OKC Artists for Justice

"Everyone has the right to life,
liberty and security of person."
--Article 3 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights

Nominated by Priya Desai

Oklahoma City Artists for Justice have served as fierce advocates for people who have faced domestic violence and sexual assault. They will be recognized on December 10th at the Oklahoma State Capitol -- along with other winners of the 2016 Oklahoma Human Rights award.

Their work began covering the Daniel Holztclaw case, and advocated for the victims who came forward and spoke about the crimes committed against them. In addition to that, they are now working in the NE OKC Community to bring attention to the many injustices women face in Oklahoma.

They are tireless advocates for women, and especially marginalized women of color. Through their efforts, I believe, they have been defenders of women's human rights. They educate the community about issues affecting women as well as having a social justice presence at other community events. They are aware of what is going on in our community and are always there in support. It gives me great pleasure to bring light to the work they do and nominate them for this prestigious award.

You're invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Seneca Scott

(AP Photo/Alonzo Adams) 

A champion of economic development,
health, education, and the
dignity and rights of all people. 

Seneca Scott served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives for 8 years, representing the citizens of District 72 (Owasso, Sperry, Tulsa, Turley). We are pleased to announce that he has been selected as one of the 2016 winners of the Oklahoma Human Rights Award.

Seneca Scott is a fifth-generation Oklahoman, born in Enid. He holds a B.A. in History / Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma.

From 2009 to 2016, Seneca served the citizens of District 72 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. While in the Legislature, he was proud to co-chair the Native American Caucus. He served on the Natural Resources, Appropriations / Budget, and Energy Committees.

A leader in many community activities, Seneca has served on the board of directors for the Oklahoma Sustainability Network, the Kendall-Whittier Task Force, the Turley Community Association, and the Springdale Economic Development Council. His memberships include the North Tulsa Rotary Club, the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry’s Committee Against Racism, the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, and the Choctaw Nation.

In 2014, Seneca Scott was the recipient of the Opio Toure Courageous Legislator Award (presented by the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty).

Additional info about Seneca Scott:

While a representative in the Oklahoma Legislature, Seneca authored several bills that directly impacted Indian Education and Indian students. All minority students are entitled to a good public education.

He championed a bill to continue the Oklahoma Advisory Council for Indian Education which recommends ways to help Indian students achieve a good public education. He also worked on the Tribal Notification bill -- designed to provide notification to a tribe or nation and assistance whenever an American Indian student (tribal member) is sent to a state juvenile facility.

Seneca started a Food Desert Task Force. This was a very diverse group that worked on solutions to provide alternatives to people that don't have grocery stores near their residence. He has been supportive of community gardens, food trucks with fresh produce to the under-served people, and a variety of alternatives. All people, no matter where they live, should have a reasonable access to food stores or gardens.

Seneca believes in providing good health care to people.  As budget cuts were being discussed, he worked with different groups to try to prevent drastic cuts.

He believes in a good Oklahoma Public Education System.  He listens to educators and responds with strong support.

You're invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Moises Echeverria

Photo Credit: MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

Achieving respect and understanding
for all people through education,
advocacy and dialogue.

Moises Echeverria knows about being an outsider. He was 13 when his family moved to Tulsa from Monterrey, Mexico. He spoke no English and knew no one outside his immediate family. Within a few years, he found himself in Tulsa’s own “Tower of Babel" -- East Central High School. Kids from all sorts of ethnic and social backgrounds go to East Central, and Echeverria was right in the middle of it.

Today, in 2016, we are pleased to announce that Moises has been selected as one of the 2016 winners of the Oklahoma Human Rights Award.

The 31-year-old Echeverria is the President / CEO for the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, and active in a number of community organizations. Echeverria worked his way through school at Tulsa Community College and Oklahoma State University-Tulsa. He is close to achieving U.S. citizenship. Now he helps others fit into a society that he knows from firsthand experience both welcomes and scorns outsiders.

OCCJ’s mission -- and Echeverria’s -- is to cool the rhetoric through programs that foster cross-cultural understanding and dialogue.

You're invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Sara Zaynab Bana

Photo Credit: Oklahoma Activist 

“Violence is not a natural mode for people. We can love. 

To have love and compassion in your life makes you a more 

whole and complete person. It also makes the world a more beautiful place. 

"We have to respect one another.”
--Sara Zaynab Bana
("Local groups hope to end violence by educating teens" 

in the Oklahoma Gazette - June 15, 2016)

Sara Bana was born on September 10, 1985, in Tehran, Iran. She is a child survivor of the war (Iran-Iraq War, 1980 – 1988) and immigrated to the United States in 1996. She has been politically active since her senior year of high school in 2004.

