Meet the Radical Monarchs, a group of young girls of color at the front lines of social justice. Set in Oakland, a city with a deep history of social justice movements, the film documents the journey of the group as they earn badges for completing units including being an LGBTQ+ ally, preserving the environment, and disability justice. Started by two fierce, queer women of color, we follow them as they face the challenge to grow the organization, both pre and post the 2016 election.

"As a filmmaker, I am profoundly curious and compelled by where the personal and political meet. I am interested in big changes and how we can all not only flourish in those changes and challenges, but grow as human beings. I am drawn to the seemingly impossible idea - by doing something that everyone says is too hard. I like to film the people who say "I can do it!" -- who stand in the face of those big challenges and obstacles and grow bigger. I am inspired by people who act and strive, without any guarantee of success. And not because they are superheroes. And not because they always succeed, because sometimes they don't. It's the striving, it's the vision. The vision of bringing children of the world a street where they can see themselves. The vision of making a family and an identity out of this multi-cultural world. The vision of creating a group that "empowers young girls of color to step into their collective power, brilliance and leadership to make the world a more radical place.” This is a womxn--empowerment story at its core; as an intersectional feminist and a filmmaker, it is my mission to create and amplify spaces for women and girls' voices. The Radical Monarchs give me hope for the future, and with this film I can share that hope."

Dear POV Community Members, We are so glad you are preparing to facilitate a discussion inspired by We Are the Radical Monarchs! Before you dive in we want to encourage you to prepare for the conversation as this discussion guide invites you and your community to have dialogue about important issues like systemic racism, gender equality, and transformative movements for justice. Sometimes these topics can feel uncomfortable for people to discuss, and as a facilitator we hope you’ll take necessary steps to ensure that you are prepared to guide the conversation in a way that minimizes harm while maximizing growth and connection. We encourage you to prepare ahead of time by educating yourself as much as possible on the issues. Our Delve Deeper Reading List is a great place to find resources! We have also provided a list of helpful concepts, definitions, and explanations to ground yourself and your community.Before beginning the conversation we encourage you to understand these concepts and utilize them to establish common language with participants that are founded on respect and non-violent communication.

Key Participants

• Amia Carillo-Ramanathan: Radical Monarch member from flagship Troop #1
• De’Yani Dillard: Radical Monarch member from flagship Troop #1
• Lupita Martinez: Radical Monarch member from flagship Troop #1 and Anayvette’s daughter
• Anayvette Martinez: Co-Founder of the Radical Monarchs and Lupita’s mother
• Marilyn Hollinquest: Co-Founder of the Radical Monarchs

Key Issues

We Are the Radical Monarchs documentary is an excellent tool for outreach and will be of special interest to people who want to explore the following topics:

• Youth Activism
• Social Justice
• Self-Empowerment
• Fierce Sisterhood
• Advocacy
• Inequality

Youth Activism

Youth play a crucial role in bringing about social change. So often, history tells the story of adults at the forefront of transformative social justice movements, but young people have long been present in fighting for equal rights. Organizing strategies like protesting in the street to raise awareness, creating and lobbying for legislation to protect marginalized communities, or brainstorming creative interventions and solutions to sustain civil rights, have historically involved youth. The Radical Monarchs offer examples of ways that young leaders can guide us today.

The wisdom, creativity, and spirit that young people bring to activist spaces can often inspire new avenues for addressing inequality. For example, during the Civil Rights Movement, young organizers formed the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This student group came up with the idea to conduct sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960s to protest state-sanctioned segregation laws known as Jim Crow Laws. Additionally, in 1968, Mexican-American high school students organized a series of protests and sustained walkouts to protest the systemic unequal educational opportunities. This strategic movement, known as the East L.A. Walkouts, resulted in changes to curricula, policy, and practices meant to enhance educational opportunities for Latinx students. Historically, young people have been at the forefront of social change movements -- the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, and the Anti-Apartheid Movement to name a few. To learn more about the role of young people in social movements, see our resources section at the end of the discussion guide.

