#NOTACRIME

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#NOTACRIME

#NotACrime mixes old-school street art and shiny new smartphones to fight for human rights in Iran.

DECADES OF PERSECUTION

The Baha’is are Iran’s largest religious minority. But Iran’s government has persecuted them since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Businesses are torched, people are fired from their jobs, thousands are harassed and jailed, and hundreds have been killed.

The government also bans the Baha’is from teaching and studying in Iranian universities. But they do teach and they do study – in secret.

EDUCATION IS NOT A CRIME

We started a campaign to fight this injustice. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Shirin Ebadi – both Nobel Peace Prize laureates – are two of our biggest supporters.

Hollywood stars like Mark Ruffalo, Rainn Wilson, Nazanin Boniadi, Justin Baldoni and Omid Djalili have endorsed the campaign. And in February 2015 we had a spectacular concert in Los Angeles featuring pop star Andy Grammer for a thousand people to stand up for human rights in Iran.

THE ART

The awful scenes we’re seeing in American cities right now is a reminder of how racism blights the country. A new chapter of the Education Is Not A Crime campaign – which promotes education equity through public art and social action

‘If truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues, what does it look like to apply that to eliminating racial prejudice?’
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Carol Mansour was born in 1957 in Indianapolis, IN, in a religious Christian household and had little

‘In the Bible we’re told to watch and pray, that Christ will come again like a thief in the night.’
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Eric Dozier was born in Bakewell, TN, during the final stages of the Civil Rights Movement in 1969, and grew up as the son

‘We got a grant from the Mayor’s Stop the Violence fund to run race unity discussions.’
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Jan Mauras was born in Tulsa, OK, in 1943 and grew up in a community with few people of color. Her world changed when she became a Baha

‘Far too often we have squandered so much human capital and potential because of racism.’
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Masud Olufani was born Michael Bowles in 1969 in Los Angeles, California, and raised mainly in New York City. He became a Baha'i at univers

‘Living in Tallahassee was one of my most difficult experiences – I had never experienced racism in that way.’
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Karen Streets Anderson was born in 1960, on a US Army base in Dugway, UT, though her family moved to the Midwest

‘African-Americans know how to come together to pray – they can offer this to Baha’i communities.’
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Makeena Rivers was born in St. Paul, MN, and today lives in New York City. She recently graduated from Columbia Univer

‘I met a student and his mom at their home, and as soon as I walked in I knew they couldn’t afford $25 an hour for tutorials.’
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Antonio Smith, 27, grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, lived in 15 homes and attended 10 schools, met his

‘The Baha’i writings defined ‘implicit bias’ 70 years before Harvard came up with the idea.’
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Robin Chandler was born in Boston, MA, in the mid-20th century, and became a Baha’i at university. Her family backgro

‘I lived in an African-American community and went to a white school – you lose your sense of identity.’
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Larry McGhee was born in 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, became a Baha'i as a young man and worked in several fields including a

‘I am a black woman so I felt my duty was to talk about race in a positive way, not dwelling on what we have been through.’
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Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh was born in Altamont, IL, in 1929, into the only black family to ever live in Alta

‘We must have sincere friendships if we want to include everyone in our community.’
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Faith Holmes was born in La Joya, California, in 1972, and grew up in Encinitas and Jupiter, Florida. Her mother became a Baha'i when Faith was t

‘It felt like Pentecost, when the disciples went out and they began to preach the word of Jesus after his crucifixion.’
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Louis Venters is an historian and historic preservationist, with a particular interest in race, religion, and

’The Baha’i junior youth program helps develop powers of expression – so that young people become aware of injustices and how to address them.’
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Kim Wu was born in 1988 in Queens, New York City, where she grew up. Mult

‘My teachers put me into a box – I had an aptitude for language but they said I couldn’t take Latin and that I wasn’t college material.’
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Billy Roberts was born in 1951 in Boston, Massachusetts in the tight-knit

‘I met Suhail and it was mutual disinterest at first sight. But when he hugged me I thought, ‘I could get used to this.’
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Carol Mansour was born in 1957 in Indianapolis, IN, in a religious Christian household and had little

‘I began to understand the oneness of religion after an old Czech woman told me she knew my grandmother in her heart.’
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Eric Dozier was born in Bakewell, TN, during the final stages of the Civil Rights Movement in 1969, and grew u

‘We had a race unity workshop where white people surrounded African-Americans and listened to their truth.’ .
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Jan Mauras was born in Tulsa, OK, in 1943 and grew up in a community with few people of color. Her world changed when she

‘When you become a Baha’i you haven’t suddenly arrived at some mystical destination where you don’t have to work on these issues.’
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Masud Olufani was born Michael Bowles in 1969 in Los Angeles, California, and ra

‘The border official couldn’t believe my white fiancee and I were getting married. We had to show him the wedding dress.’
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Karen Streets Anderson was born in 1960, on a US Army base in Dugway, UT, though her family moved to

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