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, July 26, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Is Policing With HEART Possible?
with Queen-Cheyenne Wade
Join us via Zoom
To register in advance for this meeting, click on the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0odemupjsoHtzMe4kUvnmaQ4VnaVvC2OJA
Please join Racial Justice Rising and Traprock for a special Zoom presentation and conversation about Cambridge HEART and how to organize around alternatives to current policing.
The Black and Brown community has been calling for change for many years, especially with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade. That is what prompted the creation of The Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team (HEART). How did this happen and what will it mean?
Presenter Queen-Cheyenne Wade is one of the founders of The Cambridge HEART Program, a community-created holistic response program in Cambridge that works outside of policing systems to address harm and conflict in marginalized communities. Based in Greater Boston, her work focuses on ending cycles of carceral/colonial violence while building transformative justice, youth leadership, and Black Marxist frameworks. Queen-Cheyenne organizes with The Black Response Cambridge, Community For Us, By Us, Greater Boston Marxists, and FTP Boston.
Learn more about the Cambridge HEART Program here.
WEEKLY VIGIL
Every Saturday from 10-11 a.m. on the Greenfield Common