Harry Belafonte

Entertainer, Activist

Award-winning Harry Belafonte is as well-known for his social activism and pursuit of social justice as he is for his acting and musical talent. His album “Calypso” made him the first artist in history to sell more than 1-million LP’s. He won a Tony award for his Broadway debut in “John Murray Anderson Almanac” and an Emmy for “An Evening with Belafonte,” in which he was also the first black producer in television. He was also awarded the National Medal for the Arts by President Clinton. 

He has been equally recognized in the social justice arena, with honors such as The Albert Einstein Award from Yeshiva University, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize, and the Nelson Mandela Courage Award as well as awards from the American Jewish Congress, the NAACP, the City of Hope, Fight for Sight, The Urban League, The National Conference of Black Mayors, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the ACLU, the State Department, the Boy Scouts of America, Hadassah International and the Peace Corps.  

Over the decades, Mr. Belafonte has worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, and was the driving force behind the 1985 “We Are the World” project to help people affected by war, drought, and famine in Africa. He has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for excellence in the performing arts. He currently resides in New York City with his wife Pamela, and has four children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. 

Steve Edwards

Program Director, Chicago Public Radio

Steve Edwards is currently the Acting Program Director of WBEZ Chicago Public Radio.  From 1999-2007, he served as Host of Chicago Public Radio's award-winning weekday morning newsmagazine Eight Forty-Eight.  During his tenure, Eight-Forty-Eight was named "Best Public Affairs Program" by Chicago Magazine and "Best Morning Radio Program" by Newcity Chicago.  He is the recipient of the numerous journalism honors, including the Grand Award from the National Headliner Club and a 2007-2008 Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan.

Greg M. Epstein

Chaplain, Author

Greg M. Epstein serves as the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, and is author of the New York Times Bestselling book, Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.  He sits on the executive committee of the 36-member corps Harvard Chaplains. In 2005 he received ordination as a Humanist Rabbi from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, where he studied in Jerusalem and Michigan for five years. He holds a BA (Religion and Chinese) and an MA (Judaic Studies) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Masters of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School. 

Epstein was the primary organizer of “The New Humanism,” an international conference in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Humanist Chaplaincy of Harvard University. He blogs for Newsweek magazine and The Washington Post, and his work as a Humanist rabbi and Chaplain has been featured by National Public Radio, BBC Radio, Newsweek, US News and World Report, The Boston Globe, The Jewish Daily Forward, and more. He is an adviser to two student groups at Harvard College, the Secular Society and the Interfaith Council, and to the Harvard Humanist Graduate Community. He also chairs the Academic Advisory Board of the national umbrella organization the Secular Student Alliance, joining such renowned nonbelievers as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

Greg grew up in Flushing, Queens, New York as an assimilated and disinterested Reform Jew. He studied Buddhism and Taoism while at Stuyvesant High School in New York City and in college went to Taiwan for a semester aiming to study Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism in its original language and context. Finding that Eastern religions do not necessarily have greater access to truth than Western ones, he returned to the US and shifted his focus to rock music, recording and singing professionally for a year after college. Soon thereafter, he learned of the movement of Humanism and the possibility of a career as a Humanist rabbi and chaplain.

Rabbi Capers C. Funnye

Spiritual Leader

Capers C. Funnye, Jr. is rabbi and spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, located in Chicago, IL at 6601 S. Kedzie Avenue. Rabbi Funnye also serves as a Senior Research Associate for the Institute of Jewish and Community Research, located in San Francisco, CA.

Rabbi Funnye earned a Bachelor of Arts in Hebrew Literature and rabbinic ordination from the Israelite Board of Rabbis, Inc., Queens, NY. Rabbi Funnye also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies and Master of Science in Human Service Administration from Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago, IL. He has served as a consultant to several institutions, including The Du Sable Museum of African American History, The Chicago Historical Society, The Spertus Museum of Judaica, all located in Chicago, IL; The Black Holocaust Museum, located in Milwaukee, WI; Institute for Jewish and Community Research, San Francisco, CA and the Afro-American Museum, located in Los Angeles, CA.

Rabbi Funnye has lectured at numerous universities, synagogues, churches and various community organizations throughout the United States. He has appeared on several national and local television programs, and spoken on numerous radio programs both national and local.

Rabbi Funnye is involved in a number of boards in the Jewish community; The Chicago Board of Rabbis, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Akiba Schechter Jewish Day School and Vice President of the Israelite Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Funnye is married and he and his wife Mary have four children and are the proud grandparents of five grandsons.

