NYC ATHEISTS BRUNCH / SPEAKER

NYCA Sunday Brunch Program Changed

Now, A Tribute to Sibanye, Harlem Atheist Leader

To pay tribute to our friend and dedicated Atheist leader, New York City Atheists Inc. (NYCA) is devoting its October 11th Sunday Brunch program to the life, ideas and remembrance of Sibanye, who, until his untimely death at 49 on October 1, 2009, was CFI-Harlem Coordinator and, for five years, the dynamic moderator of the Harlem group’s monthly Atheist discussion programs.

At Brunch, we will show the videotape of the talk Sibanye gave to our group on July 12, 2009, and then we will have an open mike so people can talk about their remembrances of Sibanye. If you missed his appearance in July, this is your chance to see what was probably his last public talk, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Harlem’s Religions.” If you were there, this is a second chance to appreciate his message, which, with his death, holds added imperatives for us all.

Fighting a Fatal Disease

NYCA’s communications director, Jane Everhart, visited Sibanye at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for a blood disorder in the week of September 20. She describes her visit as follows:

“I just missed meeting Sibonye’s mother and sister, who had flown in from St. Louis to visit him. He was in great spirits and in fact, had sent me an email on Sept. 20 saying ‘I am feeling fantastic. I should be getting out this week. See you at the meeting?’

“We sat in his hospital room that day--Sibanye, Jackie (a member of his Harlem group) and I--and talked animatedly for hours about politics, Obama, atheism, economics, everything. He was so alive, so engaged, so spirited. Just 10 days later, he was gone.”

Portents of Mortality

“And yet, there were early portents that I did not see,” Everhart adds. “In his Sept 21 email to me, he wrote,

‘No, I will not be leaving [the hospital] tomorrow. More like Friday…It is going to take me a while to be cured. My disease is fatal. I credit my healthy lifestyle to my ability to fight off the illness. I am supposed to be deathly ill.’”

The disease won the fight just 10 days later. “It must have been a heavyweight disease, the Mike Tyson of blood disorders, because Sibanye loved life and wanted to live,” says Everhart.

From South Africa to Harlem

Sibanye, whose real name was Herbert Crimes (Sibanye means “we as one” in Swahili), was born and raised in St. Louis. After graduation from Temple University, he worked in Chicago developing school curriculums for Black and Hispanic males. In the 1990s, he lived in South Africa for six months to work on developing its educational system, but came back to the U.S. when he realized it was going to be a long, uphill political struggle. Also, he needed a cochlear implant to regain his late-onset hearing loss. In recent years, when he wasn’t proselytizing for atheism, he worked as a computer programmer.

In His Own Words

Before Sibanye spoke at NYCA in July, Everhart interviewed him on tape for a press release she sent out about his talk. Below, she shares with us some of the significant Q and A’s on the tape because, she says, she feels they reveal the depth and concerns of a thoughtful and generous man:

Q: What can you do to help the Black community understand that there is no god?
A: Black people still go into shock when another Black person tells them there is no god. Old ladies will hit you with their purse. You will have your race card revoked.

Q: Why did you live in South Africa for a while and why did you leave?
A: I met an ANC (African National Council) member who was then in exile in the U.S. He invited me to come over and be a part of building the new infrastructure in South Africa after Mandela was elected. I was part of the educational contingent. But they had other major issues—housing, jobs, health care—and they put the educational infrastructure on the back burner. I felt they could do all those things at the same time but…[they felt] you had to prioritize if you want to control your economy. That’s when I decided to leave.

Q: Was your atheism affected by your being in South Africa?
A: I would go into the homes of Africans. They had dirt floors, tin roofs and tin walls and they had a blue-eyed Caucasian Jesus on every wall. It wore me out. I couldn’t say anything because I was the only Black atheist in the country at that time. I was strong in my atheism; I was unshakeable. Being witness to the oppression that those people had suffered, it made me want to cry.

“That was Sibonye,” says Everhart. “He was sweet, generous and kind. Yet he didn’t mince words; he told it like it is. He would point out any remnants of racism that a Caucasian person expressed. He had such a strong sense of inner integrity that he could not let it pass.

Harlem Group Growing

“His Harlem atheist discussion group was growing and thriving. Oddly enough, more and more white people were heading up there to those meetings to take part in the vigorous discussions. At 49, Sibonye was in his prime as a leader. We have lost a wonderful person, a man of great personal integrity and intelligence.”

Come on October 11 to pay tribute to Sibanye, to dine with us and to remember a man the likes of whom we may not see again anytime soon.

WHAT: “Remembering Sibanye, a Tribute to an Extraordinary Atheist
Leader,” a retrospective of Sibanye’s talk to NYCA and an
open mike for remembrances from the audience.

WHEN: Sunday, October 11 at 12 noon

WHERE: Press Box Restaurant and Pub
932 Second Ave. (bet. 49th & 50th Streets)
Second Floor

COST: Brunch, $20 (includes selection of buffet entrees and salad,
one soft drink, coffee, tax, tip). Going back for seconds on
the delicious Eggs Benedict is highly recommended.

Kenneth Bronstein, president
New York City Atheists
[masked]

or

Jane Everhart
Director of Communications
New York City Atheists
[masked]

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New York City Atheists Inc. is a 501C not-for-profit educational association dedicated to the separation of church and state and to promoting the atheist lifestyle and values. All are welcome, including agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and those just questioning and seeking.

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