampf and Holocaust-denying material from his legislative office. When she realized the media didn’t know how to question a polished neo-Nazi like Duke (he deflected and charmed), she reached out to experts, journalists, and others. She served as the hub of a team that developed an effective strategy for advocacy, creating media packets that helped journalists use Duke’s own words to expose him. Rickey spent her own money, and lost many friends, as she and her colleagues successfully derailed David Duke’s electoral efforts for Senator and Governor.
The Beth Rickey Award includes a prize of $500 US.
Nominations should be emailed to Kenneth Stern, cc'ing Danielle Riou, detailing why the nominee should be given the award.
Deadline for nominations is Friday, April 1
Cross Reference: Call for Submissions,Opportunities,Civic Engagement
Deadline Expired on April 1, 2022