Secular Activist Lady Went Down to NOLA

Here's What Went Down

Happy Wednsday, Secular Fam! I hope y’all got some tacos on Tuesday… because even though the Rapture didn’t happen, tacos should be everyone’s priority on Tuesdays.

I was invited to NOLA by one of my FAVORITE national secular organizations, the Association of Secular Elected Officials (ASEO). They are a 501c3, formed in 2020, with the intention of providing a network for elected officials who identify as secular.

Maybe they’re atheist, agnostic, humanist, or maybe they’re even religious folks who care about the First Amendment and the Establishment Clause. You should definitely check them out because they offer a ton of resources, and it’s free for elected officials (both past and present) to join. 

Since I’d never been to New Orleans, I decided to arrive a couple of days early to do a bit of sightseeing. So without donning a fanny pack or wearing a neon Bourbon Street t-shirt, I set out to do all the touristy things. I did a city bus tour, checked out some Catholic cemeteries (nothing happened! I came out unscathed!), and enjoyed SO MUCH MUSIC on Bourbon Street and Frenchmen Street (BTW, while you should definitely check out the spectacle that is Bourbon Street, Frenchmen Street is where it’s at).

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The reason ASEO asked me to come to NOLA is because they were exhibitors at the National School Board Association (NSBA) Conference. They have been tabling at more events designed for elected officials to get the word out. In fact, they will be in Tempe at the end of September for another national conference. When I have the details, I’ll be sure to share them. 

But for now, pour yourself a Hurricane and put on your favorite Zydeco music so we can relive the good, the bad, and the ugly at NSBA NOLA 2024!

First, NOLA is a VERY walkable city, and the convention center there is HUGE. I’ve been to many NSBA conferences in the past, but that was over four years ago, so the very first thing I noticed was how much smaller the 2024 conference was. I’d estimate that there were maybe half the number of exhibitors that there normally are. (Remember, there’s been a bunch of manufactured drama about accredited school board associations throughout the United States, and many states have pulled out of NSBA.)

Saturday kicked off with an amazing dance performance from a couple of different public high schools, and they gave a Broadway-worthy performance of the musical Six. The keynote event that day was a discussion between the current NSBA Director, Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, and civil rights activist, Ruby Bridges (!!!).

McCotter-Jacobs shared that back in the 1950s and 1960s, the NSBA was on the wrong side of history during the Brown v. Board of Education case, and as the first Black woman in the role of Executive Director of NSBA, she wanted to apologize on their behalf. 

During their discussion, Ruby Bridges said that public education is the great equalizer and must be preserved. When asked what the biggest obstacle our nation faces today, she paused. She mentioned book bans, the denial of our national history, and the negative branding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs as big problems being promoted by - and at this point she paused - then finished by saying “certain people.” 

I wonder which “certain people” she meant. 👀

Many folks in the audience started chuckling, and I noticed a few people walked out of the keynote discussion, likely upset at hearing the truth (more on that later). Bless their little snowflake hearts. 

It was an incredible opportunity to see Ruby Bridges like that, and I entered the exhibitor hall energized and ready to speak with school board members from all over the country.

Typically, at these tabling events, things go one of three ways: 1) People make a beeline to the table, ready to sign up and gather as much information they can, grateful for our presence; 2) People slowly read the sign, make a weird face, and quietly walk by as quickly as the can; 3) People (usually the same gender and skin tone - I’ll let you picture it in your head) come up to explain how little they understand the Constitution or what the founding fathers meant when they said “separation of church and state.”

I’m proud to report that the majority of the people we encountered fell under the first category. Sarah Levin, the ASEO organizer of this event (and general secular BADA$$), reported that NSBA was a fabulous opportunity for them, and that the number of signups exceeded her expectations. Also, you may remember hearing Sarah’s name before because last year, she spoke at the DNC meeting, and her message was FIRE. 

The people who were eager to sign up shared stories that were shocking, Secular Fam. A few people (mostly from rural southern communities) shared how every single one of the school board, and even school district functions start with a compulsory prayer that is ALWAYS Christian in nature, and that if they would even suggest something different, they would fear for their safety. 

On the second day, the keynote speaker was Tim Shriver, the Chairman of the board of the Special Olympics. He gave an incredible presentation about the idea of dignity and encouraged board members to sign a pledge supporting the “Dignity Index” that seeks to promote deeper understanding with those with whom we may disagree. 

It was a riveting discussion about how isolated we’ve all become in our algorithmic echo chambers, and how we’ve become fearful to speak out and/or connect because we fear other peoples’ reactions. I took pictures of a lot of the slides, but this one struck me the most. 

