What We Mean By "Equality"

You’ve seen the new Humanity Project motto: “Equality For Each, Respect For All.” Inspiring words. But what do they mean? And what can we do to help make those concepts real?

First, of course, the Humanity Project means “equality” in the more common sense: social justice. Equal treatment in our laws and in the everyday world by our citizens too. Each human being deserves the right to be treated fairly, justly. As we know, far too many are not — in this country and many other nations. And LGBTQ persons as well as people of color and women often are among those treated most poorly.

Second, though, the Humanity Project conception of “equality” goes much deeper. We believe every human being possesses a goodness and inherent value. Our work focuses on helping both adults and children to recognize these qualities and to act on that recognition. We want each human being to understand the intrinsic equal value of every other human being — which in turn automatically strengthens our feelings of self-worth. In other words, when we truly believe that everyone else is equally valuable we are forced to admit that we also must have that same value. The benefits are shared — an idea our founder created and calls simply, “shared value.” Read more about shared value.

The Humanity Project talks a lot about respect as well. And to us this means respect for that equal human value, behaving respectfully toward others whether at home, at work, on the roads or anywhere else. Even when we disagree with someone’s actions, words or beliefs. Humans are complex creatures, each of us with many facets. The Humanity Project teaches us to look beyond the superficial, the obvious, to find something deeper we all have in common. Our humanity.

Humanity Project programs strive to instill these ideas. We invite you to find out more about our Humanity Club, Antibullying Through The Arts, I Care, and our new One Common Humanity. They all are founded on our notions of equality and respect. And each program employs practical, arts-based teaching tools that work.

You also can sign our “Pledge For Humanity” … right now, at no cost. Sign our Pledge For Humanity. We’ll send you an email with some suggestions about how you can personally join our campaign for equality and respect throughout society. “Equality For Each, Respect For All.” To the Humanity Project, these are more than just words. That motto may be new, but the ideas form our cause, our purpose — and they always have.

Help Us Work For Equality & Respect

Join the Humanity Project for free — Just take our “Pledge For Humanity”

We all know how often our society witnesses personal hostility or just a total indifference toward the feelings of others. The disrespect expressed so frequently on social media is one example. Our nation’s nasty political dialogue is another. Even on our highways, how many drivers today show little regard for their life and the lives of fellow motorists by staring at smartphones instead of the road ahead?

But you can do something about these problems — and more. At the Humanity Project we’re working every day toward a more equal and respectful world, especially through our programs that help reduce the inequality and disrespect so commonly suffered by the LGBTQ community as well as people of color and women. Why not join us … for free?

All you need to do is sign our new “Pledge For Humanity” here on this website. The process is simple and takes perhaps a minute of your time. Sign the Humanity Project “Pledge For Humanity.”

Here is what it says:

“A Pledge For Humanity

As one hopeful member of the human race, I promise to make every reasonable effort to live up to these words each day.

Accordingly, I pledge:

To treat every human being with respect for their inherent value – even when I disagree with their actions, words or beliefs.

To look beyond myself, striving toward a humanity where each human being feels equally valuable.

To understand that this effort benefits me by strengthening my own self-worth and forging a higher purpose for my daily life.”

If you’re still reading this blog, you likely already agree with these inspiring ideas. What if everyone took this pledge — and tried to honor it? We would have a very different society, wouldn’t we?

We hope you’ll take the pledge right now, joining the Humanity Project campaign for “Equality For Each, Respect For All.” You’ll hear by email directly from our founder, who will offer a few simple suggestions for ways you can help us make this society a better place for everyone.

The "New" Humanity Project

Come and join the Humanity Project … at no cost

Welcome to the "new" Humanity Project!

After 14 years, our 501(c)3 nonprofit is strengthening what’s best about us, improving other areas that needed some retooling. We are very proud to announce that our Board of Directors and our founder have worked together for several months on these important changes, including a Board retreat this summer. Their efforts have resulted in a new mission statement, new motto, additions to all existing programs along with new programs and innovative community outreach.

