Jamila Bey is an American journalist and public speaker. She was host of a weekly radio program ''The Sex, Politics And Religion Hour: SPAR With Jamila'' on

Voice of Russia Voice of Russia ( rus, Голос России, r=Golos Rossii), commonly abbreviated VOR, was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 2014, when it was reorganised as Radio Sputnik. Its interval signal w ...

, and writes for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''s blog, ''She the People''. Before working for the Washington Post and the Voice of Russia, Bey spent around a decade working as a producer and editor for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

, including for

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...

. She is African-American. Bey is also an outspoken atheist, who has publicly stated that she believes religion to be actively detrimental to African-Americans, suggesting that religion both contributed to the physical enslavement of African Americans, and continues to contribute to their mental enslavement. She objects to the common characterization of the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

as a religious one, stating that although churches were significantly involved in the movement, "humans did all the work." A 2012 campaign by African Americans for Humanism placed billboards depicting Bey and other contemporary activists and organizers alongside historically prominent African American humanists

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

, and

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

. In 2015 Bey became the first atheist activist to address the

Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU). ...

’s annual meeting.

References

External links

Spar With Jamila
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Jamila Living people African-American women journalists African-American journalists American expatriates in Russia African-American atheists American feminists Atheist feminists African-American feminists American atheism activists 1976 births Duquesne University alumni Radio personalities from Pittsburgh Journalists from Washington, D.C. Journalists from Pennsylvania 21st-century atheists American women activists African-American activists 21st-century American journalists Date of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women