Racial Justice Rising is a small, all-volunteer racial justice organization based in Franklin County, Massachusetts.
The members of Racial Justice Rising are ordinary people who are troubled by the persistent racism that plagues this country. Believing that the damage caused by racism must be repaired before our society can be whole, we work for just and respectful treatment for all.
While much of our work is focused in our local area, we reach out to and are connected with the broader movements in our region and the nation.
The members of Racial Justice Rising believe that:
- White people created racism to rationalize and justify the results of colonization: genocide, enslavement of free peoples, destruction of Indigenous societies around the world, and other inhuman behavior.
- White supremacy is the cornerstone of racism.
- Racism is one of the primary tools of social control in the U.S. and world-wide, embedded in economic, housing, education, judicial, healthcare, and other systems, and in civic and interpersonal relations.
- Racism, which can manifest as internalized racial superiority in perpetrators or internalized racial inferiority in those targeted, causes immeasurable harm to both.
Our mission is twofold: to help build the movement for racial justice by contributing to a deeper understanding of systemic racism and racial justice, and to engage in restorative activities that help to heal the racial divide and bring justice for people targeted by racism.
Our local activities include free monthly programs.
Mass Slavery Apology, the group’s original name, is still the name of the project that started our work — our statement of apology for slavery and commitments to restorative action.
RJR supports Greenfield Racial Justice!
Click here to learn about this new group in our community.
Consider joining our new reparations group!
RJR supports the Movement For Black Lives!
Read about their actions for reparations, including a June virtual event series.
Interview with RJR members, WGBY Connecting Point 10/28/19
Events
See our Events page for more information.
FREE ON-LINE MONTHLY PROGRAMS
Our monthly program series is supported in part by grants from Amherst, Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont-Hawley, Conway, Gill, Greenfield, Heath, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
SAVE THE DATE! Monday, October 4, 2021 at 7 p.m.
Know Your Rights, with Rebecca Kozak of the National Lawyers Guild
Join us via Zoom! To register in advance for this meeting, click on the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuf-GtqT8uG9eUWmUKWNOJJtsM6AlCr_7o
Learn about your rights and effective tactics if you have an encounter with the police!
The National Lawyers Guild’s Know Your Rights: Stop and Search clinic is part lecture, part Q&A, covering First Amendment rights specifically relating to interactions with the police, Fourth Amendment rights, FBI questioning, police encounters with immigrants, and more. It is meant for community members, immigrants, non-citizens, students, and those targeted by law enforcement or living in over-policed communities—anyone who wants to know their rights when interacting with law enforcement. The workshop is participant oriented and meant to provide the most essential tools when interacting with law enforcement.
Run by an attorney who has experience representing protesters, it offers an opportunity to ask about your own approaches to activism.
Rebecca Kozak has been a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel
Services for the past nine years, practicing out of the Chelsea District Court, Dorchester, Boston Municipal Court, and Suffolk County Superior Court. Rebecca graduated from Northeastern University School of Law.
WEEKLY VIGIL
Every Saturday from 10-11 a.m. on the Greenfield Common