Keep in mind we're not eliminating anything we now offer kids or parents, only making everything better with a clearer focus that bolsters our work. We're also adding programs that will benefit adults in the LGBTQ community as well as people of color and women.

We have found that many local supporters as well as our web and social media followers worldwide see the Humanity Project as a voice for the inherent value of each human being — and a counterpoint to the often-harsh and disrespectful discourse in our society. Whether in schools, on the internet, on our roads or anywhere else in our communities. Our programs, our other materials such as podcasts and blogs, have always expressed our belief that people can change their behavior for the better if they can just learn why that’s important.

So, drumroll please …. Our new mission: "Instilling greater respect for the goodness and inherent value of humanity." And our new motto: "Equality for each, respect for all." (And don’t miss our new home page video, expressing the Humanity Project vision in one inspiring minute: Watch the video.)

We’re also creating a new “One Common Humanity” program with our own speakers bureau to bring LGBTQ folks as well as African-Americans and women into churches and other groups in the community that want to better understand these often marginalized members of our society. And we’re planning a series of community symposiums for families of transgender children. And more … Stay tuned.

We even have a new “Pledge For Humanity” that you can sign to join the Humanity Project at no cost: See the new pledge.

In the end, what’s happening at the Humanity Project is not so much big change as it is big improvement, a sharpening and re-focusing of the things we’ve been doing all along … and an expansion of our work beyond simply “helping kids to help kids.” We feel sure our sponsors and donors and members and friends will like the “new” Humanity Project better than ever. Because what we’re working toward now was always our underlying goal anyway: “helping human beings to be more fully human.”

Jack's Car: A Story

Jack from Key West … and his remarkable car

This is the first in a new series of blogs written for our website by Humanity Project Founder, Bob Knotts, a playwright, poet and author of the book “Beyond Me: Dissecting Ego To Find The Innate Love At Humanity’s Core.” These blogs offer a more personal perspective on the goodness and inherent value of humanity, ideas that are the foundation of the Humanity Project’s work.

I’d like to introduce you to Jack. I never did catch his last name. Really didn’t matter at the time we met – to him or to me.

What did matter at the time, to him and to me, was Jack’s car. You see it in these photos I snapped earlier this month while on vacation in Key West. When I first spotted him, Jack was working intently to attach the latest additions to that extraordinary vehicle, only stopping once to scatter some food across the ground for a passel of local chickens.

As you know if you’ve ever visited in recent years, Key West is full of chickens roaming the streets and yards all around that small island. Mother hens, baby chicks as well as the many roosters that crow whenever they feel inspired, day or night. As you also likely recall if you’ve ever set foot in Key West, it’s a place full of … let’s call them local characters. Eccentric folks who are as much part of the funky laidback vibe as Mallory Square and Duval Street. The old-timers who never seem to wear more than a bathing suit and flipflops, bearded men typically standing around with a beer in one hand. The ample couples squeezed tight atop compact motor scooters that dart among the tourists. The would-be writers and artists and craftspeople who arrived temporarily in Key West long long ago but never could quite leave, most of them forced to survive on waiter tips or minimum retail wages.

So to me, Jack was just one more. Another Key West character demonstrating his independence from everyone around him – and making sure everyone noticed.

Then I decided to chat with Jack. “Quite the car you have,” I said. He replied in a thick Eastern European accent, “It’s my car … and my wife.” Or that’s what I thought he said anyway. But as we continued talking I finally understood what Jack really was struggling to express. I looked at him, puzzled now: “The car … it’s a tribute to your wife?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, nodding. “She passed away 20 years ago.”

This most peculiar car and its most eccentric creator were much more than I’d imagined. From a distance I could easily dismiss his existence with a condescending smile, adding Jack to my mind’s catalogue of Key West oddities. But looking more closely I soon could recognize something deeper about both car and creator. This automobile was Jack’s Taj Mahal, a monument to his undying devotion to one long dead woman. And everything on that automobile had some meaning about her. The mermaids were beauty and love. The dolphins represented freedom. And above it all, the image of his wife forever riding on the rooftop over Jack’s head.

