In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Radical Brownies

EG

It can seem like right-wingers in the US are spoiled for choice when it comes to youth- and family-groups, and that those of us on the left can have a harder time connecting with others who have shared values. How can we free radicals find extra-curricular activities and groups for our kids that will help us combat so much of the miseducation coming out of mainstream education (I’m thinking of textbooks that have banned mention of Thomas Jefferson because his writing was too radical–I’m guessing Tom Paine, the only “founding father” not to own slaves is simply beyond the pale of consideration; I’m thinking of Thanksgiving and the way our schools gloss over the US’s treatment of Native Americans when it bothers to mention them at all)? My mother felt on her own with me, and took it on herself to educate me–she was also a stay-at-home mom at the time. My parents sent my sister to a socialist sleepaway camp called Camp Kinderland, founded by Jewish socialists near the beginning of the 20th century.

Now Anayvette Martinez, a community organizer in Oakland, CA has established another way to help children learn and grow in community with fellow left activists, the Radical Brownies. Not actually affiliated with the Girl Scouts, the Radical Brownies. A friend of mine on Twitter linked to this article about them, which tells us that this organization, open to girls of color ages 8-12, offers badges in “Radical Beauty,” “LGBT ally,” (I’m not sure why “ally”; perhaps so as not to pressure girls who might not be ready to come out?) and “Black Lives Matter.” They talk about political issues relevant to their daily lives, such as beauty ideals and pressures, and they learn about radical history, such as the stories of the Black Panthers and the Brown Berets, a Chicano rights group active in Chicago at around the same time. According to the news stories, their berets are brown as a tip of the hat (you see what I did there? I’m so clever.) to those two groups.

The plan is to expand to chapters across the nation, eventually opening membership to young white girls as well, while continuing the center the experiences, issues, and needs of girls of color. If my future child is a girl, and they open to white girls by the time she is eight, I can guarantee at least one New York City member. This photograph is particular does my heart good.

17 thoughts on Radical Brownies

  1. This is very cool. I’m so glad that such a place exists.

    I didn’t know that Camp Kinderland is still around. Is it the last of the socialist summer camps originally intended for “red diaper babies”? (I suppose I was at best a “half-red diaper baby,” because only my mother was ever a member of the Communist Party USA. And she had almost certainly quit by the time I was born.) Did your sister enjoy her time there?

    1. I think she did; it’s hard to tell. We’re not close. But I think so.

      I don’t know if it’s the last. I liked it. They have bunks named after leftist heroes–James Connolly, Goodman Schwerner and Chaney, people like that. Each bunk does a project on its person/people.

      I’m a New Left baby myself!

  2. >“LGBT ally,” (I’m not sure why “ally”; perhaps so as not to pressure girls who might not be ready to come out?)

    To learn to ally among those identities? They only look like the same thing from the outside (cis het perspective).

    1. It’s not a question of them being the same thing–obviously they are not. The issue is that using a word like “ally” assumes that the girl earning the badge has none of those identities herself, that she is not lesbian, bi, or trans, and I am wondering why that is the assumption.

      1. So that you can be an ally even if you are straight. Why would you get a badge simply for being LGBT? The point is to encourage cultural acceptance and defense of sexual- and gender-minorities, not to get a sticker for identifying as one yourself.

        1. The point, presumably, is to become educated and active about LGBT issues and rights, which is something that should be done by everybody, LGBT or not, but the way they’ve set up the badge, it identifies only non-LGBT people who do so. As though the “Black Lives Matter” badge said “ally” rather than identifying the issue.

        2. Yea but a LGBT girl would need those lessons too if not more-so. However, I totally see EG’s point. It could be a problem if it encourages kids/minors to come out because you never know how the parents will react. Even parent’s liberal enough to send their kids to radical brownies could potentially react very negatively.

      3. It’s quite possible to be LGBT oneself and not be an ally to those identities. I’ve seen plenty of biphobia and transphobia from L’s and G’s, and in politics we see a lot of wealthy Republican G’s who are obviously willing to throw everyone else under the bus. So it is actually signficant and important for an LGBT-identified person to also be an LGBT ally. Kind of like how being a woman doesn’t make you a feminist and being black doesn’t exempt you from anti-black racism.

        Besides, changing the badge if the kid is LGBT seems like singling out, and what would you use to convey “LGBT or ally to that identity”? “LGBTA” is inclusive of asexuals, not allies.

        1. I would not recommend different badges at all. I would recommend a badge that said “LGBT Rights” or “LGBT Pride” or “LGBT Power” or “LGBT Liberation” for everybody. Just like the “Black Lives Matter” badge doesn’t say “Black Ally.”

  3. It’s cool these camps exist, but had I been sent to one instead of horse camp when I was a kid, I’d have run away. Projects and lessons at camp? Sounds like school. Which I was firmly against during summer months. That was my free time. And I’d have figured out some horrible way to ensure I was never welcome back.

    ( i was a particularly headstrong, rebellious child though so ymmv)

    1. Yeah, no one thing is good for everyone. My parents tried to send me to some standard day camps where we did outdoorsy things and made stupid plastic lanyards. I hated it deeply. All I wanted to do was to be left alone to read. After a couple summers of day camp, my parents got the message. I think they were relieved, honestly. Taking me to the library every week cost a lot less than camp.

      1. The camp I went to ( the one and only time I went, because it was expensive to go to camp) was an equestrian camp. I was either riding a horse or swimming in a lake. And, because of my allergies, I got to skip mucking out the stalls and got extra swim time.

        It was fantastic. All the girls at the end where crying because they were homesick. I cried because we had to leave.

  4. What a country we live in. People are free to create a youth group that supports a terrorist organization like the Black Panthers? No sir. This is reminiscent of the Hitler Youth where we indoctrinate kids to hate people. What kind of crap is this? And you can’t tell them they are not allowed to form a radical hate group or you will hurt their feelings and Al Sharpton will run his gap.

    1. Tell me, what did the Panthers do that qualifies them as a terrorist organization in your eyes? Was it the free breakfast for children program? The community health clinics? And in what way do the Radical Brownies remind you of Hitler Youth? The advocacy for a subjugated group? The complete absence of attacks on other young people? We have a commenter on this site whose mother, as a Jewish kid in Berlin, had more than one run-in with Hitler Youth. Perhaps you should do a little research and a little thinking before you run your own “gap.”

    2. And I love how when leftists raise their children with their values, it’s “indoctrination,” but when everybody else sends their kids to church youth groups or Catholic schools, that’s just business as usual.

Comments are currently closed.