What makes the Radical Monarchs’ approach to youth activism so unique is how young they are. Often, youth activists haven’t become involved in social or political movements until they are teenagers, and this activism often extends through their early twenties. The Radical Monarchs, however, teach us that the power of young girls’ leadership and activism can start as early as the 3rd-5th grade.

Social Justice and Resistance Movements

For as long as there has been systemic injustice in this country, there have been organized resistance movements led by the oppressed, towards justice. Resistance is an integral part of Americans’ continued struggles for equality and dates as far back as the 1700’s. Rebellions organized to resist the violence of white slave owners were planned by

enslaved people (like the Stono Rebellion of 1739, Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion, and Denmark Vesey's planned insurrection in 1822). Considerations of justice and the societies that determine what justice looks like, must always be examined from an historical perspective within its historical context.

Today, social justice is sometimes defined as "the objective of creating a fair and equal society in which each individual matters, their rights are recognized and protected, and decisions are made in ways that are fair and honest” (Oxford Dictionary). Since the United States was historically built on a system of violence (i.e., colonization and slavery) that gave power to white men, it is important that social justice movements interrogate the lingering impacts of that system and understand which communities are most affected by the unequal distribution of power. In this sense, social justice is a specific fight for equality guided by the experiences of those who continue to be impacted by an unequal justice system in American society. As a political goal, and as an active practice, social justice is a continued commitment and movement in direct opposition to historical systems of power that threaten the safety and limit opportunity for the most vulnerable among us to thrive, to flourish, and to live. Social justice is a verb that requires active participation and consciousness of interlocking systems of injustice and the histories at their foundation.

Resistance movements highlight a necessary commitment of balancing historically imbalanced scales of “justice;” and to reckoning with nuanced and differing inheritances. In order for power to be redistributed and for people to thrive, identity must be included in conversations about how certain communities and people have been, and continue to be, impacted differently under contemporary ideas of “justice.”

Fierce Sisterhood

The Radical Monarchs define Fierce Sisterhood as a strong love and bond between women and girls who have a healthy, interdependent friendship. In order for a group of people to create social change; trust, vulnerability, and reflection is required to push through challenging situations. Focusing on Fierce Sisterhood helps the Radical Monarchs cultivate powerful bonds between troop members and leaders. When times are challenging, Fierce Sisterhood “empowers these young girls of color to stay rooted in their collective power, brilliance and leadership to make the world a more radical place” (Radical Monarchs Vision Statement).

Centering Fierce Sisterhood as an organizing principle allows this group of young, women of color activists to have solidarity as they fight for change. The idea of Fierce Sisterhood was influenced by scholars like bell hooks, Particia Hill Collins, Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Toni C. Bambara who have guided the work and practice of the Radical Monarchs. For the Radical Monarchs, Fierce Sisterhood is a motivating force that brings women, and girls, of color together to support and advance each others’ right to thrive and address the oppressive systemic conditions that are specific to their shared identities. In this way, Radical Monarchs are in alignment with a long legacy of radical women of color who have named the specific conditions they experience and highlight the importance of organizing to fight for the rights of women who do not benefit from feminist movements that center white women.

Sources:

Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990.

hooks, bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Cambridge: South End Press, 2000.

Moraga, Cherríe, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Toni C. Bambara. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. London: Persephone Press, 1981.

Oxford Reference, s.v. “social justice,” accessed June 9, 2020. www.oxfordreference.com/.

Race Forward. What Is Systemic Racism?. YouTube, 9:00, accessed June 4, 2020. www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism.

“The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, June 5, 2020. https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/sncc#:~:text=The%20Student%20Nonviolent%20Coordinating%20Committee%20(SNCC)%20was%20founded%20February%201,the%20nonviolent%20teachings%20of%20Rev

DISCUSSION PROMPT - STARTING THE CONVERSATION

Immediately after the film, you may want to give people a few quiet moments to reflect on what they have seen. You could pose a general question (examples below) and give people some time to themselves to write down or think about their answers before opening the discussion. Alternatively, you could ask participants to share their thoughts with a partner before starting a group discussion.