“We were very close,” Jack told me softly.

How quickly we judge others in our world, judge them without the slimmest strip of knowledge to justify our instant conclusions. In our certainty we laugh at them, ridicule them, avoid them. The truth of those strange characters we sometimes see in passing through our busy day is obvious, afterall. Except that it isn’t. After a conversation of less than 10 minutes, my concepts of both Jack and his car were transformed. And I was forced to learn all over again an old lesson I should have remembered by now: People are rarely what they appear on the surface – and everyone, everyone has an important story that’s all their own.

Evolution, Not Revolution

The logo for the Humanity Project’s PeacePage

At the Humanity Project, we believe every nonprofit organization needs to grow, change, expand. Just as all living things must change in order to adapt to new conditions … and to achieve their fullest usefulness. The Humanity Project is about to go through such a change.

This blog, then, is intended to give our friends and supporters some advance word about these very exciting changes. And to reassure everyone that our next phase of growth will be part of the Humanity Project’s evolution, not a revolution where everything goes and change is radical. Not at all. We plan to keep pushing ahead with our acclaimed existing programs such as Antibullying Through the Arts, I Care and Humanity Club.

But in the coming weeks this fall you’ll find us with a new mission statement as well as a new slogan. And soon some new programs that will carry us beyond the boundaries of working exclusively with kids to include parental and adult groups that we believe can benefit from our work. (Actually we’re already doing this as part of our I Care program, a change that came as research increasingly showed that parents were the real problem on our roads much more than the teen drivers themselves. So we created a State-Farm sponsored website just for parents of teen drivers: www.thp4parents.com — “The Humanity Project 4 Parents.”)

As you will soon see, though, we believe our mission now is ready to expand beyond even this effort. For example, we hope to work toward building coalitions within our community and to create dialogue among groups that too often misunderstand each other. This can benefit the LGBTQ population, promote gender and racial equality and more.

In the end, the Humanity Project represents an important idea: that every human being is unique but equally valuable and that all individuals should be treated with greater respect. Back in 2010 we created our PeacePage with this notion already in mind, a photo gallery collected from all seven continents to demonstrate something of the humanity we all share. Visit our PeacePage. During our Board of Directors retreat just a few weeks ago, the Humanity Project decided this basic concept can guide our evolution as we move into our 15th year of existence. Positive growth, meaningful and practical development — evolution, not revolution. That’s what we have in mind. We’re sure you’ll like what you see as we unveil the new improved Humanity Project, with a focus on instilling greater respect for the goodness and inherent value of the humanity we all share.

Goodstock Rocked The House

Dear Kate with Silver Nightingale at Goodstock

If it had happened 50 years ago, we’d have used different words to describe our recent big Humanity Project music fest and fundraiser. Words such as “groovy” and “far out” would have flowed in the wake of Goodstock. But Goodstock happened in August 2019, not August 1969. So instead we’ll simply call our all-day music extravaganza “awesome.”

Goodstock also was inspiring, an appropriate tribute to Woodstock on the exact 50th anniversary of that remarkable hippie happening in upstate New York.

During our Goodstock festival at Kelly Brothers in Fort Lauderdale, everyone seemed to feel an uplifting vibe right from the opening act at 2 p.m., a blues band called Hat & Matching Suitcase, until the final performers wrapped things up about eight hours later, a classic rock group called Fifth Wheel Trio. In between we were treated to fine performances of jazz, hip-hop, R&B, folk — even a rendition on electrified flute of The Star-Spangled Banner, with distortions reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix.

We can’t adequately describe what happened. But if you watch the short video clip below and glance through some of the many photos, you’ll get a small taste. Goodstock was awesome indeed … and very far out!

