We believe, it is natural for us to experience rage in situations of injustice and inequity.

 

We allow our anger to motivate us to transform or abolish the systems and institutions that perpetuate harm.  Motivated by love, we create space to dream, imagine and build new spaces that are just and free. 

 

While complete transformation may take time we recognize the urgency, and we patiently celebrate every liberatory moment. 

 

Thus, our work is rooted in the following values:

 

• Love & Liberation: driven by love, we pursue liberation for all people by uplifting Black joy, happiness and peace in our work and in our community.  We work to dismantle, and abolish, systems of white supremacy culture that perpetuate antiblackness and threaten freedom.

• Participatory & Collaborative: the work we do is driven by those most impacted by the change being created. We use participatory and collaborative frameworks, to develop systems & infrastructure, so that our work will exist and expand long after we are gone.  

• Youth & Community Centered: young people are at the center of our work.  We recognize, and strive to increase the power of Black youth and community members, as well as develop their capacity to create change within RAGE and without. We also center community and community care.  We cannot do this work in isolation.  

• Intersectional: we use an intersectional, anti-racism lens that centers race and addresses the complex and cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of historically and systemically marginalized people.

• Resist binaries: We reject binaries; binaries in gender, race, and other forms of stratification.  We recognize the world is nuanced.  We move away from “either or” and lean into the “yes and”. We also recognize this may mean we have to unlearn, try and retry and expect we won’t always get it right. 

• Restful leadership: We recognize the impact of trauma in our everyday lives and celebrate the growth and resistance of historically marginalized people.  We also model the dismantling of white supremacy culture by promoting authentic workplace wellness and restful leadership within RAGE.  We recognize our leadership role in current and future justice movements.  We also believe self care and squad care (community care) are interconnected.

• Transformative social justice: Transformative Justice is an abolitionist and political framework that seeks to respond to violence (including state sanctioned violence) without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. We strive for justice in all forms, including:

  • Racial justice

  • Gender justice

  • Educational justice

  • Economic justice

  • Healing justice

  • Climate and environmental justice

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