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Non-profit

Rising Majority

Website:

therisingmajority.com/
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Project of:

Movement for Black Lives
Formation:

2017
National Coordinator:

Nikita Mitchell

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Rising Majority is a coalition of left-of-center activist groups that organize collectively across multiple issues including economics and labor, climate change, feminism, and immigration. It is a project of the Movement for Black Lives, which itself is a fiscally sponsored project of the radical-left fiscal sponsorship organization Alliance for Global Justice. It seeks to develop and coordinate a strategy across groups of color, indigenous people, women, LGBT people, and the young.1 2

RM advocates for anti-racist, anti-capitalist, pro-feminist policies and weather-dependent energy, and calls for implementation of African-American and indigenous climate and land practices and an end to so-called imperialist policies by the United States.3

Coalition Members

Approximately 55 groups are members of the Rising Majority coalition. Though it is led by people and organizations who are primarily focused on racial issues, Rising Majority includes organizations that work on issues around economics, poverty and homelessness, sexual orientation, women’s issues and abortion, and other causes. Coalition members include Women’s March, Inc. (women’s issues), Black Lives Matter Network Foundation (racial issues), National Domestic Workers Alliance (labor organizing), Right to the City Alliance (housing and tenants’ interests), Black Alliance for Just Immigration (immigration issues), Climate Justice Alliance (environmental issues), and Working Families Organization (economic and fiscal issues). 4

Rising Majority member organizations include Center For Constitutional Rights -(CCR), a New York based left-of-center group; Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), a group based in California that seeks to end youth incarceration; U.E./Capital Area UE Local 50 NC Public Service Workers Union, a North Carolina labor union; Black Feminist Future (BFF), a Georgia-based incubator that defines white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism as interconnected in holding Black women back; Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), a San Francisco Bay Area group that calls for the end of supposed United States-backed genocide in Gaza; Center for Economic Democracy (CED), a Massachusetts-based group that seeks the end of capitalism; Together for Brothers, a New Mexico-based group that develops young men to be future leaders; Black Visions, a radical-left Minnesota group of Black-led queer and trans people building Black power; Raleigh PACT, a North Carolina group that advocates for accountability for alleged police misconduct; Equity and Transformation (EAT), a left-of-center Illinois-based group that advocates for a national basic income; and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a left-of-center group.5 6 7 8 9 10 11

National members of Rising Majority include The Feminist Front; Jobs with Justice, a left-wing group funded by Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ), a far-left group that targets white Americans for alleged support of white supremacy; NDN Collective, a left-of-center Native American environmentalist activist group; Liberation in a Generation; Mayfirst Movement Technology; Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE); 350.org, an international group that opposes oil, gas and coal exploration; FL Student Power; Transgender Law Center, a left-wing group that advocates for transgender and gender non-conforming people; Service Employees International Union FF 15; M4BL; HEAL Food Alliance; Women’s March; Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, a left-of-center network of 60 organizations that has become a radical network of pro-Palestinian advocates; It Takes Roots; Grassroots Asians Rising; Movement Law Lab, a left-of-center project of NEO Philanthropy (NEO); National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA); Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC);  Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), a far-left group that advocates the abolition of police and prison systems; United We Dream (UWD), a left-of-center organization that supports defunding the police and immigration enforcement actions; and National Black Food and Justice Alliance, a group that claims that black farmers are victims of systemic racism.12131415 16 17

Anti-Capitalist and Racial Solidarity Principles

Rising Majority is an explicitly anti-capitalist coalition that refers frequently to “racial capitalism” and “divestment from white supremacy, racial capitalism and anti-Blackness.” 18

In October 2020, Rising Majority sponsored the “People’s Tribunal and Congress,” a two-day virtual event. During the People’s Tribunal, radical-left activists including Angela Davis and novelist Arundhati Roy heard testimony “lay[ing] out the crimes of U.S. policy and the policies and practices of dominant institutions that perpetuate white supremacy, state terror, racial capitalism, empire and hetero-patriarchy.” 19 Karissa Lewis, the national field director of Movement for Black Lives and executive director of the Center for Third World Organizing, told viewers that “Peoples’ Tribunals are necessary because the mechanisms of this government work painstakingly hard to silence us.” After a three-and-a-half hour “trial,” the jurors “convicted” capitalism and associated “injustices” for racial and economic oppression. 20

Rising Majority also stresses that political solidarity with Black Americans and other ethnic minorities is a prerequisite for broader political, social, and economic change. 21

Activities

2020 Protests

Rising Majority activated in response to May 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers and promised a ​“‘hot summer’ of intense organizing.” 22 The coalition organized nationwide protests in the second week of June to protest “increased police brutality” and how it “speaks to the interconnected nature of white supremacy, racial capitalism, and the role of state sanctioned terrorism.” 23

