Our 2015 Human Rights Award Winners

We recognize some of the many human rights heroes who live among us.

There is plenty of evidence that human rights are under attack where we live. All you have to do is turn on the television news. Fear, bigotry, and hatred are a volatile mixture. We worry about the future of our nation.

Yet, there is other evidence to examine -- hopeful signs that human rights are alive and well. Right here in Oklahoma, we see that the dignity of the individual person is being honored. Religious freedom is being protected. The rights of all people are being defended. We are building communities where every man, woman, and child may find equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity without discrimination.

Where is our evidence?

We find it in the people of our great state. In every corner of Oklahoma -- in places close to home, in the world of the individual person -- we recognize the human rights heroes who live among us. They are the champions of human rights where we live.

They defend the weak. They teach justice. They inspire us by their example to recognize our own rights and to uphold the rights of others.

These are our Oklahoma Human Rights Award Winners for 2015:

(Click on the name to read more about them) 

Sarah Adams-Cornell

The Aldridge Foundation

Bishop Edward Konieczny

Isaac Caviness

Jimmy Curry

Hilda De Leon Xavier

Eldon Ray Diaz-Henderson

Carl Downing

Jack Farley

Sundra Flansburg

The Sergio Gallegos Family

Gonzalo Guaman

Rabbi Vered Harris

Debbie Hogue-Downing

Juan Iglesias

Fundacion Iris Violeta

Linda James

Marq Lewis and “We The People Oklahoma”

Silvia Martinez Garcia

Jeanne Mather

Tim O'Connor

OU Unheard

Wanda Jo Peltier Stapleton

Tina Peña

John Pettyjohn

Lynda K. Powell and the Bethel Foundation

Lynn Schusterman

John Wesley Stillsmoking (deceased)

Drs. P.T. and Julia Teska

Kendall Wayne Vowell

Lawrence Brewer Wahpepah (deceased)

World Experiences Foundation

Stacey Wright

The Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association joins the members of the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance in recognizing the contributions and the inspiring examples of these award winners.

This year, once again, the awards program will take place in the chamber of the State House of Representatives:

Thursday, December 10th -- 10am to 12 Noon
State House of Representatives

Oklahoma Capitol 
2300 N Lincoln Blvd 
Oklahoma City, OK   73105

We hope you will plan to be in attendance.

Human Rights Day is celebrated around the world on December 10th. It is the anniversary of the day in 1948 when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.