PrYSM VISION
Southeast Asian American history in Providence, RI is filled with both struggle and hope. As our communities continue to grow and develop, we have found resilience to be our greatest strength. However, we continue to face systemic oppression that keeps our communities disenfranchised. Providence Youth Student Movement envisions a strong, healthy Southeast Asian community free from state, street, and interpersonal violence.
“In 2000, Sarath Suong and Kohei Ishihara, two Asian American students at Brown University, recruited local Black, Caribbean, and SEAA students at other colleges in Providence to start a local youth group, Providence Youth-Student Movement, or PrYSM.
Due to the diversity of their membership, PrYSM’s vision for the organization was to build a space for local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and others (LGBTQ+), and those who identify as Southeast Asian American youth in a social justice movement to represent the intersections of their sexuality, poverty, immigration, and race and ethnicity.
Since there were virtually no similar groups in the city, PrYSM soon became a multi-racial space for other queer youth of color in working-class sections of Providence who did not have such spaces in their schools, colleges, or neighborhoods.”
-GENERATION RISING
PrYSM MISSION :
PrYSM organizes at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation by centering youth, female, queer, and people of color leadership in our campaigns, our organization, and our communities. PrYSM mobilizes queer Southeast Asian youth, families, and allies to build grassroots power and organize collectively for social justice.
