FFRF has awarded $25,000 in First in the Family Humanist Forward Freethought scholarships to seven students, thanks to the generosity of FFRF benefactor Lance Bredvold. The students were selected by Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA), an African American humanist-atheist-based organization.
Janaye Silva, Emerson College, $5,000
“I am a major advocate for self-love and care. I believe you are responsible for your own happiness, and while others can help with your general mood, you are the person in the end who decides how you want to look at things.
The idea of there being a higher power controlling what happens in my life directly conflicts with my belief that I am in charge of my own thoughts, feelings and perceptions. As a member of the LGBTQ-plus community and a Black woman, I have been hit hard with racism and homophobia. I want to shed light on those issues, and I believe secular humanism will help with that. With secular humanism, people will see that they are the ones that can help face their problems and they won’t need to wait around for a god to fix everything.”