While I have a lot of hope in Gen Z and Gen Alpha, these kids are going through it. We’ve created a world that leaves them feeling hopeless about their own futures. Shriver said this rise in depressive symptoms is partly because of social media, but also, anyone with eyes and ears can see that this late stage of capitalism is not sustainable. The median home price in the US is over $400,000, and the federal minimum wage of $7.25 hasn’t increased in decades. Climate catastrophes have become the new normal, and half of the population are viewed as nothing more than “earthen vessels” meant to endlessly squirt out workers babies for our corporate overlords. 

When a nice man from rural Utah stopped by our table, he seemed to have an open mind about the idea of secularism. He said that he could tell that my colleague and I were “nice people even though we weren’t religious” and I asked him if he saw Tim Shriver’s talk. He replied he skipped it because he was so disgusted by the talk with Ruby Bridges, and I realized he was probably one of the snowflakes that walked out in a huff (see above). 

The conversation kind of ended abruptly. 

A TON of Arizona people were in NOLA, and I’m happy to report that most of them signed up. It was great seeing board members from all over the state sign the ASEO pledge. Of course, not ALL Arizona school board members were happy to see us, and one of them needed to come over to let us know that she doesn’t understand what the word “secular” means.

Remember how I mentioned that 3rd group? The ones who ABSOLUTELY CAN’T HELP but speak on topics they have zero understanding of? 

While I cover a bunch of these people, there’s only one who speaks with such confident ignorance on the regular, so I’m sure none of you are surprised that I’m referring to Deer Valley (DVUSD) board member, Kim Fisher. 

I warned my colleagues that she’d likely stop by and shared with them some history of her behaviors at board meetings, with employees and their family members, with her own colleagues, and online. They treated her as they would any other elected official, and she responded exactly the way you’d imagine. They explained the importance of the First Amendment and how kids of all faiths and none need to feel welcome and secure. Mrs. Fisher responded by saying “we haven’t seen it like that in Arizona, ‘they’ want all Christians gone. ‘They’ (not sure who ‘they’ are) support Satanist monuments in public places.” 

My colleague, Krisiana De Leon (who is a bada$$ city councilor who is also running for the state legislature in Washington State), responded by saying “that’s pluralism. If you’re going to let religions display something religious on government property, you have to let all religions.” Fisher replied, “No, ‘they’ don’t want all religions, ‘they’ want Satanism. ‘They’ want Chrisians gone…she (meaning me) writes articles about it all the time.” I told her that none of what she said was true and that I am not promoting satanism, I’m promoting secularism - the separation of religion and government. 

She was already walking away, but even thousands of miles away from Arizona, she displays her ignorance loudly to anyone who will listen. And she didn’t waste any time blasting it on her Facebook page. 

The good news here is that she was only one of a handful of haters that stopped by during the conference. The bad news is, she still has eight more months in her term. 

I returned to Arizona and much needed snuggles from my dog, Moxie. I checked in on my grandson and got even more snuggles from him, and then my phone blew up Monday afternoon with people sharing a TikTok video posted by @ynotcani. 

The video captured a bunch of evangelical extremists writhing on the floor of the Senate building, putting on a performance speaking in tongues, and praying for the Arizona Supreme Court to uphold the Civil War-era, near-total abortion ban.

Who would organize such performative nonsense, you ask? Why, Arizona’s own J6 Insurrectionist, CD8 Congressional Hopeful, Fake Elector, Arizona’s Biggest Manbaby AND Mama Fratelli Look Alike, Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27).

Sure enough, on Tuesday morning, the Arizona Supreme Court handed down their ruling that the Civil War-era, near-total abortion ban will go into effect around the end of May.

I’m sure that Kern and his Christian nationalist zealots will claim that their prayers worked, but when Doug Ducey stacked the Supreme Court during his tenure, that wasn’t divine intervention, that was calculated overreach that sealed the deal on all kinds of issues, including abortion. 

The Arizona Agenda offered a paywall-free edition of their Substack today, so if you need a comprehensive account of what all of this means, you can access it here.

The good news here? Hopefully, this decision will only help the Abortion Access for All ballot initiative, and hopefully, the extremists who voted to strip people of their reproductive freedoms and bodily autonomy will be out of jobs come November 6th.

Speaking of, on September 20, 2024, we’ll be speaking with Vic Aronow. Vic will share his suggestions for who to retain and who to fire in our Arizona courts. Mark your calendars!

If yesterday sucked as badly for you as it did for me, do not fret. They are loud, but we are many.

Now more than ever, folks, we need all hands on deck. Find a pro-abortion, pro-public education, pro-humanity candidate to support. And if you’re not already a member of Secular AZ or a paid subscriber to this Substack, please consider supporting the work we do today.