For those not in the know, when a girl says she is a "brownie" she means she's in the pre-girl scout. "Brownies" are to girl scouts as cub scouts and the boy scouts.
But the Radical Brownies are something a little different. Radical Brownies are a social justice oriented group. Instead of girls getting something like a "hostess badge" they can get a "Black Lives Matter" badge or an "LGBT Ally" badge.
[Radical Brownie] Co-founder Anayvette Martinez says the idea stemmed from her own daughter: “I saw the need for a group that would empower and encourage her to form bonds of sisterhood with other girls in her community. I began to imagine what a radical young girl’s social justice troop looked like; a group that centered and affirmed her experiences as a beautiful and brilliant brown girl against so many societal pressures to conform to mainstream ideals of girlhood.”
The group also arrives at a time when non-white girls in the US find their identities policed on multiple axes. In schools, they already face disproportionate (and stratified) discrimination and are suspended at rates that far eclipse those of their white peers. Studies repeatedly show that suspensions can serve as a gateway in the “school-to-prison pipeline”, and often they are issued for reasons that boil down to the girls not being “ladylike” enough.
Radical Brownies teach girls to value themselves just as much as they value others. Sexism is real and it's real from a young age. This is an idea that should have come along a long time ago. Put Anayvette Martinez on your list of heroes.
Right now this seems like it's only located in Oakland. May this idea spread across the land. Black and Brown girls need this.
The link to an article on school discipline for girls again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/us/school-discipline-to-girls-differs-between-and-within-races.html?_r=0
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