Social Justice Spotlight: Brown Girl Rise
Do you wish you could help make the community a better place, but aren’t sure how? Let’s learn about a local organization making a genuine positive impact on the community.
Brown Girl Rise (BGR) was founded for a number of reasons, but the turning point was the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Ash Martin was one of the founding members of the leadership team, and is currently the Program Coordinator as well as a Board Member (Aunties, as they are called in BGR). They said that the purpose of the organization is to provide a space for girls and non-binary youth in the global majority.
As BGR describes on their website, “The term ‘global majority’ is rooted in the knowledge that most of the world’s population is made up of various ethnicities and therefore, we cannot be othered…By using the term ‘global majority,’ we acknowledge what we are rather than what we are not.”
Brown Girl Rise is still going strong, and currently aims to connect young people in this global majority. They try to counter the narratives of a society where venerable figures are often white and/or male, and provide an opportunity for youth to see and interact with caring, intelligent peers and adults who actually look like them.
Reed alum Rubi Vergara-Grindell ‘19 described their experience growing up in Forest Grove, Oregon, a predominately white rural town, and attending Reed, a predominately white school, as challenging. However, “being involved in the capacity that I have been [at BGR] has been really healing,” they described. Throughout her time at BGR, she got “to learn how to support [global majority] youth, and to support them in navigating some of the things that I experienced when I was younger.”
In order to achieve this, Brown Girl Rise hosts half-day summer camps which revolve around showing sides of the world not otherwise covered in standard education to kids who are in the global majority. High school students (the Youth Board) are the camp counselors in this summer program, but they also bring in local experts on topics such as connection to the land, to ancestors, food sovereignty, and more. The high schoolers attend a winter training session, where they are taught the necessary skills for the job, as well as general organizational skills and history, and training so that the organization can continue to be youth-led.
Unfortunately, Reed students are a little too old to be involved in this capacity. However, Brown Girl Rise still has opportunities for trans and female folks in the global majority. If you want to teach something to the youth, they frequently have guest facilitators at their summer camp, and of course they are always looking for a dependable volunteer base. “Time is very valuable,” Martin said, and they’d love for you to donate some of yours if financial donations aren’t feasible. If you are financially able to support the organization, but aren’t in the global majority, donating directly or spreading awareness of the organization to friends and family is also a great way to show support.
Martin stressed that their organization is centered around “showing up in really authentic ways… through fierce love for one another, and for the community. It’s why we do the work.”
If you would like to get into contact with Brown Girl Rise, you can visit their website www.browngirlriseportland.org. Please note that the website has “portland” in it: there is a faulty website which does not contain this word. You can also find their instagram page @browngirlrise, where Martin will happily respond!
If you have a moment and the passion, get involved!