We are currently in Alabama with the We Belong Together delegation of activists and thought leaders who are working to protect and promote the rights of immigrant women. Read more about our trip here and a statement from the ground below: — WE BELONG TOGETHER WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION STATEMENT Together, we are a diverse [...]

March 22, 2012 by crissy spivey | Tags: #womentogether, Alabama, b-listed, breakthrough, immigration, Mallika Dutt, We Belong Together, Women, women's rights | Comments Off

We’re tipping our hats —- or really, our mortarboards —- to Breakthrough president and CEO Mallika Dutt, who will receive an honorary doctorate at Mount Holyoke College’s 175th commencement this May. Mallika —- a Mount Holyoke alumna —- shares this honor with an extraordinary group of earlier MHC honorees of pioneering human rights defenders, including [...]

March 16, 2012 by crissy spivey | Tags: breakthrough, homepage, human rights, Mallika Dutt, Maya Angelou, Mount Holyoke, Rosa Parks, Women | Comments Off

From our awesome intern, Karma D., from Flushing International High School. See her on our Tumblr and on our I AM THIS LAND story-telling project. I am a girl from the faraway lost land of Tibet. I ran with my parents, older brother and my small baby brother resting in my mom’s warm womb in [...]

February 7, 2012 by crissy spivey | Tags: breakthrough, Flushing International High School, immigrant, immigration, Karma, Tibet | Comments Off

From Breakthrough president and CEO Mallika Dutt: Like a lot of teenagers you may know, Mansimran is a basketball-loving, Starbucks-drinking, robotics-studying all-American guy. It shouldn’t surprise you that he’s funny, grounded and charming. It should surprise you that sometimes, when strangers see his turban and the color of his skin, they lean out their car [...]

January 24, 2012 by Mallika Dutt | Tags: All-American Muslim, breakthrough, Bullying, discrimination, human rights, Mallika Dutt, Mansimran, Racial Justice, racial profiling, Restore Fairness, Sikh, Starbucks | Comments Off

Meet Mansimran. He’s an all-American guy who likes Starbucks, hoops, and robotics. He’s a student, an older brother, and an active member of his Sikh religious community. Sometimes, when strangers see his turban, and the color of his skin, they lean out their car window and call him a “terrorist.” He’s not alone: especially since [...]

January 20, 2012 by crissy spivey | Tags: Bullying, discrimination, hate crimes, human rights, Mansimran, racial profiling, Religion, Restore Fairness, Sikh | Comments Off

When I traveled to Arizona with Ishita to create Checkpoint Nation, I wrote: It was the first time I had experienced the overwhelming size of the desert sky. The sunset was magnificent, and the endless stretch of cacti and desert rocks were lit up with the last pink moments of twilight. But the sunset’s beauty [...]

December 15, 2011 by Dana Variano | Tags: Arizona, border deaths, crisis, Derechos Humanos, desert, documentary, DRUM, homepage, human rights, human rights crisis, immigrants, immigration, International Migrants Day, Mexico, migrants, No More Deaths, U.S. Mexico Border, Vamos Unidos, video | Comments Off

Engendered, the NYC based transnational arts and human rights organization proudly announces their inaugural event in India, ROCK FOR RIGHTS (RFR), 2011, in collaboration with Delhi based organization Queer Delhi.  Breakthrough is a proud promotional partner of the event. In solidarity with all gender, sexual and minority rights movements in South Asia, RFR is a [...]

November 10, 2011 by crissy spivey | Tags: b-listed, breakhrough beat, breakthrough, Engendered, india, Lalit Hotel, New Delhi, Queer Delhi, Rock for Rights | Comments Off

What are your plans for the weekend? Join Breakthrough from November 3-6th, for the play Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide! at the popular Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Actor and writer Judith Sloan uses theater and music to remix stories from her extensive experience with immigrant/refugee teenagers and incarcerated youth. She interweaves their stories with [...]

November 1, 2011 by crissy spivey | Tags: b-listed, breakthrough, breathrough beat, hip-hop, Holocaust, human rights, immigration, Judith Sloan, nyc, theater, Yo Miss! | Comments Off

Written by Eesha Pandit, Breakthrough’s Women’s Rights Manager At 11:08pm, on September 21, 2011 Troy Davis was executed. I spent the evening alternating between my apartment a few blocks away and St. Mary’s Church in Harlem, where many supporters of Troy gathered in solidarity with Troy (see photos), his family and in opposition to the [...]

September 23, 2011 by Eesha Pandit | Tags: breakthrough beat, death penalty, Eesha Pandit, Solidarity in Harlem, Troy Davis | Comments Off

Originally posted on our Restore Fairness site Early one morning, Maria—then nine months pregnant—and her family were stopped by the police for no discernible reason. A special breakfast outing became a nightmare—and at one of the most intimate moments of her life, Maria found a team of immigration agents—not her husband—by her side. Maria’s chilling story, which Breakthrough [...]

September 8, 2011 by crissy spivey | Tags: Arizona, b-listed, breakthrough beat, Checkpoint Nation, immigration, Mexico, Restore Fairness, Rights Working Group, SB 1070, video | Comments Off