The Girl Scouts Have Competition for the First Time in 100 Years. Meet the Radical Monarchs

For over a century, girls looking to join a national youth organization in the U.S. had one obvious choice: The Girl Scouts.

Now, a new, social-justice-oriented rival is gaining strength, Bloomberg reported.

Radical Monarchs, an organization for Black and Brown girls and nonbinary kids ages 8 to 11, counts more than 100 members in cities like Minneapolis, Denver, and Washington.

The organization became nationally known after a documentary crew followed the first Radical Monarchs troop for over three years, culminating in the film "We Are the Radical Monarchs," which premiered at South by Southwest in 2019.

While the Girl Scouts offers badges for new skills, such as gardening, robotics, and first aid, some Radical Monarchs' badges are centered around underreported historical activists, including Winona LaDuke, a co-founder of the Indigenous Women's Network.

Other badges focus on consent, justice for disabled people, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

But it's not all serious, co-founder Anayvette Martinez told Bloomberg. The Radical Monarchs also participate in fun activities familiar to any Girl Scout, including camping and making s'mores.

"There's no cookie baking like GSA, but play is a big part of our work," she said. "At the end of the day, these are children. We’re not just talking about social justice stuff all the time."

Martinez said her 9-year-old daughter expressed interest in joining the Girl Scouts, but she would have been one of the only children of color in her local group.

That dilemma sparked the idea to create a troop more representative of her daughter's experience.

Co-founder Marilyn Hollinquest added that she wanted to kindle positivity about the contributions of people of color in the U.S.

By the time students enter college, she said, they can sometimes be inundated with only the tragic parts of marginalized peoples' history.

"It can be really overwhelming if you just focus on what’s wrong — and what’s different about us is we’re very solution-oriented, very much steeped in hope," she said. "We study the wins a lot.”

Still, the group says it has to take special precautions, like blocking leaders' cell phone locations, because of received bomb threats, sexually explicit messages, and other threats from detractors over the years.

As their 10th-anniversary approaches in 2024, the group is assessing applications for new troops in places like Columbus, Ohio, and Brooklyn, and hopes to raise money to sustain its $900,000 annual budget.