They Knew

Recently some allegations have been leveled against a prominent member of the Atheist/Secular community. The person in question, Mandisa Thomas, is named in a recent open letter written by several of the chapters of her 501-C3 organization, known as Black Nonbelievers, or BN for short. This post is not for getting into the details of these recent allegations but to highlight that these and other allegations related to this figure have circulated throughout the community from the onset. Many of the allegations concerned sexually inappropriate behavior, including sexual assault, harassment, and coercion by the head of the organization and others she protected. Many individuals who came forward have either been silenced or left the community. Some experienced bullying and other forms of abuse and harm to their reputations. And to those individuals, I hope that you feel comfortable and supported enough to come forward again. I also hope that you feel somewhat vindicated, as several of you clocked and called out this behavior as much as a decade ago.

Now I would like to address those who knew. I am speaking of those who participated, collaborated, funded and provided cover to this behavior. Perhaps, in the beginning, there was room to say, “we don’t really know what happened” or “that’s just a rumor” however, over the years many instances have accumulated and several individuals have shared their stories among the community. Some of these concerns were shared with individuals with decision making authority within major secular organizations like American Humanist Association, also known as AHA. Some of these individuals were complicit in that they knew and had concerns themselves about fiscal as well as sexual impropriety but opted to continue their relationships with BN due to the popularity of Ms. Thomas within the community and her ability to “put asses in seats”. I don’t know that I have space, time, or even evidence to point fingers at each and every individual who knew but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that former members of People of Color Beyond Faith (POCBF), namely Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson and Donald Wright were well aware of many of these outrages. I can say that we have had direct conversations via phone conferences we had as part of the planning and running of our short lived alliance. Short lived in part, because there was a desire to bring Ms. Thomas on board to enhance the organization’s profile. This was unacceptable to me and the other founding members of the organization: Kimberly Veal and Jenn Taylor, as the three of us conceived the organization as well as the conferences we held, though Dr. Hutchinson conceived the name. When Ms. Thomas’s attacks on my friend and colleague, Kimberly Veal, became too much for her to take, she retaliated on her show. This act brought a lot of criticism down on Kimberly, some perhaps was warranted, but much of it was not. The podcast in question divided our organization and it was clear to me and to Jenn that it was Dr. Hutchinson and Mr. Wright’s intention to marginalize Kimberly within the organization and bring Ms. Thomas aboard. We resisted and that was the end of their participation in POCBF. I bring this up because like Dr. Hutchinson, Mr. Wright, and several other figures in the community were aware of the problematic nature of how Ms. Thomas ran her organization, and it is just as important to hold these individuals accountable as it is to hold Ms. Thomas herself accountable. As the #MeToo movement has taught us, sexually inappropriate behavior and sexual assault often flourish when people are willing to look the other way. And make no mistake this was willful neglect.

In the years that have passed between then and now, we see that the Atheist /Secular community is in shambles. Many of its once prominent figures have since been similarly disgraced or have seen their influence decrease, and frankly much of this is probably for the best. I do not miss the dudebros and “firebrand” atheists who thought it appropriate to taunt African American religious communities with billboards saying “Slaves obey your masters.” or folks who spent their time attacking those who practice Islam. It should surprise no one that some of these folks have been apart of or have views which intersect with those of the Intellectual Dark Web. Just as it should surprise no one that the Atheist/Secular community has largely been absent in any critiques of White Christian Nationalism and the influence it has wielded among so called evangelicals. Many of these people supported Ms. Thomas at one time and she in turn protected some of them at various times, standing in as their “token black friend”. So one must wonder… what sort of culture is being fostered in the Atheist/Secular community? Perhaps now is an opportunity for a reset. Maybe now is the time to enhance the diversity of these organizations, to implement a system of ethics and accountability, and to worry less about “putting asses in seats” and more about communities where safety and care are centered.