On August 18, 2019, 50 years to the day after Woodstock, the Humanity Project held "Goodstock"... an all-day music festival as a fundraiser for our programs. Eleven great bands performed from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. with nearly nonstop music of all kinds: blues, rock, hip-hop, jazz, folk and more.

The Humanity Project’s own Laura and David, our main Goodstock organizers, Great job!

The Humanity Project’s own Laura and David, our main Goodstock organizers, Great job!

Three of our favorite people taking Goodstock tickets

Wonderful news media coverage of Goodstock

Our founder telling the crowd more about the Humanity Project’s important mission

Swampcats were among the acts that really rocked the house at Kelly Brothers in Fort Lauderdale


Goodstock Is Groovy

Goodstock is gonna be very groovy, dude! Far out!

At the Humanity Project we are reliving the era of peace, love and music that came to its peak during Woodstock. That three-day music festival drew some 400,000 people without an incident of violence, despite no police working the venue.

On the exact 50th anniversary of that amazing event, the Humanity Project is holding a major fundraiser we’re calling “Goodstock.” Heh-heh, get it? If you’re in South Florida, mark your calendar for August 18th. An all-day ticket costs only $24 in advance, the same price as a three-day ticket to Woodstock in August 1969. At the door, festivalgoers will pay $30. All proceeds to benefit the Humanity Project. Buy your advance tickets safely through Eventbrite at this link.

Kelly Brothers Irish Pub in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is donating the venue for free, a popular spot for live music each week. Other major sponsors include State Farm, Our Fund, Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, Thompson Staffing and Yachtees Apparel Company.

Just take a look below at the lineup, a mix of jazz, hip-hop, blues, folk and more — diverse music in the spirit of Woodstock itself. Please come join the fun. Feel the peace, sway to the music … and help a very good cause doing it.

Kids Speak For Themselves

A very brief blog to suggest you spend just two minutes doing something else — watching our new video. It shows young girls offering their honest, unscripted, unprompted opinions of our Humanity Club after being in that Humanity Project program for one full year. Check it out! It’s sure to make you smile … and show you more of what the Humanity Project really does.

This video offers honest and unrehearsed comments from kids who were part of our year-long 2018 to 2019 Humanity Club for all-girl student leaders. We conducted the program at the wonderful Morrow Elementary School in North Lauderdale, Florida, with hand-picked leaders to promote gender equality and spread the concept of respect throughout the school.

Garden Of Respect

Doesn't something called a "Garden of Respect" sound like a wonderful place to be? Well, the Humanity Project has created just such a place with lots of help from the kids at Morrow Elementary School ... and vital funding from our friends at Children's Services Council of Broward County. It's a permanent large garden that reminds children daily about the importance -- and the beauty -- of respectful behavior.

The idea came about through our innovative Humanity Club program, where the Humanity Project works with a core group of all-girl student leaders of color. These girls came up with the original design, including a birdbath. With our generous money from Children's Services Council of Broward County, the Humanity Project bought a huge amount of garden plants, decorative items, mulch and more — including that birdbath of course. And rocks. Hundreds of Morrow Elementary students then painted the rocks on the theme of respect and incorporated the decorative rocks into their Garden of Respect.

Just some of the Respect Rocks painted by the students at Morrow Elementary

Everyone at Morrow is so taken with the garden that the school administrators have expanded the plantings beyond the original concept … and decided to keep adding to the garden in the weeks ahead. Already stretching across much of the front of this school, the Garden of Respect will see additional student-painted rocks and more plants soon.

Take a look for yourself at a few more pics. A lovely enduring example of a partnership among a wonderful school, Children's Services Council of Broward County and the Humanity Project. We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.

Our Summer School

Some of our summertime Humanity Club student leaders

This is a very busy summer at the Humanity Project!