• What specific feelings did the film bring up for you? Can you describe the scenes that conjured those feelings?
• Did this film generate any new thoughts, ideas, or ask you to consider something you hadn't considered?
• Describe a moment or scene in the film that you found particularly moving or disturbing. What was it about that scene that was especially compelling to you?

DISCUSSION PROMPT - Social Justice

Many of the themes the Radical Monarchs learned, discussed and took action on were tied to issues of Social Justice such as Police Brutality, Environmental Justice, and equal rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community.

• In what ways are police brutality, environmental justice, and equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community social justice issues?
• Do you think these topics are too intense to discuss with young children? If yes why? If no, explain why not.
• What dangers may stem from not raising young peoples’ consciousness regarding these issues - for them and/or their communities?
• In what ways might teaching young people about issues of political and social importance cultivate empathy in their lives?
• In what ways might teaching young people about issues of political and social importance and injustices allow them to imagine more just futures for themselves and others?
• How would our world be different if people learned about these issues as young children?
• What are pressing issues affecting your community/school/city currently, and how are they different or similar to the issues presented in the film?

DISCUSSION PROMPT - Fierce Sisterhood

Radical Monarch Co-Founders Anayvette & Marilyn were friends before founding Radical Monarchs together; throughout the film you see how their shared experiences as queer women of color and bond impacts how they support each other through the challenges and successes of building a new organization. Likewise the joyful development of Fierce Sisterhood between the Monarchs is seen as they grow into their consciousness, mutual experiences and empowerment.

• What role does friendship play in the Radical Monarch movement?
• What examples did you see of Fierce Sisterhood in the film? Which were your favorite scenes that show this? How did you recognize it?
• Why is it important to cultivate Fierce Sisterhood and joy in Social Justice movement work?
• In what ways has witnessing the joy, delight, and bonds of Fierce Sisterhood between the Monarchs changed the way you think of teaching/learning about injustice?
• In what ways is it possible, necessary even, to find pleasure and joy in activist spaces?

DISCUSSION PROMPT - Advocacy

Throughout the film we see the Monarchs advocating for social justice in their troop meetings, in the streets and at city council meetings. Towards the end of the film, Monarchs earn their Radical Advocacy badge and travel to their state capitol to meet with legislators.

• What were the three issues Monarchs shared with legislators and what were some of their concerns and proposed solutions?
• What was symbolic about the Monarchs making the trip to their state capitol at the end of the film? What role do symbolic actions play in social movements?
• In what ways are young people, specifically, powerful with regards to making a difference and advocating for change?
• What strengths might youth have that older communities of activists lack?
• What happens when we consider young peoples’ wisdom and allow them to lead in movements towards social justice and liberation?
• What are pressing issues in your community that you have advocated for? How did it feel to advocate? Has this film inspired new forms or modes of activism?

GENDER IDENTITY & SEXUALITY:

Gender: refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is referred to as gender-normative; behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these expectations constitute gender non-conformity.

Sex: the public classification of people as “male or female" at birth, based on bodily/anatomical characteristics such as chromosomes, hormones, internal reproductive organs, and genitalia (GLAAD)

Gender Identity: A person’s private sense of and experience with being a boy or man, girl or woman, or a gender that may or may not correspond with the individual’s biological sex. Gender identity is personal and is not visible to others.

Gender Performance/Gender Expression: External manifestations of gender, expressed through one's name, pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics. Society identifies these cues as masculine and feminine, although what is considered masculine and feminine changes over time and varies by culture. Typically, transgender people seek to make their gender expression align with their gender identity, rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.

Gender Non-Conforming: This is a term used to describe people whose gender expression is different from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity. Not all gender non-conforming people identify as transgender, nor are all transgender people gender non-conforming.

Sexual orientation: Describes an individual's enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to another person. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Transgender people may be straight, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. For example, a person who transitions from male to female and is attracted solely to men would identify as a straight woman. (Not the same as gender identity.)

Cisgender: A term used by some to describe people who are not transgender. "Cis-" is a Latin prefix meaning "on the same side as," and is therefore an antonym of "trans-." A more widely understood way to describe people who are not transgender is simply to say non-transgender people.