Sara Bana and other members of the E.V.E. Coalition
met with OKC Police Chief Bill Citty to discuss the
use of body cameras by Oklahoma City police officers.

In her senior year of high school, she became aware of the apathy that exists among young Americans regarding their Democracy and Government. As part of her Senior Project, she wrote a research paper regarding the state of democracy in America. She submitted her paper encouraging young Americans to invest and engage in our Democracy. She planned, organized, and implemented a political forum for high school students who were soon to be voters.

Different high schools transported their Junior and Senior students to the forum. The Oklahoma state chairs of the Democratic, Libertarian, and Republican parties were participants in the educational forum that was moderated by Sara and two other high school students. After the forum, knowing it would be a while before she would have the right to vote as an American citizen, she continued to work on political campaigns from different parties.

Sara spent her college years studying liberal arts with a focus on philosophy and political science. Throughout her college years and since then, she has focused her efforts on helping local and national organizations work toward peace, education, liberty, fundraising, plans of action, mobilization, management, and outreach.

In 2011, her work as a community organizer turned into a not-for-profit agency: Civic Services Community Advocacy (CSCA). CSCA is a non-partisan public advocacy agency committed to creating access to equality and justice for all. The agency handles varied case management activities; organizes community projects / initiatives; advocates on behalf of our clients / public, and educates and mobilizes the general public towards democratic means to achieve positive progress. When it is in the best interests of the general public which we serve, we collaborate with government agencies, community leaders, attorneys, law makers, local business community organizations, and other entities. At CSCA the focus is on different needs of the individuals that we serve on varying levels so that our clients are equipped with the different tools necessary for success. The different communities that we serve include: LGBT community; individuals with disabilities, including those struggling with addiction; the homeless; ex-convicts, including sex offenders; immigrants; women and children; and those on the run from violence; and minorities.

In 2013, at a collaborative meeting of activists regarding the homicide of Maria Gonzales, a case managed by CSCA, the Ending Violence Everywhere (E.V.E.) coalition was founded. Since then, Ms. Bana has had the honor and privilege of serving as an active co-founder of the E.V.E. coalition in partnership with Dr. Dwain Pellebon and Milton Combs. E.V.E. is a citizen coalition demanding change in the culture of violence by promoting education, violence prevention, treatment, and intervention. E.V.E. also focuses on conflict resolution and enhancing trust between law enforcement and the community.

Sara Bana has contributed her time and energy to many organizations that work on issues related to human rights, including: MLK Prayer Breakfast Committee; OK Close Up Steering Committee; E.V.E. Coalition; NAACP; PACT Coalition (vice chair); Civic Service Community Advocacy; Amnesty International; Midwest City Council Task Force on Alternatives to Crime, Punishment and Rehabilitation; Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (Executive Board Member); Think Twice OK (Campaign Manager); Project Red Bird.

The public is invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan

Photo Credit: Wikimedia.org

"Women’s groups can... pave the way 

for sustainable peace, universal 

human rights, and security...." 

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan serves on the Advisory Council of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. She knows well the power of her pen. The writings and the books of this University of Oklahoma professor and granddaughter of a former Kashmiri prime minister are making headlines in both India and Pakistan.

Dr. Khan is the author of four critically acclaimed books:

The Fiction of Nationality in an Era of Transnationalism, in which she critiques the nostalgic support of subversive elements by the affluent diaspora from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir: Between India and Pakistan examines the seminal spiritual and political role of women in Kashmir, while also highlighting the plight of Kashmir generally as a gnarled bone of contention between India and Pakistan.

A major anthology, The Parchment of Kashmir: History, Society, and Polity, develops an understanding of the region’s culture, resilience and fate as a political pawn.

Photo Credit: Shehjar.com

Her fourth book, The Life of a Kashmiri Woman: Dialectic of Resistance and Accommodation, is on her maternal grandmother, Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah. It was released in June 2014.

Dr. Khan's goal is to engage in reflective action as an educator working with diverse cultural and social groups questioning the exclusivity of cultural nationalism, the erosion of cultural syncretism, the ever-increasing dominance of religious fundamentalism, and the irrational resistance to cultural and linguistic differences.

She prefers not simply to live in her grandfather's shadow but to "stand up for myself and be taken seriously express my anger without being labeled an 'Islamic militant' legitimately question things I don't understand," as she stated in a 2010 interview related to the release of her second book.

Nyla lives, breathes and exudes human rights through her writing.

In a recent article, Dr. Khan compared the situation of women in Oklahoma with women in Kashmir. She wrote: 

"Not just in Kashmir, but in Oklahoma as well, women can play an important role in establishing a more inclusive democracy and new forums for citizen cooperation. Female leaders can lead the way by offering new ideas, building broad-based political coalitions, and working to bridge organizational divides.