The coalition made defunding of police departments and increasing leniency in the criminal justice system “a unified rallying cry” of its members. Rising Majority called for not simply moving tax dollars from police departments to social service groups and agencies, but also “community control and participatory budgeting” in setting funding priorities for cities and states. It has also advocated for demilitarization of police forces and called the criminal justice system “a site of terror and control.” Rising Majority members also advocated for removing police from secondary schools around the country and succeeded in working to end contracts between police departments and school districts in a number of cities, including Oakland, California. Rising Majority also criticized the criminal justice policy proposals of Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden as “a disrespect to the people who lost people to police brutality” and “to the people being brutally, brutally repressed by police.” 24

Rising Majority was among the groups that sponsored a Women’s March rally in Washington, D.C., on October 17, 2020. That particular demonstration was focused on protesting the nomination of then-appellate court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court seat previously held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 25 Rising Majority also coordinated voter registration and turnout activities among its coalition members designed to defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. 26

Anti-Israel Advocacy

Rising Majority calls for a ceasefire to end what it terms genocide in Palestine and displays on its website a Palestinian flag that includes the controversial Palestinian nationalist slogan “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free.”27

As of July 2024, Rising Majority planned to hold a national call on October 12, 2024 titled “What Does Palestine/Israel Mean for Black America” along with Dream Defenders, a radical-left organization formed after the death of Trayvon Martin that advocates for the elimination of armed police; Black Men Build; Arab Resources and Organizing Center (AROC); Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), a coalition of more than 50 left-of-center racial-based groups; Refund Raleigh; and Adalah Justice Project, a group that promotes the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.28

Rising Majority joined 16 other organizations in co-sponsoring the “Ceasefire Now! Mass Mobilization” on October 20, 2023, in Washington, D.C. to demand that President Joe Biden and Congress prevent Israel from retaliating against the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023.29

Co-sponsoring organizations included United States Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), Adalah Justice Project, Jewish Voice for Peace, Dream Defenders, Movement for Black Lives (MBL), Working Families Party, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), Peoples Action, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Showing Up for Racial Justice, IfNotNow, 18 Million Rising, left-wing group of 32 member organizations Future Coalition, and Grassroots Global Justice Alliance.30

Other Activities

Rising Majority was active in efforts to save Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the 2012 Obama administration program that permitted persons who had been brought illegally to the country as children to remain in the United States. In June 2020, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s effort to roll back the program. Rising Majority issued a statement calling U.S. immigration agencies “perpetrators of violence that terrorize immigrant communities, and specifically Black immigrants who sit at the intersections of these interlocking systems and anti-blackness…. Each tentacle needs to be cut off and replaced by systems of community control of health, wellness, security.” 31

Rising Majority sponsored a February 2020 symposium at Howard University with four left-wing Democratic U.S. Representatives commonly known as “The Squad.” At that symposium, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) admitted that she held the hand of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during parts of then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address because of “moments of triggering,” especially the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to radio host Rush Limbaugh. The other members of the group, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), boycotted the address, but Ocasio-Cortez told the Rising Majority symposium that “whether we attended or whether we didn’t attend, all of us showed up in that same spirit of resistance to a culture of white supremacy into the concentration of power, the authoritarianism of this administration.” 32

Rising Majority has been a leader in the movement to encourage official recognition of, and organize protests on, “Juneteenth,” the annual June 19 celebration of the day that the Union Army announced the entry into force of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas after the defeat of the Confederacy. 3334

Leadership Team

Rising Majority’s published leadership team consists of 11 organizations including five co-founding organizations: Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO); Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, a left of center group of 60 organizations; Movement for Black Lives; R3 Coalition; and Working Families Party, a left-wing New York minor political party. Other members include the Tides Center-sponsored Arab Resources and Organizing Center (AROC), Grassroots Asians Rising, LeftRoots, SEIU/Fight For $15, Southeast Asian Freedom Network, and United We Dream (UWD).35

Staff

Loan Tran is Rising Majority’s national director and former executive director of the left-of-center Youth Organizing Institute. Tran is the founder of the Queer Movement Fund, a member of the board of directors of Highlander Research and Education Center, and co-chair of the Third Wave Fund advisory council, a child organization of Proteus Fund that funnels grants to gay, lesbian, intersex, and transgender advocacy groups.36

