A few months ago, I stood on a stage in front of hundreds of supporters at the RFC’s 35th anniversary celebration (see cover story) and told them:
The past few years were extraordinary ones for everyone at the RFC. We marked the 70th anniversary of my grandparents' executions, finally saw the release of what my father and uncle refer to as the “smoking gun” in the case against their mother and as a result relaunched the campaign to exonerate my grandmother, Ethel Rosenberg. The campaign led Congressman Jim McGovern to apologize for Ethel’s wrongful conviction and execution on the floor of the U.S. Congress.
We also welcomed almost 50 new beneficiary families into the RFC community over the last three years. Thankfully, we also saw the support of RFC donors continue to grow. With our spring granting cycle, which we’re in the middle of as we speak, we will surpass 10 million dollars granted to targeted activist families!
We completed that spring granting cycle at the end of April, awarding almost $220,000 in grants to more than a hundred children. The 82 grants we funded this spring brought the total awarded in the RFC’s history to $10,092,186!
That total is remarkable to me. The first RFC grants in 1991 were for just over $800 and sent children from two families to a pacifist summer camp. Fast forward 35 years and we’ve awarded over $450,000 each of the last three years. As my father, RFC Founder Robert Meeropol, has often said, the impact and longevity of the RFC is beyond his most optimistic dreams. It is possible because of all of you, our supportive community who refuses to allow children to suffer alone when their families are targeted and instead bands together to offer support, solidarity and financial assistance that allows young people to heal and flourish.
What does that support look like as we mark $10 million granted? In Washington, a child who was a toddler when his family was first harassed by police for their racial justice and anti police brutality organizing is now using his grants to support his creative passions: building and tending a garden with his parents, creating stop-motion movies, and even learning to 3D print his own model creations.
In Pennsylvania, siblings who protested genocide with their parents are using RFC funds to go on community bike trips, pay for art supplies while under house arrest, take cooking classes, and access therapy. And a teen transgender activist speaking up for her rights has received grants, along with her siblings, to attend summer camps and schools that are safe and welcoming and allow them to be themselves every day.
These stories are inspiring but they are also infuriating. I wish the RFC was no longer needed; I wish that families did not continue to face targeting for their progressive organizing. I wish that we were so much less relevant then we currently are. We acknowledge the dangerous truths of the current moment while we honor those who are resisting, winning hard fought victories in communities across the country and around the world. As we mark this milestone, we renew our pledge to continue to provide vital support as we stand with the children of resistance. $10 million awarded, more to come!