Social Justice

WHY DO WE CARE?

Read this statement by Red Arrow Media’s founder, Vanessa Joy Chandler:

When I was a little girl in Africa, I witnessed many things. Some that remained in my memory were beautiful, but others were of crises, poverty, and tragedy. On several occasions, North American media teams visited to film my family’s work in Malawi, and I rode with them throughout the countryside. Though at the time I was too shy to be in the videos, I was fascinated by the process and end result. My seven year-old mind determined, “One day I will tell stories of the things I’ve seen.”

During one afternoon, we drove into the “bush bush,” away from villages and people to attend a secret society meeting, an occurrence that was rarely witnessed by anyone in that culture, let alone foreigners. We were allowed to view a healing ceremony performed by a group of witchdoctors. While I was spiritually intimidated, I was also intrigued, and the experience stayed with me. The people believed that their ceremonies and necklaces made of string would ward off demons. I asked myself, “How can I play a role in telling them the truth?”

Such unique and diverse adventures birthed my vision to capture stories, not necessarily in a journalistic sense, but for the purpose of giving hope and providing answers. In high school, one of my good friends lived through the Rwandan genocide, and was one of the few evacuated while many that she loved were never rescued and died. I remember an African man spoke words to me that I will never forget, "You Americans come here and think that you know how to help us, that you have all the answers. But do you know our pain? Do you get down in the dirt with us?" Experiences like that mark you. They cause you to live beyond yourself, and that's what started happening inside of me. I saw injustice everywhere, but the only outcome was that people far removed from the dire situations were reporting horrific news. There weren't answers, and the media often failed to highlight the good that’s also in the world.

As things festered inside of me, I started writing. One of my first writing jobs was volunteering to help a leader write his first book. Not long after delving into the publishing world by working with that leader, I moved to eastern Europe for half a year. Again, I saw the damage left by genocide. My friends were survivors of war. Several women I knew returned to abusive husbands each night—there weren’t any safe houses for them to run to. I noticed that big-named charities and non-profits were proclaiming that they had made positive differences, but the eyes of the people lacked luster for life, and the streets were still filled with gray buildings and hopelessness. People were struggling just to survive. The Western world’s reports were inaccurate, and when I returned to California, I kept looking for someone to mentor me so that together we could make my dream become a reality. Then one day, I woke up realizing that no one was going to make this happen for me. If I wanted to tell stories, I’d have to struggle through a no-name beginning and learn how do it myself.

Thus, I started Red Arrow to “tell the untold stories.” My purpose resides in our desire is reach a wide range of audiences with vital messages that bring fresh understanding and vision to specific aspects of people's social and cultural realities. We create excellent, innovative texts with language, stories, and ideas that stimulate both the mind and the heart. We aim to bring hope, healing, and restoration to all people.

And even if it’s just one person that’s touched by our words or our visual content, it’s enough. It’s enough because we will have brought someone hope, education, peace, and the knowledge that there really are beautiful things that happen in life and remarkable people in the world who do good things.

 GIVE TO NON-PROFITS

A portion of Red Arrow Media's profits support the following social justice organizations. We encourage you to learn about the transformative justice work they do...and get involved!