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Applications for the Beth Rickey Award Nominations for Action Against Hate 2024 are now open. Click here to learn more about this opportunity and how to apply for it.
Opportunity Details
A Bard and OSUN community member receives the Beth Rickey Award from the BCSH-Bard Center for the Study of Hate. Any member of Bard or the OSUN network who has taken consistent and successful action against hate, including students who will graduate in 2024, faculty, staff, and other members, is eligible to apply for this honor.
It’s possible that applicants opposed hate in their local communities. Standing up to hate is an extra aspect, even if the deeds lack personal courage. The accomplishments of the recipient may take the shape of media work, political organizing, or improving knowledge of the mechanisms underlying hatred. Bard Center for the Study of Hat (BCSH) will announce the winners on 12 September 2024, on Beth’s birthday.
Elizabeth Beth Rickey was a well-known Republican State Committeewoman in Louisiana. She was politically conservative but proud of her relation to Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers owner. Branch Rickey integrated baseball by signing Jackie Robinson.
Elizabeth Beth got horrified when a neo-Nazi and former Klansman, David Duke, won elected office. She was shocked that many Republicans in state government, mostly her fellows, welcomed Duke.
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the best-known Adolf Hitler’s struggles and the most famous Nazi text ever published. Since that, Rickey made it her mission to expose Duke by showing that he continued to sell Mein Kampf and Holocaust-denying material from his legislative office. She, with other white supremacists, was following Duke to meetings.
Soon Rickey realized the journalist and media did not know how to question a polished neo-Nazi like Duke. She reached out to journalists, experts, and others. As a team hub, Rickey and her team developed an effective strategy and created media packets that helped journalists use Duke’s own words to expose him. Her efforts caused spending her money and lose many friends. Finally, Rickey and her colleagues successfully derailed David Duke’s electoral efforts for Senator and Governor.
You must have taken consistent and successful action against hate in your community.
Click on the link to the application website to apply.
The nominator can submit their nominations by email to BCSH Director Kenneth Stern. They should detail why the nominee is qualified for the award.
Apply for Beth Rickey Award Nominations for Action Against Hate