RYSE centers the liberation of all Black, Indigenous, Youth of Color. We believe that no one is free until all Trans, Black, Indigenous Youth of Color are free - locally and globally.
According to a 2022 WHO report 2.17 million people live in the occupied territory of the Gaza Strip. Within the occupied Palestinian territory, children aged 0-17 comprise 44% of the population; youth aged 18 to 29 comprise 22% of the population.
This means 66% of those being targeted by bombs are children and young adults.
As an organization that addresses the root causes of violence, RYSE recognizes that these same children and young adults who are facing genocide in Gaza right now were born under a longstanding colonial occupation resourced and ratified by the US. And fortified by the lies and slander of the mainstream media against oppressed peoples everywhere, from Richmond to Gaza.
75+ years of loss of life, land, livelihood, destruction of health, education, social, cultural infrastructure. Denied and cut off to water, food, electricity, medical care, movement, connection and communication, denied the right to return.
On a daily basis, RYSE supports young people and families living with the impacts of lethal violence. We mourn the loss of any life. And we mourn the disproportionate violence that Black and Brown youth experience, here in our own communities and our communities across the globe.
We know and remember that all violence is state violence, that the root of violence is oppression. That no one is free until Palestinian youth are free. RYSE joins all our kin in our global movements for justice to demand an immediate ceasefire and for the end of occupation, displacement, and annihilation.