Skye Jethani

Editor, Comentator

Skye Jethani is the managing editor of Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today International. He is also an ordained pastor, speaker, and author. Skye has been a featured commentator on radio programs such as Moody Radio’s Prime Time America  and Chicago Public Radio’s Vocalo, and in newspapers around the country on issues of faith, culture, and the church. Skye’s first book, The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, was released in 2009. Prior to his editorial role with the Leadership, he served six years in full-time pastoral ministry at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

Bill Kurtis

TV Journalist

Legendary TV journalist and documentarian, Bill Kurtis is a Chicago broadcast icon who’s been in the business for more than 30 years.  He and his productions have been honored with some of televisions’ most prestigious awards including a National Emmy and a Peabody Award.  As a reporter, he broke the Agent Orange story and the story of Amerasian children in Vietnam. He’s witnessed the fall of Saigon, the sectarian war in Northern Ireland, the breakup of Rhodesia, and the poaching of rhino in Zimbabwe.

In 1990 he founded Kurtis Productions which has created "The New Explorers" for PBS and "Cold Case Files" and "Investigative Reports" for A&E.  Bill is the recipient of numerous humanitarian, journalism, and broadcasting awards including Emmys, Cable ACE Awards, and the Thurgood Marshall Award for his Investigative Reports installment on the death penalty. He is a published author and a member of the board of directors of several distinguished organizations including The Nature Conservancy, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation and The Field Museum of Natural History. 

Aminah McCloud

Professor, Author

Dr. McCloud is professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University and the Director of the Islamic World Studies Program. She is the author of African American Islam, Questions of Faith, Transnational Muslims in American Society and Silks: The Textures of American Muslim Women's Lives. She is currently working on Owning Islam: African American Islam in 21st Century and author of over twenty articles on topics ranging from Islamic Law to Muslim women. 

She is also a Fulbright Scholar, consultant on Muslim affairs for the courts, and current editor of The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture. She is the founder of the Islam in America Conference at DePaul University which houses the Journal of Islamic Law and Culture and the “Islam in America Archives.” As of January 2004 she has run the only undergraduate baccalaureate Islamic World Studies program. 

She also serves on the boards of Radio Islam, the Institute for Social and Policy Understanding, Feminist Sexual Ethics Project (Brandeis U), and works as an educator for the Middle East Policy Council on understanding Islam and Arabic cultures. She has received grants for her work from the Ford Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, Graham Architectural Foundation and the Lilly Foundation. Dr. McCloud has also worked on a number of television projects on Muslims. 

Gordon Quinn

Filmmaker

Artistic Director and founding member of Kartemquin Films, Gordon Quinn has been making documentaries for over 40 years. Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun Times, called his first film "Home for Life" (1966) "an extraordinarily moving documentary." With "Home for Life" Gordon established the direction he would take for the next four decades, making cinéma vérité films that investigate and critique society by documenting the unfolding lives of real people.

At Kartemquin, Gordon created a legacy that is an inspiration for young filmmakers and a home where they can make high-quality, social-issue documentaries. Kartemquin’s best known film, "Hoop Dreams" (1994), executive produced by Gordon, was released theatrically to unprecedented critical acclaim. Its many honors include: the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Chicago Film Critics Award – Best Picture, Los Angeles Film Critics Association – Best Documentary and an Academy Award Nomination.

Gordon is a supporter of public and community media. A key leader in creating the Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, Gordon encourages filmmakers to educate themselves on the tenants of the fair use doctrine, frequently speaking to the media, legal, and educational communities about this fundamental right.

Krista Tippett

Journalist

Krista Tippett is a journalist, former diplomat, and creator of the weekly public radio program, "Speaking of Faith" and author of Einstein’s God, for release February 2010, and Speaking of Faith – Why Religion Matters and How to Talk About It.  Tippett wrote and reported for international media in divided Berlin in the 1980s and served as a special assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to West Germany.  She later received a Masters of Divinity from Yale.  Tippett has produced and hosted her radio program at American Public Media since its inception as an occasional series in 2000.  "Speaking of Faith" has been called “the most intelligent and inquisitive program on religion anywhere on the air” and is now heard globally via podcast and internet and on over 200 public radio stations in the U.S.

Azhar Usman

Comedian

Azhar Usman is among the world’s leading Muslim standup comedians. Born and raised in Chicago to immigrant parents from India, he is co-founder of the internationally acclaimed “Allah Made Me Funny—The Official Muslim Comedy Tour.” He has performed in over a dozen countries on five continents. Azhar and the Tour have been featured in over 100 major world media, including ABC Nightline, CBS Sunday Morning, Fox News, BBC, CBC Canada, ABC Australia, Al-Jazeera International, NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, and dozens more. 

Azhar has appeared on MTV Networks as the sketch character he invented (Vijay the VJ), in Zarqa Nawaz’s documentary “Me and the Mosque,” and will be profiled in the upcoming PBS documentary “Standup: American Muslim Comics Come of Age,” by filmmaker Glenn Baker. In 2008, he completed production of a feature-length Kings-of-Comedy-style concert-documentary film entitled “Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert!”

He is an artist and an activist and continues to serve as a co-founding board member of The Nawawi Foundation, an Illinois non-profit dedicated to contemporary Islamic research. He holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Minnesota Law School.