References

  1. “Our Work.” Rising Majority, September 7, 2023, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://therisingmajority.com/our-work/.
  2. Loan Tran. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.nloantran.me/.
  3. “2050/10 Vision + Strategy.” Rising Majority, September 7, 2023, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://therisingmajority.com/events-2/.
  4. Rising Majority. “Who We Are.” Accessed October 27, 2020. https://therisingmajority.com/organizations/.
  5. UE. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.ueunion.org/.
  6. “Values.” Black Visions. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/values.
  7. “Communities United.” Curyj. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://curyj.org/.
  8. “Arab Resource and Organizing Center.” Arab Resource and Organizing Center. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.araborganizing.org/.
  9. “Home.” BLACK FEMINIST FUTURE, February 29, 2024, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://blackfeministfuture.org/.
  10. “Raleigh Pact.” Raleigh PACT. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.raleighpact.org/.
  11. “Campaigns & Programs.” EAT Chicago. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.eatchicago.org/campaigns-programs.
  12. “Our Membership.” Rising Majority, September 7, 2023, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://therisingmajority.com/organizations/.
  13. “About Us.” The Feminist Front. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://jointheff.org/aboutus.
  14. “Purpose.” Liberation in a Generation, December 22, 2023. https://www.liberationinageneration.org/purpose/.
  15. May first movement technology. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://mayfirst.coop/en/.
  16. “About.” Action Center on Race and the Economy, January 22, 2024. https://acrecampaigns.org/about/.
  17. “About.” Action Center on Race and the Economy, January 22, 2024. https://acrecampaigns.org/about/.
  18. “‘We Are On the Cusp of Something Great’: A Black Liberation Organizer on Next Steps for the Movement.” In These Times. July 27, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://inthesetimes.com/article/nikita-mitchell-interview-black-liberation-george-floyd-protests-next-steps.
  19. Rising Majority. “The Freedom Side.” Accessed October 27, 2020. https://therisingmajority.com/events/the-freedom-side/.
  20. Rising Majority. “People’s Tribunal Video.” October 17, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/TheRisingMajority/videos/d41d8cd9/957159824778834/.
  21. “Floyd’s Death Sparks New Activism Among Communities of Color.” Associated Press. August 25, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-08-25/floyds-death-sparks-new-activism-among-communities-of-color/.
  22. “‘We Are On the Cusp of Something Great’: A Black Liberation Organizer on Next Steps for the Movement.” In These Times. July 27, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020.https://inthesetimes.com/article/nikita-mitchell-interview-black-liberation-george-floyd-protests-next-steps.
  23. Rising Majority. “Making Meaning of This Moment.” June 6, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://therisingmajority.com/events/making-meaning-out-of-this-moment-of-crisis/.
  24. “‘We Are On the Cusp of Something Great’: A Black Liberation Organizer on Next Steps for the Movement.” In These Times. July 27, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://inthesetimes.com/article/nikita-mitchell-interview-black-liberation-george-floyd-protests-next-steps.
  25. Schmidt, Samantha. “Women’s March plans return to D.C. in October to protest Supreme Court nomination.” Washington Post. September 28, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/09/28/womens-march-plans-return-dc-october-protest-supreme-court-nomination/.
  26. “‘We Are On the Cusp of Something Great’: A Black Liberation Organizer on Next Steps for the Movement.” In These Times. July 27, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://inthesetimes.com/article/nikita-mitchell-interview-black-liberation-george-floyd-protests-next-steps.
  27. “Home.” Rising Majority, October 14, 2023. https://therisingmajority.com/.
  28. “Fighting for the Future We Deserve.” Dream Defenders. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.dreamdefenders.org/.
  29. “Ceasefire Now: Mass Mobilization 10/20.” Rising Majority, October 18, 2023, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://therisingmajority.com/ceasefirenowdc/.
  30. “Ceasefire Now: Mass Mobilization 10/20.” Rising Majority, October 18, 2023, Accessed June 30, 2024. https://therisingmajority.com/ceasefirenowdc/.
  31. Rising Majority. “DACA Statement.” Accessed October 27, 2020. https://therisingmajority.com/daca-statement/.
  32. “‘Our Very Existence Is the Resistance’: An Hour w/ AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Omar.” Democracy Now. February 10, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/2/10/democracy_now_the_squad_sotu.
  33. Pinon, Natasha. “How to take action on Juneteenth to celebrate Freedom Day.” Mashable. June 18, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://mashable.com/article/how-you-can-meaningfully-celebrate-juneteenth/.
  34. Fonrouge, Gabrielle. “What is Juneteenth and who has made it an official holiday?” New York Post. June 19, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2020. https://nypost.com/article/what-is-juneteenth/.
  35. “Our Leadership.” Rising Majority, September 7, 2023. https://therisingmajority.com/about-us/our-leadership/.
  36. Loan Tran. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://www.nloantran.me/.
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