BTR News – Black women, religion & Jonestown w/ author Sikivu Hutchinson

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Today we will be speaking with author Sikivu Hutchinson about her latest book titled “White Nights, Black Paradise” which is about the tragedy of Jonestown. “White Nights, Black Paradise” is about the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project also known as Jonestown which was led by religious leader of Jim Jones, in northwestern Guyana in South America.

It became internationally known when on November 18, 1978, over 900 people either committed suicide or were killed on the orders of Jim Jones. The majority of those who died in Jonestown were Black women and Ms. Hutchinson novel is the first literary representation that focuses on the Black female character and the experiences of Black women concerning this tragic event and religion overall.

Sikivu Hutchinson has authored other books like Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels (2013), Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars (2011), and Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (Travel Writing Across the Disciplines) (2003). Moral Combat is credited as the first book on atheism to be published by an African-American woman. In 2013 she was named Secular Woman of the year.

After our interview, we will discuss some of the latest political / social news of the day.