Skip to content
Culture & Religion —

“Radical Brownies” Merges Scouting With Social Justice

A new group unaffiliated with the Girl Scouts of America empowers young girls to advocate against racial inequality.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

As Jorge Rivas writes over at Fusion.net, not all girl scouts sell cookies. Rivas’ latest article spotlights a new organization based in Oakland, CA that represents an “edgier” version of the Girl Scouts of America:

“The girls, ages 8-12, are part of the ‘Radical Brownies,’ an edgier, younger version of the Girl Scouts, where girls earn badges for completing workshops on social protests, and a beauty workshop that celebrate racial diversity.

Radical Brownies is dedicated to providing young girls of color relevant life experiences, explains the group’s co-founder Anayvette Martinez.”

The Radical Brownies sports 12 members, all girls of color or mixed-race. Martinez tells Rivas that membership will open to everyone once the organization expands, but the focus will always be on racial issues. Martinez cites groups like the Black Panthers and Brown Berets as inspiration.

Merit badges are granted upon participation in acts of social justice such as attending a “Black Lives Matter” protest. Other focuses include lessons related to gender roles, LGBT issues, and media depictions of beauty. Martinez explains that it’s important “not to shelter children from real issues” and that they’re much more perceptive than most adults assume.

Check out the full piece below, visit the Radical Brownies on Facebook, and let us know what you think of this new group. Is this a welcome riff off of scouting or a disturbing radicalization of young children? Share your take in the comments.

Read more at Fusion.net and Radical Brownies on Facebook

Photo credit: Radical Brownies [Facebook]

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Related
Culture & Religion
“Birth of a Nation” and the Birth of American Cinema
On February 8, 1915, at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation premiered. The fledgling art form of film would never be the same, especially in America, which even half a century after the end of the Civil War struggled to come to terms with race. Now, a century after Birth of a Nation’s premier, America still struggles not only with race, but also with how race plays out on the silver screen. For good and ill, Birth of a Nation marks the beginning of the first 100 years of the American Cinema—epically beautiful, yet often racially ugly.
Up Next