Transgender (adj.): An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. People under the transgender umbrella may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms - including transgender. Some of those terms are defined below. Use the descriptive term preferred by the person. Many transgender people are prescribed hormones by their doctors to bring their bodies into alignment with their gender identity. Some undergo surgery as well. But not all transgender people can or will take those steps, and a transgender identity is not dependent upon physical appearance or medical procedures.

RACE & RACISM

Race: a social and political construct (race is not biological); “a power construct of collectd or merged difference that lives socially” (Kendi)

Racism: a system of advantage based on race that is historic and deeply embedded in institutional structures and benefits White people. Or, a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities (Kendi). Racism is different than prejudice, hatred, and discrimination. Racism includes one group having power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institiutional policies and practices of the society.

Discrimination: harmful acts commited against a person due to an aspect of their identity (often discimination involved institutionalized power and exclusion)

Prejudice: a preconceived judgment or opinion, usually based on limited information.

Anti-Racist: One who is expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none need developing, and is supporting antiracist policy through their actions or expressing antiracist ideas.

Racist: “One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing racist ideas.” (Kendi)

Sources:

Dismantling Racism

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)

Kendi, Ibram X. (2019). How to Be an Antiracist. New York, One World Publishers.

Racial Equity Institute

Political Organizing Movements

• Black Lives Matter Movement
  A nonprofit that fights against violence inflicted on Black communities by the state & vigilantes.

• El/La Para Trans Latinas
  A nonprofit that fights for the rights of Trans Latinas and provides resources for them to thrive.

• Poder SF
  Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Justice (PODER) is a grassroots organization that works to create people-powered solutions to the profound environmental and economic inequities facing low-income Latino immigrants and other communities of color in San Francisco.

• Planting Justice
  Since 2009, Planting Justice has built over 450 edible permaculture gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area, worked with five high-schools to develop food justice curricula and created 40 green jobs in the food justice movement for folks transitioning from prison.

• Outdoor Afro
  A nonprofit organization that focuses on connecting Black people to the outdoors.

• Anti Police-Terror Project
  The Anti Police-Terror Project is a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color.

Further Education

• Colorlines
  Published by Race Forward, “Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinion and curation.”
  

• New York Times: 7 Times in History When Students Turned to Activism”
  

• Walkout Film
  “In 1968, Chicano high school students in East Los Angeles walked out of their schools to protest racial discrimination and poor conditions. This feature film tells the story of those students, how they organized the walkouts, and what changes happened as a result of their actions.”

• Zinn Education Project: May 2, 1963: Children of Birmingham Fill the Jails
  A resource which “marks the anniversary of one of the most powerful and effective protests in U.S. history of racial injustice: the Birmingham Children’s Crusade.”

A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting and with the support from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Marilyn Hollinquest
Marilyn Hollinquest Co-Founder of the Radical Monarchs is a social justice advocate who specializes in young women of colors empowerment. She has 15 plus years of experience as a teacher, community advocate and scholar. Marilyn received her M.A in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University, and B.A in Community Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. Marilyn is passionate about the marriage of theory and practice (praxis) which is at the core of her commitment to the authentic inclusion of disenfranchised peoples. She currently builds radical community in her chosen home of Oakland, CA and is a proud Tulare, CA native.

Anayvette Martinez
Anayvette Martinez Co-Founder of the Radical Monarchs is a San Francisco native and child of Central American immigrants. Anayvette's varied interests in advocacy, community organizing and empowerment led her to pursue her undergraduate degree at the University of California Los Angeles and later her Master's degree at San Francisco State University in Ethnic Studies. Over the past fifteen years she has developed and managed education, social justice, and gendered support programs focused on empowerment and safety for youth, families and their adult allies. Anayvette currently lives and loves in East Oakland with her two children.

Discussion Guide Producers, POV

Chrissy Griesmer
POV Engage Intern

Courtney Cook
Education Manager

Thanks to those who reviewed this resource:

Rachel Friedland
POV, Senior Associate, Programs & Engagement

This resource was created, in part, with the generous support of the Open Society Foundation.