For the first time in our nearly 14-year history we’re running three full summer programs, each of them through the Broward County Parks & Recreation Department. On Tuesdays, we’re at Boulevard Gardens Community Center with one group of all-girl student leaders. On Wednesdays, we’re at Lafayette Hart Park with a second group of girls. And on Thursdays, the Humanity Project goes to Sunview Park for an all-boy club that’s working on our I Care program.

So rather than take up a lot more time with words just now, let us show you a few more pics you may enjoy!

Our great summer intern, Noel Murray, with one of the girls

We love working with these enthusiastic, very smart girls

The guys of our I Care Club, helping us teach others about #respectontheroads

An engaged group of young men who care

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A Great Partner: Our Fund

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It’s no secret. Money is the lifeblood of any nonprofit. We wish it weren’t so — but it is. Without money, the Humanity Project can’t work with kids, parents and other adults to inspire respect for the equal value of individuals and the unique value of humanity. We can’t provide our acclaimed antibullying program or our innovative Humanity Club. Our Fund understands this — and recently awarded the Humanity Project and 20 other fine nonprofits generous funding to continue our work.

We are deeply grateful to everyone at Our Fund, including the Board of Directors, the Grant Committee, and the great staff that includes Mark Blaylock and Obed Caballero. But we especially must thank Our Fund’s amazing CEO, David Jobin, who is an admired friend among the South Florida LGBTQ community and beyond. David works tirelessly to make this the most livable place in the United States for the LGBTQ population … and thereby, more enjoyable, more diverse and yes more livable for everyone. Our Fund is the third largest LGBTQ foundation in the country and we thank them for this important recent $10,000 in funding for the Humanity Project’s work.

So let us finish up this online acknowledgement and thank you by showing you something we believe you’ll like. This is a new 2-minute video we recently uploaded to the Humanity Project YouTube channel. It shows unscripted honest thoughts about our Humanity Club by a few of the girls who took part in the program at Morrow Elementary School in North Lauderdale, Florida from September 2018 through June 2019. These girls are future leaders who learned through the Humanity Club about the importance of respect for every human being, regardless of who that person loves, how they dress or anything else. They in turn helped their entire school understand these same lessons … and now will take their knowledge with them to spread among their peers in future years. This is how a community achieves equality. It should make you smile. And should make you appreciate the support of Our Fund all the more. That’s certainly our reaction here at the Humanity Project.

Thank you, Our Fund!! Here’s that video: Watch the new Humanity Project YouTube video!

Goodstock

You know about Woodstock, of course. Let us introduce you to Goodstock!

Exactly 50 years after the original three-day celebration of peace, love and music in the New York State countryside, the Humanity Project will hold our own festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It’s also a celebration of peace, love, music — and respect for every human being as well as humanity itself. We’re calling it, “Goodstock.” Or to be precise, “The Humanity Project Presents Goodstock.” The event begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 18, serving as an important fundraiser for our acclaimed free programs. If you’ll be in South Florida then, or can make your way here, please join us!

We’ve already got many bands lined up, offering a diverse assortment of musical styles. With more acts coming on board all the time. The cost will be $24 in advance, which is the same price charged for a three-day ticket to the original Woodstock festival in August 1969. We’ll be setting up a page on Eventbrite soon for you to grab your Goodstock tickets. At the door, guests will pay $30. But whether you buy in advance or day-of, you’ll also get a free drink at the delightful Kelly Brothers Irish Pub, which hosts live music regularly on their stage. They are putting on Goodstock at no charge … and we’re deeply appreciative. (Visit the Kelly Brothers website.) Plus, you’ll be able to buy a t-shirt with our cool Goodstock logo, which you see above.

We anticipate a big turnout, with lots of excellent music and warm relaxed fellowship. As one of our Humanity Project organizers for Goodstock wrote in a social media post, “This is going to be epic!” Thanks, David (and Laura, who sits on our Board of Directors). We’re pretty sure you’re right.

Or maybe we should just say, “Right on!”

This website and all materials on it are copyrighted by the Humanity Project®.

(Fables and some music are copyrighted by the author, Robert Spencer Knotts.)

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