"In this way, women’s groups can thus pave the way for sustainable peace, universal human rights, and security from violent threats of all kinds." 

(See the article, "Women in Oklahoma and Kashmir: A Comparative Study," at the Oklahoma Observer website ... https://okobserver.net/women-in-oklahoma-and-kashmir-a-comparative-study/)

You're invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

John T. Walters

Photo Credit: NewsOK.com

Through his activism and leadership in the Oklahoma City local group number 238 of Amnesty International, John Walters has been a champion of human rights for all. 

We are pleased to announce that John has been selected as one of the 2016 winners of the Oklahoma Human Rights Award.

John Walters has lobbied our representatives in Congress, he has organized letter-writing campaigns and film festivals. He has been visible and outspoken in defense of political prisoners, refugees, and everyone whose freedom and dignity are under threat.

Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, once said: "Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done."

John Walters is a model of Peter Benenson's gracious commitment and perseverance. Through his steady and humble presence, John has been an inspiration for many people, young and old.

You're invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Marjan Seirafi-Pour

Photo Credit: garrettduty.blogspot.com

A Persian language Instructor at OU,
she has advocated for human rights
in Oklahoma for over two decades. 

In recognition of her contributions to interfaith understanding, Marjan Seirafi-Pour has been selected as one of the 2016 winners of the Oklahoma Human Rights Award.

Here is a short bio from the Garrett Duty blog:

Seirafi-Pour was born in Tehran, Iran in the 1960s. As a child she attended schools mixed with boys and girls, but that all changed in 1979 when she was about 13. The shah of Iran was overthrown and Iran became the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many reforms were implemented, including the segregation of schools by gender.

Her family decided to stay in Iran after the revolution, but the next year Iraq invaded Iran and began the nearly decade-long Iran-Iraq war. After realizing that there was no end in sight, Seirafi-Pour's family decided to move to Oklahoma where her brothers and sisters had already been in school.

One would think that leaving a war-torn country for Oklahoma would be tough in many ways. From dealing with a new language, to the cultural changes seen from the Islamic Republic to Oklahoma. However, Seirafi-Pour said the most difficult part of moving was, "Just like every 15 or 16 year old girl, leaving the friends and people you have gone to school with for years."

Seirafi-Pour went on to graduate from Carl Albert High School in Midwest City and then got a Respiratory degree from Rose State College in Midwest City. Following that, she earned a bachelor's degree in Allied Health Education from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

Today, Ms. Seirafi-Pour works in the field of Iranian Studies -- after having earned post-graduate degrees in Educational Psychology and Global Studies with focus on the Middle East and Iran. She stays busy as the Middle East Program Coordinator for the Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Still she finds time to volunteer in her community. Since 2009, Seirafi-Pour has served on the board of directors for ACLU-Oklahoma. In 2011, she was appointed by Mayor Cindy Rosenthal to serve on the Norman Human Rights Commission.

More from Garrett Duty:

Her toughest moment as a Muslim in OK came during what was supposed to be a celebration for the state.

Seirafi-Pour was the chairperson of the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council in 2007, when the council decided to give Oklahoma politicians a Centennial Qur’an to commemorate Oklahoma's 100th birthday. A Baptist group had given Bibles to the politicians, so the council thought it would be acceptable with Qur'ans as well.

They were wrong. The gift was seen by some politicians as offensive. Some denied the Qur'ans, while the media created a firestorm over this issue. Suddenly Seirafi-Pour and her council were the subject of international outcry regarding their decision.

Despite the negative outlook by some, Seirafi-Pour saw many good things come from the controversy. The Muslim community in Oklahoma remained united and provided a strong support group, which gave Seirafi-Pour a distinct sense of pride in the Muslim leadership.

Though some politicians were rude to her, there were many that were very kind.

The public is invited to attend the presentation of the 2016 Human Rights Awards on Saturday, December 10th, in the House Chamber of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The program will begin at 10am. It will be emcee'd by former State Representative Seneca Scott. There is no charge to attend. Following the awards program, you are invited to enjoy a Free Speech Forum in the Senate Assembly Room from 12 Noon to 2pm.

Every year, the Oklahoma Human Rights Awards are co-sponsored by the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association and the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance.

Previous winners of the award include educators, physicians, students, and community volunteers from many different communities and all walks of life. They are united by their enduring commitment to the values and principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information about the awards program, please contact Wilfredo Santosrivera, 405-631-3027.

Marjan Seirafi-Pour's experiences in the Muslim community of Oklahoma have left her with a distinct sense of pride and optimism about the future.

"I think here in Oklahoma and in general in America that Muslims are being able to achieve what they want and be successful and work hand in hand with others to make America a better place," Seirafi-Pour said.

From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.